A reply to the Howard Kaplan’s article: ‘Is goodwill enough?’

By Nidal Saeed

After reading Howard Kaplan’s article titled “Is goodwill enough?” published on Ars Notoria on the 18^th of July 2021, the conclusion I arrived at is that the pro-Israeli propaganda machine is still continuing with its strategies with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The main points of the article are based on oversimplification and falsification.

The military occupation of Palestine dates back to 1948, a period that has witnessed four wars and several Intifadas. Those wars ended in increasing the numbers of Palestinian refugees in camps in historical Palestine and in the neighbouring countries. In addition, United Nations resolutions were issued and peace accords were signed but never implemented by Israel. On the contrary, more land was confiscated, more houses were demolished, more people were killed, more water resources were stolen and more colonies were built – just to fulfill the Zionist dream.

They mean to give the international community the impression that the peace process is still going on and they are still interested in peace so the process of the dispossession and displacement of Palestinians can continue unnoticed and uninterrupted.

The idea of having people of goodwill on both sides communicating virtually or in person to influence the peace related decisions of their own political leaders is not new. It started after signing the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993. The Israelis have never taken these meetings and conferences seriously. They mean to give the international community the impression that the peace process is still going on and they are still interested in peace, so that the process of the dispossession and displacement of Palestinians can continue unnoticed and uninterrupted.

The suggestion that Black Lives Matter (BLM) can be used as a template for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be taken seriously simply because it gives the readers the notion that Israel is a legitimate government and is not a military occupation force. George Floyd was an American citizen who enjoyed all the civil rights granted to him by law and the case of his tragic demise was resolved in a proper court away from apartheid policies.

The suggestion that Black Lives Matter (BLM) can be used as a template for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be taken seriously simply because it gives the readers the notion that Israel is a legitimate government and is not a military occupation force. George Floyd was an American citizen who enjoyed all the civil rights granted to him by law

The sea of positive change in how Palestinians are viewed globally is related to different factors, the most important of which is the proper utilization of social media to showcase the atrocities done by the Israelis against the Palestinian civilians, starting from cutting trees down to demolishing houses over the heads of their inhabitants, let alone the fourteen years’ siege of Gaza.

While Palestinians do get solidarity from many Jewish people in the west, Israel has strong allies in western governments and in the western media, and it has support from its fellow travellers like Howard Kaplan.

However The grip of the pro-Israelis over the propaganda machine that turns black into white and vice versa has started to loosen and now people around the world have live unfiltered access to the news where it happens.

This new situation has not only enabled ordinary Palestinian and freedom lovers around the globe to expose the brutality and the arrogance of the Israeli army but also made Israel a source of embarrassment to its western allies.  The below poetry lines written by the late Palestinian poet Tawiq Zayyad may be a good conclusion for this article;

It is better for the oppressor to review his account

Before the turn of the wheel

For every action

Read what’s written in the book.

Last verse of the poem Like Twenty Impossibles, translated by Nidal Saeed. Tawiq Zayyad was A member of the Israeli Communist Party He was also the mayor of the city of Haifa.

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Nidal Saeed is an ordinary Arab mortal, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who thinks that there is enough space and wealth in this world for all creatures and that the need for wars is almost nonexistent. He has worked in education and education management for 32 years and he is now happily retired.