(and Kingdom of Olives and Ash review part 2)
I started reading this book after October 7th because understanding what’s happening in Israel / Palestine had suddenly become priority one. So urgent did it seem that I wrote a hasty paragraph or two when I was only halfway through, because I was already thinking I wish everyone would read it just now. It solves that sense of hopelessness, that ‘but what can we do?’ feeling.
I said that it’s a whole bunch of writers, working in co-ordination with Breaking the Silence, an organization of Israeli army veterans seeking the way to peace but what I couldn’t say until I’d finished it, I can now say.
The barrier to action is that not enough people understand either the history or the nature of the suffering of both Palestinians and Israelis as a result of what that land has become and until now, few people realized how many people in Israel / Palestine (from both ‘sides’) are already at work trying to solve it, and could use some help and some publicity.
I said to friends on social media this week that many of us (us being anti-war activists in the UK) made a mistake in addressing the situation.
I said…
… So I thought I’d better get going and do my homework. I think organizations in the UK such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War and Jewish Voice for Labour are doing fantastic work helping us all to fill the gaps in our understanding.
And bloggers like Jonathan Cook, who live in Israel / Palestine…
…and broadcasters such as Al Jazeera provide the coverage the BBC now claims it can’t during the onslaught on Gaza…
But there’s something else I kept wishing for as I read on through Kingdom of Olives and Ash….
The collection takes the form of the Hero’s Journey – setting out with tasters of the problems to come, descending into a dark, dark place where you begin to understand the depth of the horror and then arriving at a point on the other side of grief and despair, where the testimonies you’re reading begin to show the way forward.
What I was wishing for, as each story dropped another clue to what people in Israel / Palestine are dreaming of, and some of them doing, was this: a study-list of all the organizations that are tackling the problem and finding out, at least in part, how to heal it.
It can be done, you know. Israel is not unique – when I was a child, South Africa looked like an irreparable hell to me. The peoples oppressed by apartheid were so angry, so marginalized and the people hanging onto that system were thinking that after all that had happened, their safety depended on keeping all those barriers….
It seemed hopeless. When I was in my teens, the people my age and younger who would go on to be our centre and right-wing politicians were campaigning to have Nelson Mandela hung for trying to fight apartheid. But we broke through that, and the people of South Africa broke the apartheid government. Of course there are still terrible consequences, still fear, rage and discrimination, but apartheid was broken. Things changed, things improved.
And again, the people of Ireland know what hell it is to have another country’s troops on your streets, and we on the UK mainland know what it is to fear terrorist attacks from a country your government is trying to quash — but the Good Friday Agreement was achieved (without bombing the whole of Ireland!) and things began to improve. It can be done.
Here’s hope…
Then, at the end of Kingdom of Olives and Ash, I found what I had been looking for – a list of the people and organizations referred to in the book who have made an admirable start on the job of changing and healing Israel / Palestine. I’ve put a list of the links I could find below. Please go look some of them up. They are the education we need, they are shining lights and the rays of hope. I bet by the time you’ve had a browse through them, you’ll have got some ideas about what you could do to help…
(as far as I can see, the Popular Committees listed don’t all have websites, so I’ve linked to articles or blogs where we can learn about them, then maybe go find out where they’re at now)
Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights
the Association for Civil Rights in Israel
Batan al-Hawa Popular Committee
HaMoked: Centre for the Defense of the Individual (site down – will try again another time)
Gisha: Legal Center for the Freedom of Movement
Jinbar Popular Committee (This one seems to have defeated me – when you get the book, read the story!)
The Parents’ Circle: Bereaved Families Forum
Umm al-Khair Popular Committee
Wadi Hilweh Information Center
Wallajeh Popular Committee (This is a .pdf downloadable doc on the area)
Zbeidat Women’s Committee (another one I couldn’t find, although there are a few mentions in some United Nations projects)
Well that certainly got me thinking about what I might do. Obviously right now, I’m joining in the many local efforts to persuade our politicians, local and national, to speak up for international law in general and the people of Gaza in particular.
But next – short term, I intend to look into this woman’s theory about the Suez Canal project, which she sees as the explanation for the recalcitrant behaviour of our own government. If that doesn’t hold up, I’ll look around to see what other possible causes there might be…
… long term, I intend to find out more about a local group who are trying to set up a town twinning project for Hastings with Al Mawasi, a coastal town in Gaza.
That’s tragically difficult to progress just now, as most of the contacts our local activists have (or had) have evacuated, and some just disappeared — but it’s something to keep tabs on, and come back to when we can. Why not pick one of the places linked to above, or somewhere where your local community have contacts, and look into a twinning project?
Or if other ideas have occurred to you, please tell me about them in a comment below.
********************
Dear Reader,
Times are hard, and so the articles on this site are freely available but if you are able to support my work by making a donation, I am very grateful.
Cheers,
Kay
********************
Kay Green 