On Thursday, February 1st tensions ran high as students filed into Miller Forum for Sa’ed Atshan’s talk on life as a Palestinian Christian. The event was sponsored by Muhlenberg’s Center for Ethics. The crowd buzzed with a range of emotions, wondering what exactly this speaker would bring.
The talk began with a warm welcome from Maura Finkelstein who introduced Professor Atshan who currently teaches at Swarthmore College. Professor Atshan originally got his BA from Swarthmore and then went on to gain a PHD from Harvard in anthropology and Middle East Studies. His research currently centers on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and social movements in the Middle East.
Atshan’s talk started by giving a brief synopsis of the history of the occupation. From there, he took us through his personal experience of growing up as a Palestinian Christian in the West Bank and outlined many of the barriers Palestinians face in their own lands today.
Atshan’s talk focused primarily on modern history. In 1947 the UN allocated 55% of the land we now know as Israel for a Jewish State and 45% for a Palestinian state. In 1948, the War for Independence or, the Nakhba (“tragedy” in Arabic), ensued. Following this war, Ben Gurion proclaimed the state of Israel, the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. Israel walked away from the war with 78% of the land and more than half the Palestinians fled from Israel. War between Egypt, Syria, and Israel broke out again in 1967 in which Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Syrian Golan Heights. While the Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1979, the Golan Heights and Palestinian Territories remained under occupation. The majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were not given Israeli Citizenship and in 1987, the Palestinians rose up in rebellion against the Israeli government (the First Intifada). A Second Intifada would occur from 2000-2005. In 1993, a two state solution was proposed, but never agreed upon. Today, Israel continues to occupy most of the West Bank, and, despite officially pulling out of Gaza, continue to monitor and barricade the residents within its borders.
Atshan grew up in the West Bank along with over 3 million other Palestinians. Atshan was raised Quaker and attended a Quaker school built by the US when he was young. He noted in his talk how many people he encounter do not expect him to be a Christian because they assume that all Palestinians are Muslim. Being a Quaker helped shaped Atshan’s moral compass and is one of the many reasons he identifies as a pacifist. He denounces violence both from Palestinian extremist groups and citizens, as well as from the Israeli government and its citizens. Atshan notes a double standard in the US; many individuals do not hold the Israeli government to the same standards they hold Palestinians.
In the Occupied Territories, Palestinians are subject to arrests, unfair trials, forced eviction, torture, and the use of excessive or fatal force to subdue non-violent protests. In East Jerusalem, a Palestinian area of the city, over 1,000 homes have been destroyed. Once a house has been marked for demolition, one is mandated to do it themselves by the deadline, otherwise they will be forced to pay for someone else to do it. Many families cannot afford this and are forced to destroy their own homes, which is often a traumatizing experience. In direct violation of international law, Israel continues to expand parts of the wall in the Occupied Territories, expand settlements, and restrict movement of Palestinians with 600 checkpoints and roadblocks.
The Israeli government insists this wall and checkpoints are for the protection of its citizens. Sa’ed points out that it would be perfectly acceptable for Israel to build a wall that surrounds Israel Proper, but to have the wall cut Palestinians off from their resources is unjust. The wall cuts of Palestinians from their agricultural resources and water supply, leaving them only able to consume 20% of the available water. The numerous checkpoints make what should be half hour trips to work and school hours long. Many people start lining up as early as 3am to get to work and often have to stand, squished in cages, for hours to get where they need to go. These are just a few of the Human Rights abuses that Sa’ed discussed during his talk.
Questions about Israeli security were the focal point of the Q&A that followed the talk, in which many students raised concerns. Several students mentioned security threats posed by Hamas, a religious extremist group, that has waged many violent attacks on Israel. Sa’ed addressed these questions by reifying his commitment to pacifism and condemning any and all violence. He elaborated, saying that he hopes for a future free from any type of religious governing where all citizens are treated equally with respect. He cautioned, however, that groups such as Hamas are emboldened in their extremism by Palestinian oppression. When asked to consider the Israeli perspective, Sa’ed ended the talk explaining that he cannot speak for anyone else’s experience but his own, and is simply hoping that people like him will be treated with human dignity.
Sa’ed told his story with composure and grace, working through a complex and difficult subject matter. Still, many were not happy with his talk. Many left in anger or tears, feeling hurt and attacked. Others were thrilled with the talk, excited to have him on campus and hear his story. All were left with a lot to think about and a conversation to continue.
Sources:
http://watson.brown.edu/news/explore/2014/atshan
http://www.pamolson.org/BriefHistory.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/state-of-israel-proclaimed
https://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/
https://stopthewall.org/the-wall
https://www.vox.com/cards/israel-palestine/hamas
Maura Finkelstein & Sa’ed Atshan