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State of Excep
tionChase C
arter
1860:1882-1903:1897:1901:1904-1914:
1914-1918:1916-1918:1917:
1918:1919-1923:1923:1924-1929:
1929:1929-1939:
1933:1933-1948:1935:1936-1939:1939-1945:
1947:
1948:1948-1949:1956:1960-1962:1963:19671972:
1973:1974:1979:
1982:1987-1991:1988:1993:1993:1994:1995:
2000-2005:2002:2005:
2005:2006:2006:
First Zionist Jewish settlement is built in Palestine, near
Jerusalem.First Aliyah. An estimated 30,000 Jews migrate to
Palestine.The First Zionist Congress meets in Basel, and
establishes World Zionist Organization.Jewish settlers build Tel
Aviv, near the populous Palestinian city of Jaffa.Second Aliyah. An
estimated 40,000 Jews migrate to Palestine. Mainly from Russia,
they flee due to rising antisemitism.WWI.First Arab Revolt.Balfour
Declaration, affirming British support for Israel as a homeland for
the Jewish people.End of WWI. The Ottoman Empire dissolves.Third
Aliyah. An estimated 40,000 Jews migrate to PalestineOn June 24, my
grandfather is born in Brooklyn, NY.Fourth Aliyah. An estimated
40,000 Jews migrate to Palestine. Mainly from Poland and Hungary,
they flee due to rising antisemitism.Palestinian Riots in
Jerusalem.Fifth Aliyah. An estimated 250,000 Jews migrate to
Palestine, due to the rise of Nazism in Germany.Hitler is elected
Chancellor of Germany.Aliyah Bet (Illegal Migration). An estimated
110,000 Jews migrate to Palestine illegally.On June 21, my
grandmother is born in Chicago, IL.Great Arab Revolt.WWII and the
Holocaust. An estimated 6,000,000 Jews (two-thirds of the European
Jewish population) are killed, and an innumerable amount of Jews in
Europe are displaced.UN Partition Plan, proposing two states, one
for the Jews and one for the Palestinians. This plan gives
approximately 55% of land to the Jews, and 45% to the Palestinians.
Establishment of Israel. The Nakba (Catastrophe).First Arab-Israeli
War. Israel wins.Sinai Campaign.Eichmann Trial and Execution in
Jerusalem.On February 13, my mother is born in Los Angeles, CA.The
Six-Day War. Results in a huge acquisition of land for
Israel.Munich Olympic Massacre. 11 Israeli atheletes are kidnapped
and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist organization.Yom Kippur
War.Legitimization of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) by
UN.Egypt-Israeli-US Peace Agreement (Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin,
Jimmy Carter) resulting in Israels withdrawal from Sinai.First
Lebanon WarFirst Intifada against Israeli occupation.PLO officially
decalres the Palestinian state.On January 27, I am born in Los
Angeles, CA.Oslo Accords (Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat, and Bill
Clinton).Israeli-Jordan Peace AgreementIsraeli Prime Minister,
Yitzhak Rabin, is assassinated by an Israeli right-wing
ultranationalist.Second Intifada, which is much more violent than
the first.Construction begins on the Israeli West Bank Barrier, aka
the Wall.Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah, is elected President of
Palestine over Mustafa Barghouti, an independent.Disengagement from
Occupied TerritoriesHamas is democratically elected, gaining more
votes than Fatah for the first time.Second Lebanon War
State of Exception2008-2009:
2011: 2012:
2012:2014:
Operation Cast Lead. Over three weeks, 13 Israelis (10 soldiers,
4 via friendly fire and 3 civilians) are killed, and 518 injured.
1,417 Palestinians are killed, 5,303 are injured, and 120 are
captured. 4,000 homes are destroyed, and over 50,800 Gaza residents
are displaced.Israels Iron Dome Air Defense System is operational.
It defends Israel from up to 90% of missiles from Gaza.Operation
Pillar of Defense. Over 8 days, 6 Israelis (4 soldiers and 2
civilians) are killed, and 239 are wounded. 103 Palestinians are
killed, and 970 are wounded.The UN partially recognizes
Palestine.Operation Protective Edge. Over 7 weeks, 66 Israeli
soldiers are killed, 6 civilians are killed, and 87 civilians are
wounded. 2,189 Palestinians (513 children, 269 women) are killed.
11,100 Palestinians are wounded. 250 Palestinians are captured.
Over 17,000 homes are destroyed, leaving more than 500,000 Gazans
displaced.
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For there is a link to be made between what happened to the Jews
in World War II and the catastrophe of the Palestinian people, but
it cannot be made only rhetorically, or as an argument to demolish
or diminish the true content both of the Holocaust and of 1948.
Neither is equal to the other; similarly, neither one nor the other
must be minimized. There is suffering and injustice enough for
everyone. But unless the connection is made by which the Jewish
tragedy is seen to have led directly to the Palestinian
catastrophe, by let us call it necessity (rather than pure will),
we cannot coexist as two communities of detached and
uncommunicatingly separate suffering.
Edward Said
2015 by Chase Carter
All rights reserved.
First Printing, 2015
www.chasecarter.nu
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An Artist Publicationby Chase Carter
State of Exception
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/7STATE OF EXCEPTION
Preface
This book seeks to bring about a dialogue related to the
connections and conflations between Palestinian- and
Jewish-American personal and collective identity, memory, and
politics. This is not a sociological, or anthropological survey.
This is not meant as a comprehensive representation of opinions. It
is merely an attempt to magnify a few voices in the crowd. It is
also an attempt to demonstrate that, within each group, there is no
unanimous agreement. As Judith Butler recently stated, There is no
Jewish consensus on Israel. There is no Jewish dinner table that
has consensus on Israel.
It is also essential to remember that these identities do not
equate with one another, however both share commonalities: the
experiences of diaspora, the memories of persecution and exile, and
of course the land of Palestine.I s r a e l
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Pre-1947
Pre-1947 refers to the British Mandate of Palestine, before the
establishment of Israel.
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What comes to mind when youthink of Israel?
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Anna: The conflicts are the defining thing of Israel to me. I
dont really think about the people. I mean, I think about the
people, but only in terms of the conflict. If I probe deeper, I
start thinking about how I have family there. How I have family
that have traveled there, how many friends I have who have traveled
there, and how they all tell me I have to go. But, the first thing
that comes to mind is conflict.
Yasmine: Oh god. I just think, I dont know. The oppres-sor.
Yeah, I guess I would say that. I think of those tense moments when
someone says theyre Israeli and I say Im Palestinian, and its that
uhh... reaction, when were both faced with that moment.
Roxanne: I think about the beauty of the country, the progress
theyve created in the sixty years theyve been around. I think about
how every cornerstone is paved with the blood of a young Jewish
person, from wars when they first started out attacked by so many
different countries, during their growth process. I think about the
universi-ties and the tremendous advancements theyve made in
medicine, in technology - the country theyve developed.
Ahmed: A prejudiced country. A fascist country. They take the
land of our people. It is not their land. They want no peace. They
want no peace.
Chase: I think about the flag of Israel the Star of David, with
the blue and white colors. I think about the desert, and camels,
and imagery Ive seen through tourism sites. I also think about Tel
Aviv, and the white modernist hous-es and apartments. Then, I think
about the conflict. I think about how Ive been told how different
Israelis lives are than my own in regards to the danger they feel
every day. I also think about how conservative it is there, and how
things are moving toward the right wing. I also think about how its
supposed to be the Jewish homeland.
Adam: A lot of things come to mind. I mean, oppression is really
the overarching theme whenever I think of Israel, because as a
Palestinian in America, anytime the topic of Israel comes up, its
almost always as a story that ultimately means more oppression for
Palestinian people. It was actually not until recently, when I
started doing start-ups and working in entrepreneurship, and Israel
has a pretty decent entrepreneurial community, that I ever saw
Israel in a non-political sense, because other than that its the
people that are stealing land and creating this ridiculously
effective propaganda machine against my family, my peo-ple, and the
way I grew up. I want to not say the word evil, because it paints a
black-and-white picture of someone, but the word does come to mind.
