Apartheid Rewarded and more, by Mazin Qumsiyeh

The US government just decided to grant visa free entry to “Israel,” a
privilege not given to many allies in Europe or other countries In a
testing period of about two months, Palestinian Americans were able to
obtain “permit” to use Ben Gurion Airport (a Palestinian airport built
before Israel was created and taken and renamed like most assets of this
country colonized and stolen). Regular Palestinians would still be excluded
from this ability. And of course any Jew in any country in the world
(including converts) is by Israeli law a national of the state of Israel
(whether they want it or not) and is entitled to get automatic citizenship
and privileges over the natives to live anywhere in historic Palestine and
use any mode of transportation they chose.

In the past 24 hours I reflected on how “Israel” and Zionism became so powerful that they dictate policies of a government like the United States? The US public if asked would oppose
such visa waiver let alone billions of tax dollars annually given to a
country that persistently violates human rights.

There is actually a US law
against supporting such countries (the Leahy law, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leahy_Law ). Of course “Israel” is a
persistent violator of human rights as testified to regularly by ALL human
rights organizations (Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human
Rights, B’Tselem etc), the UN and even the US’s own state department.

This is not to mention the regular Israeli killings with impunity of US
citizens from the crew of the USS Liberty to Rachel Corrie to Shireen
Abu Aqleh. Or the trillions of tax $ spent on wars largely for Israel (Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Somalia etc). So again the question is why?
Part of the answer lies in the strong Zionist lobbies (many books were
written on this) but I want here to focus on one more reason not much
talked about: Arab collusion. Actually one could convincingly argue that
this was an equally important factor to the lobby. Yesterday, my wife
(Chinese American) and I were invited and attended a major event of
celebration combining 74 years of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and
35 years on Palestinian-Chinese warm relations. The PRC recognized
Palestine and the PLO before they recognized “Israel.” The latter happened
only because the PLO was subverted to recognize “Israel” in 1993-1994.

Before 1993, more countries actually recognized Palestine than recognized
“Israel” or engaged in what is now referred to as “normalization”. The
apartheid system survived and prospered since then (30 years) thanks to
that first and most crucial normalization encoded in the “Oslo accords”,
When I and Edward Said and others spoke out against these accords in the
early 1990s, we were told it is “pragmatic” or that the accords are for 5
years only (to 1999). History proved otherwise.

We have gone down the
slippery slope that we warned against so fast and so recklessly that the
Palestinian president and those around him blessed the Saudi normalization
with an apartheid regime run by the most fanatical fascist and racist
government (Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, Smotrich).

The above gives the green light to Israeli settlers and soldiers to
accelerate their oppression and kill and uproot more Palestinians. It gives
the green light to the perpetual liar Netanyahu to spout more lies and
racism at the UN but also to simply articulate and graphically show a map
erasing Palestine. But Palestine refuses to disappear. The obstacle to
fully liquidating us and fully disconnecting us from the land of our
ancestors, is stubborn resistance (most of it non-armed by the way, see my
book http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/ ).

This stubborn
resistance is emanating from Palestinians and others (Including the global
solidarity movement) despite the attempts to suppress it by the apartheid
regime and its arab enablers (from the PA or the Gulf government etc.). We
remain hopeful that truth will triumph.

O Palestine
7/15/2005
(Published in Human Liberation (Nakba 48) Vol 1, No 1, Sept 2005)
Published also in French at ISM France

Your sisters stayed in their palaces
With golden chains and shameless lies
Some grinned and aided criminals…
Others chose to veil their eyes
Some justify rape and expulsions
Others prayed to their silent gods.

When you thought they had their fills
In that dry June of decays,
They climbed over the hills
To finish the ghastly deeds

Sickening became the violations
Dark masses on your strong arms
arms that gently lifted orphans
Armenian, Circasian, Hebrew and Druze
Fractures on your white breasts
That gave milk to hungry babies
Bruises on your gentle fingers
That wiped the tears from so many eyes
Your sad eyes bear their marks
on a kind face that gave millions hopes

Maddening deafening sounds
Of violent bloody rapes
Of countless lengthy reports
Of motions, plans, and resolutions
that sacrificed justice and truths
at the altar of greedy egos

Where goes the hope of children dreams?
In awakening consciences?
In olive trees or returning cactuses?
In time, distance, or struggles?
In awakening heart deep in majestic mountains?
Beating beneath silent deserts?
Occasionally erupting � intifadas?
1920..29..36..56..87…2000…

The lost men hopelessly lust for power crumbs
endlessly argue about keys
While she struggles to break the doors
And tear down the suffocating walls
Clans and Tribes follow mirages
and weaklings imagine strength in lies

But in the end no one denies
Your ancient spirit survives
To help heal all bruises
yours and ours
When the sun again shines
O Palestine