Halper, anti-semitism, the diving bell and the butterfly…

I mentioned Jeff Halper in a previous post. He was arrested on entry to Israel from the Gaza Strip, after he arrived there with the solidarity boats. In the below link he describes his time in Gaza and in the Israeli prison. http://palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article624

Since then, some other groups started talking about similar actions. I read of a plan by Egyptian politicians and intellectuals who are organising a trip in their cars to Gaza during the Ramadan month. These people are demanding the opening of the borders with Gaza. They are also accusing their government of being the tail of the Israeli and American policies in the region.

I went to a couple of discussions this weekend on Palestine, held by the Green Party during their annual conference. I could not believe the bullying and intimidation of a small minority of Green Party members who claim that criticism of Israel could be a form of anti-semitism. Fortunately most people in these discussions did not buy to this view, even the Jewish members.

We heard a talk by one of the founders of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Britain, who is a Jewish man from Brighton. Another speaker was an editor from Jewish Socialist journal. They both agreed that anti-semitism is a problem for some Jewish communities around the world, but they stressed that it is part of a bigger problem of racism. They admitted that a few of the critics of Israel could be anti-semitic, but the majority of people, who are critical of Israel’s policy and the Zionist movement, do so because they see in Israel as an oppressor controlling the Palestinian population without regards to international law and human rights.

The speakers drew comparisons between the Israeli government actions, and the Apartheid and the Nazi regimes. They stressed that it is important to note the similarities and differences when comparing these regimes. For example, the Israeli policies of segregation embodied by roads only for settlers, and the separation wall are similar in their aim to the Apartheid regime aim’s of segregation from the black community. However, the right wing white party wanted to use the black workforce to their benefits. So in a way it was an industrial policy. The Zionist movement’s main aim, however, was to grab land by uprooting Palestinians from heir homeland without exploiting their work force. As for the Nazi regime, you only have to visit a checkpoint in the West Bank or see the concrete grey wall that is punctured with watchtowers, to understand the comparison. They look just like the images you see of entrances to the concrete walls surrounding the camps in central and eastern Europe of the 1930’s and 40’s.

Far from the world of politics, but not completely unconnected, I want to tell you about a film I watched last week. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a film based on a book written by Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was an editor in the French Elle magazine before he suffered a stroke. He wrote a book about his experience of the Lock -in syndrome that caused him almost total physical disability. Blinking with the left eye was his only means of communicating with the outside world.

The viewer sees the world from Jean’s eye, and surprisingly the world he sees is a beautiful hopeful world, full of poetry and imagery. He tells us he lost everything but his memory and imagination which set him free like a butterfly. It is a story of human nature and hope. It is a story of compassion and positive human regard.

Jean was a prisoner inside his own body, hence the metaphor of the diving bell, but he also felt like a free butterfly with his memory and imagination. This image brought me home to my own experience. Feeling trapped and unable to control my destiny is a horrible and a claustrophobic feeling. In using my memory and imagination, in dreams and language for instance, I feel free. I feel free to play with my imagination and construct reality according to my views on how the world should be. I dream of revolutions and transformations which make me feel free like a bird. Perhaps Jean -Dominique Bauby chose a butterfly because its life span is shorter than a bird. He died 10 days after the publication of his book.

As for the people of historical Palestine, Israelis and Palestinians, the current reality may make us feel trapped, but we should hold on to our memories and imagination. The memories that made our histories and identities. Memories of homes, friendships and co-existence. Memories of exile, camps, gas chambers, disposition and massacres. Our imagination should lead us to a world of liberty, justice and piece. Imagination that could turn into reality if we remember, acknowledge and forgive.