I think its an important distinction that when I say Israel and
this is something Ive come across within my life where you get
called anti-Se-mitic and all these things so when I say Im against
Israel, Im against all of these things, it means that youre against
the Israeli government and Israeli policies. Its not even that
youre against the people, unless they support those policies.
Jewish, non-Jewish, if you support the policies of Israel, you are
a part of this machine that I think has to be reformed, not only
for the Palestinian culture but for the Israeli culture itself.
Ron: Of Israel? Oh many things. The homeland of the Jews.
Conflict. Having been to Israel, it has left a different
im-pression on me than before. It was actually really nice to go
there. It was really interesting. Although, I didnt know who the
Palestinians were, everyone else did. They all knew who they
were.
Anwar: Im gonna say, yknow, a lot of good things be-lieve it or
not. Yknow they have born a lot of technology and foresight and
development to the country. But at the same time, I would say that
the first thing that comes to my mind is that they have built a
country on the back of other peoples lands and resources and its
wrong. It should be corrected in one way or another.
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What comes to mind when youthink of Palestine?
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Ahmed: Palestinian people, you know, they lost their country.
They want to live like any human being, any peo-ple who want their
own country. And, they dont ask for much, from the Israelis.
Israelis dont want to give them nothing. They want to take the
whole thing. They try to make peace. But, Israel, they want no
peace.
Chase: Well, in regards to landscape and imagery, I think about
similar things the desert, white and beige homes. But, I think
about how all those things are destroyed, or in disrepair, or dont
have clean water or proper electricity, or things like that. That
its this place that in all respects should be the same as Israel,
because its the same land, but its in disrepair. I also think about
the activism thats going on both nonviolent and violent. I think
about the Arab people that live there, and yeah, thats it.
Adam: Good food! I mean it comes at the opposite of all of these
issues. Unfortunately, in my lifetime, these two ideas come
hand-in-hand. Most of the time, the Palestinian side of the issue
have been the victims or the demonized. You know, you have terrible
crimes of suicide bombings and all these things, but people dont
look at the bigger context of those issues. So, for me, it starts
off being the culture, the food, the family, going to a wedding and
seeing all these things. But, by and large it really means this
greater struggle that every Palestinian inherits, because were a
people that are spread across the entire world now. You know,
theres a lot of analogies between what the Jewish people claim 150
years ago and what the Palestinians are experiencing right now.
Being Palestinian, the thought of Palestine is an oppressive
burden, where you some-how have to maintain your culture in a place
where your people are demonized for a place where your people are
oppressed, and its kind of a sad series of circumstances. But,
first things food, and thats always happy.
Ron: Well, again, conflict. The idea that there is a group of
people who are the Palestinians, who consider them-selves having a
rightful interest in a particular region of land. I really dont
know that much about Palestine. I know thats what it was called
before it became Israel. Thats about it.
Anwar: Im Palestinian, so what comes to mind is the love-ly
people that Ive met really nice people. Olive trees come to mind.
Kunafa, which is a Palestinian sweet from Jerusalem comes to mind.
The place that my fathers from, and my fathers father, and his
father. And, our lands that I love and hope to live out a latter of
a part of my life in happiness, hopefully, in no occupation.
Anna: Similarly. I think of conflict. I cant think of Palestine
as concretely as Israel, because all the images I see of Palestine
are of destruction, of Gaza or the other cities. And so, it doesnt
really seem like a tangible place to me, because its defined by
conflict and destruction.
Yasmine: Some sad shit. My dad. Family. People dying. But then,
I think of political Palestine and then cultural Pal-estine. I
think of Palestinian and Arab culture and how theyve been an
oppressor to other Arabs - specifically, to my moms people from
Morocco. So, I also think of the negative side of Palestinians and
how I dont even have a good relationship with that side of my
family. But, I also think of a solidarity with them and the
political issue,because I am Palestinian.
Roxanne: I think of oppression, of ghettoism. I think that these
are a people who are controlled by a government they have no say
in, and nothing really to do about whats happening to them. I think
that they, the people them-selves, have no political voice. I think
that theyre being terribly persecuted. I think its wrong whats
being done to these people.
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Have you ever been to, orlived in Palestine?I s r a e l
Anwar: Yes, Ive been to Palestine at least fifteen times. I went
to school there when I was 11 and 12 at a Quaker school in Ramallah
called Friends Boys School. Ive trav-eled good parts of Israel and
good parts of Palestine and I love it all. I just wish there was
piece.
Anna: No, I havent, but Im going on Birthright this January.
Yasmine: No.
Roxanne: I have been to Israel. I have been to Palestine, maybe
thirty years ago. I was there in Israel and Palestine as guests of
the Tel Aviv University Theatre Department, and we went through
some of the Bedouin areas. We went through some of the villages
that are probably the same today thirty years later than they were
at that time. There was terrible poverty and neglect, and you saw
children who shouldve been in school, playing in the streets,
filthy dirty. And, it broke your heart. Going through on the bus,
they told us we had to be very careful, and there were certain
places we could not go.
Ahmed: I was born there August 10, 1949. I left Palestine in
1972, and Ive been back twice since then. The first time I went
back was in 1998. It was bad when I went back. They had no jobs,
people were struggling. They got no land to live in, too many
people, but not much space. Ive also been to Israel it was
beautiful. I just went through - from the Tel Aviv airport to Gaza.
I just saw along the road going to Gaza. They built it nice, they
built it beautiful. Clean, very nice.
Chase: No, I havent, but I am planning on going to both Israel
and Palestine this January.
Adam: One time. I went to Palestine after I graduated col-lege
in 2011. I went for three weeks. So that was the only time I was
ever there.
Ron: Well Ive never lived there. Ive been twice to Israel. Ive
never been to Palestine. Although when you drive in Israel, I
believe you pass through Palestine.
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Do you have any relatives thatlive in Palestine?I s r a e l
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very pious Jews. I dont know how they make a living at all, but
they live in Israel to be Jewish, on all levels. But, they
certainly dont recognize my approach to Judaism.
Anwar: Yes, I have cousins and aunts, and my last uncle has
traveled back and forth, and I have a lot of dear friends that live
in Palestine. Some of my in-laws live in Palestine, who I love
dearly. Yes, I do have quite a bit of family who live there, in
Palestine. I do know a lot of Israelis who travel back and
forth.
Anna: I have a few distant cousins that live in Israel.
Yasmine: Yes, I have two half-sisters that live in Gaza. I
probably have more family, but I dont know who or where
exactly.
Roxanne: No relatives that live there, no.
Ahmed: My house is still there, which is where one of my
daughters Aneesa lives. I still have twenty relatives there, in
Gaza. Some of them also live in Saudi Arabia, in Lebanon, in Syria,
all over.
Chase: No, I dont.
Adam: Tons. Our village is still really close. I dont know how
true that is across the world. But, the people in New Jersey and
especially the people from my village, our connection with the
people who live over there is very close. Everyone goes back once
in every five years at least. This is what my dad does. We send
money there. We try to support each other. The communication is
back and forth. My step-mom has siblings that live over there, and
across the United States as well. So, yes, I have family there.
Ron: Well, we have our Israeli relatives who originated in
Israel came to Palestine before it became a country [pre-1948].
And, they are kibbutzniks. Ive met some of them, though the ones
Ive met are quite elderly. They are contemporaries of my parents,
so they are in their 70s and 80s. And, I met their mother, who was
my great-aunt, and she came to my Bar Mitzvah. So, I knew her a
little bit. They all originate from my grandfathers side of the
family, as do more recent immigrants to Israel, who have moved
there in the last 30 years French cousins who have moved to Israel.
