On January 10, 2009, I attended a protest in Atlanta, Georgia titled “Children March Against Genocide in Palestine.” Overall, the protest was a positive event, with police guiding the many protesters through the streets from Woodruff Park to Centennial Park to the CNN Building and back again. There was plenty of energy and enthusiasm, and I witnessed no arrests or injuries.

However, there was a phenomenon in place at this event – something I had witnessed at similar protests in the past – namely some disturbing chants and a few horrifying signs used to express outrage at the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza. Shakespeare famously illustrated the overextension of an otherwise credible view which leads people to believe its opposite when his Queen Gertrude argued that “the lady doth protest too much” in Hamlet. We are in danger of doing the same with regards to Palestine.

One chant from a person with a bullhorn referred to Israel as a “terrorist state,” while others in the crowd started chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” In ascending order of disapproval features on some of the signs included the use of the words "genocide," "Holocaust," "Nazi," and the swastika symbol. One particularly offensive sign had “Israhell: The Real Racist Nazis” on one side and the Israeli flag on the other, with the Star of David replaced by a light blue swastika.

I approached two people carrying this last sign and asked them if they made it themselves. Each told me no. Instead, each had grabbed the sign from a stack of available signs for marchers to take. I then asked each if he knew what the sign meant. Both said, “No.”

There are symbols that produce the most reptilian, visceral response in people. For Jews worldwide, for victims of Nazi Germany, and for those who fought Nazi Germany (like the United States), the swastika is at the top of this list. Contemporary U.S. and European hate groups vandalize minority religions’ buildings, including mosques, with this symbol. In my mind, the only effect the use of this symbol can possibly have is to provoke the worst reaction in people who see it.

One young woman had a sign equating the Star of David with a swastika, followed by a question mark. I asked her about it, and she told me that she hoped to provoke thought. I did not press the issue with her, but I would ask her if the caricatures of the Messenger Muhammad ﷺ published in the Danish right-wing newspaper Jyllands-Posten “provoked thought.”

The desecration and abuse of these symbols is incompatible with the ethos of a humble believer. The Star of David, despite its appropriation by the state of Israel, remains a symbol of Judaism, which Muslims regard to be a revealed religion in its origin and a source of guidance. Regardless of whether the symbol has any real relationship to God’s Messenger David (Dawud in Arabic) ﷺ, anything tied with a messenger’s name should have some sanctity.

Regarding the chants, the Israeli state does do some terroristic things. But it also has an educational system, a health care system, public transportation, and more, just as Hamas, the Palestine National Authority, Egypt and the United States do (or wish to). In fact, some libertarians would say that every state is a terrorist state. Aside from the fact that the claim is either wrong or a truism, it is an unnecessary claim that does not advance our objectives at all. Instead, it causes people to doubt the marchers’ rationality.

There is a principle in sales and persuasion known as “less is more.” If a car salesman starts rattling off features, ignoring what a customer has told him he was looking for, all communication breaks down. The majority of objective people, when they learn basic facts of the situation in Palestine, will come to believe that U.S. policy should change. Overstating the case or making outlandish claims only causes the advocate to lose credibility.

I believe there is a group of demonstrators whose sole purpose is “shifaa’ al-suduur,” an Arabic phrase which I would roughly translate in this context as “blowing off steam.” They feel bad, like all of us, and marching and shouting insulting slogans and carrying provocative signs makes them feel better. Those in this group should indulge the rest of us in our delusion that we can actually improve U.S. policy towards the Palestinians. Indulge us by not undermining us in that work. If you must blow off steam, have a separate direct action. Or travel abroad and fight. Or, better, fast the day and pray at night that Allah ﷻ relieves the Palestinians and forgives us for betraying them. Organizers of these events must make it clear why they want people to come and take measures to prevent or limit behaviors that undermine this purpose.

The most important benefits of demonstrations is the development of networks of people, the internal transformations in the individuals who organize and those who attend and the encouragement we give to each other to continue the struggle. Demonstrations without the organizational and educational efforts and self-reflection in between will die out without an impact.

