Image ‘Copyleft’ by Carlos Latuff

The press is full of lies about Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians in particular. This is nothing new…. how can Israel and the West continue to dehumanise these people if they show the true picture?

Drop the Gun, Lift the Olive Tree, Speak to the World’s Heart
by Mohamed Khodr

“The Arab world has failed for 60 years to liberate one inch of Palestine. It’s time for a new, different, and media based strategy.”

Peace and Freedom Be with You, God’s beloved Palestine!

No one earth can possibly imagine what our beloved Palestinians, especially those in Gaza, are enduring or feeling every day and every night of their lives under the brutal illegal and evil occupation by Israel, an Apartheid Zionist state forcibly imposed on an indigenous population by colonial powers who today proclaim themselves the guardians of democracy, freedom, human rights and the military exporters of liberty to an Arab world they mapped and installed autocratic puppeteers.

I am among the millions around the world who are pained daily by the suffering of men, women, and children in Palestine. I am more angry and in greater despair at the internal discord that is often violent amongst the already suffering Palestinians.

It is hard to imagine a competitive disaster to the occupation, but the Fatah and Hamas infighting comes close. It is hard for the world that empathizes with Palestinians, often in silence and often outside the Arab and Muslim world, to see precious Palestinian blood shed by Palestinians themselves.

Isn’t the daily death and destruction committed by Israel sufficient for your minds and hearts? Must you add your guns to an occupier’s tank and missile already aimed at a child’s heart? Are you heartless and mindless too?

This is pure madness, beyond human comprehension. Israel is laughing at you all the way to the morgue, a morgue you compete with your occupier to fill.

Palestinians have never been blessed with an intelligent, savvy, military or media sophisticated leadership. I lived in Beirut during the tragic flaunting of Palestinian power that turned the Lebanese, even those who supported your cause, against the innocent Palestinian refugees far removed from the wealth and corruption of their alleged leaders and defenders.

My beloved Palestinians, you know more than anyone else on this planet that you have no one to depend on for your freedom but yourselves. The Arabs sold you , their souls, and their people for a dollar and a chair of power.

Israel and its powerful lobbies have succeeded in monopolizing the history and narrative of your existence.Neither you, nor the Arabs, nor the Muslims in the entire world have had the mindset to understand the western psyche, a psyche whose lifestyle, attitudes, and opinions are shaped by the multi-national entertainment and media industry. What comes out of the television box emanates from the western mouth the next day.

While in the west image is everything, in the Arab world pathetic hollow and grandiose lies and lip service to Islam, Muslims, and oppressed Arab and Muslim populations are the norm.

The entire Arab and Muslim world is lost given its divided subservient and dictatorial leadership. While American politicians out Jew and out-Israel each other, Arab leaders out Bush each other. To American and Arab leaders Palestine is remembered during times of political expediency such as a prospective bombing or invasion of an Arab country, or during conferences, summits, meetings, and celebratory occasions. They sell Palestine words while they sell Israel oil, protect America’s interests, and buy their weapons, the same weapons that massacre our beloved Palestinians on a daily basis.

Paradoxically, while Israel has defied every U.N. Resolution and International Law, the Arabs in their impotence still adhere to such international measures as their political strategy.

How shameful that the Arabs plead and beg the very superpower that supports and arms Israel to do its killing of Arab “brethren?

Stop the bellicose speeches. Stop the charade of photo op meetings, handshakes, and smiles across Europe and the White House. Stop betraying your faith and your people for a joke of government power. None of your leaders can leave his office or home without permission from Israel or fear of being killed. How dare you imprison and torture your own people? Palestine, you have way too many political parties and militias, and for what? Rather than dedicating yourselves as one people to free Palestine from bondage you’ve all become bonded and hostages to outside influences playing you against each other for their own agenda, certainly not to your benefit.

For God’s sake, stop the internal strife. Stop the useless rockets. Just stop all these failed strategies.

First unite. Then lay down your arms and launch daily peaceful protests throughout Palestine, but without guns and the idiocy of shooting them in the air for any excuse imaginable, remove all masks, and refrain from hot blooded speeches and loud speakers. Simply carry banners of peace and flags of the U.N. Security Council nations. Invite all religious and civic leaders in Israel and in your territories to march with you.

Stop the hysterical media pronouncements that the entire Arab world is sick of. We’ve had enough of long meaningless speeches whose only intent is to bow and praise the useless leaders. It is incredulous that our media in the G.C.C. nations proclaim that their kings, emirs, and sultan are worthy of human sacrifice. May Allah (swt) forgive their stupidity and arrogance. Do such leaders deserve to be called Muslim leaders or is it the fault of the brainwashed demoralized masses who accept their life long hold on power?