They were extremely observant, in France when they were there, and
now that they are in Israel. Even though the parents didnt move,
the children, who are my contemporaries, moved to Israel for
religious purposes. Specifically, to be able to pray at the Western
Wall, and to be able to study the Talmud and Torah, and to be
very
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1947
These borders refer to the 1947 UN Partition Plan to divide
Palestine into two lands, one for Jews and one for Arabs, with
Jerusalem operating under international governance. This partition
plan was never implemented due to its rejection by Arab
leaders.
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Attributed to many Christian and Jewish Zionists during the late
19th Century, but most famously to Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Israel
Zangwill, and William Eugene Blackstone.
Palestine is a landfor a people
without a people, without a land.
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Are Israel and Palestine importantto you?
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Yasmine: Yes. Its important to me as a person whos Ara-bic, whos
Palestinian, as a person whose fathers pained everyday by whats
happening over there. So, its ex-tremely important to me to be
politically aware of whats happening there, but its also
frustrating because theres nothing I can do.
Roxanne: Yes. Israel is important to me because I lived through
the Second World War, I lived through the Ho-locaust, fortunately
in America. But, being informed through the news and media, we knew
what was going on, and when the people were dispersed from the
camp, they had nowhere to go. They didnt want to go back to the
cities and countries where they were persecuted, and they needed a
place to go. So, yes, Israel is important to me because Im a Jew.
And, knowing what the Jews have been through persecution for so
many years it was im-portant for them to have a state to go to, and
have a place to call home. They had no homes. Since the dispersion
of the Jews from Israel thousands of years ago, theyve really had
no homes. Theyve been persecuted in every country theyve lived in,
and constantly pushed out. So, yes, Israel is important to me for
those reasons. Palestine is important to me because these people
have a right to survive. Because the Arabs that live there are also
per-secuted at this time, and its important for them to have a home
as well. A lot of them have been expelled from their own countries
of origin from Jordan, some from Syria, from different parts of the
Middle East.
Ahmed: Important to me?! Because it is my country. Its my home,
I was born there, grew up there.
Chase: Yeah, theyre really important to me. Theyve be-come more
important over the last six months or so, since this summer of
violence in Gaza. For most of my life, it was supposed to be
important to me, where it was supposed to be a place I wanted to go
visit. A place where Jews would be happy to live. I was never
really interested in Israel. I wasnt very religious, and so it
never seemed that appeal-
ing to me. But, as Ive gotten older, Im really interested in
politics of all sorts, and so Israel, politically, because of the
conflicts there, has become really important to me. Its really
important to me because as a Jewish person, whether I like it or
not, Im connected to Israel. And so, Im kind of embracing that. Im
obviously not embracing the identity of feeling Israeli or
something, but embrac-ing that people are going to connect me to
Israel, and so how am I going to represent my own views on Israel,
and how am I going to represent my Judaism differently than Israel
represents Jewishness. But, Palestine is important to me for a lot
of the same reasons. While Im interested in politics and human
rights and things like that, I guess I focus more on the
Palestinian issue nowadays because I feel that in one way or
another, while Im not actually in any way connected to the people
who commit violence against Palestinians Israelis and the Israeli
army I am connected to them in that they represent my culture. I
dont feel that all Jews have the responsibility towards Palestinian
people, towards Israel. If you want nothing to do with it, thats
fine, but I feel because Im Jewish I do have a responsibility to
care about Israel and care about Palestine. In the same way that I
feel, as a human being, I have a responsibility to care about all
human beings.
Adam: Quite. Very important. Why is it important? I mean, as a
human being I think its this grave human in-justice that has
occurred. As a Palestinian, its my heri-tage, where the customs I
grew up with originated, and it seems to be a threatened culture
that who knows how long it will last if the state of things
continue on this way. So its very important, not just personally
for my identity and for Palestinians identity, but I think its also
a grave civil rights abuse, human rights abuse that all people
should be concerned with.
Ron: Well, Israels important to me as a place for Jewish people
to be able to live, more as an idea. For me, its not an important
destination as far as a place to live, for me personally, but I
recognize as a Jewish homeland it
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I am a third generation Jewish-American. My paternal
grandfathers parents, Helen and David, immigrated to the US from
Poland in 1929. They were not religious, but Dave came from a very
observant family who was resistant to the idea of leaving Poland.
Helen and Dave arrived in the US in the early 1930s, raised my
grandfather in Brooklyn, and watched nervously from afar as their
family experienced increased anti-Semitism.
Some of my relatives who did not immigrate before the war
perished in the Holocaust. Starting when I was young, my father
loved to tell me the story of one of the few relatives who
survived, his great-aunt Anna.
Anna was sent to a camp where she and others were gathered
together and were told that they would be killed the next day. That
next day, she was trans-ferred to Auschwitz. At the next camp, they
made the same threat. Amazingly enough, the following day was
liberation. After the war, she aided in the Red Cross for some time
to help refugees. During this time, she arranged passage to New
York.
Prior to the war, Annas fianc, Hymie, had emi-grated from Poland
to New York and Anna had planned to follow soon after. They lost
contact during the war, but Hymie kept his faith that Anna would
return. Hymie was unsure of Annas status and he went to the port
everyday to wait for her to come in. He had no way to know what had
happened to her, that she had been taken to a camp, but he
continued to check for her. Finally, one day, she arrived and he
was there waiting and they were reunited. Soon they married and
lived the rest of their lives together.
provides a little possibility of sanctuary for Jews, not in a
religious sense, but the idea that you have a place where you can
go and achieve instant citizenship. In regards to Palestine, I
believe all people deserve to have a home. I dont know much about
the conflict in regards to Palestin-ians and their interest in
Palestine. So it has importance to me, because its sad that theres
so much fighting in that region, but I dont know if it has anything
to do with the actual territory, as much as it has to do with
harder to de-fine problems.
Anwar: Well, Israel and Palestine are both important to me. The
reason is thats where my parents come from and my grandparents.
Thats where my history comes. Though, Ive been born and raised in
the United States, which is a country that I love and feel just as
strong about. I feel my attachment to Palestine, or Israel, or
whatever youd like to call it, is very strong. I feel that one day,
Id like to retire there and enjoy my life there just feel
com-fortable in my skin there.
Anna: I feel like Im told theyre supposed to be important to me.
Jews and Americans in general are encouraged to give a lot of
attention to that conflict in particular. I also give it attention
because youre studying it, because so many friends and family have
been to Israel. Theyre also important generally to me because Im
concerned with human rights. Obviously, there are violations going
on there. Personally, when I think about myself, my main concern is
not this conflict, but its important to me like a lot of other
issues are. Its been growing in importance for me for a few
reasons. Ive encountered more antisem-itism in the past year than I
ever have before. I grew up in a very Jewish area, and while I was
aware antisemitism existed in the world, I never came face to face
with it until this past year when I was abroad [in the UK]. So, I
feel a stronger kinship to Jews than I used to. And then, for that
reason, and because a lot of Jewish discussions revolve around
Israel, its taken on more importance.
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Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel, 1969-1974
There were no such When was there Palestinian people state? It
was not as Palestinian people in itself as a Palestinian and threw
them out away from them.
an independent with a Palestinian though there was a Palestine
considering people and we came and took their country They did not
exist.
thing as Palestinians.
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How do you feel your identity(cultural, ethnic, religious, or
national) affects your relationship to Palestine?I s r a e l
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Roxanne: I think that because I grew up at the time that I did
in the 40s, particularly I was very young and very impressionable.
