Truth 4: WHERE is Palestine Today!
The TRUTH of the matter is Palestine was taken off the map, so WHERE is Palestine today? The human right of “self-determination” is why Hamas has been fighting against Israel’s attempts to “contain & control the Palestinian People.” The problem is not the Israeli People but the Israeli Government leaders who do not want the Palestinian People to have their own land or country which is the source of all the tension and now a war fueled by bigotry resulting in war crimes being perpetrated on the Palestinians by the Israeli military. The resentment and protest of Americans is NOT towards the People of Israel nor their religion but about what the Israeli government is and has been doing to the Palestinian People for decades. Some media outlets have even resorted to calling the Palestinian People “Gazans” which is not a country and reminds me of how African Americans didn’t have a formal country and were called names like Negros when there is no place called “Negrodia.”
Palestine was once on the maps but ever since America helped Israel take back their homeland in the “6-days war” leaving the Gaza Strip and other lands west of Israel for the Palestinian people. But with the Palestinians not having control of their lives that were being controlled by Israel this war was bound to happen. The Israeli people had literally relocated to Germany but when Hitler came to power and the genocide that followed took place it created a strong desire among the Israeli people to return to their homeland that had been taken over by the Palestinians. In fact, Palestine was on the maps and Israel was not, which is now in reverse with Palestine not being on the map, so I must ask the obvious question of Where is Palestine today!!!
The tension has always been about the Palestinians having their own land/country, as the “two-state solution” has always been the solution for the Palestinians and Israeli People to live in proximity and in peace that is driven by “mutual respect for the Human Rights of each other.” I can remember my MaDear once telling me that “Two wrongs will never = (equal) One Right,” which is TRUE as the terroristic approach by Hamas instead of using the United Nations to gain Self-Determination Rights and Israel’s control of the Palestinians and their way of life instead of granting them the right to have a state of their own will never yield or equal a peace.
College students have often been the epic center for change going back to Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and even the Tiananmen Square protest in China in 1989. So, it’s not surprising for me to see college students leading the protest throughout America. In fact, I have known since I was a young man in college when Yasser Arafat, also popularly known by his kunya Abu Ammar and a founder of modern-day terrorism, came to power as the Palestinian political leader that Israel was abusing and controlling the Palestinian People. I have known for over two decades that these days of reckoning (war) would be the reality between the Palestinians & Israeli people. Respect is a “reciprocal phenomenon” and the solution is to simply grant the Palestinian People their right of “Self Determination” and put Palestine back on the world-map and this seemingly never-ending conflict will come to an end—it’s called RESPECT & EQUALITY, it’s just that simple!
Ambrose M. Bennett
Kagman III
Editor’s note: This letter to the editor is dedicated to Bennett’s late friend Mr. Abed Younis, who was a Palestinian, and a true champion of the freedom of the press. He was the founder and former editor of the Marianas Variety and a shorter version of this op-ed was sent to the Washington Post for publication. It’s also written in the artistic style of caps by the author and his language of Ebonics. It’s also
Letter to the Editor
