References and paths toward understanding.

I received a very kind note from a user and thought it would be useful to post a reply.

Hi Xxxxxxxxxxx--

Thanks for your kind words and for your message. I very much appreciate it. Don’t ever worry about being insensitive, I honestly believe that discussion and understanding are the only things that might move us forward.

There are three things that helped me to understand much more deeply what is presently going on. One is living in Beirut during the 33-day July War in 2006. The brutality unleashed against the country was truly incomprehensible and spoke to something much more dark and way beyond the stated “goals” of the war, which the US also engaged in.

The second is truly understanding the history of genocide that lies at the heart of North America. The ways in which language, culture, and history of original peoples here at home have been erased and communities destroyed is exactly the same as what is going on in occupied Palestine.

The third I would say is the greater history of colonialism and imperialism as it applies to what is referred to as the Global South, the Third World, the developing world, etc. Sometimes I see it as Europe and North America deciding that 4/5s of the planet do not constitute human beings (note the Israeli defense minister referring to “human animals”) at which point there isn’t much of an argument to be had.

All of that to say that there is learning and then also unlearning. This can be a daunting process to take on and the resources I suggest below are basically starting points. In my mind they provide a counterpoint at the very least to the way war is mediated in the US.

My friend Ramzy Baroud runs The Palestine Chronicle.

A more statistical/informational approach can be found at Visualizing Palestine.

Books on the subject from a variety of perspectives:

Most crucial perhaps is to separate Judaism from Zionism, and to understand that the vast majority of Jews in the world do not see Israel as representative of them. Just one example is Jewish Voices for Peace.

This response to the Vancouver City Council links Canadian foreign and domestic policies as a settler-colonial nation-state with that of the settler-colonialism of Israel. What gives me hope is going back historically to the time when local resistance—Christian, Muslim, Druze, and Jewish—fought both the British colonizer as well as European Zionism. I point out the fact that the occupier of Palestine aided and abetted South African apartheid in no uncertain terms; furthermore the role of Judaism culturally and historically in the region is still alive, as witnessed by the rebuilt Grand Synagogue in Beirut.

I hope this might be helpful. I’m happy to discuss or answer questions especially if anything is not making sense which often happens! Again, thanks for reaching out, I appreciate that more than you can know.

peace and blessings,

Daniel