Forty Years of Domination in Palestine

By Geoffrey Cook, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

Berkeley–This piece is based on the perceptive Palestinian-oriented opinions of the Jewish-American, Anna Balter, who has been living for the past year in the occupied territories. Many of the perceptions of these musings are my own, though.

The contest within the Holy Region is a mixture of religion and cultural struggle. Progress is possible, but religion when it becomes exclusive, is most dangerous as we see in the Arab-Israeli context.

“I hope we [can keep] to our vision…[of] empowerment. Neutrality is not an option. Hamas and the suicide bombers avoid the meaning of violence. Our efforts to empower women to understand violence are often misunderstood by the opposition as

Terrorism itself! Violence has cut us off…from life. Yet “I can’t accept domination …Reconciliation has collapsed into despair!” The ridiculous sanctions against both Hamas and to a lesser extent the PA (the Palestinian Authority) are counterproductive! The cultural and environmental structures only encourage more aggression!

Power, when shared, can become a positive relationship! Along with the spiritual, we require a healthy economy and moral material advancement. We have to overcome the force of defeat!

Because of our Jewish-dominated media, America is ignorant of Ramallah’s efforts at peace. We assume all Arabs are hatefully violent!

“For reconciliation, we should make a pact with the present!”

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