[News] ‘Truth, No Matter What’: Why Watering Down Palestinian Reality is a Crime

[Anti-Imperialist News]

counterpunch.org
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/02/28/truth-no-matter-what-why-watering-down-palestinian-reality-is-a-crime/>
‘Truth, No Matter What’: Why Watering Down Palestinian Reality is a Crime
Ramzy Baroud - February 28, 2023
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[image: image.png]

On February 20, the United Nations Security Council approved
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/security-council-oks-watered-down-deal-on-israel-settlements/2023/02/20/9e97a9ae-b13f-11ed-94a0-512954d75716_story.html?isMobile=1>
a statement, described in the media as a ‘watered-down’ version of an
earlier draft resolution which would have demanded
<https://www.reuters.com/world/un-security-council-denounces-israel-statement-after-us-showdown-averted-2023-02-20/>
that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in
the occupied Palestinian territory.”

The intrigues that led to the scrapping of what was meant to be a binding
resolution will be the subject of a future article. For now, however, I
would like to reflect on the fact that the so-called international
community’s relationship with the Palestinian struggle has always attempted
to ‘water down’ a horrific reality.

While we often rage against statements made by US politicians who, like
former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, refuse
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/16/mike-pompeo-israel-biblical-claim-palestine-not-occupying>
to even acknowledge that Israel is occupying Palestine in the first place,
we tend to forget that many of us are, somehow, involved in the watering
down of the Palestinian reality, as well.

While reports by B’tselem
<https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid>,
Human Rights Watch
<https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution>
and Amnesty
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/>
International, dubbing Israel an ‘apartheid state’, are welcome additions
to a growing political discourse making similar claims, one must ask: why
did it take decades for these conclusions to be drawn now? And what is the
moral and legal justification for ‘watering down’ Israel’s apartheid
reality for all of these years, considering that Israel has, from the
moment of its inception – and even before – been an apartheid entity?

The ‘watering-down’, however, goes much deeper than this, as if there is a
conspiracy not to describe the reality of Palestine and the Palestinian
people by its proper names: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide,
apartheid and more.

I have spent half my life living in, and interacting with, western
societies while lobbying for solidarity with Palestinians, and for holding
Israel accountable for its ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people.
Every step of the way, in every society, and on every platform, there has
always been pushback, even by Palestine’s own supporters.

Whether motivated by blind ‘love’ for Israel or by guilt over historical
crimes against the Jewish people, or over the fear of ‘rocking the boat’,
offending the sensibilities of western societies, or outright retaliation
by pro-Israeli supporters, the outcome tends to be the same: if not
unconditional support for Israel, then, certainly ‘watered-down’ statements
on the tragic reality of the Palestinians.

Naturally, a watered-down version of the truth is not the truth at all.
Worse, it is unlikely to lead to any resolute moral stances or meaningful
political actions. If, indeed, watering down the truth was of any value,
Palestine would have been freed a long time ago. Not only is this not the
case, but there also remains a true deficit of knowledge regarding the root
causes, nature and consequences of the daily Israeli crimes in Palestine.

Admittedly, the quisling Palestinian leadership exemplified in the
Palestinian Authority, has played a significant role in watering down our
understanding of Israel’s ongoing crimes. In fact, the ‘watered-down’
statement at the UN would not have replaced the binding resolution if it
were not for the consent of the PA. However, in many Palestinian spaces in
which the PA holds no political sway whatsoever, we continue to seek a
watered-down understanding of Palestine.

Almost every day, somewhere in the world, a Palestinian or a
pro-Palestinian speaker, author, artist or activist is being disinvited
from a conference, a meeting, a workshop or an academic engagement for
failing to water down his or her take on Palestine.

While fear of repercussions
<https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/israel-opt-six-prominent-palestinian-human-rights-organisations-banned>
– the denial of funding, smear campaigns, or loss of position – often
serves as the logic behind the constant watering down, sometimes
pro-Palestine groups and media organizations walk into the ‘watered-down’
trap of their own accords.

To protect themselves from smear campaigns, government meddling or even
legal action, some pro-Palestine organizations often seek affiliation with
‘reputable’ people from mainstream backgrounds, politicians or
ex-politicians, well-known figures or celebrities to portray an image of
moderation. Yet, knowingly or unwittingly, with time, they begin to
moderate their own message so as not to lose the hard-earned support in
mainstream society. In doing so, instead of speaking truth to power, these
groups begin to develop a political discourse that only guarantees their
own survival and nothing more.

In the “Prison Notebooks”, anti-Fascist Italian intellectual Antonio Gramsci
urged
<https://academic.oup.com/book/5347/chapter-abstract/148120180?redirectedFrom=fulltext>
us to create a broad “cultural front” to establish our own version of
cultural hegemony. However, Gramsci never advocated the watering down of
radical discourse in the first place. He merely wanted to expand the power
of the radical discourse to reach a much wider audience, as a starting
point for a fundamental shift in society. In the case of Palestine,
however, we tend to do the opposite: instead of maintaining the integrity
of the truth, we tend to make it less truthful so that it may appear more
palatable.

While creative in making their messages more relatable to a wider audience,
the Zionists rarely water down their actual language. To the contrary, the
Zionist discourse is uncompromising in its violent and racist nature
<https://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2023/01/16/i-am-a-homophobic-fascist-says-israeli-minister-smotrich_d6c21ed1-45bb-4a15-9e9b-fef8b1cbac2d.html>
which, ultimately, contributes to the erasure of Palestinians as a people
with history, culture, real grievances and rights.

The same is true in the case of the pro-Ukraine and anti-Russian propaganda
plaguing western media around the clock. In this case, there is rarely any
deviation from the message, regarding who is the victim and who is the
perpetrator.

Historically, anti-colonial movements, from Africa to everywhere else,
hardly watered down their approach to colonialism, neither in the language
nor in the forms of resistance. Palestinians, on the other hand, subsist in
this watered-down duplicitous reality simply because the West’s allegiance
to Israel makes the truthful depiction of the Palestinian struggle too
‘radical’ to sustain. This approach is not only morally problematic but
also ahistorical and impractical.

Ahistorical and impractical because half-truths, or watered-down truths,
never lead to justice and never affect a lasting change. Perhaps a starting
point of how we escape the ‘watered-down’ trap we find ourselves in, is to
reflect on these words by one of the greatest engaged intellectuals in
recent history, Malcolm X:

“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it
is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m
for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”

The truth, in its most simple and innate form, is the only objective we
should continue to relentlessly pursue until Palestine and her people are
finally free.

*Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He
is the author of five books. His latest is “**These Chains Will Be Broken*
<https://www.amazon.com/These-Chains-Will-Broken-Palestinian/dp/1949762092>*:
Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity
Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the
Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU).
His website is **www.ramzybaroud.net* <http://www.ramzybaroud.net/>
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