White Flags

Child of Handala

We, the blurred surrounding, are neither decisively with Russia nor Ukraine. We, people of the Middle East, Africa, the Muslim world, part of Asia, and South America, know firsthand, with painful scars, being at the receiving end of it, that war is terrible. All wars are. In fact, this is the first war my generation and I have witnessed where I see white men fighting. The first war, where if I choose a side, my choice does not reflect on my national or racial identity. It may reflect on my humanity but not on my collective identity. A third-party observer, if you will. It's what makes this war strange to me and us. Because in every battle I have witnessed, my side was selected for me. It was "us" being bombed and us framed as evil. Chemical weapons, Terrorists, dictatorships, democracy deprived, women oppressors, and any single-minded abstract label that suited the western world to justify the massacres on our lands, setting our civilization back tens of years and generating anti-west extremists in the process that terrorizes us first.

This war, happening now, does not choose a side for me like the others. I and a few billion are watching the news, knowing this one feels different. It does not have an impact on my identity. My 'people' are not the victims in this one. For the first time, we are shaken by the momentous marching urgency of help and support to the occupied nation under attack. Where was that when we needed it? Presidents, Chancellors, and "dictators" are flying to war zones and foreign skies, earning bragging rights by topping other supporters. A supporting race at the expense of their countrymen's warmth, bread, and despair. Billions in aid, top army generals collaborating on strategies backed by weapon deliveries. Collectively lending and donating whatever each can.

I see that on TV, and the news segment fades to the next. Now I see the Israeli army, led by a globally recognized extremist government, publicly announcing its goals for the annexation of Palestine, raiding army-less cities and homes in the West Bank, killing dozens of civilians daily. Using the same word-for-word excuses that Russia uses for its annexations. Then the US goes on to block yet another UN resolution meant to save Palestinian lives so as not to discomfort Hebrew-speaking occupiers.

Then the news concludes with a last segment of the dark comedian piece; Biden addresses the world with charged words from a moral high ground, appealing to audience's conscience as if he is the lord's savior to every earthly injustice.

And I sit here pondering, has he not seen the news segments' order? Those he addresses have just seen the US hypocrisy in colors seconds before he spoke. It felt surreal. A rare moment of reality mimicking art. A scene from the movie Hunger Games. President Snow's speech to his people in 'District One' to suppress the uprising, while we, the remaining districts, are listening to his speech from the coal mines. It has been fully transcripted by Macron's fourth point in the Munich security conference on the 17th of Feb 2023: "the West had been losing the trust of the Global South." It is true. The 'South' is now witnessing and realizing what future history books will write a few hundred years from now about the White Man's leadership era during the late centuries of the second millennia. When the White Man inked the first article of the UN charter: "Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." History books will take liberty in reflecting on how the word 'Human' in that clause was exclusively intended to mean the White Man. Ironically, the same issue was faced with the American constitution when it was written. Hence, doesn't it sound of logic and reason that the world needs a global "Thirteenth amendment" of civil rights act to rectify the definition of humans? Maybe then, the 'Global South' can find a way to trust the West again as part of the human population. But that involves them not seeing themselves as superior to the rest.

As I don't matter to your white world, don't ask me where I stand within this war. I don't support the occupation, but I don't support superpower hypocrisy either. Above all, I don't support the loss of life; by proxy wars or other.

I, a Nakba survivor and a Palestinian refugee, am in awe and frankly jealous of the Ukrainian cause's epic support. Yet, the people of Palestine hardly gain a fraction of such support. I find myself in Dave Chapelle's shoes, expressing his amazement at the success of the LGBTQ+ movement while black blood is piling on everyday streets, piling on hundreds of years of known tragic history.

"If black people were white, maybe the black movement would have succeeded!" [Pun intended] But even that has not worked out for us Palestinians. The facts that we are the descendants of biblical Bethlehem residents and that Jesus himself is one of our ancestors have not granted us support as much as the exorbitant amount European immigrant Israelis have been receiving from western faithful Christians in the West.

I sometimes wonder if WW2 was fought and won against the ideology of exceptionalism and racial supremacy and If millions have sacrificed to say NO to Aryanism, why is it now acceptable now to allow the exception-ist ideology of Zionism to be okay? Is the western guilt of Nazi's crimes amended by sacrificing us Palestinians. Enabling the birth of Zionist supremacists to replace white supremacist.

How long should I tell my grandkids to wait until we are granted our right of return to our land? To regain the right to use our rusty 73-year-old door key that my mother kept around her neck walking months to safely cross borders? Should I tell my grandkids to say to their grandkids to wait until the White Man civilization is no longer in charge of this world a few hundred years from now? Is Balfour entertained enough? Is the funding he received in exchange for our land worth our blood? Has the Sykes-Picot's ruler made it to the devil's toolbox museum? We are owed an apology, enforced international corrective measures, and affirmative action laws to rectify generations worth damages.

Refrain from speaking to us of an opium-designed dysfunctional peace process. The occupier controls the land, the army, and the peace. Is there such a thing as land for peace? We have nothing to trade with our occupiers. So let us not blame the souls that try to break free. Honor them. What other choice do they have? Isn't that the very definition of freedom fighters? Even if they are not of white skin and blue eyes.

I am helpless in my exile. It took my family three generations to go from living in tents to building a decent roof. Scraps and education are all we could work with. Yet, I wail about the lack of a place I can call home. Everyone like me does. Helplessness witnessed by the masses is a forever-burning anger. It breeds hope which breeds disappointment which breeds helplessness and then anger once again. A vicious emotional cycle of no escape. So I write for those in power in the West grant us the privilege of recognizing that we are likewise humans!

- Child of Handala