“For Israel, Palestinians are undesirable, no matter where they live”

Diana Buttu is a Canadian-Palestinian lawyer, with Israeli citizenship, based in Haifa, northern Israel. A former legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), she closely follows the renewed activism of Palestinians, both in the West Bank and in Israel.

The general strike, organized Tuesday, May 18 by the Palestinians, was massively followed, both in the West Bank and in Israel. Does this demonstration of unity surprise you?

The idea of ​​the passivity of the Palestinians of Israel is a myth. Because we are one and the same people, everything that happens in one part of historic Palestine resonates in all parts of historic Palestine. When Israel attacks Gaza, we feel it in Haifa. When settlers attack in the West Bank, we feel it in Nazareth. An example: in May 2018, there was a demonstration in West Jerusalem to protest against the move of the American embassy and against the shooting of the Israeli army in Gaza which killed 60 people that day. Israeli Jews and Palestinians from Israel participated in this rally. The next day there was a demonstration in Haifa.

I participated in both of these events and each time I was beaten by the police. What is different today is that the protest is not limited only to Nazareth, Haifa, Saint-Jean-d’Acre, Umm Al-Fahm and Sakhnin [les grands pôles de peuplement palestinien en Israël]. The movement is much more extensive. It reached places where we had never seen action until then.

What do these demonstrations have in common on both sides of the Green Line (the 1949 armistice line separating Israel from the West Bank)?

It is the feeling that for Israel we are unwanted no matter where we live. We understood that the problem is not Hamas, it is not Gaza or the West Bank, it is us as a people. Since Israel treats us in an undifferentiated way, as one and the same body, then the only way to regain our rights is to confront Israel in the same way, as one and the same body.

Also listen Israel-Palestine: Why Has The Conflict Resumed?

What was the catalyst for this awakening?

Without the mistakes made by the Israeli government, all of this would not have happened. Benyamin Netanyahu could have played de-escalation. Instead, he chose to inflame the situation. First, there was the cut-off of the loudspeaker at the Al-Aqsa mosque at the start of Ramadan, then the barriers placed on the steps of the Damascus gate, the decision to limit access to Al-Aqsa, the order to shoot the faithful and finally the blocking of buses on highways 1 and 6, which came from northern Israel, to prevent their passengers from celebrating the night of fate, the holiest of Ramadan, on the esplanade Mosques. Religion is not touched with impunity.

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