Today marks a first..this morning I have over 20 facebook private messages, from a Jewish American who moved to Israel to live in a settlement ten years ago. “I told you so, as long as they are guided by Hamas the Arabs have no interest in peace” From a musician friend who lives in Jordan and thinks I am pro-Zionist..”You see, you call me an extremist and you can’t see that the Zionist only stopped negotiating for peace because they were getting ready for this” meaning the bombing. Several local and non-local Jewish Americans some of whom have called me an anti-semite say and I para-phrase “Those murderous Palestinians will all pay for their crimes”..many people on both sides telling me “I told you so, and you called me an extremist” One of the hardest things about being an African American in America and having any political opinions beyond say civil rights movement or social conditions in the USA. is enduring the almost knee jerk reaction programed into a lot of White people . Sometimes it’s in the tone of voice, sometimes it’s just a facial expression and sometimes I’ve even heard it said out right “how the hell would you know” On this subject regarding the Palestine/Israel conflict I actually may have more right to speak than many white Americans. In the early 1970s a group of Black Panther Party members went to Israel . For the most part this was after a long discussion with the writer Jean Genet who thought that we could be helpful in helping a group in Israel made up of Mizrahi Jews..a Jewish population made up of Jews from middle eastern countries. After a visit there by Angela Davis four of us agreed to go..Being Black Americans we noticed right off that these people were usually darker than most Israelis …some were even darker than many of us . We began teaching our usual community control program…something I had used many times in small towns in the South eastern United States.. mostly centering around efforts to get the people to legally be able to vote and helping create a communal sense by putting together groups of people to help provides services like rides to the markets and child care . After a number of brutal police attacks in March of 1971 the group took the name Black Panthers..and made plans for a major demonstration to unite as many factions of Mizrahi as possible ..This was mostly the brainchild of a man named Saadia Marciano..on May 18th on what became known as the “Night of the Panthers” in Zion Square. About 6 thousand people demonstrated for the rights of the people ..it got real nasty ..real fast.. dozens of people were injured and about 70 Israeli Panthers were jailed…somebody must have talked because the next day all four of the us…Panthers from the USA were arrested. For 18 days I was held far from the city in a place I later found out was the Ktzi’ot prison ….far from Jerusalem and what I did not know then was I was far from where the Mizrahi Panthers were held..We were beaten with these flexible sticks every day ..and asked, who sent us,? over and over …after about four or five days …I still can’t remember how many ..somehow they decided I was the leader of the American group….I was not… a man I remember only as “Dotan” came in to speak with me..for the next I think three days he and his friend did things I still can’t talk about..I know my grandchildren may read this one day …they don’t need to know how cruel humans can be. Dotan just knew I was sent by some group in Syria and wanted me to admit that our reason for being there was to paint a bad picture of race relations in Israel. Looking back on it …today ..I don’t think I said anything …but I may have said yes ..just to get them to stop…I don’t claim to be some kind of hero …but I can tell you torture is NOT a way to get to the truth. When I was finally released I found that it was group of people who worked on a Socialist Kibbutz who had looked for us and worked to get us freed …it took about two and a half weeks for me to be well enough to travel back to Jerusalem and then home ..many of those people …the ones still alive are still my friends today..for the White Americans who read this I hope you learn from this that you never can be sure just what a person knows or can speak with authority on just because of their race..The friends that I made during that time Jewish, Arab and even Christian missionaries in Israel mostly remain friends..and they represent a
wide range of opinions …we agree sometime ..and don’t agree sometimes..But let me say this, I think the horror of the current situation in Palestine/Israel while largely the fault of the current government in Israel who really did fan the flames when those three children went missing ,is just as much the fault of the hawks on the otherside who control the feeble yet still scary arsenal of rockets ..too few to do any substantial damage but just enough to provoke a massive response…..just everyday life in Gaza like in all of Palestine/Israel for Arabs is already a living hell..why provoke the massive retaliation from the IDF??. This should have been the time for both sides to get their extremist factions in check. So to all the people who think they can say “I told you so” on one side or the other …I say I told you so, your extremism is a danger to all …
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