The wake of conflict leaves permanent loss and devastation. I condemn the violent and hateful actions of all sides and pray for a sense of shared humanity to end the bloodshed.
Being Palestinian American informs a lot of my perspective, and is part of why I root my policy, and decades of work, in human rights, as an academic and as a legislator.
Every morning I wake up to a slew of text messages sending love and support. My immediate reaction is to check the news. How could it get worse? Has the ground invasion begun? Will I hear, again, that another relative’s home was destroyed? But regardless of the news, my response has been the same, “please, publicly tell people that you support Palestinians.”
I always make this ask because we cannot continue to conflate the millions of Palestinian people
with Hamas.
And while no group of people is a monolith, the Palestinian voice is so critical at this junction.
The already muffled Palestinian voice is vital and speaks to a wealth of essential details of the past 75 years that are not being offered, but rather are dangerously distilled down to surface-level, and fragmented information.
Unfortunately, that fragmented information speaks to our short, collective memory, that many
have forgotten about the post-9/11 hate wave that was pointed at our communities and the real
harm resulting from it.
But it has to be said. It is unacceptable to refer to the condemnation of the killing and harm of
innocent Israeli civilians as “Islamophobic or anti-Arab.” We also cannot equate the call for
Palestinians to live in freedom and dignity as “anti-semitic.”
In Colorado, Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinian children are facing racist and bigoted attacks in
schools because of their identity, being called “twin towers,” while teachers look the other way.
Our businesses and mosques are being threatened, and homes are being shot at. This hate and
bigotry has caused the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in an anti-Muslim
attack in Chicago.
Well before the most recent hostilities, the military oppression, along with the indiscriminate
attacks against Palestinians amounted to collective punishment, a war crime, in the opinion of
UN experts. The UN has called on the Israeli government to immediately stop indiscriminate military attacks.
We heard it loud and clear when the Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, declared that they
are “fighting human animals,” as he was announcing a total siege on Gaza to cut civilians off
from electricity, food, water, and fuel.
But there is more. Former head of Israeli Mossad Intelligence, Tamir Pardo, said “Israel is
enforcing an apartheid system in the West Bank.” And the reality on the ground is that Palestinian
Christians and Muslims lack access to the ballot, health care, and are cut off from seeing family
and the ability to travel freely. Denied entry into houses of worship or have been murdered
while praying.
Dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated, and subjugated all by virtue of their identity as Palestinians. Losing their land and homes with no just cause, forced to travel through
checkpoints and on segregated roads, and all are dictated by a government that is not their own.
Worse are the living conditions in Gaza, again described by Tamir Pardo, as an “open-air prison,”
an opinion shared by the World Health Organization, saying it is “a death sentence,” while the
UN Secretary General states it is “hell on earth.” But how much more hellish is it going to
become?
In Gaza, that “hell” manifests as being one of the most densely populated areas on earth,
with children making up 47% of Gaza’s population of 2 million, with over 800,000 having never
known life without the blockade. More than 1 million people live in poverty, and nearly 80% of
the youth are unemployed, and 90% are without access to clean drinking water.
To bring things into perspective, Denver’s total population is a little over 700,000. That pales in
comparison to Gaza, with 2.2 million people living in an area that is 10% smaller than Denver.
Even with knowledge of these realities, it is disappointing to hear that, instead of calling for
calm and supporting a peaceful process, our own State Department has circulated a memo
discouraging diplomats from publicly using phrases like “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to
violence/bloodshed,” and “restoring calm.”
The scale to which this conflict has escalated, I believe that the U.S. should focus on minimizing
the loss of lives and permanent devastation. However, it is also my belief that this should come
through diplomatic channels, with the sole focus of enacting everlasting peace, justice, and
equality for all.
But my hope is restored by the actions of human rights defenders in Congress as they introduce
a resolution urging President Joe Biden to work towards an urgently needed ceasefire between
Israel and Hamas.
My ask of Coloradans: examine our assumptions, acknowledge what brought us here, and
thoughtfully examine the facts and the history before making statements or taking action. And if
we feel the urge to speak up when one group suffers, ask why aren’t we feeling that urge when
others suffer too. Why does such a moral inconsistency exist and how are we challenging it?
Iman Jodeh represents the Colorado House District 41. She is a Democrat from Aurora.
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