# Ending... and forgiveness 9 May 2001

=( Sara, my fellow “Nader Blader” and “behen,” is leaving tomorrow. She is the first in a line of friends to leave (unless someone left without my knowing). So the sadness begins. Sara is one of the many enjoyable friends I’ve had the good fortune of meeting. I hope her travels for the summer go well and that God’s will is with her (no, I haven’t converted from Hinduism).

I've started my packing as well. I will be working at Motorola for approximately seven months in Schaumberg, IL. Packing is so saddening. I've begun dismantling my room and it is depressing. I think I need to get myself a laptop and not drag this beast of a machine around.

So, every day I learn something new. After much debate and deliberation today, I've established a few things. Based on my letters to the DI and whatnot, the audiences I am trying to attract (those on campus interested in world issues, and the people who are not aware of the Palestinian struggle) are being totally missed. My letters speak only to a select group on campus who know a good deal regarding Palestine and Israel and the US Imperialism behind this.

So I guess I'll just make a list of clarifications on my stance on the situation.

1. I am against the state of Israel as a government. As the regime that was established by Ben-Gurion and as the regime that it has been and that it continues to be.
2. I am not against Jewish people, the Jewish faith or anything religiously Jewish or even culturally Jewish. I do not consider the Israel of today part of Judaism or a necessary part of Jewish culture.
3. I am against Israel being used as an exclusive homeland for the Jews.
4. I am not a supporter of groups like the PA or PLO which claim to be a face for the Palestinian people. They do not adequately represent the struggle, nor do they care for the people.
5. I am for a state (by any name, but Palestine is the historic name to that region) that is for the people who lay claim to that land (i.e. people who were forced out of their homes).
6. I am not for the expulsion of Jews for the area. That would be ridiculous, because we'd come full circle.
7. I am for the one state solution. I believe that Jew and Arab can coexist as equals if the government under which they reside treats them as such. A two-state solution is, in my opinion, ludicrous and would just lead to continued strife.

Having this all said, I wish that any person who has questions on my beliefs (or the sincerity of them) or still wishes to accuse me of being Anti-Jewish or whatnot to please talk with me. My views aren't just blind pro-Palestinian support. During school I've spent many a nights reading editorials from Ha'aretz, researching Judaism and Islam, researching Zionism, researching the Palestinian struggle in order to form a clear view of what is happening and has happened. Kindly, pass this note along to people who have accused me of such things, or who "hate" me. Sara Bo was correct in saying that hate is a strong word. Use it with caution.

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# Last bit against Zionism... 7 May 2001

I used to think that the view that not being extremely for Palestine meant that you were pro-Israel was a bit harsh. Then I realized that the default sentiments in this country are pro-Isreal. The Palestinian voices are never heard. This isn't a "two-sided" issue as many liberal fence-straddlers would have you believe. Unless those sides are "our land was taken, and we've been put through hell" vs. "we took land and put others through hell." This is not a case of Arab vs. Jew, cousin fighting cousin. This is the ruled people vs. colonialists. Palestine must be free. Israel is no democracy. We cannot stand for this land of the free for one people and land of misery for another. The US must stop supporting dictators and other undemocratic governments. Democracy as in a state where people get a say in how they are ruled. (Please don't give me your useless comments that Democracies do not exist, I am using a broader definition.) Power to the people. Down with imperialism!

So I wrote a letter to the DI, attacking Michael Frazin's points and defending what sister Mariam had to say (Frazin actually twisted her words).

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# Fear... 4 May 2001

So I learned a new definition of fear. Fear out of love. When we love something or someone so much that to go against it we are afraid. This new definition helps me understand the term God-fearing. I always termed myself as God-loving and did things not in fear of God, but in love. So essentially this new definition settles that.

For a traditional fear though, I fear that people still eat at Shaitan's... or McDonald's. Nasty stuff... Tejal sent me some more info on their evil. Basically, my vegetarian or just non-beef eating friends, French Fries have beef. If someone would like to be of great service to the Vegetarian, Vegan, Halal communities several certification companies could be set up to certify a restraunt as meeting certain guidelines. Restaurant and food that is. I mean, really, how many of you realize that French Fries are beef, and skittles are animal based (potentially)?

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# Today... 30 April 2001

What a day... nothing too big... read the DI... and there was this. So that was on my mind while I sped through my Social Aspects of Information test. I got a lot of support though from the community who had read my article and the response. Mike Frazin is a racist, he has no regard for the Arab peoples. My second test took 10 minutes. Insha'allah that I did well... usually it's a bad thing when I finish fast.

I ran into Zainab twice today and sat down and we talked. Hadn't seen her in about a month. Marc, my Judaic brother, called and that was good too. In fact, talking to him, it seemed that we saw eye to eye on Zionism and its relationship with Judaism. To quote a good idea: "All Jews should have access to the holy sites, but I have a problem with us owning all of Israel." Masha'allah. Here's someone who understands the situation. Although his view seems even more radical than mine (see the points on Not In My Name, that's what I agree with).

I'm glad that I can find such great friends like Zainab, Marc, and even people who are relatively strangers to me, who not only understand my views, but share them to an extent. I, by no means, am silencing out other views. It's just nice to know that I'm not alone.

