Chag sameach everyone! It is Passover and I had the privilege of spending the opening dinner with my newly discovered cousin and her family who live in Jerusalem. I spent the weekend there and realized that Israel takes the holiday very seriously. They don't even allow you to be tempted to buy bread. (Translations: "Do not open" "Leaven") Our Passover plate had the charoset, karpas dipped in salt water, chazeret, maror, egg, and lamb shank (a plastic one in honor of the vegans at the table). We read the Haggadah led by an elderly man whose wife narrowly escaped Nazi capture in Europe when she was a little girl. It was a touching celebration of the Jewish people. Who would have imagined when the Jews were freed from Egypt that one day a flourishing Israel would exist. I felt grateful to spend this time in arguably the holiest city in the world. I had a unique Passover for another reason. While in Jerusalem, I met up with a Palestinian friend who works for UNICEF in a Palestinian refugee camp. He is currently working on projects at the girls' school. He told me the camp is under Jerusalem municipality, which means Palestinians pay taxes to Israel in exchange for updating infrastructure. However, the Israeli government does not fix the roads. Instead, the community raises money to fill sink holes and must do it in secret. The Palestinians must get Israeli approval to build anything, but it is practically impossible to get approval. At the girls' school, since they are not permitted to build another story onto the building, they created an outdoor sustainable garden. Just last week, Israeli snipers shot at anyone who was constructing the garden from a nearby abandoned building. Whereas my Palestinian friend has a permit to work and even live in Jerusalem, he cannot drive his car there because he is not an Israeli citizen. Hearing about how the Israeli government treats Palestinians made me realize that the Jewish people have come a long way since they were enslaved by Egyptians. We have power, freedom, and land as a national identity. However, in this transition, many Israelis have lost touch with their humble roots and are now acting as jail keepers themselves. According to University of Haifa professor, As'ad Ghanem, Israel helped to establish a Palestinian governing body in the West Bank, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), only to undermine its control. In 2002, Israel destroyed PNA security forces, obstructed Palestinian diplomatic missions abroad, hindered the delivery of social services, cut communication between leading parties, and systematically obliterated Palestinian infrastructure. As a result, the Israeli government often uses the PNA as a scapegoat for the West Bank's problems (2010). Oppression is like breaking a person's arms and telling them to swim for their life. I love that there is a Jewish state, but it is currently subjecting many people to the kinds of lives our Jewish forefathers and foremothers created Israel to escape from, which does not sit well with me. A friend sent this to me just before the first night of Passover and I couldn't have said it better myself: (You can get the full version by emailing me or going to this link: http://action.nif.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=7357)
Here's to freedom for all. REFERENCES Ghanem, A. (2010). Palestinian Politics After Arafat: A failed national movement. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press. |
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