A call to action from a peacebuilder and a Palestinian

By Rasha Abdel Latif

May 15, 2021 marked the 73rd year that Palestinians (including many of my family members) have lived under an occupation. An occupation of both physical and mental space and an existential occupation of the soul. This “life” involves daily experiences in an inhumane, unpeaceful environment in which every movement occurs with an awareness that there is risk of harm, with constant stress and trauma. This is the daily reality of Palestinians within every home and within every family. It is exhausting, painful, and terrifying. It leaves you brittle, scarred, and desperate to be treated with the basic dignity owed to any human being on the planet.

Since 1948, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been a focal point in the Middle East and North Africa region, earning considerable attention from foreign governments whose own geopolitics are impacted by what unfolds in this small corner of the Middle East. Increasingly, the media has played a large role in stirring up awareness on the issue. Yet more and more, this same media selectively uses language to depict one side as the “killed” and the other side as the “dead” –implying that Palestinians actively kill Israelis but Palestinians are passively dying, not murdered by Israeli occupation forces. The media is complicit in the injustice happening in Occupied Palestine.

A call to media to tell the full story

We need to end our blind consumption of media sources whose coverage is solely focused on ratings and turn our attention to the on-the-ground social media and citizen journalists who are shifting their approach to speak about this decades-old conflict through a human rights lens. One example of this is the social media movement to end the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. In May, there has been a spike in attention to the plight of Sheik Jarrah’s families, mainly driven by Palestinians who live there and are using social media to livestream the violent interactions they are experiencing with Israel’s police and settlers. Others have been using #SaveSheikhJarrah across platforms to push back against the Israeli court ruling to forcefully evict 550 Palestinians living in this area.

Although dispossession is not an uncommon occurrence -- in fact, it’s considered “a continuous action” by Palestinians -- Sheikh Jarrah is, unfortunately, becoming a symbol of all the tragedy and collective trauma suffered by communities that have been dehumanized, bullied, and dispossessed for decades. Sheikh Jarrah is one of three neighborhoods whose residents are being forced to leave their homes and turn them over to Israeli settlers. This is nothing new or unique, but it never becomes “normal.” It is part of Israel’s plan to empty Jerusalem from its Palestinian indigenous inhabitants.

Fortunately, we have citizen journalists on the ground to chronicle the tactics used by Israeli soldiers to taunt, attack, and abuse Palestinian men, women, and children on a daily basis. Recently, ordinary people have been broadcasting live scenes to bring forward the reality of what is happening in Sheikh Jarrah and what happened with the attack on Al Aqsa Mosque and the worshippers in the city. These grotesque images are hard to watch but reflect the pressure pot that is created when people are caged in. They show the true catalyst for the rocket fire that was sent from Gaza into Israel – a reaction to war, not an instigation. These smart phones videos and livestreams show the real story that mainstream media outlets are not bringing to light – a story of arrests and martyrs that includes the use of tear gas, coated steel bullets, and skunk water. We ask our media outlets to use their platforms to reflect a neutral lens when describing what is happening in Jerusalem and the cities around it, and to identify the root causes of the problems, rather than focusing on the reactions to them.

Our role as activists and peacebuilders

As a human right activist and a staff member of an international organization that advocates for people’s rights around the globe, I call for all of us to stand in solidarity with the People of Palestine at this time. Please consider that supporting US funding to Israel is a direct support to the Israeli military in their apartheid. The US government must hold Israel accountable for these inhumane acts and ethnic cleansing -- and Israel should immediately stop this horrific bloodshed.

As peacebuilders, this is a critical moment for all of us to witness these crimes against humanity perpetrated on Palestinians and take collective action to demand a stop to the carnage. We must also demand that our leaders re-think our approaches to this historic conflict that has been so deeply manipulated as a political ploy, using religion as a euphemism for ethnic hatred and apartheid tactics.

About the Author: Rasha Abdel Latif is the Director for Middle East and North Africa and Civil Society Strengthening at PartnersGlobal. She is passionate about supporting the development of local communities. Since 2000, she has worked with civil society organizations and activists around the world to amplify their voices, increase citizen participation in decision making processes, advocate for human rights, and innovate in creating solutions to local problems. She constantly looks for opportunities to make a positive difference in our world.

This piece was edited by Roselie Vasquez-Yetter, Co-Executive Director of PartnersGlobal.