Archipelago
it is a sad love because they once had not only one sea, but two, and they are unable to forget they have none now.
Be careful of what you wish for. Palestinians, mainly those who live in the West Bank, have always dreamt of the sea where they can go to whenever they are happy to celebrate, or whenever they are sad to seek anodyne solitude. They somehow thought the sea is the de facto annex to any homeland. They even considered the sea as the mother of their homeland who they can go to when their lives become harsh, miserable, and challenging. Once at the sea, they are offered water, breeze, horizon, and openness. In return, they believe, the sea will not only make them feel calm, but will also show them that no matter how high the waves are, they still fade at the shore, right in front of their footsteps. For them, it is a sad love because they once had not only one sea, but two, and they are unable to forget they have none now.
However, what the Palestinians never wished for is having their land transformed into a deformed sea. The aspiration of the state of Palestine made of land and sea is now presented to the Palestinians in Trump’s peace map as a land swimming in the sea. An archipelago at its best, yet without the water, the breeze, the horizon, and politically quarantined.
Nonetheless, history keeps rewriting itself since the beginning of the world and it will keep rewriting itself until the end of the world; history is always present, the present, and the future. Manifestly, the “OPT” abbreviation is widely known as the occupied Palestinian territories; however, in 1939, this abbreviation referred to the occupied Polish territories, and may refer in the future to the occupied Pluto territories. Therefore, if attrition prevails it is not perpetual as it was the case throughout the history and in Poland in the recent history.
In 1939, the Germans and the Soviets agreed to annihilate Poland’s identity and people. In parallel invasions, the Soviets captured all the Polish territories east of the Rug River, while the Germans seized everything west of the river. The occupiers’ shared objective was to liquidate the country of more than 300,000 sq. km inhibited by approximately 35 million people at that time. The occupied Polish territories “OPT” under Germany’s control were either annexed or placed under German administration. Germany’s long-term plan was to settle tens of millions of Germans in the “OPT”, and to achieve this it started its’ slow but progressive extermination of the land and people”; a process that claimed the lives of more than 5.5 million people more than half of them were Polish Jews. The soviet occupation followed suit in actions and plans but with far less victims of approximately 150,000 people.
Before re-installing Poland on the global map as independent and sovereign state after WWII, the Poles under the occupations went through exhausting methods of eradication ranging from confiscating, nationalizing and redistributing all private and state-owned Polish property, removal of Polish governmental and societal institutions, deportations, exploitation of political tensions and divisions, arrests, and executions. The Palestinians under the occupation are not strangers to such goals and actions. Apparently, the subjugation of nations requires same gruesome objectives and similar arrangements. Alternatively, achieving independence requires similar determination, preparation, and action. Time is neutral while wills are not. Plans are different, but goals are not. Destinations vary, but destiny does not.
Abed Abu-Shamsiyeh
10/10/2020
