A visit to the Galilee just
emphasized to me that we are on
the right track to one democratic
state where we live
together in equality, peace, and
harmony. Another world is
coming. As you will see below, there is no difference in
colonial settlement activity inside 1948 or 1967 occupied
areas but that is all temporary phenomenon. Since my trip
was focused on environmental issues and science
(biodiversity), I was more concerned about time passage that
makes the environmental destruction in the Galilee
irreversible.
Haifa was the first planned Palestinian city built in 1761 by
Daher Al-Omar (Zedani) who is credited by many as the first
Palestinian ruler who managed to develop an independent
modern government inclusive of all religions that covered
much of what is now northern Palestine
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daher_el-Omar). Most of
the citizens of Haifa were removed in 1948 and the 3000
remaining were squeezed into Halsa and Wadi Nisnas
against their will (now they number some 35,000 due to
natural increase). Today the highest Israeli court in the
north is built on top of ruined buildings but also overlooks
abandoned Arab homes and businesses. It must be some
sight from the windows of that glittery building looking
down on to what is left of Arab Haifa. The historic train
station built in 1905 to take pilgrims to Macca through
Jordan is slated for demolition. Next to Al-Istiqlal mosque,
there is a monument with a faded inscription: "Faisal (emir
Faisal who dreamt of Arab Unity) said that no freedom is
given but it is to be taken by struggle.." More on Haifa
http://www.palestineremembered.com/Haifa/Haifa/index.h
tml
While I was in the north, a three story building in Akka
collapsed killing 5 Palestinians including one child. There
are various stories about the causes but it is clear that Israeli
authorities prevent the remaining Palestinians from
repairing or rebuilding their houses in the old city in an
attempt to further impoverish them. We cried for the
victims but we were also impressed by the generous and
resilient spirit of those remaining family members.
Sakhnin is 30,000 people reduced to use of only 9,700
dunums. The 16,000 colonial settlers of Misgav which took
the land of Sakhnin and other nearby Palestinian villages in
the Galilee control 183,000 dunums (population access to
land of 39 fold more given to new settlers from the land of
the natives). The settlement of Karmiel is billed as a model
of tolerance even though it was built to increase Jewish
presence in the Galilee because Israel is not happy with
natives who remain in a “Jewish state.” When we visited, we
noted Bedouins who are going to be kicked out of the land
now allocated to “Karmiel” even though those Palestinians
have lived there since before the Zionist state was
established.
The house we stayed in has a demolition order just like tens
of thousands of houses throughout historic Palestine built on
private Palestinian land that Israel covets and does not allow
building on. Palestinians in historic Palestine are now 6
million people living on 8.3% of our historic lands (these are
also in disjointed enclaves in the Galilee, the Triangle, the
WB, Naqab, and Gaza) while 91.7% of historic Palestine is off-
limits to us and dedicated for the use of the 6 million Jewish
Israelis (most of them immigrants from other countries).
Why not justice and equality where we all prosper together?
But let me move to environment. If you want more on
politics you can see my report and video from my 2010 trip
to the Galilee here
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april082010/galilee-trip-mq.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg1mCditmUU
This time I was studying biodiversity and the preliminary
scientific observations I made were extremely worrying. The
Jewish National Fund recruited hundreds of millions of
dollars from Jews around the world in the 1950's and 1960's
to “plant trees in Eretz Yisrael.” This was simply an attempt
to hide the destroyed Palestinian villages via large scale
planting of pine trees. Even Israeli environmentalists
recognized this as an environmental catastrophe. The pine
forests that now cover much of the Galilee destroyed the
natural plant cover (primary oak and scrub forests and green
fertile valleys) used for thousands of years by native
Palestinians as rangeland as well as agricultural lands.
Conifer trees do not allow much to grow under or around
them since their needles increase soil acidity and impoverish
the soil. So even species of snails I noted in the Galilee were
so much fewer than I expected. There are no good scientific
studies to predict if such damage can be reversed when done
on such a large scale. There are pockets of natural habitats
still existing and they could be used to reclaim the artificially
forested areas. But time is not on our side in this situation.
The problem is compounded with Israel building massive
infrastructure like expanding roads, drying up more springs
(to control the water and prevent Palestinian access),
schemes like the Red Sea-Dead Sea canal and more to
destroy this ancient land.
For a detail history of what transpired and continues to
transpire in the Galilee and the rest of Palestine in terms of
populations, see Ilan Pappe’s book “The Ethnic Cleansing of
Palestine.” If you are interested in environmental issues,
write to me and I will send you material. Politicians on all
sides do not address these issues.
But we have positive signs all around us: 1) more and more
Israelis are joining the struggle for environmental and
political justice, 2) more and more global civil societies are
adopting the boycotts, divestment, and sanctions movement,
3) the Palestinian generation of Oslo is passing on and a new
generation is coming up that is taking matters into their own
hands. Examples are many: from the bus freedom riders to
successful challenge to the Prawer-Begin plan designed to
finish ethnically cleansing the Naqab (Negev) to Kufr
Qaddoum to Majd el Krooum to Sakhnin. An example of
resistance in the footsteps of Land Day of 1976 is the return
to the two villages of Iqrit and Biram. These were Christian
villages which were ethnically cleansed and the houses
destroyed leaving only the village churches. This did not
happen in war but by a process long after the ceasefire lines
were declared in the relentless effort to “Judaicize” the
Galilee.
We were gratified to visit some young people from Iqrit and
Biram who returned to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.
Even Zionist leaders like Moshe Arens struggle to twist
things to explain Israeli policy with respect to these two
villages (see http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-
1.545977). While we were in Iqrit, a group of elderly Jews
from Tel Aviv showed up with a guide. They were “left
Zionists” who get a distorted but still better version of
history than that taught at Israeli schools and universities). I
saw the puzzled looks on their faces and lack of answers to
basic questions that came as a challenge from the
Palestinians around who technically hold Israeli citizenship
but who are treated as unwanted non-citizens. These 1.6
million represent 25% of population inside the Green Line.
They were everywhere we looked: from the bus station in
Jerusalem to the University in Haifa to the gas-station
attendant at the road to “Karmiel.” I wondered why I could
see and interact with them everywhere as a visitor but most
of those Jews who walk pass them daily either ignore them
or do not know they exist (many “Palestinian-Israelis” speak
Hebrew more fluently and without an accent). Why couldn’t
we all intermarry, live in one country without
discrimination, with justice and human rights to all? We saw
a glimpse of that future in a demonstration of 150+ people of
all faiths including many youths in front of Haifa
municipality. They were objecting to the deputy mayor who
called the sound of the Muslim call to prayer as “squealing
like the sound of a pig!” We saw it in a young and kind
Jewish waitress working in a Palestinian owned restaurant
in Haifa. We saw this future. As Arundhati Roy said:
"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a
quiet day, I can hear her breathing."
For tours in the Galilee including Palestinian villages present
or ethnically cleansed, I recommend Galilee Today
Alternative Tours www.galileetoday.com (galileetoday on
facebook).
Note: Israeli policies forbid people like me to visit the
Galilee even though my grandmother is from Nazareth and it
is still our country; these restrictions apply to me and
millions of Palestinians similar to the restrictions on blacks
under apartheid in South Africa.
Haifa video from a refugee
(we salute resilience in Akka, Haifa, Sakhnin, Biram, Iqrit and more Places forgotten by Mahmoud Abbas but in the hearts of millions of Palestinians)
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