The SNF Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Avenue, Baltimore on Sun., Sept. 6 at 4 PM will screen AMERICAN DOCTOR — a compelling film about three American doctors — Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian — who enter Gaza to save lives and find themselves confronting the complicated intersection of medicine, politics, and truth. The screening is followed by a Q&A with director Poh Si Teng. Get your tickets at snfparkway.org!
By Jonathan Kuttab
The Arabic word “zulm” is usually translated as “injustice” and comes from the same root as “zalam” (darkness), which describes a situation of such overwhelming oppression that it cries out to the highest heaven. It is a situation of outraged frustration bursting with bitter anger at the impunity of those in power and their sneering delight for the suffering they cause, of their arrogant dismissal of the rights of the oppressed, and the lack of recourse or accountability for the victims who can only appeal to the Ruler of the Universe against the zulm. Ultimately, zulm is a much more powerful and evocative term than our usual protests about “human rights violations.”
Examples of zulm, both large and small, abound in Palestine today:
It is zulm that Palestinians cannot access their lands, as they are invaded and ravaged by marauding “grazing outposts” of settlers who drive their sheep and cattle right up to the doors of Palestinian homes. These settlers brazenly steal Palestinians’ sheep, destroy their crops and deny Palestinians access to their fields, all under the watchful eyes of Israeli soldiers.
It is zulm when those who dare to insist on filing complaints with the Israeli Police (located inside settlements) are themselves arrested and harassed.
It is zulm when thousands of Palestinians are imprisoned without charge or trial in Israeli torture centers, where their very humanity is denied and where they are routinely beaten, humiliated, denied adequate food, hot water, exercise, basic sanitary conditions and where over 80 prisoners have died in prison since the war on Gaza started.
It is zulm that I hear from my friend who was recently released from prison about having lost about 1/3 of his body weight and having to endure an operation on his leg without anesthesia to save it from amputation, after scabies had ravaged his foot. This same foot was severely beaten by the guards when he dared to complain about it.
It is zulm when more and more iron gates are erected at all entrances and side roads to Palestinian towns and villages. These gates are closed arbitrarily, from time to time forcing lengthy delays, detours and expensive transportation costs for no apparent reason.
It is zulm when Gaza, even after three years of genocide, continues to suffer a devastating siege as its people are squeezed into smaller and smaller areas. The people have no means of living a normal life, having to struggle daily for food, fresh water, shelter, medicine, and a place to go to the bathroom, much less privacy, education and anything resembling normal life.
It is a zulm when over a thousand Gazans have been killed after a “ceasefire” was declared, where they cannot even fly kites and balloons but Israel freely rains bombs and missiles on their helpless tent encampments.
It is zulm when an area with the highest number of child amputees in the world is denied crutches, prosthetics, wheelchairs, and anesthesia for their struggling medical facilities.
It is zulm when Doctors, nurses, and health workers, like Dr. Aby Safiya, continue to languish in Israeli jails with no trial or accusation other than that they continued to serve their patients after being ordered to abandon them.
It is zulm when Israel literally razes tens of Lebanese villages to the ground and brags about it with little or no response from the world community, as it continues to flout international law.
It is zulm to place an entire population under the control of a strict permit/license regime, whereby each aspect of their lives, including movement, education, residence, economy and culture, is subject to the arbitrary control of their enemies. It is doubly a zulm if, after begging, waiting, and hoping for a coveted permit to meet an essential need, that permit is denied without any reason being given.
Sabeel founder Rev. Naim Ateek wrote Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation, the seminal book whose teachings comprise the guiding principles upon which the work of FOSNA is based according to its Statement of Purpose. Another way of putting it is that our mission is to do our best to ameliorate or remove the zulm which has become such a basic feature of Palestinian life.
The author is with Friends of Sabeel North America.
Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212. Ph.: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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