I was brought up on the idea of Revolution, of armed Resistance. When one embraces this ideology, one can remain pure of soul and intent. What happens though to the reality 'on the ground' while you are continuing to RESIST, not only the Enemy but the compromises. made by your own people?
Where Palestine is concerned, there are two forces constantly in conflict, but there is an actual NEED to swallow unacceptable positions in order to REMAIN in Palestine and to have perhaps a voice in the government.
After the election that give a coalition of Arabs and Jews a record number of seats in the Knesset, I read the Knesset rules that provide an enormous stumbling block to almost every Palestinian in theory:
'A candidates' list shall not participate in elections to the Knesset, and a person shall not be a candidate for election to the Knesset, if the objects or actions of the list or the actions of the person, expressly or by implication, include one of the following:
Negation of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state;
Incitement to racism;
Support of armed struggle, by a hostile state or a terrorist organisation, against the State of Israel.
a1. For the purposes of this section, a candidate that was at a hostile state unlawfully within the seven years preceding the date for submitting the candidates' list, is deemed a person whose actions express support of armed struggle against the State of Israel, as long as he has not proven otherwise.'
Well, there goes the potential of almost any decent Arab and Jew to be considered as a candidate. Yet, a record number of Arabs who are citizens of the Zionist State are members now of this unholy body.
If one does not live in Haifa, but has been forced or for any reason lives outside the borders of Palestine (in its entirety, repudiating the Israeli government completely), it is easy to reject any compromises, to declare very firmly: I support one democratic secular state called Palestine. I reject the very concept of a 'wholly Jewish' State as racist and where Palestine is concerned, this State constitutes a foreign Occupation on Arab soil. I support the Right of Return of every Palestinian unconditionally. Furthermore, I support armed struggle against this entity, as well as any other method that can be effective in dismantling this entity.'
If ALL Palestinians refuse to engage in the mechanics of the Israeli government, however, where is the presence of Palestine and its voice in Haifa? We call upon Palestinians to be 'steadfast' and sing and recite poetry about 'Samidoon'. And yet, what is steadfastness when one is evicted from ones home, when one is removed from the homeland by this entity?
Politics is very different from philosophy. It is the business of compromise, of making and breaking deals, of living cheek to jowl with unpleasant policies and actual enemies.
Long ago, I had a dear friend who never had lived in Palestine, whose family had been living in a refugee camp since 1948. I argued passionately about the need to embrace armed resistance. He told me: 'Zionism one day will be impaled upon its own sword.' I did not disagree with his vision that it might someday be destroyed from within by the very bankruptcy of its foundation, but my question was: How long must the Palestinian people wait for this to occur?
Meanwhile, the pure of heart ultimately condemned the great poets of the Resistance for ostensibly accepting less than the whole, by tacit support for the 'two State solution'. I truly believe that Mahmoud Darwish died not only from cancer but from a broken heart. What becomes of a man's soul when he is rejected by his own people, the Palestinian people he loves? What becomes of his heart when he is condemned after fighting for the very identity of Palestine?
