As birds migrate from one place to another because of changes in the weather or the availability of food, humans also migrate to different countries but for different reasons. People move to other countries for better life and job opportunities. However, in Palestine it is different. Some Palestinians immigrate in order to resist the Israeli Occupation, to help and support Palestine financially and in many other ways. Some people think immigrating to a different country is an act of surrendering; however, with my own personal experience I think it is an act of resistance.
In summer 2000, my family and I closed our home and moved to the United States. We moved there because of the Second Intifada. The Second Intifada was very harsh and painful to every Palestinian. The Second Intifada was part of the Palestinians enduring resistance for justice, national liberation and an end to the Israeli Occupation. Due to the curfew, strikes and many other difficulties we faced going to school during the Intifada, my father decided that we would move to the United States in order to continue our education and have a better life. When we left to the United States, the people living around us thought they would never see our faces ever again. They thought that we would become westernized and stay living in the United States for the rest of our lives. They did not see the resistance that we were a part of. Living in the United States, my father was very strict on us in order not to become westernized. It is true that we adopted some of the American lifestyles and lived according to their system and regulations, but we did not forget who we really are and where we come from. We were always, and still are proud to be Arab-Palestinians. Even when the twin towers fell down on September 11, 2001, we were never ashamed of the fact that we are Arabs. After living for three years in the United States, with our heart, mind and spirit with our fellow Palestinians, and when things settled down, less curfew and strikes, we returned to Palestine. Today, I am an undergraduate student in The Honors College living in Palestine, majoring in economics and finance. I hope that after graduating and finishing my studies, I will be able to help and support Palestine.
I have not realized my resistance until I made a visit and walked through two of the most beautiful villages in Palestine, Turmus Aya and Battir. Turmus Aya was named after a person named Turmus. He used to live in that village and he refused to pay taxes to the British. When the British tax collector went to the government and told him that Turmus refused to pay, they told him “Turmus Aya” which means, Turmus refused to pay. So they named the village after him. As any other Palestinian village, the landowners of lands in Turmus Aya are forced to cultivate their lands in order to stay owners. As Raja Shehadeh mentions in his book, Palestinian Walks, the Israeli law is the following:
We were aware that the main argument the Israeli military was using was that non-registered land in the West Bank was public land. This could be used to settle Israeli Jews. The implications were calamitous. According to this interpretation of the land law, the only registered land that truly belonged to Palestinians was that over which they would prove use either by living on it or continuously cultivating it for a period of no less than ten years. All the rest was public land. This would render Palestinians living in he West Bank squatters, not rightful owners. The only rightful owners, according to the Israeli government’s version of law and history, were the Jews. (Shehadeh 57)
So if a land owned by a Palestinian is not cultivated, Israel has the right to confiscate it forever. In other words, Israel is trying to steal lands from Palestinians “legally.” Israel is trying to take over Palestinians lands without breaking the “law.” Israel is deceiving the world with its laws and no one is able to say anything. If the leaders of some countries unite and go against Israel, the Palestinian conflict will be solved. However, none of these leaders care about what is happening to the Palestinians. They would not care unless if it starts to effect them. As Susan Sontag wrote in her book, Regarding the Pain of Others, about how one could prevent war. She wrote the following passages about how people are passive to images they see: “Whenever people feel save–this was her bitter, self-accusing point—they will be indifferent” (Sontag 100). “People can turn off not just because a steady diet of images of violence has made them indifferent but because they are afraid” (Sontag 100). And “To set aside the sympathy we extend to others beset by war and murderous politics for a reflection on how our privileges are located on the same map as their suffering, and may—in ways we might prefer not to imagine—be linked to their suffering, as the wealth of some may imply the destitution of others, is a task for which the painful, stirring images supply only an initial spark” (Sontag 102). The problem is not that the people are being passive about the apartheid going on Palestine; it is the leaders of the Arab countries and Western countries who are passive and are not putting an effort to help the Palestinians.