A key to improving Muslim advocacy is to put ourselves in the position of working with “others.” I like supporting the School of the Americas Watch (soaw.org), the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition (gpjc.org) and other non-sectarian advocacy groups, and I’m sure most Muslims could local find groups whose causes, when they learn about them, they could support. When I see how U.S.-trained paramilitary forces have suppressed labor unions and indigenous peoples in South and Central America, it helps my ability to advocate for Iraqi government control of oil resources and the rights of the indigenous people of Palestine.

I quickly learned that the Israeli government is not the only government in the world suppressing indigenous peoples, so I don’t say stupid things like “the Israelis are the worst people in the world” and worse. When I learn that Muslims in Sudan killed hundreds of thousands in Darfur and forced millions to flee their villages for refugee camps, I know that adherents of no single religion have a monopoly on morality (and immorality). When I learn about the Nazi-orchestrated slavery and industrial murder of Jews and others in Europe and the killing of 800,000 in Rwanda in 100 days, I don’t casually use words like “Nazi”, “genocide” and “Holocaust.”

Muslim organizers of these protests against the Israeli war in Gaza should expand their encounters with others through participation in a wide variety of organizations, from women’s rights, social welfare, environment protection and foreign policy advocacy, particularly where Muslims are underrepresented. By framing our issues in a manner consistent with more widely accepted norms, we can avoid ineffective and inaccurate “protesting too much.” By connecting our just causes to those of others, we can improve our effectiveness in advocating for them in the years to come.

(Photo: Andrew Partain via flickr by permission)

fascinating. thanks for posting Sha/Za

Good article! Perhaps the biggest problem the world has with Palestinian problems is not the problems themselves, but rather the Palestinian response to them. Thank you for giving me something useful to think about.

There is a clip on YouTube of the demonstration in Atlanta. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvKudal7Jmg

Israeli government targets and kills civilians to produce terror. It does this in order to achieve a political goal - namely the continuation of occupation and ethnic cleansing. This is the textbook definition of a terrorist state. NO, we do NOT protest too much when we call Israel a terrorist state. Israeli government providing healthcare, education etc. for SOME of the people in historic Palestine does not detract from the fact that it has and is massacring civilians. Hamas too provides social services in Gaza. But when they blow up a nightclub full of people, it is still a terrorist act. Murders committed with a vest full of nails is terrorism. But so are murders committed by high-tech airplanes and tanks.

I agree however, that Israel is far from being the only nation committing horrific acts. Also that hyperbolic expressions only distract from the point to be made.

"...hyperbolic expressions only distract from the point to be made."

So why do you use them?

“Narallah is the only Arab leader, who is intelligent and has the political awareness - and courage to understand Israel’s evil agenda and challenges it,” - Dr. Finkelstein, January 15, 2009.

“I don’t care what Torah or Qur’an or the Old Testament or the New Testament says about Palestine. The truth is Palestine is an occupied land,” - Dr. Finkelstein, January 15, 2009.

Israel’s policy towards its neighbours has always based on ‘the fear of Israel’ as the detrrent. Every time Arabs have made gesture of accomodation - Israel has provoked them to become radicals. The invasion of Lebano in 1982 was for the same reason. Yasser Arafat showed his willingness to accept a “two-state solution” based on pre-1967 borders in 1981 - which was against the Israeli deterrent of “fear”. The current Israeli brutal attack on Gaza Strip, the world’s most over-populated (1.5 million) area - is to inflict fear among the civilian people - in order to turn them against their elected government of Hamas.

http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2009/01/16/an-evening-with-dr-finkelstein/

>>>The majority of objective people, when they learn basic facts of the situation in Palestine, will come to believe that U.S. policy should change. Overstating the case or making outlandish claims only causes the advocate to lose credibility.

