Beware: Arabs, Palestinians, Refugees.. Ahead…by Jamil Shawwa

After 1948, and throughout 1956, and 1967, the society of Gaza was divided, sharply, into two sections, two classes, two distant societies: Those who are from Gaza, the families that have been there for the longest time, and those who "immigrated", "forced" or "left" from different parts of the historic Palestine due to the war that surrounding Arab rulers and their Palestinian collaborators  waged against the State of Israel after the *United Nations established the two state solution- and ended up in Gaza, in refugees camps.

The distance between the two societies maybe was nothing, few feet, few meters, but in actual integration, the distance was by thousands of miles or kilometers. The Gaza society and the surrounding Arab countries that the refugees ended up residing in- Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon- never embraced the Palestinian refugees.

In Gaza, both societies looked suspiciously at each other and both looked down or up at each other, depends on who you ask.

The Refugees as they are called were put in tents first in different parts of the Gaza strip, some on fabulous real estate alongside the Mediterranean Gaza beaches, the most well known camp, called the “ Beach Refugees Camp” you kind of think of it as if we are talking about a resort for the refugees.

Most of the residents of these camps later on found refuge in working in Israel, learning new language, Hebrew, learning other skills in all fields that the original people of Gaza did not allow them to learn nor did they have the required skill at to start with. They, the refugees,  were never accepted as normal human beings and part of the society.

The politicians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip took their cause, not to help, but to advance certain regional agendas, some worked for the Jordanians Hashemite and some worked for the PLO and other Palestinians organizations, even the terrorist, Abu Nidal, had few followers- mercenaries.

Basically the refugees became a commodity for all the fractions in the Arab countries to use, to trade and to bargain. From that point on, the issues of the Palestinian refugees started; Israel had nothing to do with it; it has been and still is a Palestinian- Arab issue that will be resolved inside the West Bank and Gaza and in the neighboring Arab countries, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

The commodity that is still traded in until this moment is aware of its being the merchant’s tool to bargain and sell around and it has accepted to be like that, maybe out of no other choices. The refugees are treated like tenth class citizens everywhere. In Gaza right now, I believe, and I need to get more details, they have been given citizenship, or passports; Israel did the same when it provided the whole population, whoever asked for, with Travelling documents- laissez-Passer - actually I was one of those people that came to America on an Israeli travelling document. I was not a refugee, I’m originally from Gaza, from a Gaza family- see how I’m making the distinction, and I had to explain myself. At the time, I did not have any other passport, most people especially those in the West Bank had Jordanian- and many in the Gaza Strip- passports and Jordanian citizenship; the lucky ones there, had the full Jordanian citizenship. Jordan makes distinction as of the class of passports it provides.

In Jordan there is a war between those who are called the Jordanians or the original Jordanians, including Palestinians and those who are called the not so original- Palestinians- and it depends on what kind of document you have; are you originally Jordanian with regular passport, or are you one of those who have a Jordanian passport that you need to renew every two years.

I recall well. every Saturday, walking the streets of Gaza, the main two streets, al-Wehda (Union)- and  El-Mokhtar- named after the Libyan leader who fought the Italians in the last century- you would see waves of humans, workers, refugees, the forgotten Palestinians, the rejected Palestinians by their own brethrens, walking the streets, dazed, looking suspicious because the society is looking suspiciously at them.

We (the original people of Gaza) looked down at them, as if they were animals and they looked at us with eyes of fear and sometimes disgust. We did not talk to each other, they were different- not sure how- we did not visit each other and God forbid we would give our daughters to any of them to marry; they were on the fringes, the very far fringe; now they are ruling Gaza and probably the trend will continue.

We used to go to Tel-Aviv, and Ashkelon, few miles away from Gaza and we would see them there, cleaning bathrooms, working; of course later on I realized that cleaning bathrooms to make a living is an honorable task in life, to collect garbage to feed your family is not humiliating, on the contrary, the opposite is of that is humiliating.

Israel needed the refugees and the refugees needed Israel, again, some went ahead to reach the highest in their societies. Before politics turned the refugees into ticking suicidal bombers, into objects and tools for the TV terrorist organizations and for the Arab merchants of death and for those who  do not want ever to see a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza, the refugees, made money- working in Israel- to build houses, and buy properties and to send their children to universities, mainly Egypt and some Eastern European countries and of course to the ultimate "Evil Empire" which later on we found out that it was just a joke, a historical joke, the former Soviet Union.

Now, The Palestinian refugees must be given full rights in the Arab countries according to normal laws of citizenship; the so called right of return, is nothing but a political bargain and ploy that countries are using to offset the settlements in the West Bank, at this moment.

So you can imagine, the right of return might continue to be used politically as maybe the State of Israel is having the settlements in the West Bank as a political bargaining chip.

The final word is, those who live in "refugees camps" in the West Bank and Gaza must move on, instead of calling them camps, call them cities, new places to embrace the future, and to look forward and not as breeding pockets of despair, humiliation and terrorism.

