Rather than seeing it as a conflict of two equal parties having a dispute over land, understand that what’s happening here is colonisation of land [and] ethnic cleansing of native people. Maybe make a connection with your own history: especially if you come from Europe, if you come from America, if you come from Australia. [Our] own history is very often taken away from us. We don’t often learn in our schools what our ancestors did to the native population. Maybe start to realise that yeah, as a white privileged person, my ancestors caused a lot of suffering. Just becoming aware of that can already change how you act in life with people around you. Back home you can see the result now, with native people having to fight for equality and justice, and being treated as if they were the immigrants, as if they are the newcomers, the people who don’t understand, who need to be educated.
But they were the people who lived there long before the Europeans came and took over. And this is what’s happening here now. We see that Israel is making reservations by making walls, checkpoints, [and] settlements. The reality is that Palestinians are allowed to take care of their own municipal services and to get money from abroad to make sure that the reservation is liveable, but they have no say about exiting and entering the reservation, about freedom of movement, about trade, about borders. They don’t have their own currency. They are completely reliant on the country that occupies them. They’re going to end up the same as what we see now in other coloniser countries. So look at it in this way, from this perspective. Then maybe it will also teach you a lesson about how you can be part of a movement for equal rights back home. – Kristel