What was happening to the Jewish pop-ulation in Europe was on
everyones tongue. People were talking about it constantly, and
there was a great fear that it could come here. They used to have
Nazi-bund meet-ings in the United States, and people were afraid at
that time that we could also be persecuted, as Jews, like the
European Jews were. There was a lot of antisemitism I ex-perienced
growing up. So, Israel is important to me be-cause Im from a
generation of people that lived through the Holocaust. Who had
friends whose families were mur-dered, whole families just
slaughtered for no reason just because they were Jews. I dont agree
with all the politics that go on in Israel, but then, Im an
American and I dont live there. Its hard for me to speak as an
Israeli citizen might speak, because they have a different point of
view than I do as an American. As an American, I see that they
break the rules of humanitarianism, and that affects me. I would
like to see things changed there.
Ahmed: I still have family over there. I still have cous-ins. My
people are over there. Its nothing changed. I am American. I love
the United States, but I still have a lot of feelings for my
country. Nothings changed for me since moving to America and
becoming an American.
Chase: Well, I answered this a bit already, but essentially
because Im Jewish, I grew up with a lot of education about Israel.
To be honest, it was all really superficial. I never really learned
anything about the Knesset, or the Prime Ministers, or even the
wars. Just that Israel was a wonderful place, it was beautiful, it
was prosperous, it had amazing advancements, it was democratic, and
that we should support it because antisemitism will never go away.
Because antisemitism will never go away, theres this fear that its
a constant form of racism that just goes up and down in history.
And so, Israel is a safe place for Jews and its a place where Jews
can be Jews
without being judged. And, thats a really cool thing. Ive never
been to Israel, but even imagining Israel, I dont think I would
ever want to live there, but I often do like living in places where
there are lots of Jewish people. It makes me more comfortable. And
so, I can understand the connection to Israel that Jews have. But,
on the other hand, Israel, due to both Jews, non-Jews, people who
love Jews, and anti-Semites, Israel represents all Jews, and
therefore represents me. I would like to, in a way, deny that
representation. The Israeli government, first and foremost, only
really represents its government. Second, it represents Israeli
people, not all Israeli people, but some Israeli people. And, it
represents people who donate to Israel, including Jewish people,
Evangelical Christians, and our government the US. So thats how my
cultural identity relates to Israel. I have to say that if I wasnt
Jewish I wouldnt care about Israel and Palestine as much. If I
werent Jewish, but still American, I still think I would have some
sort of responsibility around the issue because the Israels actions
cannot continue if the US stops its support for it. I mean, country
after country is condemning Israels actions, but the US chooses not
to. So, as an American, I would like to be involved in changing the
US opinion of Israels actions. In regards to Palestine, well, I
guess Ive answered that already. My relationship to Israel through
my culture and my national identity affects my relationship to
Palestine, for all those reasons. That I feel Im responsible, not
responsible for whats happening in Palestine, but if I choose to
ignore it, Im responsible for it continuing.
Adam: Well I definitely side more with Palestinian causes than I
do with Israeli causes. Id like to think its because Im a
passionate human being that cares about human rights. Whenever I
talk to people about Palestinian-Israe-li issues, I always go along
and say, yknow what were going to have differing opinions, were
going to think that one side deserves more than the other, but lets
just start off with the basic fact that people should stop
murdering other people. And, when you have 1,200 people die in
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a weekend because of rocket attacks and schools being shut down
and energy being stopped, you start to feel with the Palestinians
more. So, I definitely side more with that side of the issue, but
also my national identity really comes to play in America. When Im
talking about the is-sue, I really feel like I have to be an expert
for somebody to believe me, or theyll just assume that anything Im
say-ing is just because Im Palestinian. So, for me, the bat for
activism is so much higher because Im not even trusted, or my
opinion isnt taken for what it is. Im okay with that. I think
everybodys opinions should be criticized heavily, but my opinions
are definitely more than the next guys are, which Im fine with
because I know my stuff, so Im fine with answering any question
anybody might have.
Ron: I dont think of a relationship to Palestine in regards to
an immediate identity of mine. I dont think of it as a destination.
In regards to national identity, I dont have the same interest that
the US has in protecting Israel on a national level, because of
interest in oil [in the Middle East]. I think its not a good
reason, but I guess if we need a reason, and thats the only one the
US can stand behind, then I guess we have to live with that. I
approach Judaism from a cultural standpoint. So, thats my cultural
stance in regards to the desire to see an Israel exist. To me, I
think the idea of the Diaspora is that by virtue of being Jewish,
not necessarily through deity, we are actually on the outposts. We
are actually intended to be where we are, that we shouldnt be in
Israel. That we are bringing Israel elsewhere and the idea of
Jewishness and Jewish ideology and Jewish charity and tzedakah and
all of that. And bring that to other parts of the globe, and when
we travel to other parts of the globe, that arent Israel, we seek
it out and identify with it. My mother, every time she would go
traveling, no matter where it was, would open the phonebook to see
if there was a temple. She was al-ways interested. She would look
up all the Jewish names in the phonebook, just to identify. I think
thats an import-ant thing the concept of Jewish geography. We like
to
My dad was born in 1949 in Gaza. My dad always described Gaza as
a paradise. He would say, Yasmine, you wake up in the morning, you
drink a cup of tea, you sit on your porch and relax, you go to the
beach, you catch fish, it is beautiful, but Yasmine, here in
America life is work.
My dad as a child would go to the beach every-day, and when he
came here when we were young he would take us to the pool or the
beach at least once a week, he loved the sun, the sand, the
free-dom. Around the age of 18, my dad left Gaza for Beirut to
study at the university there, and majored in Geography. I am not
sure at what age my dad left for America exactly, because, to be
honest, I do not know much about my father. Everything I know about
him is stories that his sister told her kids, who told my mother
because she speaks to them. However I do know my dad left for
America because his sister lived there; he moved for the same
American rhetoric the land of opportunity. That was the last time
my dad lived in the Middle East, and specifically he hasnt been to
Gaza since he was 18. I am not entirely sure about how my dad felt
about America upon initially moving to it, but most importantly I
do know how my dad feels about America now. He hates it, plain and
simple. He is absolutely miserable. Gaza was his dream, his
paradise that has forever been ingrained into his memory as the
place he left it in 1966, the place where he grew, the place he
loved.
I believe my dad hates America for multiple rea-sons - work,
family, quality of life. In the Middle East, a lot of the work
environment is less stressful than a lot of jobs in America. My dad
owns a grocery
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know. Ask my children: anytime we talk about someone who has
done something, oh, you know they were Jew-ish! It comes up all the
time. Its like the NAACP, started [in part] by Jewish people,
because we feel the impor-tance of that - not to be righteous or to
be praised for do-ing something, but to do something because its
the right thing to do. Israel is not conceptually a place, but as
its been posed to me by rabbis and texts, its the people. The
people is what Israel is. We are the people, and there-fore we make
up what Israel is. We are Israel. We are the ambassadors. We are
the people who are in our various outposts, bringing that kind of
ideology of what Judaism is to people. To me, thats more important
than just being in a tiny spot of land. First of all, it couldnt
accommodate us all. If we all moved there, Hey, were all here!
Ohboy these rooms are small. Wed just be crowded there. The
[Jewish] ideology, you feel it when youre there. You hear about
Palestinian schools that are started by Jews, and all sorts of
outreach by progressive Jews to support Palestinian- and
Jewish-Israeli dialogue, resolutions, and things like that. The
fundamentalists dont generally do so well in the outposts, because
theyre so darn strident. We know how to take things with a grain of
salt.