The idea that US policy could ever change towards this conflict is highly unlikely, this is not only because the media is heavily biased but mainly because public support for a more balanced approach to the conflict is still political suicide for most politicians and another fact is that in the US government, historically the State Department has always been more sympathetic to Palestinian rights than other factions of government, however in the past eight years it has tended to be the weakest, Condy Rice had little influence on policies despite her closenes to the president. Yet Palestinians can take heart in two major trends that will undoubtedly influence the nature and ultimate impact of unconditional US support for Israel. The first is that the clout of the US in world affairs is diminishing and the international arena is shiting to a possible bipolar or multipolar world order. The second is the major demographic shift occuring, for blacks, Hispanics and other minorities and young whites have changed the political landscape forever by proving that as a block they can defeat the Israel-worshipping white Evangelical diehards (they are more pro-Israel than many American Jews). That this consituency, which gave Bush his second term, has been marginalized for generations is something any supporter of Palestinian rights will rejoice in as a long-term victory (and also indulge in some shamata, schadenfruede, whatever that very base feeling is called). Indeed one could make the case that by voting for Bush who invaded Iraq (thereby toppling a potentially pro-Israel Saddam, yes it's true, I think he would have been one of Israel and America's greatest allies in the region) and emboldened Iran, the Israel-loving crowds of neocons and far-right Evangelicals hurt Israel in ways that they could never fathom. Largely because they're too dumb and disinterested, after all, the Joe the Plumbers of the world can never really know the Middle East.

>> The second is the major demographic shift occuring, for blacks, Hispanics and other minorities and young whites have changed the political landscape forever by proving that as a block they can defeat the Israel-worshipping white Evangelical diehards <<

Typical comment by someone young and naive about the way politics work. Or perhaps lack of ability to analyze data. Or maybe just too much time spent reading pundit spin instead of using the brain. It has only been 4 years since the evangelicals put Bush back in Office. A bit early to call them dead. Especially since 14 out of 30 people voted Republican in this past election (thats just 1 person voting Republican instead of Democrat and it'd been a tie btw 15/15).

Being black or yellow or green (palestinian) or young white means nothing. People do not vote as racial groups, they vote on basis of identities. Non-descript chickens (multi-racials, refugees, immigrants etc) will vote 50/50, they don't have any cohesive policy plan or belonging to any group. Some will vote for booty-like Palin, some for war-hero McCain, some for black Obama, some for sleazy insider Biden, some for internationalism, some for Americanism. It all evens up at the end.

The key to switch the election in your favor is to build enough block voters and capture enough sets of blocks. Politics belongs to "ideologically charged block voters". The sheep, the chickens even out. As such, the zionists will be looking to build up blocks such as an "middle-class soccer mom anti-terrorist" block or they will use their financial and media muscle to do something wicked and create another block. Ku Klux Klan or something like that.

>> That this constituency, which gave Bush his second term, has been marginalized for generations is something any supporter of Palestinian rights will rejoice in as a long-term victory <<

The question is what emerging block of voters are the palestinians counting on? Chickens and Sheep? Ha ha hah a aa. Pathetic American Muslims?? Busy with their petty masjid politics ala OmarG??? H ah ha ha hahhah a ha. In-breeding Arab-Americans maybe??? He eh ehe hehhee. Good luck.

America's foreign policy will never change - until majority of Americans wake-up from their slumber - that their country has long been hijacked by a minority of people whose loyalties are towards a foreign state (Israel) than the country they live in and make billions of dollars.

German found that truth the hard way - so we have to wait and let the American learn the hard way too.

"America is as much a Jewish State as Vatican is Catholic," - Israel Shamir.

Greybeard - Obviously the opposition is more interested in creating and repeating hyperbole than in solving the problem. Why isn't Arab leadership working to quash the exaggerations to create a more objective climate where solutions could be found?

Does anyone stop to think that "solutions" aren't found because they aren't wanted and foreign policy is going exactly the way those in real power want it to go? That these conflicts serve and fuel the momentum of enforced global markets? That the Obama regime will only up the ante and streamline the Zionist agenda in this country and abroad? The the leadership of Israel and other Zionist pundits coming out and formally stating that the US is taking orders from Israel and that "the US is a Jewish nation like the Vatican is a Roman Catholic nation" is just rhetoric to get people more used to the idea. The masks and gloves are off. Israel is out and out blustering and showing the world it can do what it wants without restraint and no one, NO ONE will do more than issue a statement of disapproval for it. The Arab and Islamic world should turn its back completely on israel and the US in the way that is most effective: economically. And the rest of the world should do the same and work to create their own markets independent of the US. With the large number of emerging nations with developing economies and industries this should be a joy and a pleasure fot them to do. So long as they can begin to wean their populations off the cheap pop culture crap produced by American brands and further develop their own powerful brands and products they can be proud of producing rather than just being glutinous consumers of products other nations make and upon whom they become dependent and where the leverage to force purchases of goods can turn into war.