The Palestinians must rise, now, and reject all those Arab regimes, including their own that continue to use them as a commodity. The Palestinians must demand elections, must start the full integration in the West Bank, and once a new leadership is elected, the Palestinians must pick up the phone, or jump on facebook, or text, the Israeli prime minister's office in Jerusalem and the defense department in Tel-Aviv and demand to sit together and talk. Talk as humans talk, negotiate as clever business people do, talk freely and discuss. The world cannot but accept you, the new Palestinians, the civilized and smart Palestinians.

*UN Resolution 181 for 1947 to establish two states in  Palestine.

Check related:

Arabs, Jewish, Israel and Palestine

Hamas Role Part 1

Hamas Enemy not Friend of Palestine

Israel and Palestine, PLO and Hamas

The Evolving Identity of the State of Israel: A Jewish State by Jamil Shawwa

I personally do not have any problems or issues with the debate and wishes of the State of Israel and many Israelis to have the State, their country, considered, by the world body, the international community as  a Jewish State.

The State of Israel after all is the original and principle homeland of the Jewish people from all over the world.

The questions being raised right now are many, for example, the status of other ethnic or better to say, religious groups, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Sharkas and others. Other questions involve how attaching a specific religion to a country's identity would affect its status as a democratic country for all of its citizens. Further more, what if each country in the Middle East started to attach a religion to its name and identity. What if France or Germany call themselves Christian, or the US calls itself Muslim, or Christian, or Jewish. What if India with over 100 million Muslims started to call itself a Hinduism society, or attach Hinduism to its identity?

This trend though  is happening mainly in Arab and Middle Eastern countries. Egypt calls itself The Arab Republic of Egypt, Saudi Arabia the same thing, Iran calls itself The Islamic Republic. So the argument could go as Judaism has the same concept as Arabism or Islamism; it could contain all religions within it.

The other question: What is in a name that makes it so important to a society; why would the State of Israel- a strong, genuine, vibrant, democratic country for its people, would want to limit itself to a certain identity. I'm sure that even doing so would not compromise it's much needed move to a complete and eventual integration of all it's groups within one society with equal rights or equal chances fair access to all positions, and all opportunities; we are talking access, after that it is up to the individual or the group to make it or break it.

Let us look at another angle, Judaism to its believers and to those that believe and understand the three divine religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is not just a religion, it is a concept and it is a way of life. It is also an idea, and politically, it is a huge magnet. So the debate that is going on in the State of Israel right now, very strongly among all sectors of the society, is about how to preserve this idea, Judaism, as a way of life and an identity that the Jewish people from all over the world believe in  and gather around, and continue to attach it to a society and a country that include and will continue to include Israeli citizens that are Muslims and Christians, Arabs and Druze, and other sects.

How can those other groups feel as first class citizens, if their country calls itself, a Jewish State- we cannot tell them to leave, Israel is their country.

The dialogue and the debate also is taking a very important turn as the State of Israel is preparing it’s citizens, all of them, to the expected establishment of a Palestinian State in the West bank and the Gaza Strip.

A proposed law to define who is the Jewish has been in the Knesset for decades, and is a daily topic everywhere in Israel and among the Jewish people all over the world, and if passed, my information is that it has not passed yet, but if passed it would give the authority to the highest religious establishment, the rabbinate, to assume this responsibility.

The other law that just passed in the Knesset was the “Boycott law" and according to *Haaretz the following apply “According to the law, a person or an organization calling for the boycott of Israel, including the settlements, can be sued by the boycott's targets without having to prove that they sustained damage. The court will then decide how much compensation is to be paid. The second part of the law says a person or a company that declare a boycott of Israel or the settlements will not be able to bid in government tenders.” Bibi Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, voted for the law and in the same time refused to investigate the NGOs that the very same law targeted among others; skillful maneuver from a skilled politician.

I think Israel is going through an **evolution, a search for identity, or a renewable identity, Israel is looking beyond the establishment of the Palestinian State in Gaza and the West Bank to what next.

There is a momentum in Israel- a fantastic soul searching and a fantastic vision that looks beyond the daily routine of having to send its children and it’s best to areas that are not part of the State of Israel; moreover, more importantly, Israel does not want to be called an occupying force.

Simultaneously with peace, Israel will always maintain the necessary power to preserve its rightful place among all nations to live securely and permanently where it is now; this position is not questioned but needs to be highlighted daily within the Israeli society due to the geopolitics which is Israel 'still' surrounded by Arab and Islamic countries and Israel will always have those same countries around it that at this moment do not but will eventually with
it have diplomatic relations.


So if you were Israel, what is the solution, again, beyond the withdrawal from the West Bank and the establishment of a Palestinian State in the West Bank of Gaza? The solution, maybe, is to enforce an identity that has been synonymous to its name but not necessarily enforcing the religious identity. It also means the rise of a new political movement: The Political Jewish, or political Judaism, as now we talk about political Islam- the idea is almost the same as Zionism which is the foundation of the State of Israel.

The evolving concept and the new dialogue might end up establishing new boundaries to the strong religious establishment within the Israeli society.

