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Issue: December, 1990

AUTHOR'S NOTE during coding process for Web Site placement: This article was written nearly seven years ago. Since that time the situation has become steadily and unbelievably worse. The "Peace Process", the betrayal named Oslo, has meant only that the world no longer sees the horror. M.T. 5/97

They came to make a desert bloom where crops already grew. . . They came to make a desert bloom where nomads lived who had no need of crops. . . They came to make a desert bloom where forests stood and there was no desert. . . They came to make a desert bloom, and killed a people for their dream. Some dream. . . For those already there, a nightmare.

THE CHILD OF FIVE THREW STONES TODAY. For that, the grandfather's house will be turned into millions of stones. The troops come - they give the family of 12 fifteen minutes to remove four generations of living tools and three generations of people into the street. They set the dynamite. They laugh. ". . .fuckin' Arabs. . .think they own this place. They'll soon see who owns this place. God gave us this land, and we take it away". The soldiers return in the rain the next week to confiscate the Red Cross tent the family now calls "home". They laugh ". . .fuckin' Arabs. . . .think they own this tent".

Make room, make room. Make room for a people fleeing the ravages of [Russian] consumer lines, the horrors of small apartments, the terrors of boring jobs. Make room for those who flee discrimination. . . "move over, give me your land. Youcan live anywhere. I, on the other hand, can only live here. . . I don't know why this is true. It just is".

The "transfer" option. . . visions. . . memories. . . thousands of people jammed together in boxcars. . .children suffocate under the weight of desperate adults. . . adults become children again in their disbelief, their pain, their desperation. Germany, Poland, Palestine. . .That time it was trains. . .This time, they'll be loaded onto trucks, or moved out at gunpoint. Now, as then, most of the dominant populace supports it. Then, most people were too terrified to speak out against authority to stop this horror. They could lose their lives. This time people could lose their privilege, given to them by dint of race, religion or ethnic association. . . Just don't say you didn't know.

They came to "make the desert bloom". Many in the West still think that. Convenient myths. . . a romantic ideal. . . a dream. . .They came to make a desert bloom where crops already grew. They came to make a desert bloom where nomads lived who had no need of crops. They came to make a desert bloom where forests stood and there was no desert. They came to make a desert bloom, and killed a people for their dream. Some dream. For those already there, a nightmare.

The trees. My god, the trees. More than 2000 trees every month, uprooted by soldiers, by settlers. Olive trees, carob trees, orange and almond trees, life's blood, family's life. They have to come down. They are on confiscated land, and the State wants the land. They belong to the uncle of the woman who threatened the soldier who beat her daughter. Hundreds of years old. . . they belong to the farmer who wouldn't obey soldiers' orders to close his market stall in Jerusalem today. They belong to a people who have lived here forever, and who think they have a right to be here. ". . .fuckin' Arabs. . .teach those people a lesson. . .We will rip you away from this earth as easily as our bulldozers rip your trees out of the ground. We'll throw you away. Imagine these people thinking they too have roots in this land. God is on our side"!

The ever-tightening circle of fear is closing in on the dominant people. A circle of their own making. They chose to live within that circle, in the midst of an alien culture. They chose to steal the land, taking it by force or subterfuge. They justify their action with reference to past transgressions committed against them in another place, another time, by another people. They learned well from their oppressors. The laws implemented by the Geneva Conventions, recognized International Law, written to protect future peoples from the horrors of the Nazi boot, ignored, contravened. The very atrocities they experienced, they inflict on the people of Palestine: they confiscate land and resources; arrest, jail and torture without charges; inflict collective punishment - village curfews, group beatings, demolition of homes for accusations of crime; transfer their own privileged citizens into this land and expel the prior occupants, not just from their soil, but from the nation; stifle dissent; fund death squads. All illegal by the Geneva Accords. All ignored by the State and its people. And with the support of the big American brother across the ocean. They learn about this in their own press - far freer than the U.S. press could ever dream of being. They learn this, and they ignore it. Just don't say you didn't know.

The mothers, the fathers. The agony of unending death, one family member after another, one child, one brother, one mother after another. Of maiming, dismemberment, displacement. Of raised hopes, dashed hopes. Of misunderstanding, of hatred. Of despair. How long, Oh lord, Oh allah, how long? No jobs. No food. No medicine. No schools. It's a good thing this is a "benevolent occupation"!

Freedom. Religious freedom. Religious freedom in this democracy means the freedom for the State to impose its religious requirements on all its citizens, and its unholy straitjacket on those it has colonized. Religious freedom in this democracy is the freedom to pay taxes for services you will never receive, because you are not of the correct religion. You can die of religious freedom in this country!

The big American brother - open pockets, uncritical mind. Open pockets, unquestioning support, across administrations. Open pockets, terrified Congress-people. Open pockets, trembling media. Open pockets, closed minds; open pockets, close mouth; open pockets, open pockets. Not for our own in need, but for others in greed. A better choice. You can't get re-elected housing the homeless or supporting justice for Palestine. They don't vote. More importantly, they don't contribute.

Justice? It's relative. "If we both want freedom, is there enough to go around? Am I free to take your land? Your water? Your life? If there is enough wool to cover enough eyes, I certainly am free to do those things. And there is wool in abundance. And you?. . . you're free to go anywhere you want, except where I am. And I am everywhere". Let there be love, and just don't say you didn't know.

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