Free Palestine.
humanity, nuance, and collective liberation
This post was originally published on October 9, 2023. While most of the essay has not changed, I am updating the resources at the bottom as they develop and as different ways to take action become available.
I originally had a great post about Fall scheduled for today. I was going to talk about our interdependence, shifting seasons, and how I’m going into the cave to finish some deep work on my memoir because it’s where I’m needed most.
I couldn’t send that yet. It’s no longer true.
“War” has been declared. Thousands of people in Palestine-Israel are dead. Tens of thousands more injured. Hundreds are still missing.
As the news of violence and loss of life unfolds in the Middle East, I want to be very, very clear: this is the inevitable result of the Israeli military occupation, blockade, and apartheid set against millions of Palestinians for many decades and multiple generations.
So today instead of waxing poetic about beauty and change, advocacy is on the agenda in the name of humanity. This is where I’m needed today.
"But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians." —Nelson Mandela, South Africa, 1997
Many, many of you supported my recent trip to Lebanon and Jordan this summer where I worked as a volunteer visual storyteller in Palestinian refugee camps. Thank you for showing up for me then. What I’m going to write about today is the work that costs a whole lot more. Justice is not merely theoretical. Change doesn’t happen overnight. Advocacy doesn’t end after a trip. It’s actually where it begins.
I have walked through several Palestinian refugee camps on multiple occasions, shared meals inside them, heard stories of hope and struggle. I’ve heard their longing to return to Palestine when the land and people are free. I’ve never been to Gaza Strip because it’s been under blockade for over 15 years, but I don’t have to visit to know their longing is similar. I don’t have to sit down with sage tea to discuss if they hope the occupation and blockade will end, and if they ever dream of a liberated Palestine.
Of course they do.
When I’m watching videos of bombs dropped on schools, hospitals, apartment buildings, and media offices destroyed on purpose, and a U.S. Navy strike group of carriers and destroyer warships sailing in to join the fight, and footage of white phosphorus raining down like fireworks, suffocating and burning the lungs and lives of the families below in the open air prison called Gaza, I’m thinking of the real people, real Palestinian people caught in the cross fire of this horrific escalation.
Gaza, the small strip of land that is home to over 2 million Palestinians within roughly 140 square miles, is one of the most densely populated territories on earth and has been kept under an Israeli land, air, and sea blockade since 2007.
The population make-up in Gaza is over 50% children. Out of 2.1 million living in Gaza, 1.7 million are already refugees, forcibly displaced from their original homes in Palestine. This is who bears the weight of this current "war.” This is who we name "terrorist” to justify more violence, more death.
If you're questioning, whether Israel uses discretion or exercises restraint to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip: it's a no. Gaza is mostly children and refugees (or both) already in exile.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister of Israel promised the response to Hamas’ rockets would be unlike we’ve ever seen. He also made a “goodwill” offer of time for Palestinians to evacuate and hide before bombing them indiscriminately. This is a twisted, evil PR stunt that leads to a massacre because Israel prevents them from leaving. Also yesterday, the Israeli Defense Minister ordered a “complete siege” of already blockaded and extremely vulnerable Gaza Strip. The Israeli government cut off the water, food, fuel, and electricity to the two million people contained in Gaza, which not only reminds us of the power imbalance Israel has, but also that Israel holds no regard for ANY of the lives inside Gaza.
Witness real time war crimes.
Witness kids pulled from the rubble.
Witness the world feign horrified at violence as if this is only day three of it.
Gaza is not a mere “Hamas enclave”. Every Palestinian in Gaza lives under blockade, in an open air prison controlled by Israel for the last 16 years. They had nowhere to hide, and now they don’t even have power in hospitals to tend to the wounded or water in their homes to last to see tomorrow’s cruelty. These innocent civilians are being starved and deprived of basic human rights and resources needed for survival. This is who is impacted when utilities are restricted and foreign humanitarian aid is halted.
How did we get here? And how do we speak about the reality in a way that honors our own histories and perspectives?
