Good Fox: Palestine: Stop the re-creation of ‘Indian country’ in the Holy Land
By
Julia Good Fox
|
| The intent of the U.S. and Israel is to coerce and forcibly remove the Palestinians out of the region completely. |
Contrary to widely-held beliefs, the crisis in Palestine is relatively recent in origin. As historians and scholars will remind us, Jewish people generally thrived and lived in respectful coexistence with Christians and Muslims in Palestine while they were subjected to prejudice (and far worse) in Europe and the United States. It was only during the mid-20th century that sustained violence began to occur between the populations – when the U.S. and Europe, out of their collective guilt for allowing the Shoah to happen, formed the state of Israel on top of Palestine.
This formation did not occur on empty land. Known as “Al-Nakba” (Arabic for “the Cataclysm”), this 1948 event involved the expulsion of an estimated one million Palestinians from cities and villages, massacres, torture and rape, and the destruction of nearly 500 Palestinian villages. Zionism, which activist Gabe Camacho has correctly described as synonymous with manifest destiny, is the hegemonic ideology of the colonizers in the Holy Land. And one of the ideas of Zionism/Manifest Destiny is the concept of “Indian country,” an anti-human rights activity that the U.S. exports internationally.
“Indian Country” is a U.S.-designated term for our remaining and secondary homelands; however, the term also is common in the U.S. military and colonization parlance such as when it was employed in the invasion of Vietnam or as seen in the ongoing occupation of Iraq. We see this term in action, too, in Palestine.
Although we and the Palestinians are at different places in the politics of colonization and decolonization, as survivors of manifest destiny (and often combatants against present-day cultural practices of anti-Indianism), we immediately – and viscerally – recognize the extraordinary historic and contemporary parallels between the Palestinians and our nations and tribes. Perhaps one of the most recognizable similarities that we encounter is the theft and fractionalization of Palestinian land, a process that we might know better as “removal” and “allotment.” A strengthened and stabilized land-base is the basis of self-determination, and the Palestinian struggle to liberate and protect their land certainly resonates with our people.
| We immediately – and viscerally – recognize the extraordinary historic and contemporary parallels between the Palestinians and our nations and tribes. |
While in Palestine last summer, I saw billboards and other advertisements for new housing developments for Israelis (on land stolen from the Palestinians); Israelis are given financial incentives to move to these areas, much like how the settlers were provided for by the United States regarding our lands. Yet, land theft, no matter how it is sanitized or censored in the political, educational and cultural arenas, is an attack on human rights. Land theft also is in violation of the UN Genocide Convention which recognizes that such robbery is accompanied by an assault on the families, languages, religions and spirituality, and other cultural practices of a tribe or nation. The theft of a people’s land results in the fracturing of the community and families, directly interfering with social relationships, economies and languages. It brings intergenerational consequences for families, especially children. Indigenous peoples recognize the relationship between land and the well-being of a people, and are on an intimate basis with the damage that occurs when this relationship is severed by military force and ongoing colonization.
Thankfully, the U.S. and Israel’s land theft and other anti-human rights practices are monitored not only by Palestinian and United Nations agencies, but also by Israeli-based human rights groups, such as B’Tselem, and counter-recruitment organizations, including New Profile, which seek not only to document these atrocities but also to bring to a halt, using public pressure, these egregious practices.
| Apart from this invasion, Palestinians are punished by the Israelis for speaking Arabic. |
Meanwhile, the current U.S.-Israel’s one-sided war in the Gaza has resulted, so far, in the death of more than 800 people, injury of thousands, and as yet undisclosed damage to the infrastructure and environment of the area. Apart from this invasion, Palestinians are punished by the Israelis for speaking Arabic. Palestinian families are forcibly separated and the Israelis are incarcerating the men at alarming rates. Palestinian land continues to be seized and there exists Palestinian villages that are officially “unrecognized” and thus shut off from resources such as water and electricity. Palestinians are portrayed as terrorists – modern day savages – in the mainstream media.
As indigenous peoples, we can supplement our local and tribal self-determination activity by setting aside just a few hours to locate and work through an international political or human rights organization that promotes informed solidarity and intelligent mutual support with the Palestinians. In doing so, we can bring to a halt the U.S. and Israel’s attempt to re-create “Indian country” in the Occupied Territories.
Julia Good Fox (Pawnee) is on faculty in the Indigenous and American Indian Studies Program at Haskell Indian Nations University. In 2008, she was a member of the Third World Coalition delegation to Israel and the Occupied West Bank.
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Tuesday, Dec 22 at 1:39 PM Ahmad Safi wrote ...
One more thing about the Palestinian who are given an Israeli passport. the Israeli passport was given to 1.5 million of people who didnt leave their lands. Ther are treated as second class citizens in their own lands. They have restrictions on their political participation, land ownership and many other aspects. However, let Israel give Israeli passports to the rest 6.5 millions live in the refugee camps in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the rest of the world so they can get back.