Walking in the village and reaching its center, I looked at the hill to my left. On top of that hill, stood houses with red roof tiles and they were built with the same structure. There was a water tower for infrastructure in the middle. To the right of those houses, there was a big building, which is a public building. The trees in that area were not olive trees and they were different than the ones I saw in Turmus Aya. All of these characteristics are characteristics of settlements. I asked the people about the settlement and they told me its called “Shilo.” There is another settlement on the other side, which is called “ShfRahel.” The Israeli government confiscated 4000 acres of land, which was planted with olive trees, in order to build those settlements. One can see this happening all around Palestine. Israel builds settlements surrounding the villages in order to prevent Palestinians from expanding their villages. However, the people in Turmus Aya are trying their best to not lose their lands. They cultivate their land, and build houses all around Turmus Aya in order to deny Israel building and expanding their settlements.
“The Israeli Occupation government took their own census in 1967 and found there was 1562 people. In 1989 the population grew to 5140 people. 2500 Turmusaya residents currently live there while 66% of the total population are living in the U.S.” (Turmusayya Municipality). The people abroad come to Turmus Aya every summer to see their family and to cultivate their lands. They leave their jobs in order to cultivate their lands and to save them from being confiscated by Israel. Also, almost all of the money they make in the United States, they invest in Turmus Aya. Turmus Aya is a village in the process of becoming a city. It already has two banks, jewelry stores, restaurants, cafés, its own municipality, and many others things that qualifies it as a city. The mayor of the village proposed to the Israeli government for Turmus Aya to be a city instead of a village but they have not received an answer. Without the hard labor of the immigrants who immigrated to the United States, Turmus Aya would not have been in the development it is right now. If those who are living in the United States did not immigrate there and worked hard in order to save their lands, Turmus Aya would have been smaller and less developed. This is where I realized that immigrating to a different country is also part of resisting the Israeli Occupation.
In Battir, it was totally different but shared some things in common. Totally different in terms of immigration and development, but the same in terms of the Occupation and the struggle people are facing by living in Battir. Battir is an ancient village that Israel kicked the people out from in 1948. The people were afraid and left the village. However, one man went at night, turned on all the lights and asked the Israeli government to let the people stay in their village. I do not know how exactly the man did it, but it worked. The Israeli government made an agreement that if the people are living in their homes and cultivating their lands, they could stay in Battir. Since that day, the people living in Battir have been planting and cultivating their lands. In Battir, like Turmus Aya, the landowners are forced by the Israeli law to cultivate their lands in order to keep the ownership. Settlements are being built around Battir so it would not expand, a wall is closing it off to other villages and a railway, which they are unable to cross, is their boarder. The railway in Battir made it an even more special and beautiful place. However, it would have been perfect only if that railway did not serve as anything else but a railway. It served as the border or the green line to the people living in Battir. People are permitted from crossing it only if they were from Battir. If anyone does cross it, which does not live in Battir, his or her life is in danger. This is when my happiness was distracted. I felt as if I was handicapped. I wanted to explore the landscape behind the railway so bad, but I could not. I did not want to risk my life.
The people in Battir are living from their lands and what they produce from them. Their income is mostly from the vegetables and olives they produce on their land. Unlike Turmus Aya, there is not much immigration going on in Battir. It is a stable village where the United Nation is helping it to develop.
Palestinians who immigrate to different countries are not surrendering to the Israeli Occupation but actually resisting in another way. If a Palestinian is not living in his country, which is being occupied, it does not mean he or she is not resisting or surrendering to the occupation. He or she is actually helping Palestine either financially or educationally. In Turmus Aya, people are working day and night in the United States in order to save their lands from being confiscated by the Israelis. They are purchasing more lands, building houses and opening up new businesses to help their village develop. Some are immigrating to the Untied States in order to study and to help their village in the future. Some of those who are immigrating to the United States are not immigrating there to become westernized. They are immigrating to the United States to help and keep Palestine alive.
Reference:
Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. New York: 2003.
Shehadeh, Raja. Palestinian Walks. London: Profile Books LTD, 2008.
Turmusayya Municipality - Ramallah. May 22, 2010
mun.org/eindex.htm>.