Nuance is important. Learning the history and perspective from both Palestinians and Israelis is important. However, not understanding all of the complexity does not ever absolve us from standing with the most vulnerable if we want to live in a different world.
I believe we can hold multiple truths – within the tension – at once.
We can criticize the government of Israel for its ruthless occupation AND not hate Jewish people. We can hold our own governments accountable to the atrocities they support AND remember that people in other places are not always aligned with their government’s policies and actions. We can condemn the terrible actions of Hamas AND still make space for Palestinians to resist being colonized. We can condemn war crimes AND know they rob humanity from the victims AND the perpetrators. We can be horrified by what Israelis are experiencing AND disagree that Israel has a right to exist the way it does, including the settler colonies where Israelis currently reside. We can support Palestinian right to life and flourishing AND combat anti-semitism. We can hold the truth that the historic genocide of Jews AND the ongoing genocide of Palestinians are both moral failures and tragedies, AND that the reality of one does not excuse the continuation of another. We can name that war will never be holy AND be a voice for peace, not more violence. We can resist romanticizing violence AND not tone down our demands for accountability.
We are conditioned to believe everything is binary. It’s black or white. It’s good or bad. It’s right or wrong. One side or the other. Sometimes it’s a “yes, AND” situation. We can choose humanity and empathy over everything. We can choose great compassion, nuance, and love.
We can grieve the loss of Palestinian AND Israeli life AND STILL acknowledge that there is an oppressed and oppressor, there is a most vulnerable and a way more powerful, AND YET, ALL are captive in this arrangement.
Can I be really honest with you? I am so so so heartbroken by the lack of compassion and insensitivity people have in this moment.
I do not understand how calm people were just moments before this particular escalation started, though Palestinians were DAILY systematically dehumanized, humiliated, murdered, and subject to unthinkable abuse well before Saturday morning. I do not understand how loud people have become, claiming that the violence we’re seeing from Hamas was unprovoked and that the occupation of Palestine has no connection to the recent events. And I do not understand why Ukrainians can (rightfully) defend themselves and their land from Russian invasion and occupation, and when Palestinians do the same, they are labeled terrorists instead of freedom fighters. And I do not understand how the Christian Church has been able to stand idly by while Israel wipes Palestinian image bearers off the earth. And I do not understand how the progressive Leftist Democrats performatively obsessed with social justice can look at what the State of Israel does to Palestinians and not see an oppressed people group with the foot of a world superpower to their neck, suffocating under empire, military might, and religious extremism and racism that justifies genocide.
This, I cannot reconcile. This, I cannot understand. All who scream “both sides” today continue to dehumanize and ignore the realities for Palestinians who have lived this for 75 years. Meanwhile, Israelis enjoy freedom, citizenship, and the protection of one of the most powerful militaries in the world (backed by the U.S. government, who has THE most powerful and funded military in the world.) The moment this theatrical display of peace is threatened, we circle the wagons to see what can be done about the real terrorists.
Do you see the irony, the manipulation, and the hypocrisy? It’s become more evident than ever before that the world needs to better understand the vital context and conditions that brings these events about.
This is why I talk about Palestine all the time. This is why I’m issuing this letter or take or statement or whatever you must call it so that I’m very clear. And also because, by your understanding (and “following” by way of subscribing) my decisions, work, beliefs, and life, you would trust my words here. You would trust my heart. You would believe me when I say I believe Palestinians and the suffering they’ve experienced. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and have shared this experience for nearly 10 years, to build a bridge to places you may never go, to people you may never meet.
And believe me, I’ve done my wrestling the last couple days as I’ve journeyed from hearing the news to considering how to respond. I have questioned how I, a White woman living in a settler colonial context myself, can I walk a path of peacemaking that says “I hate war” AND ALSO “this occupation cannot continue” and “by any means necessary.” How can I celebrate Indigenous People’s Day today and also find empathetic, honoring ways critique how we collectively allow Palestinian lives and legacy to perish under genocide while I ask how come America got to end up like this and I get to have this privilege?