34163429Tuesday, Dec 22 at 1:11 PM Ahmad Safi wrote ...
I just don’t see how some people speak about their religious beliefs as a strong foundation for occupying a land fully inhabited with people and still talk about being fair. Isn’t it the same story happens again and again, Native Americans were oppressed till they reached the Nadir by the forge of the 19th century because they were non-Christian which translates into being savages and so fall under the jurisdiction of the doctrine of discovery. Their right as human beings were taken just because
34161246Thursday, Apr 16 at 1:12 AM Wise One wrote ...
Get off your high horse about Israel abuses. Since the beginning of time, atrocities of human against human have been commonplace, this is no different. It is an insult to our culture to randomly place us in the same shoe as the Palestine. Israel have occupied this land before there was a "tribe" called Palestine and have returned to claim their own. We are probably more like Israel and have returned to our lands, oppressed and feared ie. research prehistoric findings of man in the U.S..
19668717Wednesday, Apr 15 at 6:05 PM LanceThruster wrote ...
I agree with the article and appreciate the parallels Julia Good Fox points out, especially in light of the fact that David Yeagley of badeagle-dot-com (member of the Comanche tribe) still considers the Jews as the beleaguered population, and not the Palestinians. Thank you for a well thought out piece.
19652027Saturday, Mar 21 at 4:47 PM Anuhea wrote ...
Thanks to Julia Good Fox for her incisive and important piece. It's time to compel Israel to end the illegal occupation. For more information, see: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/ Also, "Educators of Conscience Call for an Academic Boycott of Israel," by J. Kehaulani Kauanui (Native Hawaiian): http://diverseeducation.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/educators-of-conscience-call-for-an-academic-boycott-of-israel/
18364362Saturday, Feb 7 at 4:10 PM Howard Simon Marks wrote ...
Some of the comments are disgusting and based on myth not fact. I am a Jew but I am educated enough to realise there is no actual genetic or geneological connection between modern Jews and the Biblical Jews. Modern Jews date only from Medieval times in Southern Russia. The rest is myth. Palestine was a country for centuries the concept of state only appeared in modern terms in the 19th century. A country is more meaningful than a State. A country is culture. A state is an artificial concept.
16168129Sunday, Jan 25 at 7:48 PM Anonymous wrote ...
Harvard isreal Review shows the US has spent $80 billion dollars in aid to the jews. Manafest Destiny exported with support of the US Religious Establishment. No different than the Dept of WAr divided up all Indian reservations among missionaries in 1860. We must reform those heathen Indians. The missionary /Indian Agent created a stockade just like the west bank today and move all quinault children into the compound to re-educate and civilize our kids... what has changed since 1860?
15459954Sunday, Jan 25 at 10:39 AM Susan wrote ...
Nearly half of all Israelis were born in Arab countries or are descendants of parents born in Arab countries. There are more Jewish refugees from Arab countries than Palestinian refugees from Israel. Iraqi Jews faced the equivalent of Kristallnacht. in 1942. They had to sign a paper that would never return. It is simplistic and wrong to think of Palestinians simply as victims of colonialism. I might add that a Jew born in Germany or New York is genetically closest to a Palestinian.
15443154Friday, Jan 23 at 10:42 AM White Buffalo wrote ...
In the history of the world there has NEVER been a nation called "Palestine". NEVER These people are thugs and thieves attempting to steal from someone else to have for thier own. And here is the hypocritical American government attempting to sway a sovereign nation (Israel) into permitting the VERY THING they refuse to do in thier own country. WE were promised SOVEREIGNTY in the native nations through MANY treaties. Where are OUR sovereign nations? Yeah...Right.
15367904Wednesday, Jan 21 at 1:23 PM sandy st.clair wrote ...
and what about the US, North Americas Native populations were gods chosed for this land and that did not stop others from taking it so what justifies theft? Perception or your bible. rethink your mind set. it does not work there or here
15256004Wednesday, Jan 21 at 11:28 AM DK wrote ...
Indians and Jews have much in common. After being displaced from our homeland for 2000, we have returned to it. That should offer hope and inspiration to American Indians that one day they, also will reclaim their ancestral lands.
15245909Monday, Jan 19 at 2:51 AM teewok wrote ...
you failed to mention that Israel grants citizenship to its "palestinian, or other Arab" population, contrary to the current practice of many "Indian Country" tribes..or that the "billions" of military aid is for their survival,for preventing the missiles from terrorizing their population. Further, as one of your "Indian Country" constituents, I take issue with your attempt to equate the Palestinian actions with those of my ancestors.My take is that they (Israel) are God's chosen for that land
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