Anwar: Like I said I was born and raised in America, so when you
live in America, youre used to all the freedom and liberties
America gives you which is more than what most countries around the
globe so indeed you might say Im spoiled in that matter, or thats
the way it should be. So, when you travel to Palestine, the first
place you stop off is Ben-Gurion Airport, which is Israeli
territory, and you start feeling the discrimination and racism of
being a Palestinian right at the door, right at the gate, right in
the plane. The effect is that you dont get used to it. You learn
how to live with it, or around it, but you just dont get used to
being occupied. Its not a good feeling. I dont think the Israelis
would like it either if they were occupied. I think they would
rebel and do something about it as well. Yet, being Palestinian in
the Occupied in Palestine, I dont
in one of the most dangerous streets in Ameri-ca, Tamarind Ave
[West Palm Beach, Florida],where he has seen the worst of the worst
of peo-ple. His perception of Americans has been creat-ed out of
his negative experiences working there. Also, my dad explains his
father as being one of the most important people in Gaza. People
would come to his father for advice, help, conversation, fun. He
explains his house as being a place where everyone could gather to
drink some tea, and actually experience life. Nothing compared to
how life is experienced here. Which brings me to quality. Over all,
I believe that my dad values quality of life much more in Gaza than
anything compared to the quality of life in America. People are
weak here, cruel and ready to take your mon-ey at any moment. In
Gaza, my dad was surround-ed by people he trusted, loved, and cared
for.
The thing is though, I am not entirely sure if my dad sees Gaza
in the condition that it stands today. He has somehow created his
own depiction of Gaza as if it is frozen in time from when he had
left it. I believe that my father has created some deeply ingrained
hatred towards himself and everyone around him for the life he has
to experience now, or the fact that he is not experiencing life
whatsoever and has not experienced life since hes come to the US.
The only way he acknowledges the state of Palestine today is by
hating everything around him. I dont intend this to be me speaking
ill of my father, he still is a hard working man who has provided
me financial support my entire life, even with his emotional state,
but his emotional state has affected us as a family. My dad
certainly feels extremely strong towards Gaza, but has never made
any attempt to return to
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like to call them the Occupied Territories, because its
Palestine.
Anna: I was raised Jewish, I had a bat mitzvah, and I was
confirmed in the Jewish faith. For most of my life, I did not
associate my Judaism with Israel, at all. When I had my bat
mitzvah, they told me I was now eligible for a trip to Is-rael and
encouraged me to go. To me, Judaism was much more of a cultural and
learning experience than it was related specifically to Israel. I
am not as well acquainted as I should be for someone that went to
Hebrew school for so long, but Judaism tends to promote certain
tenets, and I feel theres a disassociation between those tenets and
Israels policies towards Palestine.
Yasmine: I think that, one, it gets kind of annoying be-cause
when people hear me say Im pro-Palestine, it is only based off me
being Palestinian. There is no sort of rationality to me being
pro-Palestine, which is super frustrating. Clearly, I agree with
Palestine on the political issues. So, I think its completely
bullshit that my nation-ality has been infused with my attitude
towards it. I like to think that Im a more rational person that can
separate themselves from their nationality and their identity,
which I have been doing my entire life while being also Ameri-can.
With Israel, its a threat to my people - the death of my people. So
thats how it affects my relationship to Israel.
the Middle East or Gaza in general, or even visit, even though
he hates America. I am not sure entirely why, maybe its fear, the
fear of seeing the truth of what has actually happened to your
people, your state, the place you last saw your parents, where they
died. Maybe he uses America as a shield to protect himself from the
actual horrors of Gaza, but that simultaneously makes him hate
himself and everything else because he cannot come to physical
terms with Gaza, if he was to return from the place he has created
in his mind. It is easy to sit inside a country to criticize its
policies, to con-tribute to lack of change of your environment and
be apart of the cycle of irrational hate, and thats what he has
done, what many defeated people have done. Hes hidden himself from
the place that hurts him the most.
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1967
These borders refer to the Green Line set during the 1949
Armistice Agreements, following what is referred to as either the
War of Independence, or the Nakba (Arabic for Catastrophe). These
were the borders between 1949 and 1967.
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What are your thoughts on Birthright?
Ahmed: Its a problem. The Israelis think they are Gods cho-sen
people. Everybody else is no good. They are the only people close
to God. The rest is bullshit. Its different than Islam. Islam
believes in everybody. We believe in Moses, we believe in Jesus
Christ, we believe in everybody. But Israelis dont believe nobody
except Moses. They are very serious with religion. They dont like
anybody. But, I feel bad about Birthright. The Jewish come from all
over. See, Europe in the 1900s, they wanted to get rid of the
Jewish, thats why they gave them Palestine, to get rid of them. To
keep them over there, and to control the Arabs. To help them fight
the Arabs and keep them weak.
Chase: Its basically a propaganda tour of Israel for young Jews
that are pretty impressionable. I think that it was created in the
last twenty years because the generation after the generation that
went through the Holocaust, and one generations after that
generation the grandchildren of the people who went through the
Holocaust arent as religious, arent as connected to antisemitism,
and arent as connected to Israel. I wouldnt say most Jews, but a
lot of us young Jews see Israel as it is now havent seen it form
and grow. We havent seen a world without Israel, where Jews were
being persecuted and had nowhere to go. So, I think Birthright is a
propaganda tour to foster connec-tion between Jews and Israel. And,
its also a program to match-make young Jews, so yknow, they can
continue the bloodline and raise more Jewish children. I have yet
to go on it, but Im curious to know how educational it actually is.
Because, Ive seen a lot of my friends from high school that have
gone on it, and what they have to come back and tell me never has
anything to do with the history, never. It has to do with how much
fun they had, who they hooked up with, how many parties they went
to in Tel Aviv, and how much they drank. And, secondary, yes, a lot
of people have come back more religious. But, its never really
about Israel, its never about the history, its never really about a
kind of authentic connection. I think its really constructed, what
people come back with. I also think its really unfair
According to its website, Taglit-Birthright Israel provides a
gift of peer group, educational trips to Israel for Jewish young
adults ages 18 to 26. Taglit-Birthright Israels founders created
this program to send young Jewish adults from all over the world to
Israel as a gift in order to diminish the growing division between
Israel and Jewish communities around the world; to strengthen the
sense of solidarity between Israeli youth and Jewish communities
throughout the world; and to promote the idea of a trip to Israel
for all Diaspora Jews as a critical part of Jewish life outside of
Israel. More information can be found at
www.birthrightisrael.com.
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that Jews have a right to this free trip and Palestinians dont.
The problem is Palestinians dont have a right to return to their
own land, but American Jews who have never had one family member
live in Israel can suddenly go there for free, be accepted and
welcomed, and get citizenship without any effort. So, I think thats
really unfair and Birthright just perpetuates that that is our
right as Jews. Nevertheless, Im going on Birthright. Im going on
Birthright as a part of research. I can educate myself only so much
about the issues, without actually going to the region. I feel that
in order to gain a fuller understanding, I should live there, but
the next best thing is to visit. But, to be honest, even if I wasnt
doing research on Israel, I would probably still go on Birthright.
Its free, and I think that if I werent going on the trip, somebody
would be going on the trip in my place. I think Im strong-willed
enough, and strong in my opinions enough, that I wont be
brainwashed. Im also only going with the intention to extend my
stay and also travel to Palestine, and to see that perspective.
Because I would feel very guilty if I did not do that. Yknow, so Im
using Israels private conservative funding to actually be able to
go to Israel and go to Palestine, and get both perspectives, which
is not what they want.
Adam: Its disgusting. I hate that program so much. The idea
behind it is nice. Its one more Lego piece in this giant house of
propaganda. Its telling people who havent been there that they have
a right to be there. When I went over there, I got questioned
before being able to enter the coun-try, for like an hour. I got
guns pointed at my face when Im trying to go, not where yknow 3,000
years ago someone may have lived, but to where my grandfather was
born and where we have a house and my family lives there. So, the
idea that its so hard for me to get to where my family is, and its
like a Spring Break for people to go over there. Its like, oh yeah,
yknow Im Jewish, so I have a birth right to be there. Just those
two words are so appalling. Its a huge slap in the face to the
Palestinian people.
