I first visited Israeli occupied Palestine in 2003 — traveling with a group called “Interfaith Peace Builders.”
It was before the U.S. and Israel had decided to designate the Palestinian political party, Hamas, a “terrorist organization.” And so we had the privilege of visiting elected Hamas officials in Jericho. They were dads, teachers and neighbors. They were welcoming and gracious, and wanted to hear about us — what brought us to visit Palestine. They shared with us a bit about their work helping support the Palestinians living under Israel’s brutal home-demolishing, land and resource grabbing occupation.
It was some months later that the U.S. and Israel decided to designate Hamas a terrorist organization — not because Hamas was some sort of violent outside terrorist group which had embedded itself in Palestinian society. Hamas was designated terrorists because Hamas dares to believe that the Palestinian people, like all other peoples on the earth, have the right to defend themselves against Israel’s years of occupation and 17 years of isolating and encaging 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza.
There is an old saying about war, “The first casualty of war is truth.” Never could it be more true than in the current out-of-control violence against the Palestinian people struggling to survive in Israeli occupied Gaza!
Frances ReMillard, Kamas
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible