The Theft of a Place of Pride

Author

Dr. Sabri Saidam

For decades, the occupation government has denied its actions of stealing the natural resources of the Palestinians, as it has been accustomed to denying in its reports and in international forums its ongoing assaults on the water, oil, gas, and all the essential components of Palestinian life.

Today, the matter has become public, and it is even accompanied by boasting and pride from the far-right politicians in Israel. The persistence in this matter and the race towards it has long been admired by some Israelis who support those parties.

Does Israel boast today about these thefts? Without hesitation, reservation, or evasion, considering such actions justified, according to its claims, and even considers it a legitimate right and an approved act, according to those in power today and some who are outside of it.

The beginning naturally comes from the alleged claim of rights to the Arab land, through flimsy justifications based on religious ideological arguments, as well as urgent security, military, and economic claims, as the occupying state asserts.

Today, Israel unleashes its settlers to do as they please in broad daylight, expanding the scope of thefts to include the stealing of livestock, the appropriation of olive crops, and water sources, not to mention cutting down trees and carving out various roads for the purpose of expanding settlements and building new ones, as part of clear and explicit projects that are not only unannounced but also boasted about and flaunted within the framework of clear, blatant, and scandalous political and electoral competitions.

These actions do not stem merely from traditional occupation, nor from a supposed divine promise, but also from treating Palestinians in a way that strips them of their humanity, and applying the racist concept that states: a good Arab is a dead Arab.

The stripping of humanity, the state of the occupying government's empowerment over the world, the growing influence in decision-making factories, the blatant collusion, the American material and military cover, the abundance of money, the accumulated legal support, and the indifference to what the world says, all provide the occupying state with the necessary cover to boast about its occupation and its actions and those of its settlers, and to oppress not only the Palestinians but the entire world as well.

Some say that what one of the Israeli Mossad officials said on the American program 60 Minutes explains the position objectively: 'We are creating a false world. We are a global production company: we write the script. We are the directors, the producers, the main actors, and the world is our stage.'

Many Jews around the world reject what is happening; in fact, some rabbis have recently broken their silence to openly express their rejection of such actions and behaviors, joining a group of singers, actors, and celebrities from their faith who have distanced themselves from the actions of the Tel Aviv government today. It is as if their message is saying that neither religion nor the world can accept the suffering of the Palestinian people, and that extremism in Israel, no matter how it is cloaked in the garments of religion and ideology, is merely a blatant political party competition that cannot deceive anyone. Will the wave of those rejecting the concepts of pride in theft and Israeli extremism escalate? We wait and see.

s.saidam@gmail.com