Ron: Well, I kind of equate it to almost like a time-share kind
of thing. The idea that youre going to go to Israel, and youre
going to have a very big sales pitch. Youre gonna have a sales
pitch on multiple levels. Its supported by Jews in the US, who fund
most of Israels existence, as I understand to be the case, and by
Israelis. And, the reason they want you to go is to identify with
Israel. But, I think its a good thing. I think its a good thing to
go and see Israel. I think its an important place for all people to
go. Its interesting. When I made my presentations [during a
business trip to Israel], I was in a room of 400 people, and it was
the first time I was in a room with 400 Jewish people and I wasnt
praying, or doing some sort of social action thing. Im serious. Its
very unusual. And, to have that commonality with people, its nice,
its comforting. For lack of a better reference, its a little bit
like going to New York going to Brooklyn or going to where theres a
high concentration of Jewish people. But, I think the Birthright
thing is good, but I also think its going to be a bit of a
head-trip for my daughters, Anna and Sara. They can play on you a
lot. Youre single, youre Jewish, and you should marry a Jewish boy
and get married right away! Im serious. This is a very strident
thing, and thats why I refer to it like a time-share. Time-shares
are like the joke yknow what I mean. You go to a time-share, and
people get a free weekend in Palm Springs, and they end up buying a
time-share theyd never thought theyd buy a time-share! Youre going
to go to Israel and yknow. When I was in Israel, people would talk
about people getting reli-gious. People who never thought they
would get religious, go to Israel! Whatever their religion, they
would just get religious when they were there. All of a sudden they
would discover their religion. Well, that didnt happen to me. A
friend of mine was walking me around different really holy parts of
Jerusalem, for Jews or Christians or Muslims, and hes like this is
really important and Im like, I have to tell you, I dont know what
it is, I dont know what its refer-encing, and Im not going to
remember it, so dont tell me too many of the details. Its more of a
concept than a site to me. But, I do think Birthright is a good
thing. I think its
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important to go with your peers, with people of your age. I
think that you will get a very biased point of view, and it will be
good for you to get that biased point of view. I think its a
valuable opportunity. But maybe Ill have a different opinion after
speaking with someone after they come back from it, because Ive
never directly spoken to anyone that has been on it. Right now,
there are a lot of conflicts going on in Israel but there has been
for a long time so youre always wondering what kind of risk are you
at of being in harms way. This is one aspect of it that I do not
take lightly.
Anwar: Truthfully, if the government wants to pay for that trip,
I have no problem with that, but not on the backs of the lands of
the Palestinian people. I dont mind living next to Jews, as long as
they behave like citizens of the world. Theres not a problem with
that. And, yknow that they reimburse the people that theyve taken
their prop-erty and livelihoods from. They need to be reimbursed at
whatever expense, in my opinion. I mean they are a rich and
powerful nation. Its time they start paying back the people that
they built the wealth on. It would be really nice to have a country
and a house and property given to me, starting from there, starting
my life from there.
Anna: [Big Sigh.] Im very mixed about going. On one hand, I
recognize fully that its a tool for propaganda, or even not
necessarily that strong of a word, but I know its trying to
influence how I think about the political situation, but its also
an incredible opportunity that Ive decided to take advantage of.
Its uncomfortable and weird to have something literally called
Birthright, because I dont think I have any right to Israel as an
American from LA. The name is very strange, but travel is expensive
and Id really like to see Israel, so this is how Im going to do it.
I dont think its possible, politically and financially, for
Palestinians to have the equivalent kind of trip. Though, it would
be the most instructive to have both groups go together on the same
trip, but since thats not the political agenda of the organizers,
theyre not going to do that.
Yasmine: Wheres my Birthright? Its as simple as that. Wheres my
Birthright?! Its fucking ridiculous. I dont agree with Birthright
clearly. Its completely unfair. Its completely manipulative. It
brainwashes people if you dont go in there already knowing your
stance. If youre not socially and politically aware, if you dont
critique things, then youre totally going to align yourself with
Israels political views. Its so money-oriented. It just encourages
people in America to fund Israel further, and attack the
Palestinian people. So, fuck Birthright. Honestly. Sorry...
Roxanne: I think its a wonderful thing. I only know that it is
an opportunity for any and all young Jews to go to this country, to
see this wonderful country that these people have built up in sixty
years. Also, to see the antiquities, the ancient roads, the digs,
to see all the things you learned about as a child regardless of
your religion in your Sunday School. All the different ethnicities,
religious differences. You see the twelve steps of Christ, the
ancient Jewish antiquities, and the Muslim antiquities. Its an
amazing place, its an amazing country, because it has everything
there for every [Abrahamic] religion. I think that its wonderful
that the Israelis have kept Jerusalem and all of the sites open to
all people. I think Birthright is an amazing thing, for all young
people of Jewish ethnicity.
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Would you go on Birthright if it were offered to you?
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Chase: Yes, with the intention, like I said earlier, of visitng
Palestine too.
Adam: Of course I would. I dont fault the people who go on
Birthright for going on Birthright. At the very least, its a free
vacation. Even if you dont identify with it, youre going to a
wonderful place where history is just every-where. Its beautiful,
theres so much culture there to be had. The people who go there are
not the problem. Its the organization that created it and what
theyre trying to do. Everything thats set up is meant to try and
erase the idea of the Palestinian people having a right to be
there. A lot of people will go and try to defend the Israeli
culture at large, when they say like, oh, this is Israeli
government policies not people, you have to draw a distinction.
And, in general, I agree with that statement. You have to always
remember government does not equal public opinion. But, unlike in
America, something that really should be looked into is that
everybody has to be in the military for three years, or two years
if youre a woman, which means that you are indoctrinated a the age
of eighteen to fight in the Israeli Defense Force, an organization
that is charged with defense by the title, and by and large that
defense is against Palestinians. So, youre taught to see
Palestinians as the enemy. Is it the peoples fault? No. I feel
Birthright is the same place where those types of things come into
play. Its indoctrinating the people to make Palestinian identity
irrelevant or demonized.
Ron: Well, this thing, this program, didnt exist when I was in
high school. I probably would have gone, because at one point I
thought about being a rabbi. That was proba-bly a very short-lived
thought. I was a little embarrassed to go to Israel and inform
people that I had gone 48 or 49 years without actually ever going
there.
Anwar: Of course, absolutely. Why wouldnt I?
Anna: Yes.
Yasmine: Yeah Id go on Birthright! Except, itd be no fun though
on the Palestinian side, right. It would be like a very scary
Birthright. Its so sad that Palestinians cant even do Birthright.
Theres no sort of funding for it. It just doesnt make sense. Its
not a real thing. Like, were gonna bring you here because you
connect to this land? That makes no sense. People connect to the
land without it even being physical most of the time, like when
people who have migrated to a certain country connect to their
homeland. Its just this fabricated thing.
Roxanne: Absolutely.
Ahmed: I would go right away. I would leave everything and go.
No question. I would pack up and leave. I wouldnt even pack up. I
would go immediately same day!
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What relationship do your relatives have with Palestine?I s r a
e l
Adam: A strange one. I mean, its the same thing like me. My
father was born in America, but we still feel very close
culturally, physically. Weve gone to weddings over there. Its still
a place where we culturally call home, even though we dont live
there personally. Every child that dies feels like its one of our
own children that have died. Every attack on a house, every
bulldozed home, every evacuation. My cousin was taken out of his
house the day before what is equivalent to the SAT. He wanted to do
computer science and all this stuff, but he was taken out of his
home the night before at like 2am for questioning and he didnt do
anything and did poorly on his exams because of that whole ordeal.
Not poorly enough that it affected his trajectory, but bad enough
where it was like very disappointing to him, where his morale was
shot. Thats the relationship that it is. You have morale hit after
morale hit, and you can do nothing but hope that things get better.
Its a hope that comes out of a desire to continue to exist, not a
hope for any reason. Theres nothing going on that brings hope on a
day-to-day basis.
