Palestine is a compass Pointing Us Towards Freedom

"When we crossed the Egyptian border at Taba, into the 1948 boundaries of the Israeli state, I ran over to the earthy cliff beside the road and touched Palestinian soil. Hours later, after dusk, we swam in the bathwater-warm Red Sea, and I felt this place soaking into my pores. I got involved in Palestine solidarity organizing when the second intifada began in 2000, and ached to come here for years. But the pain of being able to walk right in, holding my U.S. passport, into the homeland that millions of Palestinians in the diaspora are not allowed to return to, kept me focused on the work I believe is primary for U.S. citizens anyway: working within the U.S. to change our government’s policies, and to build popular support for Palestinians trying to live in peace.

The brutality of “Operation Cast Lead,” this winter’s attacks on the already besieged population of Gaza, jolted me over my block about coming here. When I became involved with the Dialogues Against Militarism delegation, it became clear to me that this was the way in which I needed to finally come to Palestine. The fundamental connections between anti-occupation resistance here and anti-war organizing in the U.S. has the potential to reshape the direction this world is going. For generations, Palestine has been a keystone in global resistance to imperial wars, one which the governments and social movements of different countries have aligned themselves in relationship to."

Read the rest, and previous blog posts, at

http://againstmilitarism.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/palestine-is-a-compass-pointing-towards-freedom/