My Only Wish by Sami Yusuf
All your armies, all your fighters
All your tanks, and all your soldiers
Against a boy holding a stone
Standing there all alone
In his eyes I see the sun
In his smile I see the moon
And I wonder, I only wonder
Who is weak, and who is strong?
Who is right, and who is wrong?
And I wish, I only wish
That the truth has a tongue
A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words; and Statistics Verify Them.
In the midst of a yet another unbearably humid in Washington DC, I found myself shivering with chills kindled from blatant fact. Carrying on with my daily routine of work, and the dreaded DC rush-hour metro experience that comes along with it, a stimulating image grabbed my attention. What seemed to be, yet another, media propagated bash on Palestine revealed itself to be an enlightenment on the Palestinian struggle. Before me, there stood an ad that exposed the loss of Palestinian land to the far-reaching hands of Israeli occupation.
Ad that appears at Metro North station in Washington DC
This personally funded ad, that is making appearances in metro stations from Washington DC to New York, had instantly caused a backlash. Immediately, the ads where labeled ‘anti-Semitic’, by area rabbis and Jewish community leaders. Although the ad consists of merely an image and a singe statistic,’4.7 Million Palestinians are Classified by the UN as Refugees,” it was inferred by its critics that what the ads reveals is criminal behavior. The image tells it all.
It might very well be that Israel is here to stay. But that does not mean that it will always be the racist, oppressive society it is now.
What should be clearly understood is that it is not just Israel’s future that is at stake here, but that of Palestinians and BEYOND. All of us have to ask what value we place on international law. What value do we place on a world that recognizes injustice and human rights, rather than turns the other cheek? The precedent that is established through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one that every single individual is accountable for, and can be held accountable to. Idly allowing the conflict to take its current course is not only affecting those entrenched in the immediate conflict. Because an occupying force may not oppress you and me doesn’t justify our ignorance. Inequality and injustice will engulf us all, if we allow for it.
Something must be done. We must hold Israeli-Palestinian ‘peace process’ as a pitiful fraud, as it lacks an equal playing field necessary for negotiation. It is essential for the international community to come together and apply external pressures to the growing scope and strength of the Zionist regime. It is also crucial that the international community, and every individual, to implement a worldwide BDS (boycott, divestment and sanction) campaign against Israel and its apartheid products, as it profits from the devastating loss and pain of Palestinians.
Don’t sit back in hopes that someone else will address the issue because others will do the same. Remember…..YOU ARE SOMEONE!
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Check out the BDS website and learn how to get involved!
Turning A ‘Blind Eye’ To The Palestinian Cause
How can an issue so great in its vulgarities take a backseat in the world’s public platform?
Since 1948, Palestinians have been evicted from their homes, robbed of their land, stripped of their identity, seized of dignity and deprived of their humanity….
For what reason? A Jewish State (Israel) that fulfills the gluttony of the Zionist regime. It achieves a Jewish majority through ethnic cleansing and mass displacement of the indigenous Arabs.
The regime is both the symbol of Zionism in the world and is a tool to reinforce the dominance of arrogant power in the region and across the globe, a power that is hammering down upon the Palestinians. Palestine cannot sustain an economy because Israel controls its borders and trade. Israel regulates clean water, medical supplies, food, and other essentials necessary to merely sustain life. Israel has Palestine by the throat, sufficing its population with an apartheid wall that tracks deep into Palestinian land. On top of which Palestinians, an army-less nation, are subjects to the brutal force of the Israeli Defense Forces.
So think again, Mitt Romney, when making accusation that the Palestinian culture is inferior to that of the Israelis. Rather, it is the systematic depredations of Israeli occupation on the economy of Palestine. It is the Zionists ruthlessness toward the Palestinian population, conduct that violates every international human right law. The problem is not the Palestinians; the problem is the form of global management that has failed humanity.
Where is the Western power that claim democracy, equality and human rights? Where are the Muslim countries that claim to be an Ummah, a community?
We must not sit back and watch as these grave injustices unfold. Instead we must become educated and active towards prevention of such atrocities . We are all human, regardless of sex, race, or religion. We must stand side by side and march forward, against the powers of evil, toward the path of justice, freedom and equality. After all if we can’t count on one another, what else do we have to look too?
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” – anonymous