Dear people who see images of Palestinians celebrating 9/11 and think it's a reason to hate/kill them all: some thoughts.
I find it deeply depressing that people are taking 13 year old footage and using it as a reason to make ethnic cleansing okay.
First and foremost: I think I’m already a little disturbed that anyone would watch that footage, even if it was totally representative of the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip, and say “okay, let’s nuke them all.” (A comment I saw on YouTube :-/)
If we react to objectionable behaviour with genocide, how are we any better than the people we just decided to kill?
Would you want your entire nationality to be judged (and deemed unworthy of life) because of the actions of a few? Doubt it.
Do you always react the same way to horrific events happening thousands of miles away, in countries from which you are culturally and politically and all other kinds of ways estranged, the same way to horrific events happening in your own country/state/city?
If you had spent decades being systematically persecuted, and someone took a shot at a country that was heavily invested (to the tune of millions, billions of dollars) in your persecution, would your first response be completely and utterly charitable?
A little interesting factoid to meditate on before you decide that Israel and America are right in all their actions and Palestinians are a bunch of evil terrorists because of a bit of video footage.
I was in East Jerusalem on 9/11. I spent the day doing physical labour at a children’s hospital, and then walked back along the Mount of Olives to where we were staying. We were working and living in a Palestinian area. When I phoned home later that day to reassure my parents I was okay, I did so from a pay phone in the old city. I saw the footage of the second aeroplane hitting the Trade Centers on a TV in a hotel on the edge of the West Bank. I spent the next week in and around East Jerusalem, with one day where we went to Galilee.
I did not see one single instance of Palestinians celebrating the terrorist attack. Not one. In a week. If anything, the mood in East Jerusalem, as far as I recall, was pretty sombre the rest of that week.
I’m not saying it didn’t happen anywhere, that no one celebrated. I am one person, and I can only be in one place at one time. I’m saying that the impression that all Palestinians were out in the streets celebrating isn’t true. I’m saying that East Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Galilee in general were conspicuously lacking in street parties. I’m saying that when I called friends back home, the scenes they described on their TV weren’t backed up by what was (or more to the point was not) happening in front of my eyes.
It wouldn’t surprise me if it happened somewhere. I suspect some Palestinians celebrated, and I expect some others wanted to. As with any nation, ethnic group, or similar, Palestinians aren’t a monolith who all think, act, react and believe the same way. Neither am I saying that I think rejoicing over a terrorist attack is a good thing.
I’m saying, take a little context with your news. I’m saying, don’t characterise an entire nation by five minutes of news footage.
I’m saying that that video doesn’t give the entire picture. Not even close. That’s all.