Awakening
by Ada Glustein Aug.
31’2013
Exciting days in Vancouver!
Six local groups recently formed the Palestine Awareness Coalition,
coming together to present the now famous four-map poster showing “Disappearing
Palestine.” The posters have appeared in
several US cities, including New York and San Francisco. They are now on 15 city buses and at one
(soon to be two) SkyTrain stations. The
Coalition felt so positive about working together with other groups for this
effort. Each group has its own mandate,
approaches the issues of Israel-Palestine in different ways, but all groups had
the common desire for the public to be made more aware of the ever-diminishing
land for Palestinians since 1946. All
groups recognized that awareness is the seed that’s needed for the plant to
flourish, for any positive action to sprout.
A grassroots fundraising campaign took place to pay for an initial four
weeks of the mural display. We were
thrilled with the response and appreciative of the transit authority and
ad-makers for agreeing to post the maps.
Our six groups each had input into the wording placed on the
maps, and the final posted copy (as seen above) shows the maps as a clear and
graphic historical representation of the ever-diminishing space allotment for
the Palestinian people and the large numbers who, as a result, have become and
remain refugees. I was so pleased that the
Coalition was so thoughtful in their approach to this project, the final
product simply telling the facts without blame or venom.
Not entirely unexpectedly, the officers of the Jewish
Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs
heard about the approval of the murals to be posted. There followed an immediate reaction to stop
the maps from going up. These two
organizations wrote letters to the transit company and to the local Jewish
community stating that the ads were “anti-Israel”, “question Israel’s right to
exist as a Jewish state”, “distort history”, are “malicious” and are “intended
to coincide with the sacred holy days of the Jewish New Year”. None of this was so. They urged their readers to write letters of
their own to the transit authority to prevent the postings. While the letter campaign was in full swing,
the ads were posted. The transit company
followed their own guidelines and stood by their decision.
For two days local newspapers and television covered the
story. Members of the Coalition and
members of various Jewish organizations were interviewed. Many comments favoured the ads and felt that
the information was portrayed honestly, simply, and clearly. Other comments said that the transit system
is allowing the use of its vehicles “to create disharmony and disunity in
our society”. Another said, “You cannot use free speech to libel and slander others.” “You can not
use free speech to endanger other groups."
I read the letter from the Federation and CIJA, and I read several
of the negative comments that appeared in the media. It made me feel quite sad to see the almost
knee-jerk responses pouring forth. The
Coalition worked very hard to reveal facts only. There was no malice involved. There was no distortion of history. However, the interpretation of our coalition’s
work was indeed a distortion, out of all proportion. Some responded as if a vicious crime had
taken place, as if nothing but lies had been posted, as if the people in the
Coalition were inciting hatred or violence.
I don’t understand how, in a democracy, like Canada, that the Jewish
community would want to stifle anyone’s rights.
The right to free expression, the right to opinion, the right to inform
and build bridges of understanding – this is what we seek. The hanging of these maps on buses and in
stations is not a return to Holocaust Germany, where windows of Jewish shops
were smashed, where Jews were isolated into ghettos, and shipped on trains to
their gassing at Auschwitz. What if
someone had raised awareness then? If
someone or a coalition of groups had been able to post on public transit the
plight of the Jewish people? What if the
inhumane treatment and violation of human rights of the Jews had been brought
to public awareness and spoken up about without standing down?
I remember my own upbringing around the founding of the
state of Israel. What an excitement it
was to hear of a homeland for the Jews.
I did not learn or know about other people already living on that
land. I did not learn or know about
their dispersal. I did not learn or know
that the beautiful orchards of trees being planted by the Jewish National Fund were
atop Palestinian gravestones in Palestinian cemeteries. I doubt that my family, nor the rest of the
Jewish community where I grew up, knew any of these things.
It is only in recent years, when I have opened my own mind and heart to
other possibilities, to read, to listen, to inquire. I went to Israel-Palestine to see for myself,
and I discovered the Nakba, the catastrophe, that occurred while we were busy
celebrating the founding of the new Jewish state.
It wasn’t easy to accept.
Doubt and questions slipped off my tongue. I felt quite defensive, quite embarrassed, to
think of such a reality, a people driven out from their homes, where they had
thrived, tilled their land, grown their crops and built their cities; a people turned
into a refugee population, no longer free to return. I remember meeting with others at that time of
awakening, all of us in some way ashamed – ashamed that we didn’t know and
ashamed at the behaviour of our people – somehow feeling responsible for what
we now knew were acts of occupation and colonization. It is still hard to this day for me to understand
such treatment of one human to another, coming from a culture that so values social
justice and Tikkun olam, the healing of the world. Surely, my brothers and sisters know that
“taking over” and “kicking out”, imprisoning, and putting up walls, destroying
homes and digging up trees are the very opposite actions of our Jewish
teachings, the opposite of how we learned as children to get along together,
respect each other, share whatever space we may have, and to always speak up
for the liberation and freedom of all people everywhere.
My heart goes out in compassion to those in the Jewish
community who are not yet able to face what is true and real and right. To act out of fear and ignorance, to blame
and condemn those who have opened their eyes and their hearts, to put on
blinders as an immediate response to what is seen as threat and encourage
others to do the same -- this is disordered thinking, disordered action. I am grateful for my Jewish background and my
upbringing. I am grateful that I learned
to question and that I learned to see beyond “the Pale.” It is from my own
culture that I learned to be a critical thinker and to see things for myself.
I applaud the transit company for standing their ground. I applaud the Coalition for its unified
effort. I applaud all the individuals
and groups who helped to fund the posting of the maps. And to those of you in the established Jewish
community who are still afraid to be aware, I am reminded of the message in the
childhood classic, the Emperor’s New
Clothes. It took an innocent child
to say, “But he has nothing on!” I say
to you, “Open your eyes, look at the maps and see the reality. Palestine is disappearing. Homes are disappearing. Orchards are disappearing. And the
Palestinian people, our fellow humans, need to be seen, heard and counted just
as any other group of human beings on this earth. Use your letter-writing skills to talk about
how to ameliorate the situation, how to find a solution, how to work together
for the betterment of all. Seeds of fear
and bitterness grow into hatred,
separation and isolation. Better to
plant seeds of compassion, seeds of understanding, that will grow into just, safe and
caring communities.
