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by Jim Miles
 A different and realistic view of Palestinian life is presented in What Did We Do to Deserve This?, an original concept by Mark Howell. The Palestinian people present themselves as a compassionate and caring people, for themselves, their land, and were it possible, for their neighbours. The photography of violence and destruction, of maimed bodies and twisted wreckage, could have been shown, but instead what comes through in the portraits and landscapes, which constitute an important segment of the book, is a "quiet dignity of suffering", perhaps not the best words to match the situation, but the phrase that first comes to mind from the photos. Other words could be attributed to the visual images – resignation, friendliness, fear, happiness, and resilience. In essence, the people of Palestine are presented as a very representative group of humanity, with the added complexity of existing under a severely controlling occupation.
The photographs are a major part of the book, accompanying anecdotes and quotations from civilians leading the harsh daily realities of life in the occupied Westbank. The text beginning each section combines the author’s anecdotal experiences along with an essentials summary of the various themes and topics presented. Along with various websites, Howell has used many of the standard ‘revisionist’ histories of the Palestine/Israeli conflict in support of his own impressions concerning the subjugation of a people by a military force operating in the Westbank acting as an authority unto itself. The three formats combined – photography, anecdotes and stories, current research – make the work an excellent entry source for people wishing to understand more fully the situation in the Middle East in general and in Palestine/Israel in particular.
As has become more common in recent works critical of the Israeli-American liaison, the media receives much criticism. With his initial visit to Palestine, Howell expressed shock “by the great difference between media reporting and the reality on the ground,” leading him “to address the void between mainstream media coverage of the conflict,” and that newly perceived reality. He posits three main causes of the strength of this bias: first that the “Israeli government has developed a formidable PR machine;” secondly, knowing what its actions are going to be (in most cases) it “can also plan in advance” to get its own message out; and finally, the news sources “recruit Jewish spokespeople” as the target audience has “more affinity with a white Israeli with a British accent than with a Palestinian Arab.” As always, the media carries its own corporate interests foremost, which should limit the “trust…often given to journalistic reports.”
The media story is that of inverse victimization, of Palestinian terrorists attacking the vulnerable and peacefully democratic peoples of Israel. The testimony attested to here shows the reality, “the substance of Palestinian society whose voice is rarely heard,” the day to day subjugation of an occupied people by a variety of methods - a people that nevertheless remain resilient and determined.
Alongside the photographs are a series of maps, clearly and neatly presented showing the decline of Palestinian territory since 1948. One not so clear map, probably purposefully so, is one used to delineate the various areas of Jewish settlements and the designation of Palestinian (PLO and Fatah) control to varying degrees according to Israeli definitions. Later, another map shows how the ‘wall’ winds and twists around the Jewish and Palestinian settlements in and near East Jerusalem, isolating Palestinian populations from each other and enabling communication and further settlement of Jewish communities on confiscated land.
Howell uses his historical sources well, and the beginning of each
section provides clearly presented information from what is becoming a
standard set of references into the reality that exists, yet is not
presented in or on current mass-market media. He identifies the reality
behind the 1948 ‘nakba’, with Israel’s “secret agreement with
Jordan….The small number and lack of organization” of the Arab forces
such that they “posed no threat,” and further with “their leadership
structure destroyed,” the Palestinians could not organize a military
response. To this day, in spite of the violent portrayals in western
media, “The overwhelming desire of Palestinians in the West Bank is to
be treated fairly, to share Palestine’s resourced on an equal basis
with Israeli Jews.”
The identity of the Palestinian people is continually challenged, with
Palestinians identified as Arabs, giving them an “advantage
linguistically of dislocating Palestinians from the geographical area”
allowing the belief on the Israeli part “That Palestinians should, and
eventually will, transition to other states.” The Palestinian identity
is further restricted by “dividing the Westbank into enclaves
[restricting] the flow of national consciousness,” restricting
university access, confiscating land, and using “a model of separation
akin to apartheid.”
These restrictions are fully evident in the “conquest of Jerusalem.”