There are always some people who cannot understand the logic of fairness and justice - no matter how hard one tries. That's the case with Zionists too. They hate everyone who doesn't agree with them 101% - but even then they hate those Zionists who happen to be be non-European. There are two ways to deal with such people - either crush them or let them kill themselves in the long run.

Muslim leaders are creation of the same colonial powers which created Zionist state of Israel to guard their colonial interests in that part of Muslim world. However, some Muslim leaders - like Hamas, Hizb'Allah, Iran and Sudan have finally come to realize the mess the Muslim world is in and are trying to break the centuries-old bondage.

"Good article! Perhaps the biggest problem the world has with Palestinian problems is not the problems themselves, but rather the Palestinian response to them. Thank you for giving me something useful to think about.

- Posted by fester on January 16, 2009 at 01:35"

Yes, the occupation itself isn't the problem. It's the fact that the Palestinians haven't learnt to love it yet. On that note, using that nasty O word is so hyperbolic. Let's call it a "friendly visit" instead. So much more cute and cuddly.

"Good article! Perhaps the biggest problem the world has with Palestinian problems is not the problems themselves, but rather the Palestinian response to them. Thank you for giving me something useful to think about.

- Posted by fester on January 16, 2009 at 01:35"

Yes, the occupation itself isn't the problem. It's the fact that the Palestinians haven't learnt to love it yet. On that note, using that nasty O word is so hyperbolic. Let's call it a "friendly visit" instead. So much more cute and cuddly.

- Posted by saracen on January 18, 2009 at 06:46 PM


At last! A valid thoughtful comment!

This is simply a matter of our Ummah being collectively immobilised in mind and spirit. Our responses are ignorant, our level of organisation is poor, our literacy about issues (or anything else for that matter) is insubstantial. Muslims are not disunited in hearts, but are disunited in action.

Expecting the community to do better, because we may know better is about as effectual as expecting Israel to not be racist or fascist. If we know better, we have an Islamic responsibility to retain our knowledge and impart it to others in a positive way. Being critical of people because they referred to bloodthirsty occupation/colonisation as bloodthirsty genocide is not positively contributing towards our action.

And don't be mistaken for one single second. Muslims must organise our political consensus into influential political action on a global scale. It is not religio-fascist ideology but the reality of our present day struggle. If we can't organise ourselves, it is better to give up any hope of restoring Muslim dignity (or Allah's mercy on the day of judgement).

Though honestly speaking, modern day Israeli politics is hardcore nationalist-socialist and militaristic to boot.

>>> Why isn't Arab leadership working to quash the exaggerations to create a more objective climate where solutions could be found?

If they got their hands in american pockets, you can be sure they'll say whatever will keep them there. Its why Americans have tried to foil every reasonable attempt at democracy ... just about anywhere.

>>> Hamas too provides social services in Gaza. But when they blow up a nightclub full of people, it is still a terrorist act...

How many times has that happened? It seems unusual that 1000 Muslims are dead, most of whom are non-combatants, and we are toeing the zionist line and trying to re-balance the dialoue.

>>> Yes, the occupation itself isn't the problem. It's the fact that the Palestinians haven't learnt to love it yet. On that note, using that nasty O word is so hyperbolic. Let's call it a "friendly visit" instead. So much more cute and cuddly.

We disenfranchised your family, humiliate you on a daily basis, lock your children up, rob your fathers of their pride, deny your very heritage ... if not your very existence (quite regularly Palestinians are said to not really have existed) ... how about a hug?

Quite ironically, Israelis themselves say that that is what the Palestinians must not do to prove their sincerity. What a joke. No amount of nuclear weapons will prevent the Muslim world from restoring itself and replacing the occupation with a decent humanistic government that respects its neighbours.

