Amira Hass, journalist with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, spoke today in the Chicago area. I attended as I admire her courage in standing up for Palestinian rights. There were about 200 people in the meeting room at a public library with all seats taken. She spoke for about an hour and then took questions from the audience.
She told us that the number of Israelis who, like her, see the injustice of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians has dwindled from what it was 20 years ago. Though this injustice is practiced daily by the army and the police, it is easy for Israelis to ignore the situation while the settlers deliberately indulge themselves in oppression, threatening and beating Palestinian farmers and shepherds, uprooting Palestinian olive trees and appropriating Palestinian land on their own initiative.
She said that outside pressure is the only method that will force a change. She noted than the newspaper keeps track of page clicks and this information has revealed that when she writes of the wrongs against the Palestinians few Israelis read what she has to say. If on the other hand she writes of things that are wrong with the Palestinian leadership such as corruption, Israeli readership is much higher. The situation of the Palestinians has become so routine that it bores Israelis, a good example of how it isn't hard to get along with somebody else's troubles...even when one is the cause of them.
She explained her avoidance of the term terrorist; that when she mentions some violent act she describes the act instead of putting it down to terrorism as is usually the case. She questions why an act of violence by someone in uniform is excused as the rightful use of authority while the same act by a non-uniformed individual will be called terrorism. She pointed out that every effort the Palestinians have made to find a solution to the problem of their land being taken from them has been condemned, even if entirely peaceful such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
She displayed this map of the occupied territory (West Bank) that clearly shows the impossibility of a two state solution.
It was not an upbeat presentation because all indications are that Israel will continue to do as it pleases while the world watches helplessly as the United States government reinforces Israeli extremism, at least through the end of the Trump presidency.
I was pleased to see a much larger percentage of young people in attendance than I have at similar events in the past. As an American, I am disgusted with the actions of my government regarding Israel, but I am very proud of the many Americans, in particular American Jews who are disgusted by Israeli treatment of the Palestinians and in particular are revolted by Benjamin Netanyahu's attempt to present Israel as the representative of all Jews worldwide.
