A Word of Justice – By Shahd Salah

To the generation traumatized by violence, to the children who grew up too quickly in the shadow of war and insecurity, to the innocence lost under occupation, to the youth who carry the burden of history and the future, to the ones who stood for their nation, to the brave hearts who sacrificed their lives to protect Palestine, to our heroes and empty stomachs struggling for freedom from behind the bars, struggling against the continual acts of illegal aggression, to the ones who are unjustly imprisoned, to our leaders, to our stolen lands, olive trees, and identity. To our supporters, that gave us hope at a time, when the Israeli occupation is committing serious violations of basic human rights and International Humanitarian Law, depriving us of the right to self-determination. And at a time when the international community remains silent!

We have been in this long, deadly, ugly and dehumanizing, conflict for decades. Struggling to survive and live in dignity and peace in our own homeland! Just surviving while our Human rights are being violated by the Israeli forces and settlers. The international community has failed to support the implementation of the provisions of the International Humanitarian and Human Rights laws.  While Israeli authorities continued to violate our economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights.

Through the occupation and confiscation of land, building of the Apartheid Wall, illegal settlements, Israeli-only roads and other infrastructure, creating security zones, Israel has illegally annexed nearly half of the land of the West Bank. But they have not been able to take OUR spirit or commitment to our land. They can never occupy our minds, nor silence our voices. Our spirit will never die, because it is our own humanity and dignity we are learning from, our identity and history we are trying to protect, our own values and principles. While the leaders of countries afar debated on who’s wrong or right. We resist, through all possible means, through determination, faith, and passion. When we refuse to forget, when we refuse to stay silent, when we laugh, when we cry, when we live, and when we love. To defend our Palestinian just case.

The Palestinian suffering and attempts to separate Palestinians from their history and identity and suppress their words was reflected in the traditional and patriotic art, songs, and poetry for years. A Palestinian National poet Mahmoud Darwish, wrote about the suppression of Palestinian culture. One of his famous sayings: “The Israelis wanted to give us a message that nobody and nothing is immune – including our cultural life. I took the message personally. I know they’re strong and can invade and kill anyone. But they can’t break or occupy my words. That is one thing they can’t do. My poetry is the one way I can resist them with”. Darwish, who is considered a great Palestinian symbol, was elected to the PLO Executive Committee in 1987. In 1988 he wrote a manifesto intended as the Palestinian People’s Declaration of Independence. “The poet of resistance Mahmoud Darwish was the voice of the Palestinian odyssey, whose stark writing reflected the desperation and alienation of the Palestinian people” …

Regardless of whether or not art can really be divorced from politics, Palestinian art is intimately and inseparably linked to the Palestinian cause. Once the Palestinian people gain their freedom, then their art, too, can be liberated from politics.

Above all, they are trying to suppress our words on social media, Facebook administration has been pushed to sign an agreement with the Israeli Authorities and will now be officially working with Israel to monitor any Palestinian content posted on Facebook for what Israel deems to be “inciteful content”, Israel has also hired the Chief of Staff of the Washington DC Israeli embassy to work for them as “head of policy and communications at Facebook’s Israel office”. Social media was supposed to be an area for free speech and expression! And since this new policy was officially put in place, more than ten accounts of admins and editors of the two biggest Palestinian media pages have been deleted without previous notice or warning, including Shehab News Agency and Al-Quds News Network. Some young Palestinians were arrested for things they wrote on their facebook pages. As if things weren’t already risky enough for us as Palestinians writing on our situation on the ground, our history, and our lives…the largest social media network is now actively working alongside the government that wants us erased from history. Facebook is now censoring Palestine, controlling our virtual space, attacking our freedom of expression!

The right to freedom of opinion and expression is respected and protected under International Law and standards. As stipulated in Facebook’s terms of use, Facebook has been established for the purpose of providing people with an open platform to enjoy their right to freedom of opinion and expression. A campaign called #FBCensorsPalestine was launched to refrain from posting and communicating on Facebook pages and accounts on Sunday “25-9-2016” from 8 pm until 10 pm (Jerusalem time zone).

It’s only a message to demand the Facebook administration to Withdraw from the agreement immediately and to respect International Law and standards protecting the right to freedom of opinion and expression. We will never stop using facebook as an outlet to express ourselves and struggle for freedom and human rights and expose Israeli crimes.