Palestinians’ Options : Awareness

Two things are roaming in my head.

What can be done?

And

What is going on?

We can continue to observe and analyze the situation forever. It can finish tomorrow, and it can go on for months and maybe years to come.

As long as oppression and discrimination are what landmarks the situation, this is not ending.

Regular people, who are not daring enough to confront the military occupation, by throwing a stone or walking in a demonstration or stabbing an Israeli passerby whom luckily we may wish he turns out to be a settler or soldier.

With the absence of any Palestinian leadership and organizing bodies, both for the incompetency that they continue to show and second for the absolute no trust from the people. The regular Palestinian finds himself in a whirlpool of confusion and inefficiency.

We seem to lack still the awareness in evaluating the situation. But there is a way where those who find themselves wanting to do something but insist on buying the value of living does … Boycotting.

Boycotting Israeli products with every given way is a solution. I say this fully aware that boycotting Israeli products is impossible. But boycotting itself is not impossible. It is true it can be more efficient if the Palestinian population decided to be more devoted to the cause and to the blood split that is occurring. To start with we can stop completely going to the malls…yes, there are people who are still going to the malls. There are individuals who are still dining at Israeli cafés. Stop using the transportation system. This is Yasmina’s tip that after almost a year and a half of full dedication proved that her theory was doable. It is not just that we save money, and there is a Palestinian transportation mean that somehow improved. With a recent discussion with her, she was praising the transportation system in Jerusalem talking about the new buses and facilities. Somehow with customers like Yasmina and Serena, and here it is easy to imagine all the schoolgirls and boys, who somehow affect the general status. This is a generation that wants to live well and demands it. If every Palestinian house has children like mine, I swear Israel will come begging for a solution. Seeing this young generation makes me realize that my kids are not the only ones. The level of awareness varies, but the will to change is there. We should invest in this as adults. Yes, it is painful that we have to educate our society to boycott occupation products. But it is a painful reality that this is what has been happening in this community for the last two decades in washing away the brain of a generation who felt it was time to relax after years of frustration under occupation and Oslo may bring with it some time out. It is no surprise that we lost track with our senses of commitment to the cause amid all the corruption and resources channeling in few people’s hands.

But it is not over yet. As long as an occupation is there unveiling yet another time its real face, we Palestinians can work on our awareness on how to deal with them on a personal level. A boycott is a valuable tool for those of us who want change without losing their lives in prison or die by a bullet.

Talking about weapons take me to the second question my mind roams with, what is going on? I don’t want also discuss politics and our absentee leadership and the ethnic cleansing continued strategy of occupation. What is happening is very clear and brings the memory of the past into vivid imagination of what took place before. But there is more to it, and it is worrisome.

In the last few days, news concerning organ trafficking has been on the surface. But somewhere, thinking about it a little bit deeper makes a lot of sense. Israel’s involvement in organ theft of Palestinian corpses even prisoners has been a topic of speculations for years, and some resources discussed it here and there. When thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense. Israel has been shooting to kill Palestinian youngsters in this wave of demonstrations, and it hijacks the corpses for weeks. The latest questioning about the removal of the cornea of one of the corpses of Hebron martyrs shouldn’t be just an accusation point against the Israelis. Corpses should be checked in a morgue after being received by the Israelis.

The fact that our emotions are overwhelming and exceed our shared sense makes Israel get away with its crimes even to death. Instead of living in the speculation of accusation, this is something the Palestinian families f the martyrs should do. Despite the pain, and despite the norms of the halal and the haram. There is nothing left after death … fighting the Israeli occupation is the only thing that remains.