A young Filipino-Palestinian speaks out

Historical flashback to 1947: “During that crucial interlude, four nations opposed to partition [of Palestine], Greece, Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines, were subjected to a deluge of diplomatic pressures and menaces. The United Sates, again, acting on the instigation of the White House, threw the full impact of its tremendous prestige behind the Jewish cause.

Two justices of the US Supreme Court personally cabled Philippine President Manuel A. Roxas warning that ‘the Philippines will isolate millions and millions of American friends and supporters if they continue in their efforts to vote against partition.’ Twenty-six senators cabled Roxas and urged him to change his nation’s vote. The Philippine ambassador was summoned to a blunt but intensive briefing at the White House. Finally Roxas ordered his delegation ‘in the higher national interest’ to switch its vote from against to for partition.”

Thus, the state of Israel was born in 1948. Thousands of Jews from all over Europe (perhaps some Jewish refugees from the Philippines?) streamed into the land they claimed was theirs since biblical times. The Palestinians who had also occupied the land for 2,000 years or more lost a homeland. But it is not as simple as that.

The first paragraph is from the bestselling 1971 book “O Jerusalem!’’ by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, also authors of “Freedom at Midnight” (about the heartbreaking partitioning of India, a book I devoured). That could give context to the recent bombings between the Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza City and Israel, the former having waged the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel that saw more than a thousand Jews dead and Israel’s army retaliating with a deadly force that killed countless innocent Palestinians. Three Filipinos have been confirmed dead.

Today, I give a voice to Palestinian-Filipino pharmacy student Yasmin Abdel Khaleq with excerpts from her Facebook post. She gave permission for their use:

“During my four years of living here, I have received comments from fellow Filipinos, curious about where I come from … They would proceed to assume ‘From Israel?’ and I would say ‘Palestinian po ako’ and they would say ‘Ahh, Hamas.’ … for strangers, I would just say … “Pinoy lang po talaga ako” to end it there. I regret denying my roots … I am unapologetically Filipino-Palestinian.

“Everyone sees … the ‘Israeli-Hamas conflict’ or ‘war.’ No matter what history timeline you believe in, you cannot deny that the State of Israel was only established 75 years ago. If you read up on the diaries of the founders of Zionism, you will find out that the land where Israeli Zionists are settling in right now [had been] inhabited by the Palestinian people. No, it was not a desert. Zionism is a movement, a settler-colonial project, [aimed] to establish a Jewish nation-state in Palestine, now called the State of Israel. After World War I, in 1922, Palestine was under the British Mandate … considered ‘Class A’ mandate because of [its] advanced infrastructures … The Balfour Declaration [then promised] a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine. This helped the Zionist movement to further achieve its aims.

“There is nothing wrong with Jewish self-determination. What is completely wrong is the ethnic cleansing and dispossession of the Palestinian people for the past 75 plus years just so the Zionists who came from all over the world could establish a homeland. We do not hate Jews, we hate Zionism … If you see the protests … right now, you will notice that Jewish people condemn the State of Israel and are ashamed of the Zionist Israeli settlers for using their name as Jews, for using the Torah, for using the name of God as an excuse to kill and displace Palestinians. A homeland is not built this way.

“My grandparents grew up [in Palestine,] so did our [family] line of Palestinians before 1948 … [But] ask any Israeli where they came from, they would say they [were] originally from Italy, Poland, France, Yemen, Lebanon, [etc.] The only thing they have in common is being Zionist settlers.

“The only reason why Hamas attacked is to free Palestinian prisoners, stop Israeli aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to break the siege on Gaza. Did you know that the release of one Israeli soldier frees approximately 1,000 Palestinian prisoners? Prisoners who were kept in cells unjustly and inhumanely, who did no wrong other than being Palestinian, prisoners who are women and children … The [Hamas] assault has led to nonstop Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, around 6,000 bombs the past week. Around 800 Palestinian children killed. Around two million Palestinians displaced once again.

“If you ask the people of Gaza if they support Hamas, they would simply say, they do not have a choice. Imagine living in an open-air prison for years with electricity and water allowed for only three hours a day? Sudden bombings here and there? … Wouldn’t you want to fight back? Fifty percent of the Gaza population are children [who witnessed] the killings of their sisters, brothers, parents … There are records of Palestinian children committing suicide because of this.

“You can advocate for the lives of Palestinians without advocating for Hamas.”

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