I went to help others as a way to atone for my complicit sins, but I was not a sinner in their eyes. I went to sacrifice, but was rewarded beyond my wildest dreams.
How could this be possible in a country where we as taxpayers finance the killing of their people on a heinous scale? It’s because the script is wrong, dreadfully wrong; not surprising since the writers of history are usually the rich and powerful oppressors. The oppressed, poor, and slaughtered rarely have a voice.
I recently traveled alone to the West Bank of Palestine for three weeks in August, a nation whose people had every right to be angry with any American. And certainly I was an easy target, walking a mile every day to and from my rented apartment in the heart of Hebron. I followed the same route at the same time every day, yet not a hostile word was uttered by anyone. Just the opposite. I was greeted warmly by everyone.
Although I thought I blended into the urban population, I was immediately seen as a Westerner, some suspecting I was American. First, I was told it was my hazel eyes and silver hair, then someone pointed out that the backpack was a dead giveaway. Pedestrians, people in cars, and shopowners, all complete strangers, would greet me with “welcome” every day of my stay. I don’t think anyone has ever greeted me with such benevolence on the streets of the numerous American cities I’ve visited. I wondered what would have happened if an Arab walked the streets of New York wearing a keffiyeh in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks.
During my three-week stay, I conducted six classes in documentary filmmaking. Students in each class conceived, filmed, and edited a very short documentary. Although I don’t often fall victim to stereotypes and misinformation, I did in Palestine. I assumed the students would be somewhat backward in terms of technology. They were not. In fact, they were quite advanced and several were gifted artists. All were college graduates or attending a university, so my carefully crafted lesson plan was somewhat useless given their aptitude.
Anyone who has substituted for a schoolteacher or remembers their own days as a student knows that young people can be brutal if faced with what appears to be an insecure, unprepared, or unqualified teacher. But, these students didn’t do that. They were patient, understanding, and respectful as I tried to regain my footing.
We all adapted together and learned together as cohesive teams in the making of seven wonderful documentaries. The humble and congenial nature of the Palestinians instantly fostered an atmosphere of trust, cooperation, and unity. We quickly became family.
Maybe their communal nature explains why absolutely no homeless are on the city streets and why I rarely saw any Palestinian Authority police presence. There was no need. In three weeks I didn’t witness one incident of hostility or anger in any form. It’s hard to imagine these people as the violent ones.
Even the seven documentaries the students produced were never critical of Americans or Israelis, rather they chose to speak only of the hurt they’ve experienced as a result of a lifetime of occupation. Topics included the restrictions on what can be studied at institutions of higher education (e.g., nuclear science is forbidden) and where they can study, the impact of decades of occupation and warfare on children, and the ubiquitous roadblocks (over 700 in total in an area just 50 percent larger than Long Island) that greatly curtail freedom of movement. (Some of the students’ work can be seen at this link.)
I have traveled the world on business and as a tourist, and I have met many wonderful people, but never any quite so splendid as Palestinians. I realize that some readers will discount this observation as a liberalized view to fulfill my preconceived, Pollyanna vision of the Arab world. I can only say that the copious photographs and videos I came home with tell an uplifting story that is irrefutable and I’d be happy to share them with any naysayers.
I also realize how difficult it is for some Americans to admit we’ve all been duped into thinking Arabs are the bad guys. It’s not surprising given the incredibly effective manipulation and suppression of information to portray Arabs as backward, fanatical demons hell-bent on destruction. These falsehoods in the context of Palestine only serve to reveal the hypocrisy of American foreign policy and inflame worldwide antisemitism.
I suspect most Americans have apathetically followed our government’s script unaware of such events as the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their land when the State of Israel was created in 1948, the illegal occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights since 1967, and the nearly one million illegal settlers on Palestinian land. Few know of the 17-year blockade of the Gaza Strip by land, air, and sea that has been choking the population to death. What would Long Island residents do if they could not leave the Island for 17 years or get products they desperately needed or export products to earn a living?
Virtually no one knows that Hamas revised its charter in 2017 to embrace a two-state solution and removed any reference of aggression toward Israel. The argument has always been that Israeli acts of aggression and land seizures help secure Israel’s borders and their right to exist, but in 76 years what has this accomplished?
Of course, you can look at individual events, most notably 9/11 and Oct. 7, as examples of Arab violence, but these attacks didn’t happen in a vacuum. On the contrary, they were born from decades, even centuries, of severe, unrelenting oppression and exploitation by Western nations dating back to the Crusades. These recent attacks should be a wake-up call to change course. What choice do we have living in a high-tech world where weapons of mass destruction become increasingly accessible to anyone?
We need to do a better job of judging people and nations by their deeds, not their propaganda and rhetoric.
According to Brown University’s Watson Institute, the U.S. killed an estimated 432,093 civilians in response to 9/11 in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and Pakistan. Israel in response to Oct. 7 has already killed over 45,000 Palestinian civilians not including those killed in Lebanon or those under the rubble. The combined ratio of those killed in retaliation to those killed in the initial attacks is roughly 116 to 1 and rising. Could any of us justify supporting such disproportionate killing to their maker?
I went to Palestine to atone for my country’s sins and to comfort myself in the process, but I now feel more emotional pain than ever because a people more beautiful than I ever imagined are being murdered by despicable, cowardly, egocentric politicians masquerading as righteous, noble ones.
Jeff Gewert is a regular contributor to newspapers including USA Today, The New York Times, and those of Hearst Media. A retired video writer, producer, and director, he lives in Montauk.