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By Ramzy Baroud
On February 20, the United Nations Safety Council permitted a press release, described within the media as a ‘watered-down’ model of an earlier draft decision which might have demanded that Israel “instantly and fully stop all settlement actions within the occupied Palestinian territory.”
The intrigues that led to the scrapping of what was meant to be a binding decision would be the topic of a future article. For now, nonetheless, I want to replicate on the truth that the so-called worldwide neighborhood’s relationship with the Palestinian wrestle has at all times tried to ‘water down’ a horrific actuality.
Whereas we frequently rage towards statements made by US politicians who, like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, refuse to even acknowledge that Israel is occupying Palestine within the first place, we are inclined to neglect that many people are, one way or the other, concerned within the watering down of the Palestinian actuality, as nicely.
Whereas stories by B’tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Worldwide, dubbing Israel an ‘apartheid state’, are welcome additions to a rising political discourse making comparable claims, one should ask: why did it take many years for these conclusions to be drawn now? And what’s the ethical and authorized justification for ‘watering down’ Israel’s apartheid actuality for all of those years, contemplating that Israel has, from the second of its inception – and even earlier than – been an apartheid entity?
The ‘watering-down’, nonetheless, goes a lot deeper than this, as if there’s a conspiracy to not describe the truth of Palestine and the Palestinian folks by its correct names: battle crimes, crimes towards humanity, genocide, apartheid and extra.
I’ve spent half my life residing in, and interacting with, western societies whereas lobbying for solidarity with Palestinians, and for holding Israel accountable for its ongoing crimes towards the Palestinian folks. Each step of the best way, in each society, and on each platform, there has at all times been pushback, even by Palestine’s personal supporters.
Whether or not motivated by blind ‘love’ for Israel or by guilt over historic crimes towards the Jewish folks, or over the worry of ‘rocking the boat’, offending the sensibilities of western societies, or outright retaliation by pro-Israeli supporters, the end result tends to be the identical: if not unconditional help for Israel, then, actually ‘watered-down’ statements on the tragic actuality of the Palestinians.
Naturally, a watered-down model of the reality will not be the reality in any respect. Worse, it’s unlikely to result in any resolute ethical stances or significant political actions. If, certainly, watering down the reality was of any worth, Palestine would have been freed a very long time in the past. Not solely is that this not the case, however there additionally stays a real deficit of information relating to the basis causes, nature and penalties of the every day Israeli crimes in Palestine.
Admittedly, the quisling Palestinian management exemplified within the Palestinian Authority, has performed a big function in watering down our understanding of Israel’s ongoing crimes. The truth is, the ‘watered-down’ assertion on the UN wouldn’t have changed the binding decision if it weren’t for the consent of the PA. Nonetheless, in lots of Palestinian areas wherein the PA holds no political sway in any respect, we proceed to hunt a watered-down understanding of Palestine.
Virtually daily, someplace on the earth, a Palestinian or a pro-Palestinian speaker, creator, artist or activist is being disinvited from a convention, a gathering, a workshop or an educational engagement for failing to water down his or her tackle Palestine.
Whereas worry of repercussions – the denial of funding, smear campaigns, or lack of place – typically serves because the logic behind the fixed watering down, typically pro-Palestine teams and media organizations stroll into the ‘watered-down’ entice of their very own accords.
To guard themselves from smear campaigns, authorities meddling and even authorized motion, some pro-Palestine organizations typically search affiliation with ‘respected’ folks from mainstream backgrounds, politicians or ex-politicians, well-known figures or celebrities to painting a picture of moderation. But, knowingly or unwittingly, with time, they start to average their very own message in order to not lose the hard-earned help in mainstream society. In doing so, as a substitute of talking fact to energy, these teams start to develop a political discourse that solely ensures their very own survival and nothing extra.
Within the “Jail Notebooks”, anti-Fascist Italian mental Antonio Gramsci urged us to create a broad “cultural entrance” to ascertain our personal model of cultural hegemony. Nonetheless, Gramsci by no means advocated the watering down of radical discourse within the first place. He merely needed to broaden the facility of the novel discourse to succeed in a a lot wider viewers, as a place to begin for a elementary shift in society. Within the case of Palestine, nonetheless, we are inclined to do the other: as a substitute of sustaining the integrity of the reality, we are inclined to make it much less truthful in order that it could seem extra palatable.
Whereas artistic in making their messages extra relatable to a wider viewers, the Zionists not often water down their precise language. On the contrary, the Zionist discourse is uncompromising in its violent and racist nature which, in the end, contributes to the erasure of Palestinians as a folks with historical past, tradition, actual grievances and rights.
The identical is true within the case of the pro-Ukraine and anti-Russian propaganda plaguing western media across the clock. On this case, there may be not often any deviation from the message, relating to who’s the sufferer and who’s the perpetrator.
Traditionally, anti-colonial actions, from Africa to in all places else, hardly watered down their strategy to colonialism, neither within the language nor within the types of resistance. Palestinians, however, subsist on this watered-down duplicitous actuality just because the West’s allegiance to Israel makes the truthful depiction of the Palestinian wrestle too ‘radical’ to maintain. This strategy will not be solely morally problematic but additionally ahistorical and impractical.
Ahistorical and impractical as a result of half-truths, or watered-down truths, by no means result in justice and by no means have an effect on a long-lasting change. Maybe a place to begin of how we escape the ‘watered-down’ entice we discover ourselves in, is to replicate on these phrases by one of many best engaged intellectuals in current historical past, Malcolm X:
“I’m for fact, irrespective of who tells it. I’m for justice, irrespective of who it’s for or towards. I’m a human being, at first, and as such I’m for whoever and no matter advantages humanity as an entire.”
The reality, in its simplest and innate kind, is the one goal we must always proceed to relentlessly pursue till Palestine and her persons are lastly free.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He’s the creator of six books. His newest e book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Imaginative and prescient for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Converse out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Analysis Fellow on the Middle for Islam and International Affairs (CIGA). His web site is www.ramzybaroud.internet
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