Why the Palestinian diaspora must become politically engaged
As I said a moment ago, it bears repeating, if a significant number of American and European Jews did come to such a conclusion. that would make it easier (or less difficult) for an American president and European leaders to put the One State solution on their agendas.
Now back to the real diaspora – the Palestinian one.
I am aware of some of the reasons why the vast majority of diaspora Palestinians are not seriously and significantly engaged politically to build on the incredible, almost superhuman steadfastness of their occupied and oppressed brothers and sisters.
One reason is that they are simply pre-occupied with the challenge of managing their own lives in the countries of which they are citizens. And related to that is the fact that the monster of Islamophobia is on the prowl throughout Europe and across North America. That makes many diaspora Palestinians (and other Arabs) fear that if they did become engaged politically, Zionism would see to it that they were smeared and demonized. They don’t want that kind of hassle, not least because they fear that smearing and demonization could result in them losing their jobs.
Wealthy diaspora Palestinians do contribute to Palestinian charities to help relieve the suffering of the occupied and oppressed, but they do not fund political engagement. Why not? They fear that if they did they would provoke Zionism’s wrath. Those who live in Europe and America fear that if that happened, their businesses would be damaged, possibly even destroyed. And those who live in the Arab Gulf States fear that provoking Zionism’s wrath would put at risk their relationships with the Arab regimes in the countries of which they are citizens.
Another part of the explanation of why the Palestinian diaspora isn’t seriously and significantly engaged politically is this. Many diaspora Palestinians under 30 or thereabouts don’t have enough understanding of their own history. (There’s a case for saying how could they be well informed when they live in countries in which the mainstream media peddles Zionism’s version of history? But that doesn’t change the fact that many are not as well informed as they need to be). I’ll give you just one example to make the point.
One of my good Palestinian friends here in London is a lady in her early 30′s. She’s very bright and she was in banking. She had a quite senior position and led a team that warned her masters that the bank was heading for disaster. (She was not surprised when her masters didn’t listen). A couple of years ago I had a conversation with this lady in my home. During it I made the case for diaspora engagement to bring a re-structured and re-invigorated PNC into being. She interrupted me to say – “What’s the PNC?”
I think that makes my point… She did go on to say that her ignorance of her own peoples’ history was truly shocking.
What that illustrates for me is that not nearly enough Palestinians (and other Arabs) understand WHY they must be much better informed if they are to play their necessary part in unmasking and defeating the Zionist monster. The reason (why they must be better informed) can be simply stated.
Zionism makes its case mainly by ASSERTION. It rarely produces evidence to back its version of events. In other words, things were what they were, and are what they are, because Zionism says so.
The problem is that you can’t take Zionism on and expose its propaganda for the nonsense it is by simple COUNTER-ASSERTION. It’s not enough to say “Zionism is wrong.” You have to be able to say, “Zionism is wrong because, because, because.”
Two quick examples:
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