UPDATE: Here is today's letter from UC Unity and Struggle's Aaron

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# Peace 27 April 2001

Yes... I stayed up all night to see if this would get published. It did. I am happy. It was poorly written, basically putting a few key points into from my last post into a letter to the editor. I've got another letter for them to send later today to appear in Monday, insha'allah.

Anyway, protesting Israeli occupation of Palestine was wonderful. My throat hurts but I was able to stand together with brothers and sisters fighting for what I feel is a fight for justice. I miss my progressive Minnesotans though. I know that many of them would have wonderous views to share on a campus as great as ours.

I encourage everybody to Get Up, Stand Up. Fight for rights. Even your rights are being taken away with New World Order like trade agreements like the FTAA, WTO, etc. At the same time, try to support the cause of the other people as well. Today was great because we had people stand together with us that weren't Muslim or Palestinian (myself for example), but even people who didn't plan on it. Wonderful people.

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# Israeli Independence 25 April 2001

Until I decided to educate myself, I had felt that Israel was a good thing. A little research has led me to find some problems with Israel. For example, there is the Israeli Day of Independence. I have problems with this. I also have problems with the promised land. I also have problems with the Zionist movement as it has been practiced.

Let's look at the promised land. Why is it called the promised land? It was land promised to the descendants of Ibrahim (Abraham, Abe) the father of the Jews. From Abraham's son Isaac came the Jewish people and from his other son, Ishmael, came the Arabs. Therefore the promised land belongs (theologically) to Jews and Arabs (which are mostly Muslims and Christians). This land is biblically just as much the Arabs as it is the Jews.

Zionism was the search for a homeland for the Jews to flee persecution from Russians and later the Nazis. Most of Europe at some time or another had a thing against Jews. So a Jewish homeland seemed like a great thing. Unfortunately a Jewish homeland can't just be made from nothing. So there were two places in mind, Palestine (the land of Canaan), or Argentina. Both had people living there. The vote went to Palestine. A homeland for people that number about 15 million, in a tiny area slightly smaller than New Jersey. Of course the people in that area, Arabs (and Jews even), weren't too thrilled. You can't just add people to an area, without causing some trouble.

Experiment: Here's an experiment for those of you who don't understand this. Get two jars of fruitflies. Add one jar to the other and watch how quickly death happens.

Humans, to some extent, are civil, but there was opposition to this projected influx (no not all 15 million, but it was still a lot of people). The current population of Israel is slightly under 6 million 80% being Jews, most of the rest being Arabs. This is a land that has gone from being a promised land for semitic people to strictly a homeland for Jews. Zionism is racism. On one hand its home for "people without a land" and on the otherhand it exiles the Palestinians who once lived there. Approximately 5 million people are Palestinian refugees. This includes descendents, however, they have a right to live peacefully in Israel.

Independence... from what? Britain? They let you have this land. It was a freebee. India and Pakistan had to fight for their independence from Britain. America even had to fight for their independence. Balfour's declaration and US pressure pretty much opened the doors to Palestine for the Jews. The Palestinians weren't oppressing Jews, but that's pretty much who the Jews were fighting, along with Palestinian allies. Israel independence. Celebrate it, but recognize the cost for 5.8 million Jews today is 5 million Palestinians. Insha'allah this land can be lived in by all of Abrahams descendents. Each as equals.

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# FTAA... 23 April 2001

This article by Mark Weisbrot (an alum of U of I, and a really progressive economist) is very insightful. It doesn't quite justify Quebec City turning into a police state, but it explains how much the public do not need to be a part of corporations and governmental policies. Weisbrot is a bit more optimistic about public scrutiny than I. Educate yourselves people... you are being duped. CNN and your local news do not contain the answers. I used to wonder about government conspiracies (you know... X-files)... well it exists in a far differnet form, but really... aliens I can understand almost... but corporations?

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# Khan and the Internet 17 April 2001

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is awesome. Unfortuantely I am too lazy to see if there is some sort of discussion forum place where people can just chat about how cool Khan is.

Public Spaces seems to be the newest interest of mine. There are very limited public spaces on the internet... actually there are none. Internet is a pull architecture for the most part. We pull content from web sites and whatnot, We never push things to the world. That's why I like the real world so much.

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# Civcs... 14 April 2001

Yes, it's one of those, "I'm not quite dead, yet" posts. Since the EPIC conference I posted, I have put my Student Organization which perhaps only a few of you know into full swing. Over the semester Civics, citizenship, consumerism, rights and whatnot have been at my center of attention. Arguably they should have always been at the forefront of my attention. Arguably they should be the forefront of most peoples attention.

Sure, you might think. "Dave, that's rediculous. Leave us to our free-wheeling life style." Or you might think, "You've been listening to too much Nader" Well that's actually not so true. Although I did listen to as much as Nader had to say this Thursday when he visited our campus, my views were reached by my own means.

So as a result of this new thought, I decided to form a student organization called Civic Action. The people running it (besides me) are wonderful and very interested in civic-duties. We plan to transform this campus to an active-campus (see PCU).

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