Now, how can Israel integrate the religious establishment within it’s society, how can Israel create the ultimate civil  society where religion would be a regular political party that runs for elections, that can win and lose but regardless without jeopardizing the secular society and the universal freedoms that are granted to all human beings regardless of their national origins, religions, background, race, ethnicity.

Israel is a secular society, the religious apparatus does not control the society but it’s a political/religious establishment, wise enough not to interfere in Israel’s image as a secular and democratic society.

Israel also gives its citizenship to its citizen as expected regardless whether they are Jewish or not.

Finally, what if the State of Israel decided instead of creating a law to define who is the Jewish, would create a new concept and calls it, Who is the Israeli, and apply what other democratic societies would apply to those that they grant citizenship. Again, Israel has dual processes, the citizenship part and the identity part, and the big question now is whether the Israelis would want to combine both in one or continue to have this dual processes.

Related and Notes:

*Haaretz 07/14/2011

**The Israeli Arabs and the Evolving Identity of the State of Israel

Judaism Conversion

Ultra-Orthodox 1

Ultra-Orthodox 2

America Wants You to Be Selfish…..by Jamil Shawwa

America right now is on a mission, in fact, America has been on a mission since this great nation was formulated from people from all over the world, the mission right now is to actively transfer the American values to every part of the world; it fits the American political and social model of win- win situations. America does not think that the world would be better off by surrounding itself with losers; it believes  that it needs to surround itself with winners. America is selfish here; because it believes that if each individual believes in themselves, does their best; succeed, that ultimately the group will be successful. Same applies to countries surrounding America and ultimately every single country on earth. America is the only superpower on earth And I believe it has the ingredients to continue to be the number one, and I believe it is in the humanity best interest to have the American model, a universal one with of course each country having its own version of it. Mesh the American model, I like to mesh things, when you do such things, you get new colors and new flavors and new ideas. Rigidity, stupidity, lack of imagination, the Win-Lose situations, and colonialism, ended and destroyed every single empire that existed since the beginning of time as we know it or learned about it. America does not have that model; America does not believe in expansionism or colonialism, America wants you to succeed. The United States helped the human race to survive and some actually would go as far as saying that America saved the human race twice in the last century, when America decided to intervene in World War I and did the same but more forcefully in World War II. America. Contrary to ideas and politics of isolationists within its Congress, Press, America saw- through grand presidents- Wilson, Roosevelt, and Monroe before that- that the oceans are no longer barriers, and that the US is not immune if it keeps itself confined within its borders thinking that those wars were not of its concerns. America's leadership as a super world power started in 1914 and was confirmed and engraved in an unbreakable rock during and after World War II. In 1945 and before America convinced and confirmed that humiliating Germany as the allies did after World War I would not benefit anyone, it would only plant the seeds for another war, and same applied to Japan. Actually during the famous Versailles conference in 1919, America worked hard to convince the Europeans allies that isolating the Germans and imposing humiliating compensations on Germany, will only be a prelude to another war, no one listened then, retribution and revenge were the name of the game, and what America warned from happened, when criminals took over the power in Germany, democratically, and turned the world into hell, millions were killed. After the second war, no one had the choice not to listen to America, and America made it clear, that Germany to be included, and rehabilitated, as in Japan, America kept the emperor. America worked to create the IMF and the World Bank and the United Nations to be places and models where countries can talk, emulate regionally, and agree and sometimes be forced to accept decisions that they do not like. Exactly as individuals in the US can reach to Banks and credit companies, and investment groups and courts as needed. America’s pursuit of world peace is not a dreamer’s quest, it is an action plan, and it is a plan that believes in talking, containment as it did with the Soviet Union and ultimately conclusion. America is inclusive, America is not conclusive, But America will use its military might as needed and in any place on earth to ensure that this successful model thrives. It will go after anyone and anywhere that would seek through terrorism and aggression, to destroy the way of life, the human way of life, the American way of life, all the same, and end in the same place. America right now is helping the Arab countries to seek their freedom, to have democratically elected governments; it is helping the Israelis and the Palestinians to achieve peace, a smart, practical peace with a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza, and a secure, safe, vibrant State of Israel next door. America’s associates are the following to ensure Win- Win situations all over the world; Germany, see the genius of the Americans, is leading and integrating Europe’s Economically, Britain and France leading the military actions of NATO where is needed, in particular in the Middle East and Europe, China in Asia with Japan and South Korea, soon to be one Korea, Russia is helping here and there. The emerging super power, India, and the emerging regional powers in the Middle East as Turkey and the integration of Israel and Palestine in a Middle Eastern organization. America is everywhere and this is how it should be and should continue. But do not expect America to jump every time you or others think that you are right, or that "it is the right thing to do", or "it is the moral thing to do". America does not function that way, America is a deliberate and collaborative system, it moves methodically and it acts with a wide lens and multiple perspectives that those that ask for action every time an "incident" here and there takes place, will be very disappointed. There has never been a power on earth that has the ingredients of survival and continuity and evolving as the United States; Happy birthday America.