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Azmi, My
Brother,
You had
the good sense to see what was coming—the security forces in cooperation with
the judicial system of Israel decided to take
steps against, what they call the “strategic threat,” of the Palestinian
citizens of Israel,
and to do away with their leaders. They want to return us to the days of
martial law—to fear, to the permits, to the dark cells of the security forces,
to the era in which only collaborators could claim at least some of their
rights.
Inside
the 1967 borders, Israel
was not yet employing the methods it now uses in the occupied territories. It
did not execute people without trial, condone mass arrests, cause starvation,
or destroy infrastructures. Now, as “the only democracy in the Middle East”, Israel
claims to function according to just and lawful means.
But “the
law” is the security forces and the police; the judicial advisers to the
government and the judicial system are its full-time employees. Your sentence
was passed even before the accusations against you were announced, and you have
no way of establishing your innocence before these war criminals. They speak a
language different from ours—in their eyes, anyone who is against war and
aspires to the peaceful coexistence of two nations is classified as a criminal,
and persecuted. You cannot conduct a political struggle from the witness box.
They will not allow you to insist that you are fighting for both nations. In
the courts of the police state, they will tie a rope around your neck.
The
agonizing failure of the Israeli Army against the Lebanese Resistance maddens
them. In the face of such a defeated and cruel establishment we must act
wisely, intelligently. After all, it is more sensible for a freedom fighter who
is cut off by a military unit to withdraw, or to escape, and to wait for a more
favorable time to return fire—and here I am not speaking of live fire, but of
the “fire” of thought and the written word.
Azmi my
brother—THEY ARE AFRAID. The terrified commanders and their soldiers are
afraid. I encounter them frequently in Jenin Refugee Camp where they fire on
children who dare to glance from an upstairs window, or from round the corner.
Apparently
you represent a ‘strategic threat’ to the “Jewish State”. It seems that your
vision of a ‘state for all its citizens’ is a threat to the actual existence of
Israel, a country that has been created out of force, control and
discrimination of another nation. Ideas of equality or of the coexistence that
the Balad Party represents, deprive the government of Israel
of the main ideological elements it uses to justify its existence—power,
despotism, segregation, racism, barriers and fences.
Azmi my
brother, you did not run away!
You made
clever use of conditions and circumstances, and managed to evade the execution
squad with which the ‘judicial system’ confronted you. As a seasoned warrior
you dodged the bullets of the security forces and went underground. And it
makes no difference whether it was to the caves of the Galilee or to Qatar, Dubai, or Cairo.
Many will
urge you to return. Many others would rejoice to see you rotting in the cells
of the security police. There will be others who would sacrifice you—your
courage concealing their helplessness and fear. All sorts of mudslingers will
sprout like mushrooms after rain, insisting that leaders do not abandon their
flock. They will call you a coward and many other things. Ignore all their
remarks about ‘courage and sacrifice’. Do not listen to your political
opponents at home, who will call for stringing you up in the Town Square.
Carry on with your struggle from abroad, like so many illustrious others. What
is exile if not sacrifice!
And be
assured—the day will come when you can return, borne on the shoulders of your
comrades.
We have
always praised the freedom fighters who succeeded in escaping the dungeons of
the security forces. We rejoice when guerilla fighters are released by their
comrades from behind prison bars. We applaud your successes in this puppet
government and in revealing its true face.
You did
not escape from arrest. You avoided being executed without trial—“targeted
elimination” in the local jargon. Bless you for that!
Yours,
Juliano
Mer Khamis
www.thefreedomtheatre.org
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