Saturday, January 7, 2012

We Should Work Together


     I believe that the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Palestinians and supporters of Palestine on Facebook, Twitter and other social media need to organize themselves in a cohesive and productive force to combat the Apartheid State of Israel.  There are many people organizing their own web sites with different news, reprinted articles and referring sites about many different subjects relating to Palestine.  Everyone wants to give out an opinion about every subject. I am guilty as well.  I am afraid that the message may be getting lost in the voluminous cyberspace tweets, posts and texts.

                There must be a way to harness this energy. There must be a way to galvanize this massive swarm of productivity into a massive force for action.  But how?

                I am just thinking about this subject in hopes of creating a discussion about what we should do.

                It seems to me that the goal of all Palestinians and their supporters is to have a Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital—whether that State is a State separate from the Apartheid State of Israel should not be a guiding element.  Whether you support a one state or two should not make you at odds with the other.  I supported a two state solution but now believe that it is not possible any longer because I truly believe that the Apartheid State of Israel does not want peace and, therefore, I do not think that a two state solution is possible.

                But my beliefs about a solution should not stop me from working with anyone who advocates a two state solution.  The common element between my belief in a one state solution and an advocate of a two state solution is that we both want to end the occupation of Palestine; we both want to dismantle the apartheid wall; we both want to eliminate the apartheid military checkpoints; we both want to lift the siege of Gaza.  There is no reason why we cannot work together.

                There are many facets to achieving our collective goals.  I choose to expose the Apartheid State of Israel for what it really is: an Apartheid State.  The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is a notable and excellent way to work towards our collective goal.  Others may want to lobby their elected leaders to support Palestine.  Still others want to break the siege of Gaza through the boat flotillas. Whichever way we work for Palestine, there surely must be a way to work together? 

                Whether you support one political party in Palestine or another should not matter as well.  Every Palestinian, regardless of his political affiliation still has the common goal of ending the cruel occupation.  Additionally, whether you are Muslim or Christian should not matter.  What matters is that we coordinate our efforts toward our common goal.
                One idea is to have a Palestinian CyberSpace Congress (PCSC) organization totally devoted to organizing Palestinians on the internet.  This idea has to come from the grassroots level.  Leaving it to one political party to organize this would cause many drifts and a takeover by that party to the exclusion of any other party.  This must come from the young Palestinian activist who can program a web site to encompass everyone and then it needs to wisdom of the independent thinking elders who can give appropriate counsel for such and endeavor.

Can we organize such an organization? Can we put away our egos and work together towards this end.   In 1989, I wrote the poem “If The Sun Rises,” mainly because of an internal strife within a Chicago Arab organization.  In the next to last stanza I wrote the following words:     

If our leaders are no longer able to lead
Will we yield to the more able?
Or will personal glory
Be the death of us all[1]

                Where are the young intellectual cyberspace Palestinians who can develop a social network site that can encompass all Palestinians and their supporters for the purpose of working together in one cohesive manner?  Maybe there is such a site and I do not know about it. 

                My point in this article is to state that Palestinians and their supporters need to start working together for the common goal of ending the occupation of Palestine by the Apartheid State of Israel.  

The power of social networking is tremendous; it has brought down rulers who we thought were all-powerful and invincible.  That power can bring down the Apartheid State of Israel. We just have to work together to achieve that result.  

(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

No comments:

Post a Comment