“To wrestle with the messy, uncomfortable truth of revolution is to build our capacity for change.” –Andre Henry
The work of liberation and peacemaking means a constant examination of my privilege. Peacemaking is not pollyanna hope or thoughts and prayers. It’s hoping with my actions and praying with my feet, my art. It’s looking at myself and asking about the ways I’m complicit as an American, as person of faith, as an educated and well-traveled woman, and as someone who’s set foot on the land in question and seen what I cannot and would not want to unsee.
This great privilege comes with great responsibility. For me, that’s raising my voice in a way that produces fruit instead of more rot.
There’s enough rot. Enough thoughts and prayers.
I don't want to see violence or death, I want to see the end of the violent occupation of Palestine and the ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights. I don’t want prayers for peace in the Holy Land, I want healing justice and unrelenting dignity for Palestinians and Israelis.
I want to see peace, but peace for the sake of peace will not last. Peace requires justice. Justice is only achievable by ending the occupation, lifting the blockade on Gaza, returning refugees back to their homes, and fully dismantling the apartheid systems that target and oppress Palestinians creating the exact pressure and conditions that inevitably lead to resistance.
I grieve the lives of those already lost and remain committed to a future where every life is precious, and all people live in freedom and safety. Continuing to ignore the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid holds both Israelis and Palestinians captive in these systems.
I focus my efforts on seeking to understand and uplift the Palestinian narrative because this is the history, voice, and the people the world has ignored for far too long. Apathy and ignorance about the Palestinian struggle translates as hatred. There’s no neutral here, don’t you see? Neutrality always takes the side of the more powerful, more funded, more equipped oppressor.
Look at my actions to know what I believe, but I will also say it explicitly to prevent any confusion: I support Palestinian resistance to apartheid. You can’t oppress millions of people for nearly 100 years and expect no reaction. This recent escalation of violence is not unprovoked nor out of the blue. It is the natural, inevitable response to Israel's 75+ years of ethnic cleansing, stolen land, genocide, and erased history (all backed by the U.S. government by billions of dollars in unconditional military aid annually) set against the Palestinian people.
I'm here to insist Palestinians are allowed assert their sovereignty and seek their freedom. This is counter to what you will hear from the Western media and the U.S. government. It’s not what the Church or the powerful in Hollywood are saying. It's why I speak up and elevate the Palestinian narrative all the time, but especially in critical moments such as this — because it can't get buried this time. I will not stop defending Palestinian rights. I will not stop exposing the crimes of the Israeli government (and those who live in Israel) to the world. Apartheid is never the answer.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other credible human rights organizations calls what Israel has done to Palestine apartheid.
From Linda Sarsour:
“Palestinians are not the enemies of the Jews. The enemy here is apartheid. Apartheid divides and lies to people. Apartheid leads you to believe that the only way you can achieve safety and security is at the expense of another people. Apartheid convinces you that there’s nothing wrong with dehumanizing, caging, depriving, killing, detaining Palestinians if that means you get to live a “normal” life. Apartheid LIED.
Safety of one is predicated on the safety of all. No one can be safe if everyone is not safe. No one is truly free unless we are all free. That’s why Free Palestine is a call for freedom and justice for Palestinians and the safety of ALL people.”
My advocacy will cost me readers, supporters, belonging in church, and friends. It HAS cost me readers, support, belonging in church, and friends. I’ve been called “undiscerning”, “pollyanna”, and “naive”. I’ve been given the highest security rating sticker when leaving the Israel airport, and I’m potentially banned from returning (a fair assumption based on how they profile friends of Palestinians, especially outspoken advocates.) To consider this more than an inconvenience on the road to justice in comparison to what Palestinians face daily? There’s no question it’s worth it.
I still have hope. The status quo can change. Justice is possible, so peace is still possible.
I have renewed hope that this time, walls are falling. This time we make good on this promise: NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE, NO JUSTICE WITHOUT RETURN. This time, perhaps Palestine is liberated and everyone becomes free (because we all can see how the occupation makes zero people safer, right?) But ONLY when the roots of violent occupation and apartheid are ripped from the soil can new life to grow. This is how all can flourish. This is how we achieve durable, just peace. This how the violence ends.
