A Century of Profound Psychological Trauma: The Palestinian Story

"Doesn't the world see the suffering of millions of Palestinians who have been living in exile around the world or in refugee camps for the past 60 years? No state, no home, no identity, no right to work. Doesn't the world see this injustice?" ~ Ismail Haniyeh

"There is not one single place built in Israel that did not have a former Arab population." ~ Moshe Dayan

"Referring to Palestinian refugees: "We must do everything in our power to ensure that they never return." ~ David Ben-Gurion

"For decades Israel has been capturing, and kidnapping Lebanese and Palestinian refugees on the high seas, from Cyprus to Lebanon, killing them in Lebanon, bringing them to Israel, holding them as hostages. It's been going on for decades, has anybody called for an invasion of Israel?" ~ Noam Chomsky

The story of the Palestinian people is a tale of dispossession and resilience, a century-long struggle against forces determined to erase their presence from their ancestral homeland. It's a story that, in many ways, mirrors the kinds of underdog narratives we often see play out in the world. The Palestinian people are systematically marginalized, their history rewritten, their culture appropriated, and their very existence challenged.

The roots of the conflict go back to the twilight years of the Ottoman Empire, a time when European colonialism was reaching its zenith. While the Ottoman Empire was in decline, Palestine, the region that would become the focal point of the conflict, was experiencing a period of relative prosperity and autonomy. Under leaders like Dahir al-Umar al-Zaidani, Palestine had even established a de facto independent state in the 18th century.

But the winds of change were blowing, and the decline of the Ottomans created a power vacuum that would be quickly filled by ambitious European powers. Enter Great Britain, stage left, armed with a potent mix of imperial ambition and a dangerously simplistic understanding of the region's complex cultural and religious landscape. Their actions, fueled by misinformation and a colonial mindset, would have a profound impact on the fate of the Palestinian people.

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 stands as a stark reminder of the consequences of imperial hubris. The British government's commitment to establishing a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, made with little regard for the rights of the indigenous Arab population, ignited a conflict that continues to this day. It was a classic case of a powerful nation making promises it couldn't keep and creating problems it couldn't solve.

From a Palestinian perspective, emphasize the systematic dispossession and displacement that followed the Balfour Declaration. The Nakba, the Arabic word for "catastrophe," refers to the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. This event, etched in the collective memory of the Palestinian people, transformed hundreds of thousands into refugees, scattering them across the Middle East and beyond.

The creation of the state of Israel in 1948 marked a turning point in the Palestinian story, but not a happy one. The nascent state, driven by a Zionist ideology that sought to create a Jewish majority in Palestine, embarked on a campaign of cultural erasure and territorial expansion. Historic Palestinian towns and villages were depopulated, their names changed, and their very existence denied.

There continues to be an ongoing struggle of the Palestinian people to reclaim their narrative and assert their right to self-determination. From the First Intifada, a mass uprising that began in 1987, to the BDS movement, a global campaign calling for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel, the Palestinians have demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.

As I write this post, after our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner this evening, my family viewed the CBC news update with absolute disgust of the Israeli military actions... the Israeli military dropped incendiary bombs on a central Gaza UN hospital and a food and water distribution centre at a school. As usual, women and children and babies were murdered, burnt to death by the Israeli bombs. The Israeli Government response was Hamas was at the hospital and school.

The ethnic cleansing by Israel has taken its toll. The Palestinian people trapped in a cycle of violence and dispossession, their lives governed by checkpoints, barriers, Israeli government push for increased settlements of over 700,000 people in the West Bank, and a seemingly endless occupation in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Oslo Accords, hailed by some as a breakthrough toward peace, ultimately proved to be a disappointment, failing to deliver on the promise of a viable two State system, with a Palestinian state.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZgIf_U031w

The Palestinian story is a complex and often tragic one, but it's also a story of remarkable resilience and unwavering hope. The historical injustices and ongoing challenges faced by the Palestinian people, serve as a reminder of the human cost of conflict, ethnic cleansing, and the urgent need for a just and lasting peace.