New settlements and the twisting contours of the wall have separated
families, friends, business clients, students, property, and access to
all kinds of services. Property is confiscated under absentee landlord
laws and the complicity of the Israeli courts, and residency is
continually narrowed with restrictive ID card usage for residency
rights. Residents of the Palestinian sector identify the inevitable
results, “when you do that we explode. I now see that [violence]
doesn’t work but the Israelis don’t;” and “even if they win they don’t
want peace. They don’t want to give back the land they occupied in 1967
or to let Palestinians have their own state. So there will be war.”
The restrictions serve the broader area as well, with an “illegal
permit system” accompanied with “a highly restrictive network of
checkpoints.” One of the major results of the checkpoints is fear, not
fear “of the unusual – it is the fear of everyday reality.” These
barriers, some mobile, some permanent, some heavily garrisoned, others
light and intermittent, create problems with Palestinian “access to
their land, make the transaction of business costly, prevent the sale
of agricultural products beyond local markets, makes access to
universities and medical care more difficult and inhibit social and
cultural activities.”
As supported in other texts, “The Palestinians have never constituted a
united, coherent military force” and despite depictions to the contrary
“the Palestinian leadership has moved steadily towards a
politically-based approach” while even the recently maligned Hamas has
“entered the democratic process and maintained long periods of
abstention from violence.”
In contrast to that the “Israeli military machine” is identified in its
role of “ethnic cleanser, policeman, jailer and executioner” while the
courts “primary role has been to legitimize the military’s actions in
the Occupied Territories and to manipulate the legal landscape to
achieve this end.” Both the military and the courts have perpetrated
“the great land grab”, allowing the 450,000 Westbank settlers to “act
with impunity” and giving them “considerable influence within Israeli
politics.” The author visited Qawawis, a small hamlet made of four or
five houses separated by a fence from its fields. The IDF destroyed all
the houses shortly afterwards (February 14, 2007), “a demonstration of
how quickly Israel’s policy of dispossession and ethnic cleansing is
being implemented.”
Life becomes almost insufferable, yet persists. Business and
agriculture is restricted; unemployment, poverty, and health problems
are endemic; childhood, as a time of freedom and play, and education,
are non-existent. A nurse in Birzeit fears “for the future of our
children. They have no space to grow….They are frightened at
checkpoints.” In general, the Palestinians are “not asking for much –
we just want to live like human beings,” says Nadim Khoury, proprietor
of Taybeh Brewery. “We want to be able to take our kids to school
easily and not for it to take all day. We want to send our father and
mother for medical treatment, not for them to die at checkpoints. It is
all a deliberate attempt to make people leave the country. They treat
us like animals.”
In the broader picture, the future is controlled by the Israelis and
the acquiescence of western countries, leading to a conjuncture at some
point where “Israel’s status as a democratic country will be challenged
and its apartheid regime exposed on the international stage” leading to
either the enfranchisement of Palestinians or their forced expulsion.
Having been denied the western democratic process of an elected
government that under the circumstances has acted with remarkable
constraint (Hamas), and “as the prison doors close around the
Palestinians…new generations…will be radicalized by their faiths.”
Howell does not see a viable two state system, but rather the answer is
that “peace comes with equality, justice and freedom.” Peace will only
come when a “genuinely viable, democratic state” is established. While
“Israel’s expansionist, militarized establishment continually works to
unite its people behind fear and loathing of Palestinians,” it can only
continue as a “modern, democratic country if it comes to terms with the
existence of the Palestinian people and their rights as human beings.”
As an introductory view of the Palestinian situation, “What Did We Do to Deserve This?”
is an excellent starting point. Hard-hitting, gritty, realistic, yet
also compassionate and humanistic and ultimately, in spite of the
negatives, hopeful. The hope is narrowing, the love of family, land,
and culture remains. It becomes increasingly important that people in
the west speak and act against the Israeli apartheid system and against
American collusion, otherwise an increasingly radicalized Middle East
continues to grow.
Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of
opinion pieces and book reviews to Palestine Chronicles. His interest
in this topic stems originally from an environmental perspective, which
encompasses the militarization and economic subjugation of the global
community and its commodification by corporate governance and by the
American government.
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