On Indigenous People’s Day, we are reminded that celebrating Columbus is to celebrate genocide and violent colonization. I believe that condemning violence at its roots – and not just its symptoms – is how we begin to dismantle the state-sponsored occupation and apartheid in Palestine. While it is unfair to compare oppressions, I honor that today is a powerful day to connect the struggles, own our complicity, imagine collective liberation for everyone, and use our privilege for constructive justice and peace. Everyone everywhere deserves freedom.
My few years of advocacy and work is a blip in light of the 75 years that Palestinians have been in exile and the decades they been living under military occupation. My words can feel inadequate and my actions never enough. But I know by now my contribution matters. This moment is where all of my small, ordinary bricks are added to the foundation of this revolution, and I will someday be able to say I stood with Palestinians while we freed their land and set everyone in the Holy Land free from this epic atrocity. I am committed to making this a reality for all of us, because our liberation is inextricably bound together.
So, it’s not time for my Fall break, though I’m still talking about interdependence and shifting seasons and the deep work of keeping my heart open while it shatters for people I love and am desperate to see free.
I still have hope because we are not helpless. I still have hope because we can still wake up to our shared humanity.
Hold on to it, and do not let go.
What you can do right now:
1. Elevating Palestinian voices (and their allies) while affirming their dignity and right to resist oppression is critical at this time. Here’s who I follow to increase my awareness and understanding of the current reality. Follow these people/orgs on Instagram for reporting, and share their updates with your own community. I’m sharing mostly Palestinian voices specifically because they are least likely to already be on your feeds. Many Palestinians speaking out against the occupation and supporting the resistance are being banned or restricted on social media, so they’re going to become even harder to find. I know it’s hard to keep up, but this is integral to understanding and making change. These are some of the voices I trust right now:
Sbeih.jph (and IG broadcast channel)
Let’s Talk About Palestine (and IG broadcast channel)
2. Do not rely only on Western media or celebrities for accurate information and sound on-the-ground reporting. It is incredibly discouraging and frustrating how one-sided things are, and we know the propaganda machine is dangerous. If you don’t know what to share, you can repost what I share on my Instagram stories from Palestinian leaders, journalists, and artists as I help amplify their message and attempt to counter a fraction of the biased news shared. My promise to you is that I filter all I read and share through my near 10 years experience working for peace in the region, and to the best of my ability, verify sources and breaking news so that I’m not contributing to violence or misinformation.
3. The most important thing we can do today is this: use our privilege in this very moment. Call or email your representatives and senators in Congress. Tell them to stop arming Israel without accountability, tell them you want to see an immediate ceasefire, and tell them to support humanitarian aid to Gaza. Be sure to tell your reps that you’re a constituent. From there, you can find scripts to help you talk with your representative offices.
This is how our democracy can work. Americans can demand our government stop bolstering repressive regimes. Please take this critical step. I have been using the email tools and scripts from the following. I’m emailing each of the DAILY to let them know I support these movements and let my reps know what I want them to do.
4. Share this post and your solidarity with Palestinians. Challenge the status quo and add your voice to the conversation that is currently and globally dominated by anti-Palestinian rhetoric. Yes, I know talking about Palestinians costs something. To that I offer this perspective shift: people are dying. It costs you far less to speak up than it does for them to live under oppression every day, much less to speak out against it. This is a very tense time to speak up, but it’s always been tense for the vulnerable Palestinian community. They have suffered too much already by our silence. This is how we move from acting like we care to true allyship and peacemaking. Please do not stop talking about Palestine.
5. Read “Free yourself: the violence, the supremacy, and the work”, a follow up to this post on Israel’s colonial history and White supremacy.
From the river to the sea,
P.S. I’ve turned off comments to this post, but if you have questions for me or would like to get in touch, subscribers can reply directly to this email. If you’re reading on the Substack website or app, you can reach out to me on Instagram.