Final thoughts

I leave Palestine and Israel very soon, but the situation continues.

Contrary to what some people may say, this is not a battle over race or religion. Most Palestinians I know do not hate all Jews or Israelis (there are some, but they are a minority). They do not want to destroy them or push them into the sea.

They want to live in freedom, and they want equal rights.  They do not want their children to be harassed at checkpoints. They do not want to have water shortages, while others just a few kilometres away have swimming pools. They do not want to be second class citizens in their own homes. 

Most Israelis do not want that either, and both Palestinians and Israelis have an experience of suffering. 

My time in the West Bank has been among Palestinians since unlike Israelis, they have no army to protect them and the occupation hits them. Also the fact that despite what some say this is not an "even conflict"- they are the occupied and Israel's government is the occupier. There is no equivalence in this regard.
However, although most of the deaths in this "conflict" are Palestinian (tens of thousands killed since 1948) one also cannot forget that thousands of  Israelis since that time also have been stabbed, shot, blown up in suicide bombings, killed by rockets. Every death is a tragedy and every murder is a crime.

Palestinians today live under occupation and suffer human rights abuses on a regular basis- abuses that range from land confiscation to harassment to destruction of homes to to torture to imprisonment to denial of services to outright murder.

Most Israelis have grandparents who have lived through all these things- and on a scale that claimed the lives of millions.

Neither deserve this.

There needs to be peace. But a peace that is just to both peoples, not only one. A peace where the rights of all need to be respected and defended. Where there is no oppressor, or oppressed.

I do not know how it will look like politically, or when it will be achieved. However, it is a necessity.

I fly out soon. 

I have been blessed by God beyond what I could ever hope to deserve or ask for, by being allowed to go to Palestine during past four summers and being able do my small part on the ground to stand in solidarity with its people. I have met many amazing people- Palestinians, Israelis, internationals who personify courage and compassion. I have also seen people (most of them wearing Army and Border Police uniforms) whom I wonder how they can sleep at night with the knowledge of the crimes they committed.

 I have seen a lot of injustice and suffering, and also a lot of kindness and generosity. I have seen some people show the worst side of humanity, I have seen other people show its best. 

I do not know when (hopefully not if!) I will be back, but inshAllah (God-willing) one day.  

I encourage everyone reading this to learn more about the situation in the West Bank, and the rest of Palestine. Do your own research, and read from different sources. Don't let anyone tell you what to think, do it for yourself. Draw your own conclusions.

I also would encourage people who want to go and see what the situation is like for themselves, or better yet would like to do some volunteering on the ground (international activists are always welcome and needed!) to check out International Solidarity Movement, www.palsolidarity.org.

Other international activist groups that are doing a good job here and also are in need of members, are Christian Peacemaker Teams (www.cpt.org), Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (https://www.eappi.org/en), International Women's Peace Service (http://iwps.info/). There are in most likelihood also others that are not mentioned. 

If you come, be prepared to work hard and be blessed by meeting people who will in most likelihood change your life forever. 

You do not have to go to Palestine to work for a difference. The most important thing that can be done is to raise awareness back home, whatever for you that may mean, and to encourage your government to pressure Israel to end the occupation and its oppression of the Palestinian people. 

As Martin Luther King once said, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".

Resist injustice, whether it is here in Palestine or elsewhere. Work for justice, for the Palestinian people and any other people (there are many) who face occupation and oppression and human rights abuses. 

Do not turn away or close your eyes. Allow them to be opened. See the wrongs. And then do something.

The struggle for freedom continues. Join the fight.