Ron: I feel that they [my children] feel distanced from it. I
think my parents felt very connected to it, having visited. Again,
visiting is very different. Before that, its kind of only a
concept. But, I feel my children feel distanced from it, because
its so far. When cultural things stand out, you go, oh wow, they do
the same things we do at home. It becomes really evident. My
impression of Judaism is that its been swinging more to the
conservative over the last 30 years, since I was your age. I think
my children are distanced from it quite heavily. They are somewhat
suspicious of it, and questioning of it, and leery of it. Its very
hard to see that kind of chaos going on, in a part of the world
where you have no experience. So, it makes one wonder, why - why
all thats going on? And, why we cant find a solution for it. We all
face that problem.
Anwar: My relatives are all associated with Palestine. They all
feel it deep in their hearts. Maybe if we had our
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freedoms, wed be allowed to do something else, but the
tightening grip of the Israelis on us have made us a stronger
people, have made us a people more proud than ever to be Palestine
and more determined to push for our liberties and our freedoms. I
believe their behavior has had a reverse effect. Even if theres
just one of us left, were going to continue the struggle against
this apartheid, abusive behavior. And one day, with the will of God
and the good people of the world, there will be peace and freedom
between the Israelis and Palestinians. After all, we do have a lot
in common, and it shouldnt be that hard if we can get rid of the
people who are pushing this in the wrong direction. If we can just
get rid of them, and send them back to the European countries that
they came from, the rest of the people no doubt will get along.
Anna: My father has been to Israel, I think, twice, and has
really enjoyed his time there. I think he went to Israel in his 50s
or late 40s, and was very excited to get there, and has encouraged
me to go. My mother I dont think has any real interest in Israel.
Im sure if she was offered Birthright, she would go, but there are
a lot of places in the world shed be interested in going. My sister
will be joining me on Birthright. Its important that we both go
together, and have that experience together.
Yasmine: I would say that all my relatives hate Israel. My dad
thinks that Palestinian people really need to separate themselves
from religion when it comes to politics. Thats something he will
say, but he really hates Israelis, he really hates Jewish people.
Its an instinctual feeling for him. He understands the politics of
it as well, but he would never be a part of any sort of social
change. I think thats a huge issue that the Arab population has.
Theyre just not making the situation better. Theyll just hate
Jewish people for the rest of their lives. For most of my dads
life, he doesnt critique Israels policy, or even know that in depth
whats happening politically when thats something hes really
emotionally involved in. My mom was actually talking to me the
other day - this is funny - on how
Palestinian and Jewish people are like the same fucking thing -
they both hate each other. And, how the Jews are actually better
than the Palestinians because she fucking loves her doctor. But,
no, they all hate Israel and Jews.
Roxanne: As far as my parents are concerned, theyre from a
generation even different from my generation. To them, Israel was
everything, and today, I dont think they would be sympathetic to
the Palestinians. I think today they would be very much influenced
by the rhetoric that comes out of Israel, in the news, and they
would be very pro-Israel. To them, I think, the Arabs are the
enemy. It would be a totally different mindset that my parents
would have if they were alive today. My grandson, who is of a
completely different generation, has a more open and honest
political view of the situation in Israel today. And, Ive learned a
lot from him. Hes twenty-one. Its a far different opinion and a far
different viewpoint. And, Im very grateful from the knowledge that
I have gained from him. I think that its the youth of today that
will help the future of the Palestinians and the Israelis. Im
hoping that will be what will happen with the moderates of Israel,
Palestinian, and the United States influence will all come together
to find peace there for these people. My daughter Wendy I dont
think she has any association at all with Israel. I dont think she
understands the political views or is even interested. To her, its
a country across the world. You find within different families many
different points of view or points of interest. Im very happy that
my grandson is interested, politically, with what is going on. Im
glad that he is a humanitarian, and he cares about the world and
what is happening in it. My husband has a completely different
point of view. Hes like my parents. To him, Israel is everything.
He believes that Israel can do no wrong that its a perfect child.
But, hes also not informed, and he doesnt read about it, and he has
these beliefs. And he tells me Im anti-Israel and anti-Jew. And,
thats not true. Im very pro-Israel. I want to see Israel survive.
So, in our family, were a potpourri of opinions.
-
/102 /103STATE OF EXCEPTION STATE OF EXCEPTION
Ahmed: They still feel that it is there home. They are American,
but they still have a relationship to Gaza. They live over here.
They cant go back, because thats a problem, because their home is
gone. And, the relatives in Palestine, its bad, very bad, very bad.
They have nothing over there. They have no food, no water, no
medical supply. Its different in Gaza than the West Bank. Theyre
surrounded. The West Bank has more things going for them than Gaza.
In the Gaza Strip, they got nothing. And they cant go anywhere,
because no country will accept them.
Chase: I guess Ill talk about my grandparents, who raised me. My
grandfather, I dont talk about politics as much with him because he
doesnt listen and he doesnt want to hear your opinion on it. He is
extremely pro-Israel. He think all Arabs, whether theyre
Palestinian or Jordanian or Lebanese or Moroccan or even if youre
an Iranian Muslim, whos not even Arabic, that theyre trying to
drive the Jews into the sea. That theyre all trying to kill Jews,
and therefore, while he wouldnt say it, that if we have to, we kill
them first to defend ourselves. And so, he thinks Israel has a
right to exist, of course, and has a right to exist as it does,
which not in his eyes, but in my eyes is a violent oppressor of
Palestine and Palestinians. So hes an unapologetic and fervent
supporter of Israel. And I have to say that while hes not nearly as
progressive as I am or my grandmother is, hes essentially pretty
liberal on nearly everything. He hates conservative politics,
except on this issue. My grandmother is much easier to talk to
about these things. A lot of my interest in Jewish identity and its
relation to Israel comes from arguing with my mother all the time
about Israel, because I believe she is not only intelligent enough,
but empathetic enough and open enough to really learn from other
people in discussions, in arguments, and really hear the other
side. Over the last couple years, weve had really heated arguments,
I mean real arguments that turn into yelling, over Israel.
Basically, she supports Israel, which I think comes from her
generation. She grew up during the Holocaust, around a lot of
antisemitism, and in a culture that only gave her pro-Israeli
rhetoric, and so I cant blame her. Essentially, she is very
sympathetic, very empathetic, about Palestinian rights, about
Palestinian lives. But, I think she has a hard time seeing that
Jews can be the oppressor, because we never really have been until
the state of Israel. And so, I think she has a hard time seeing
that what Israel does is not self-defense. She will always support
Israel, but can also critique Israel. But, she still continues to
have stereotypes about Arabs and Palestinians. But, I feel my mom
is more open to education around the issues and I feel the more we
talk, the more educated she becomes about the issues, and the more
aware she becomes.
-
/104 /105STATE OF EXCEPTION STATE OF EXCEPTION
Present (2015)
These borders refer to the annexation of Israeli land through
the settlement of the West Bank. Since the beginning of the 21st
century, a physical border has been created through the
construction of the Separation Barrier, or Apartheid Wall.
-
/106 /107STATE OF EXCEPTION STATE OF EXCEPTION
Pre-1947
Pre-1947 refers to the British Mandate of Palestine, before the
establishment of Israel.
