Ali Al-Azhari is a veteran activist. He lives in Jaffa.
In the fall of 2005 I wrote a private letter to Nelson Mandela. I
was motivated by the violence perpetrated by Israeli forces against
the Palestinians and Israelis engaged in non-violent protest
against the separation wall. Recent events bring me back to that
letter, which, alas, seems to have lost none of its relevance.
South Africa's Jewish Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, has
expressed some very severe criticism of Israel, and supports the
COSATU trade union movement's call for the government of South
Africa to sever diplomatic relations with Israel and impose an
economic boycott against it. What could be more non-violent than a
boycott? Despite the despair among Palestinians and in the Israeli
"peace camp" of ever reaching a solution that will end occupation,
or perhaps because of that despair, I cannot, as a person and as a
Palestinian, remain indifferent to these voices, loud and clear,
coming from today's South Africa. After all, who can tell us better
than the citizens of South Africa, black and white, about the
efficacy of the boycott in fighting tyranny and oppression? And who
hopes and yearns for it to be applied more than the
Palestinians?
I consider this letter's publication today my humble contribution
to the mosaic of documentation and protests marking the 40th
anniversary of the occupation.
Dear Mr. Mandela:
For a very long time I have wanted to write to you, to greet and
salute you, years before you and your associates and all Africans
succeeded in toppling the apartheid regime. When, in the 1970s and
'80s, I wanted to hang the picture of Yasser Arafat in my flat in
Tel Aviv to express my people's longing for political freedom and
equality with the Israelis, but did not dare, I hung your picture
instead. This was not just a trick solution to avoid persecution by
the Israeli authorities; it was an acknowledgement that from your
place in the Robben Island prison you represented not only your
people but also me and all who longed for freedom.
One of the happiest and most moving days of my life was May 10,
1994, when you were sworn in as the first president of a free South
Africa. Coming from a religious Muslim family, I could not but
think of the most decisive moment in the history of Islam - the
Prophet Muhammad's conquest of Mecca at the end of January 630 AD.
Muhammad entered the city at the head of a victorious army, eight
years after he had been forced to leave the place with a small band
of his first followers, who had been persecuted for their Muslim
faith. Before purifying the Kaaba, which had been the main pagan
shrine of the Arabian Peninsula, Muhammad addressed his erstwhile
enemies, the polytheistic crowd that had gathered around.
'How do you expect me to treat you?' he asked.
'Mercifully,' they said, 'for are you not our merciful
brother?'
Said the Prophet: 'Go in peace, you are free men.'
Had I been present on that occasion 14 centuries ago, I would
probably have been among those who converted to Islam that day,
moved by this great and rare magnanimity. Instead, I had the good
fortune to watch the astounding and deeply moving historical moment
of your swearing in as president of South Africa in the Union
Building in Pretoria, the very fortress of apartheid. I was
awestruck by the magnanimity shown by you and your companions of
the African National Congress (ANC), your ability to overcome the
historical rage and desire for vengeance against the whites, to be
reconciled with them and to forgive them the terrible evils they
did to your people during hundreds of years. The vision, the
nobility, the restraint and humanity you demonstrated could not
simply flash overhead without leaving an indelible impression on
all minds and souls. On that day I converted to Mandela-ism.
For all the differences between the racial conflict that raged in
your country and the prolonged national conflict in ours, I, as a
Palestinian, am continually inspired by the fulfillment of your
dream of reconciliation between the races in your land. It makes me
dream, think and act in the light of that vision, here in the
country in which I was born and in which I live. To my mind,
implementing Mandela's vision here, making it a reality in this
strip of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea,
means ending the Israeli occupation, dismantling all the
settlements and establishing a sovereign Palestinian state in the
territories Israel seized in the 1967 war, with its capital in East
Jerusalem, side by side with the State of Israel within the borders
of June 4, 1967, with West Jerusalem as its capital. Jerusalem
would never again be divided, and will be open to both nations and
all three religions. At the same time Israel would undergo a reform
that will convert it into a state of all its citizens, a state
whose citizens and inhabitants would all enjoy equal human,
national and civil rights.
Inside Israel - within its 1967 borders - live over a million
Palestinians who suffer from discrimination both personal and
national. The undersigned is one of them. Although my family
remained within the borders of the State of Israel when it was
established in 1948, the state forbids us to return to our lands
and our village, which it destroyed after the 1948 war, and where
it created a settlement where only Jews may reside. There are in
Israel about a quarter of a million citizens like me, who live as
refugees in their own homeland, facing the remains of their
villages and lands which were given to Jews. If the State of Israel
mends its ways, ceases to be a partial democracy based on national,
or religious-national (i.e., Jewish) origin, and becomes a state of
all its citizens, then I would be willing to renounce what is most
precious to every Palestinian: I would relinquish my right of
return. Yes, I personally would give up my parents' dream and mine
of returning to the village where I was born, Saffuriya in the
Galilee (the biblical Sephoris, birthplace of Saint Anne, mother of
Virgin Mary). I would regard the realization of complete equality
with the Jews in Israel, and between the State of Israel and the
future State of Palestine, as acceptable compensation for the loss
and the suffering that the creation of Israel has caused me. I
would ask for no other compensation.
Unfortunately, though, it seems that Mandela's vision grows more
distant every day. In the occupied territories things are getting
worse. As you know, for the past two years Israel has been
constructing a separation wall between itself and the Palestinians
in the territories it captured on the West Bank in 1967. Israel
justifies building the wall as essential for the protection of its
population from Palestinian terrorism. But if Israel were really
interested in reconciliation and peace, rather than annexation and
settlement, it would have built the wall along the border of June
4, 1967, instead of deep inside Palestinian territory. The aim is
plain to see - the expropriation of remaining Palestinian lands and
their annexation by the Jewish settlements, in preparation for the
future annexation of most of these settlements to Israel. As it
rises, the wall creates enclaves and ghettoes enclosing thousands
of people, and in some areas it cuts off tens of thousands of
villagers from their cultivated lands, which provide their
subsistence. The wall may eventually create cantons and Bantustans
which will make it impossible to establish a Palestinian state. No
wonder that the International Court of Justice in The Hague
determined last year that the wall is illegal and that those
sections of it not built on the Green Line (i.e., Israel's June 4,
1967 border) must be demolished. You have probably heard that in
the past decade Israel has also built a network of roads
crisscrossing the West Bank, for the exclusive use of the Israeli
settlers.
Against this background and in parallel with these developments, a
new kind of Palestinian resistance has emerged: joint
Palestinian-Israeli non-violent demonstrations. Thousands of
Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis take part in these actions.
The Israeli army of occupation reacts with violence, and has so far
killed about a dozen demonstrators and wounded hundreds, including
Israelis.
As one of the activists in this struggle, I should like to tell
you, Sir, about a dream shared by the demonstrators from both
peoples - it is to see Nelson Mandela in our midst in one of our
demonstrations, joining hands with us and strengthening our morale.
Now more than ever we need you, when the Sharon government, behind
the smokescreen of the so-called "disengagement" from Gaza, is
speeding up the construction of the wall, the expansion of Jewish
settlements and restrictions on the movements of Palestinians in
the West Bank. No one in the world is as experienced as you are in
toppling walls of separation and hatred between races and peoples.
If you came here, it would focus Israeli and international public
opinion on the situation in the occupied territories, and encourage
Palestinians and Israelis to develop a joint struggle for
coexistence in equality and peace.
May I hope that you would consider such a step, such a visit?
I wish you, from the bottom of my heart, good health and many more
fruitful years of life!
