In mid-March of this year in response to having been deeply disturbed by Brother Peter Bray’s talk at Pompallier Centre Auckland sponsored by the NZ Bishops’ Conference, Rongopai Eucharistic Community hosted an open meeting of information and discussion aimed at deepening our understanding of the impact of the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine and its escalating, unjust and inhumane consequences on the lives of Palestinians today. In advertising the evening we’d used the commonly accepted description of ‘Palestine-Israeli Conflict’ which implied a measure of equity. By the end of the evening however we were left in no doubt of the woeful inadequacy of such euphemism.

Ben Gurian, the first Prime Minister of the new State of Israel declared: “It must be clear that there is no room in the country for both peoples…the only solution is a land of Israel…without Arabs. There is no room here for compromise.”  In 1967 Israel took and occupied even more land resulting in the first Palestinian intifada or ‘shaking off.’

Right up to today every Prime Minister of Israel has taken up exactly the same position. On the 19th March this year the Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, speaking at a conference in Paris, declared:  “There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language.” He spoke at a lectern draped with an image of a map of Israel that included the occupied West Bank, Gaza and Jordan. And again earlier this year Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated the Israeli stance: “The Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all areas of the Land of Israel – in Galilee, Negev, the Golan, Judea and Samaria.”

Those in attendance watched a video presentation of parts of Brother Peter’s factual presentation. He focused especially on the history of the formation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the consequent wholesale, sanctioned occupation and dispossession of Palestinian land which resulted in the displacement of the majority of Palestinian people and the destruction of Palestinian society. Why was this able to occur? How are the lives of Palestinians today affected by it? How can we help? Brother Peter’s particular experience was on the impact on the students at Palestine’s Bethlehem University where he is Vice Chancellor.

The presence and contribution at our meeting of long time Palestinian rights activist Janfrie Wakim and Maher Khalil Nazzal, a Muslim Palestinian refugee now living in Auckland greatly enhanced our understanding of the unrelenting impact of constant controls, deprivations, ad hoc restrictions, blatant injustices, denial of human rights and freedoms experienced daily by Palestinians.  Many live in refugee camps because ‘settlers’ now occupy their homes and lands. Armed guards stationed at camp gateways are but part of the more than 300 checkpoints and 40 different forms of deterrents used to restrict and control the movement of Palestinians in a land totaling approximately 10 square miles.

Excellent information is available on the internet regarding the mix of historical, colonial and political influences that splintered the peaceful co-existence of Jews and Arabs in an integrated society during the 400 years of Turkish rule under the Ottoman Empire. European persecution of diaspora Jews, especially in the 19th century, led to the development of Zionism and its quest to establish a homeland for displaced Jews. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I Britain and France created the modern Middle East but with it, many of the region's intractable problems. 

Together Janfrie and Maher expanded on Brother Peter’s statements sharing many practical examples of the wide-ranging effects of these restrictions not only on Palestinians living in Palestine, but also on those living abroad. Yet, despite these, Brother Peter spoke proudly of his Arab, Israeli and Jewish students describing them as ‘masters of resistance’, masters of an all pervasive non-violence that in the face of more than 75 years of military occupation enables them to determinedly live their lives despite the restrictions they are under, with resilience, silence and stubborn effort. Their motto: “Our existence is our resistance.”

Among other influences that worked against the Palestinian determination never to be superseded were two key elements: namely the Zionist movement begun in the late 19th and early 20thcenturies and secondly, the colonial attitude of superiority and condescension over those colonized that Zionist leaders assumed. Rashid Khalidi reports that there exists “a vast body of literature dedicated to proving that before the advent of European Zionist colonization, Palestine was barren, empty, and backward.” Zionist leaders received widespread political support from other major European colonizing powers in justifying their actions as not colonizers but just returning home. 

According to Brother Peter and others, the once touted two-state solution is no longer feasible given that from 1948 till now Palestinian ownership of land has fallen from near 100% to something like 6% today. Maher vehemently refutes the use of the word ‘conflict’ to describe the Palestinian-Israeli situation. Instead he describes it as abusive and completely inadequate because it neither represents the experience of Palestinian people over more than 75 years at the hands of Israel nor Israel’s continued unjust and aggressive behaviour toward Palestinians. Instead, Maher speaks of an ‘occupation’ of Palestine by Israel and believes “It is high time for the world to call a spade a spade.”

The Church too, enabled the growing movement against Palestinians. In 1903 the Bishop of Salisbury declared: “Nothing that has been discovered makes us feel any regret at the oppression of (the native Arab Palestinians) by Israelite civilization.”  Jews flooded into Palestine from then on until 1947 when Britain handed control of Israel to the United Nations. This resulted in the United Nations declaration of the State of Israel in 1948 – completely without consultation.

Learning to live non-violently, respectful of humanness and difference of every kind will hopefully one day win out. Palestinians seek a single state which enables the right of return of all refugees and affirms the human rights of all.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”

Martin Luther King

The result was a regional war between Arabs and Israelis known by Palestinians – and lived every day since – as Nakba  (meaning ‘memory of the catastrophe’).  750,000 Palestinians were driven out of their 450 plus villages which were then destroyed to become refugees in neighbouring countries and denied their right ever to return to Palestine.  

Further Resources

Actions To Take

BDS - Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions

Books

Antony Loewenstein – 2023

The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation around the World.

Rashid Khalidi – 2020

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine - A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance - 1917-2017

Omar Barghouti - 2005

BDS - Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions -The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights  

YouTube

Brother Peter Bray FSC - 2023

Greetings from Palestine

Podcast 

The Electronic Intefada

Antony Loewenstein – 6 June 2023

Podcast Episode 78: How Israel Tests Weapons On Palestinians   

In this podcast Loewenstein talks about his 2023 book listed above

Groups Advocating For Palestinian Rights In Aotearoa New Zealand & Globally

Jewish Voice For Peace

Justice For Palestine

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa - PSNA