About the series: Adalah ("justice" in Arabic) is a diary series about the Middle East, with special (but not exclusive) emphasis on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The authors of this series believe in the right of self-determination for all the people of the Middle East and that a just resolution respecting the rights and dignity of both Palestinians and Israelis is the only viable option for peace. Our diaries will consist of news roundup and analysis. We invite you to discuss them in the comments or contribute with stories from the region which deserve attention. We ask only that you be respectful and that the number of meta comments be kept to a minimum.
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On March 30, 1976, six Palestinian citizens of Israel were shot and killed by the Israeli military protesting continued confiscation of their land by the Israeli state. Since then, March 30 has been commemorated as Land Day, and, this year, activists around the globe have engaged in acts of solidarity with the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions for Palestine until Israel abides by international law. Here in St. Louis, we held signs at our local TIAA-CREF office urging the financial services giant to divest from companies complicit in the violence of the occupation of the Palestinian people. Here is one of our messages:
An article published in Dissent magazine yesterday describes the healthy debate about the boycott movement in American Jewish circles:
Fading faith in the peace process, in the United States’ ability to act as an honest broker in it, and in Israel’s willingness to compromise in order to make peace (reinforced by the recently leaked “Palestine Papers,” which revealed that major Palestinian concessions were still not enough to satisfy Israeli negotiators) have created a new political space in which once inconceivable ideas are gaining currency. American-Jewish “doves” are considering what other options exist to peacefully end the occupation, bring about a two-state solution, and “save Israel from itself.” For better or for worse, the only option that appears to be available is BDS. These combined tactics promise to gradually raise the economic cost of the occupation for Israel, thereby supposedly making the status quo increasingly intolerable for Israelis.
Right now the power of the boycott, divest and sanction movement is its ability to raise awareness and educate.
My brilliant friend Sinan Antoon published his translation of two poems by the Palestinian writer, Rashid Hussein. This one seems especially appropriate here:
With the Land
The land comes near me
drinks from me
leaves its orchards with me
to become a beautiful weapon
defending me
Even when I sleep
the land comes near me
in my dream.
I smuggle its wild thyme
between exiles
I sing its stones
I will even sweat blood
from my veins
to drink its news
so the land comes near me
leaves a stone of love with me
to defend it
and defend me
When I repay it
I will embrace it a thousand times
I will worship it a thousand times
I will celebrate its wedding on my forehead
on the rubble of exiles
and the ruins of prisons
I will drink from it
It will drink from me
So that the Galilee would remain
beauty, struggle, and love
defending it
defending me
I see the land;
a morning that will come
and the land will come near me