-
/108 /109STATE OF EXCEPTION STATE OF EXCEPTION
1860:1882-1903:1897:
1901:
1904-1914:
1914-1918:1916-1918:1917:
1918:1919-1923:1924-1929:
1929:1929-1939:
1933:1933-1948:
1936-1939:1939-1945:
1947:
1948:1948-1949:1956:1960-1962:19671972:
1973:1974:1979:
First Zionist Jewish settlement is built in Palestine, near
Jerusalem.First Aliyah. An estimated 30,000 Jews migrate to
Palestine.The First Zionist Congress meets in Basel, and
establishes World Zionist Organization.Jewish settlers build Tel
Aviv, near the populous Palestinian city of Jaffa.Second Aliyah. An
estimated 40,000 Jews migrate to Palestine. Mainly from Russia,
they flee due to rising antisemitism.WWI.First Arab Revolt.Balfour
Declaration, affirming British support for Israel as a home-land
for the Jewish people.End of WWI. The Ottoman Empire
dissolves.Third Aliyah. An estimated 40,000 Jews migrate to
PalestineFourth Aliyah. An estimated 40,000 Jews migrate to
Palestine. Mainly from Poland and Hungary, they flee due to rising
antisemi-tism.Palestinian Riots in Jerusalem.Fifth Aliyah. An
estimated 250,000 Jews migrate to Palestine, due to the rise of
Nazism in Germany.Hitler is elected Chancellor of Germany.Aliyah
Bet (Illegal Migration). An estimated 110,000 Jews migrate to
Palestine illegally.Great Arab Revolt.WWII and the Holocaust. An
estimated 6,000,000 Jews (two-thirds of the European Jewish
population) are killed, and an innumerable amount of Jews in Europe
are displaced.UN Partition Plan, proposing two states, one for the
Jews and one for the Palestinians. This plan gives approximately
55% of land to the Jews, and 45% to the Palestinians. Establishment
of Israel. The Nakba (Catastrophe).First Arab-Israeli War. Israel
wins.Sinai Campaign.Eichmann Trial and Execution in Jerusalem.The
Six-Day War. Results in a huge acquisition of land for
Israel.Munich Olympic Massacre. 11 Israeli atheletes are kidnapped
and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist organization.Yom Kippur
War.Legitimization of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) by
UN.Egypt-Israeli-US Peace Agreement (Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin,
Jimmy Carter) resulting in Israels withdrawal from Sinai.
First Lebanon WarFirst Intifada against Israeli occupation.PLO
officially decalres the Palestinian state.Oslo Accords (Yitzhak
Rabin, Yasser Arafat, and Bill Clinton).Israeli-Jordan Peace
AgreementIsraeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, is assassinated by
an Israeli right-wing ultranationalist.Taglit-Birthright Israel is
initiated.Second Intifada, which is much more violent than the
first.Construction begins on the Israeli West Bank Barrier, aka the
Wall.Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah, is elected President of
Palestine over Mustafa Barghouti, an independent.Disengagement from
Occupied TerritoriesHamas is democratically elected, gaining more
votes than Fatah for the first time.Second Lebanon WarOperation
Cast Lead. Over three weeks, 13 Israelis (10 soldiers, 4 via
friendly fire and 3 civilians) are killed, and 518 injured. 1,417
Palestinians are killed, 5,303 are injured, and 120 are captured.
4,000 homes are destroyed, and over 50,800 Gaza residents are
displaced.Israels Iron Dome Air Defense System is operational. It
defends Israel from up to 90% of missiles from Gaza.Operation
Pillar of Defense. Over 8 days, 6 Israelis (4 soldiers and 2
civilians) are killed, and 239 are wound-ed. 103 Palestinians are
killed, and 970 are wounded.The UN partially recognizes
Palestine.Operation Protective Edge. Over 7 weeks, 66 Israeli
soldiers are killed, 6 civilians are killed, and 87 civilians are
wounded. 2,189 Palestinians (513 children, 269 women) are killed.
11,100 Palestinians are wounded. 250 Palestinians are captured.
Over 17,000 homes are destroyed, leaving more than 500,000 Gazans
displaced.
1982:1987-1991:1988:1993:1994:1995:
1999:2000-2005:2002:2005:
2005:2006:
2006:2008-2009:
2011:
2012:
2012:2014:
-
State of Excep
tionChase C
arter
1860:1882-1903:1897:1901:1904-1914:
1914-1918:1916-1918:1917:
1918:1919-1923:1923:1924-1929:
1929:1929-1939:
1933:1933-1948:1935:1936-1939:1939-1945:
1947:
1948:1948-1949:1956:1960-1962:1963:19671972:
1973:1974:1979:
1982:1987-1991:1988:1993:1993:1994:1995:
2000-2005:2002:2005:
2005:2006:2006:
First Zionist Jewish settlement is built in Palestine, near
Jerusalem.First Aliyah. An estimated 30,000 Jews migrate to
Palestine.The First Zionist Congress meets in Basel, and
establishes World Zionist Organization.Jewish settlers build Tel
Aviv, near the populous Palestinian city of Jaffa.Second Aliyah. An
estimated 40,000 Jews migrate to Palestine. Mainly from Russia,
they flee due to rising antisemitism.WWI.First Arab Revolt.Balfour
Declaration, affirming British support for Israel as a homeland for
the Jewish people.End of WWI. The Ottoman Empire dissolves.Third
Aliyah. An estimated 40,000 Jews migrate to PalestineOn June 24, my
grandfather is born in Brooklyn, NY.Fourth Aliyah. An estimated
40,000 Jews migrate to Palestine. Mainly from Poland and Hungary,
they flee due to rising antisemitism.Palestinian Riots in
Jerusalem.Fifth Aliyah. An estimated 250,000 Jews migrate to
Palestine, due to the rise of Nazism in Germany.Hitler is elected
Chancellor of Germany.Aliyah Bet (Illegal Migration). An estimated
110,000 Jews migrate to Palestine illegally.On June 21, my
grandmother is born in Chicago, IL.Great Arab Revolt.WWII and the
Holocaust. An estimated 6,000,000 Jews (two-thirds of the European
Jewish population) are killed, and an innumerable amount of Jews in
Europe are displaced.UN Partition Plan, proposing two states, one
for the Jews and one for the Palestinians. This plan gives
approximately 55% of land to the Jews, and 45% to the Palestinians.
Establishment of Israel. The Nakba (Catastrophe).First Arab-Israeli
War. Israel wins.Sinai Campaign.Eichmann Trial and Execution in
Jerusalem.On February 13, my mother is born in Los Angeles, CA.The
Six-Day War. Results in a huge acquisition of land for
Israel.Munich Olympic Massacre. 11 Israeli atheletes are kidnapped
and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist organization.Yom Kippur
War.Legitimization of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) by
UN.Egypt-Israeli-US Peace Agreement (Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin,
Jimmy Carter) resulting in Israels withdrawal from Sinai.First
Lebanon WarFirst Intifada against Israeli occupation.PLO officially
decalres the Palestinian state.On January 27, I am born in Los
Angeles, CA.Oslo Accords (Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat, and Bill
Clinton).Israeli-Jordan Peace AgreementIsraeli Prime Minister,
Yitzhak Rabin, is assassinated by an Israeli right-wing
ultranationalist.Second Intifada, which is much more violent than
the first.Construction begins on the Israeli West Bank Barrier, aka
the Wall.Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah, is elected President of
Palestine over Mustafa Barghouti, an independent.Disengagement from
Occupied TerritoriesHamas is democratically elected, gaining more
votes than Fatah for the first time.Second Lebanon War
State of Exception2008-2009:
2011: 2012:
2012:2014:
Operation Cast Lead. Over three weeks, 13 Israelis (10 soldiers,
4 via friendly fire and 3 civilians) are killed, and 518 injured.
1,417 Palestinians are killed, 5,303 are injured, and 120 are
captured. 4,000 homes are destroyed, and over 50,800 Gaza residents
are displaced.Israels Iron Dome Air Defense System is operational.
It defends Israel from up to 90% of missiles from Gaza.Operation
Pillar of Defense. Over 8 days, 6 Israelis (4 soldiers and 2
civilians) are killed, and 239 are wounded. 103 Palestinians are
killed, and 970 are wounded.The UN partially recognizes
Palestine.Operation Protective Edge. Over 7 weeks, 66 Israeli
soldiers are killed, 6 civilians are killed, and 87 civilians are
wounded. 2,189 Palestinians (513 children, 269 women) are killed.
11,100 Palestinians are wounded. 250 Palestinians are captured.
Over 17,000 homes are destroyed, leaving more than 500,000 Gazans
displaced.