Manifesto

IN FOCUS, 16 May 2011

Palestinian Youth – TRANSCEND Media Service

I´m sick of The Wall
I´m sick of the checkpoints between Palestinian cities
I´m sick of illegal Israeli settlers and settlements
I´m sick of having the Hebrew language on my ID card
I´m sick of people not knowing anything about our history
but knowing so much about Jewish history

I´m sick of people ignoring the Palestinian Right of Return
and accepting the Jewish Law of Return
I´m sick of the Oslo Agreement which no one here
wanted in the first place

I´m sick of the Palestinian Authority
having zero authority
I´m sick of watching my father being humiliated at checkpoints
by people my age and younger

I´m sick of my international friends having to lie about
coming to visit; being interrogated, strip searched
and sometimes deported in the process
I´m sick of people not understanding
what “Occupation” is

I´m sick of being scared all the time
I´m sick of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
being a normal state of being here in Palestine
I´m sick of how ineffective the UN has become
I´m sick of International Humanitarian Law
not applying to the State of Israel

I´m sick of how fighting for basic human rights for Palestinians
or being critical of Israeli policy
is so often labeled “anti-Semitic”
I´m sick of the fact that everybody forgets I´m a Semite
I´m sick of hearing Israelis complain about discrimination
when the State of Israel was founded on a principle of ethnic purity

I´m sick of living in a time
when racial profiling has become acceptable
I´m sick of constantly being treated as a suspect
I´m sick of how mainstream media portrays us and our situation

I´m sick of the whole world caring about Gilad Shalit
when there are more than 7,000 Palestinians inside Israeli prisons
I´m sick of trying to defend myself, friends or countrymen
and being labeled a terrorist

I´m sick of the fact that everywhere I go
I can see The Wall, a settlement or an Israeli soldier

I´m sick of 63 years of Israeli occupation.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 16 May 2011.

Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: Manifesto, is included. Thank you.

If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.

Share this article: email mastodon facebook 🔗 copy link

This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.

2 Responses to “Manifesto”

1. Lena says:

   16 May 2011 at 17:20

   Dear Sirs

   I am in a way failing to see a solution here, a way forward. A very negative manifesto. Where is the way to peace here if I may ask?

   Sincerely,

   LP

   • Freddy Balbozhi says:

     22 May 2011 at 14:30

     I couldn’t agree more. I wish the makers of TMS had found something equally expressive of a solution as of this emotional blame-ifesto. This is but one side of the complex picture isn’t it?