Palestine will be liberated through intelligent strategies, peaceful protests, and a brilliant media and public relations campaign and not through the childish futile Qassam rockets or counterproductive suicide bombers.

The Arab world has failed for 60 years to liberate one inch of Palestine. It’s time for a new, different, and media based strategy. The west lives, dies, fights, buys, and elects according to media hype, the Delphi oracle of the western hemisphere.

Thus start an image campaign. Begin with a professional makeover of all governmental websites that are poorly designed and developed, usually written in poor Arabic fonts, rarely translated into proficient English, and often under eternal construction. Imagine the world’s most worthy humane cause is disconnected from a world eager to know more about official Palestine.

Rarely, if any, are eloquent personalities and speakers traveling across America to present the historical and humane Palestinian perspective.

From my own observance I would highly recommend that such laudable individuals as Drs. Hanan Ashrawi, Nabil Sha’ath, and Moustapha Barghouti.

Where are the Palestinian Christian leaders? They carry the greatest weight in this country given that many American churches are struggling alone to present your story, to divest from Israel, boycott Israeli products as well as Caterpillar whose bulldozers are demolishing your homes and building extravagant Arab cities and projects.

Where are your artists, dance troupes, musicians, products such as dresses, embroidery, jewelry, and artifacts that the west so admires and needs to see?

Fifty seven Arab and Muslim Ambassadors are totally non-existent, much like ghosts, in the American media. They live for parties, receptions, photos ops and as you’ll understand–Non-Islamic behavior.

You need to come here in force and populate the television and print media. Rarely does one see an op-ed or letter to the editor from a Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim leader in western newspapers or magazines.

Perhaps I’m being idealistic, far fetched, and unrealistic to hope for a new strategy for Palestine’s independence, a nation stolen under the very eyes and feet of Arabs. But what is the alternative other than the status quo?

Does anyone actually believe that this year’s Bush driven to make up for Iraq peace process will amount to anything? No one should be this delusional.

Nothing is ever given by superpowers only taken. The question is the path and strategy to reclaim one’s freedom, rights, and stolen land.

In today’s world, especially after 9-11 violence is dead on arrival and only peaceful protests and a media savvy campaign gets results.

I pray to God that Fatah and Hamas will see the folly of their ways and together work toward the light of independence. You both struggle for a sense of false power in a land not under your control. Yet none of you are able to feed a single hungry Palestinian child living in total darkness in Gaza who’ll awaken tomorrow to play in contaminated water and sewage.

The world supports and loves you but you must earn this love and support and not lose it through your arrogance and failed strategies. It must be said that in modern history perhaps the most misguided resistance movement has been the Palestinian movement.

To Fatah and Hamas, may God help your hungry, sick, and unemployed people if you as alleged leaders are unable to unite for the freedom and welfare of your people.

The fastest way to your independence is by talking and touching directly the hearts of the western masses and not through photo-op meetings with politicians. Western politicians are beholden to their domestic constituencies and not to any foreign cause. You must come here and impact the citizens who vote for these politicians. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the reservoir of good will many Americans have toward Palestinians. They just need to see and hear your narrative told in a most compelling manner.

For once our beloved Palestine take the initiative from Israel, hold the upper hand and place your destine in the hands of God.

Begin by announcing to the world that you abandon all military resistance and seek a peaceful two state solution as called for in U.N. Resolution 242: 2 states– 4–2 peoples.

Proclaim that Israel has one year until Bush’s term ends to reach a final settlement based on United Nations Resolutions and the Arab League Peace Plan presented for the third time and rejected by Israel. Place the onus directly upon Israel in the court of world opinion.

If Israel fails to accept the plan after one year than for God’s sake UNILATERALLY DECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE. Whatever happens can’t be worst than what’s happened to you for sixty years. What else can Israel do, invade and occupy your lands?

Many in the world will fill the streets in your support beginning with the oppressed and suppressed one and a half billion Arab and Muslim masses.

Declare your independence on January 20, 2009, the day a new American President is inaugurated. A new President will have no choice but to flaunt his power to gain worldwide credibility and will halt any Israeli onslaught. There will be victims for sure but Palestine has given up thousands of its children for decades and has never achieved independence. In due time many nations from South America, to Africa and Asia, will recognize Palestine after such a dramatic and potentially risky endeavor.

The world is sick of superpower hegemony and fear of American retaliation against those who speak or act ill toward Israel. Your declaration of liberation will reverberate and liberate the world once and for all from Israel’s political hegemony and intimidation.

Do it and only fear God, not America and not Israel. The Arab leaders will react to your declaration after first checking with the new President, most likely Barack Obama.

God be with you our beloved Palestine.