Palestinians keep reaching for a solution that will never occur and reject actions that will end the endless crisis that they have created.

The "right of return" will never occur and in fact, should not occur. Germany lost WWII and millions of Germans were forced out of Prussia and Pomerania at the end of the war, territory that they had inhabited for many, many centuries. Imagine how "peaceful" Europe would be today had the dispossessed migrated to a European "Gaza" and sat there for decades, doing little worthwhile while sending rockets into Poland demanding return to their former homes.

The Palistians and their Arab allies lost the 1948 (and all subsequent) wars and the reasonable action would have been to assimilate all of the dispossed refugees into their societies. Had that occurred, perhaps the Middle East would be peaceful today.

The "might" in the above paragraph is needed because Islam has a belief that perpetual warfare and jihad is obligatory until the world accepts the dominance of Islam and Sharia.

Regardless, had the Arab countries in 1948 done what rational and concerned other nations have done, there would be at least one less flashpoint.

this article and the arguments can be analyzed and torn apart from a number of perspectives.

but that is not the saddest part of the article. the worst part of this is that a website such as this that i believe desires to bring critical and intellectual thought to muslims would publish such an article. are our intellectual abilities and our critical thought so low and undeveloped that we stoop to waste our time publishing and reading such articles?

let this brother watch and listen to people like Ali Abunimeh or norman finkelstein.

but alas, this article is not about facts or justice, it is about our own selfish and egocentric need to fit into the mainstream narrative of being a minority and the acceptable 'politically correct' limits of discussing such egregious oppression.

i hope that altmuslim will bring their standard of intellectual and critical thought higher and not insult the intelligence and dignity of muslims anymore.

and i hope that mulsims break out of this safe little delusional bubble of a world we have created and see what other people, real people as opposed to the media and power structures, are saying about the community. sometimes it is easier to see yourself by looking at what others are saying. so far all our self-assessment is coming from the media and power structures that we are obsessed with.

but that is not who we are. we are who Allah says we are in the Quran, or have we forgotten about that.

This article is positively sickening. Mr.Fadel seems to be obsessed with his own self-promotion.

Massacre is massacre--whether it takes place in America, Africa, or Palestine. You seem to want to sugar-coat the GENOCIDE taking place in Palestine. Well, let me clue you in. You CANT do that!

What is going on in PALESTINE is a modern holocaust. Gaza is a concentration camp. The terrorist state of Israel has no right to exist--it was established by a racist movement by murdering and exiling the Palestinians. So, if you don't mind, I'll continue to chant: from the river to the sea Palestine will be free.

Also, if you are so sincere about helping oppressed people, you would like that people were telling it like it was. Would you like if someone wrote an article saying how the Nazi's were really a legitimate force in Germany because their government established schools and theaters and health care? No, that would be a disgusting argument. And yet, you made that argument about Israel.

You also seem to falling into the dangerous trap of equating Zionism (a racist political agenda) with Judaism (a religion). Just because people are symbolically showing what the terrorist state of Israel is (i.e. the Nazi's of today) that BEARS NO CONNECTION TO JUDAISM. Note: The Israeli flag is NOT a religious symbol AT ALL. Is the Saudi flag a religious symbol? I think not. So I find it highly offensive that you equate a nationalistic flag with our beloved Prophet, peace on him.

It is people like you who are continually equating Judaism with Zionism that leads to anti-Jewish sentiment, because people are not taught that being anti-Zionist has nothing to do with being anti-Jewish.

"We disenfranchised your family, humiliate you on a daily basis, lock your children up, rob your fathers of their pride, deny your very heritage ... if not your very existence (quite regularly Palestinians are said to not really have existed) ... how about a hug?"

- Posted by Ghulam (South Africa) on January 19, 2009 at 09:54 AM

Careful Ghulam! Try not to point out those inconvenient facts. Don't you want a slap in the back from your white friends as their favourite "moderate Muslim"? Who is going to be the token "coloured friend" at the parties? Morality and intellect are sooooo passeee...