It reads:
Gaza is not a different country than Palestine; its plight is not isolated from that of the West Bank, Palestinian-Israelis, or Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora. So stop changing your banners and placards from “Free Palestine” and “End Apartheid” to “Free Gaza.”
Palestinians and their supporters alike have fallen in a simple trap set in the sideshow of Israel’s Attack on Gaza earlier this year. Israel has consistently tried to separate segments of the Palestinian society and find ways to foster distrust among them.
I didn't even stop to think about the use of 'Gaza' which may, to some, seem to be used in isolation from Palestine.
3 comments:
The point has some truth to it. In Newcastle a couple of months ago we had a talk from someone who was in the Occupied Territories for 6 months, recently returned. She'd been in the West Bank and had many horror stories to tell. One concerned a brutal killing, by the state, of a Palestinian boy. This happened at the same time as the assult on Gaza - such things carried on in the West Bank throughout that period, as usual. She rightly made the point that it's not just about Gaza, but the wider Palestinian struggle.
However, I think the use of specific slogans referring to Gaza was absolutely justified in January. The killing there was intense - well over 1,000 in just 3 weeks - and it was, at least temporarily, the focus for everyone who cares about freedom for Palestine. This doesn't mean narrowing down demands or ignoring the wider situation - it is simply a way of mobilising people around something extremely urgent.
Also, 'Gaza' was very much symbolic of something bigger - not just Palestine, but for many people the wider Middle East and the resistance to imperialism.
From my post on this topic on Facebook. (permission to repost granted)
Sandra Gaza Budak: Its makes a sweeping genrealization that people are putting Gaza in the forefront to the detriment of the West Bank...It goes on to say
Palestinians and their supporters alike have fallen in a simple trap set in the sideshow of Israel’s Attack on Gaza...
I would not call what happened in Gaza a side show..
I would like to know exactly who the writer of this item is his situation etc...
34 minutes ago
David Dixon: I have had a Palestinian friend of mine say something similar to this as far as just saying Gaza & I do often say Gaza, Palestine or Palestinian Gaza for that reason & the same with The West Bank, Palestine. I wouldn't call what happened a side show though & neither would he.
18 minutes ago
Sandra Gaza Budak: On the other hand...perhaps Gaza and the WestBank have each their own unique problems..And it may seem to people in the West Bank that Gaza is getting more publicity.IN terms of help and support....But God I would hate to see the west bank go through what Gaza did....Reality is there are a number of situations going on here...The main four...Gaza the West Bank,the Politics,And Palestine.And we must also remember Israel is good At divide and conquer...Perhaps there does need to be some kind of unification on the support level....
Sandra Gaza Budak: Its a very good topic for discussion when one starts to think about it...
From Charlie Pottins: Yes, it has sounded at times as though people were unconsciously falling in with Israeli strategy to separate and isolate Gaza.
Ironic, considering Palestine takes its name from the coastal region of which Gaza, Ashdod and Ashkelon(Majdal) were cities.
But more topical, saying "Free Gaza" suggests we are accepting Gazans (many of whose families came from Jaffa) are some separate 'case', and that we are forgetting the occupation in the West Bank.
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