Over the past few months, social media has highlighted some issues of what is going on in Palestine and protests that have taken place in major cities across the world. What has happened:

Palestine is a Middle Eastern country on the Mediterranean Sea, full of culture and diversity, often referred to as the holy land. But is now being destroyed and needs your help. 

 

Before Zionism had been created, Muslims, Jews, and Christians had lived peacefully alongside each other in the holy land, Palestine. For 73 years the peace in Palestine has been destroyed as Palestine has been under illegal occupation of zionists, their human rights have been torn away from them and they have been silenced. It is our duty to be educated on this matter and help spread awareness, this is not a religious issue but a humanitarian crisis. 

 

Zionism emerged as a historical movement and a political ideology in 1879 stating that Jewish people should have a Jewish-only state. After World War 2 as antisemitism rose in Europe, many thought that it would be safer for Jews to live in a Jewish-only state such as “Israel”. What do Palestinians have to do with this? Nothing. Palestine was the land that the British had chosen Israel to be, even though Palestine was a country already with many people and families of many generations living in it, with a stable economy and not empty land to be moved into. This resulted in a settler-colonial project that ethnically cleanses the Palestinian population. Anti-zionism is the rejection of the racist and colonial movement, not the rejection of jews. anti zionism ≠ antisemitism. If you are a zionist, you do not support Palestinian human rights. 

 

103 years ago the UK gave away Palestine to create a settler colony, this was done without the permission of the Palestinians. The Balfour Declaration was issued on November 2, 1917. The declaration turned the Zionist aim of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine into a reality when Britain had publicly pledged to establish“a national home for the Jewish people” there. The statement came in the form of a letter from Britain’s then-foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour. The Balfour Declaration is widely seen as the precursor to the 1948 war when Zionist armed groups, who were trained by the British, forcibly removed more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland. The Uk and Us are in no way innocent as they are the state of Israel’s biggest arms supplier

 

“In 2020, the US gave $3.8bn (£2.7bn) in aid to Israel - part of a long-term, yearly commitment made under the Obama administration. Almost all of this aid was for military assistance. This support came as part of an agreement signed by former President Barack Obama in 2016 for an overall package of $38bn (£26.8bn) in military aid over the decade 2017-2028” (BBC / NYTimes)

 

Al-Nakba is Arabic for ‘the catastrophe. The Nakba is often thought to refer to the 1948 war when in fact it had started decades earlier. The nakba had begun when the first Palestinian had been told his home had new owners, it refers to the families who flee their homes, those who cannot experience a proper childhood, those who can no longer live where their families have lived for generations. The Nakba is not just an event from the past but something that continues to this day. Palestine needs your help. 

 

How you can help:

Educate yourself on what is happening in Palestine and tell others. Do not speak over Palestinians, Palestinians need our help and we must listen to them and provide that help. There is often biased news portraying Palestine in the wrong light or understating what is going on, don’t allow it to spread false information, and stay educated! Boycott Israeli brands and support Palestinian businesses. If you can, please consider donating.

Keep spreading awareness and don’t let the world forget about Palestine, they have been silenced and we must tell the world the truth in hopes of change.