Recently, Anaheim hosted the Sixth International Al-Awda Convention, where Palestinian Arabs worldwide converged to talk about their “right of return” and the “ethnic cleansing” that was inflicted on them.
It is striking how much Jew-hatred can occur without the single mentioning of the word “Jew.” It is also interesting to contrast how Palestinian Arabs speak to each other, how Palestinian Arab Muslims speak to each other and how they speak to the Western world.
For example:
“Palestine is and will be Arab until the Day of Judgement,” said Sheikh Taiseer. “Occupations come and go but Palestine persevered and maintained its Arab-ness. Palestinian cities will remain forever Arab.”
When they talk to a Western audience they take pains to say that the Jews who lived in Palestine continuously since the days of the Second Temple are also “Palestinian” and would have the same rights to the land as they do. But in a room full of Arab Christians and Muslims, the Jews’ rights to this land literally disappear. The convention also attracted its usual non-Arab supporters:
“We stand in solidarity, we stand in awe of you, we are inspired by you,” said John Parker of the New York-based International Action Centre. “From the river to the sea, we will not stop until all of us are free.”
The convention featured a number of prominent speakers including Ilan Pappe, a leading historian on the Middle East. Pappe called “Zionist ideology” the motivating force behind the Nakba, adding that now, unlike in 1948, “we know what Zionism is all about, we understand the strategy of Israel.” He described the Nakba as ethnic cleansing.
Among friends, it is easy to be inconsistent (“ethnic cleansing” vs. the Palestinian Arab population explosion) as well as clearly anti-semitic in equating Gaza to Auschwitz. And, standing in the United States, what are the means that need to be used to overthrow the Zionist regime?
Despite the successes of Zionism, Abu Khalil added, there are signs of its failures. “The 2006 war on Lebanon revealed a path of struggle against Israel that can be mounted if joined by Arabs -- not regimes -- of different countries.”
Bishop Atallah said that what makes Jerusalem a unique city is its religious diversity. Muslims go to mosques and Christians go to churches, he said, praying for one God and “asking Him to relieve their oppression and to give them freedom.”
Bishop Atallah travelled to the US from Palestine to attend the Al-Awda convention along with Chief Justice Sheikh Taiseer Al-Tamimi. Both religious leaders came to address the importance of the right of return and to emphasise strong unity among Palestinian Christians and Muslims.
“My presence with Sheikh Taiseer is a focus on our unity,” said Bishop Atallah. “Our religions can never divide us. We are proud of both Christians and Muslims.”
And when Muslims get together, any mention of Christians similarly disappear, as they emphasize the Islamic aspects of Palestine.
All of the pretenses of equal rights, of desiring peace, of multiculturalism, of negotiations - they all get stripped away when Palestinian Arabs speak amongst themselves. To them, Israel is just a temporal anomaly, and better that their people should suffer for centuries hence than to accept the existence of any non-Arabs - and especially Jews - on what they consider Arab lands.
