Auschwitz Education!!!! The news stormed a bit around the issue of Dr. M.

Dajani taking a group of Palestinians students to the Auschwitz in Poland recentl . !egardless to the reactions" if it was a bra#e action!!! $r an act of collaboration% the debate might go on. &adl speaking" we are in a situation" where the main lines of what used to resemble our nationalit as Palestinians ha#e been sabotaged since 'uite some time. The whole concepts used for the conflict business ha#e been as well e(ploited" from peace to normalization. )rom war to intifada. )rom a state to territor . $ne is careful with e#er word he uses" because the terminolog of the words has been part of this industr . *efore + proceed" + would like to stress on the fact" that + am a person who takes pride in ha#ing friends who happened to be +sraelis. + am pri#ileged t ha#e encountered and worked as well wit some +sraelis. The few ears + spent as a student in the ,ebrew uni#ersit ha#e been the best ears of m academic life" e#en though + was too incompetent as a student. And + am currentl stud ing in academic program with +sraeli partnership. This doesn-t mean that + am not against bo cotting as a tool for pressuring the +sraeli occupation. +t is true as well that most of what has been done in this regard" locall " is immature" inconsistent" intolerant" inefficient and other terms that will pop later in m head. This doesn-t mean that the attempts of some people or groups are respected and important and efficient. +t is also important to highlight here" that the international bo cott campaign is a more solid" efficient and fruitful mo#e and it is funnil working well. + insist to make m own statement here" knowing that man will oppose. + strongl belie#e that in order to sol#e the +srael Palestine .uestion we need Palestinians and +sraelis to do it. Palestinians and +sraelis who decentl belie#e that a solution that is based on justice should pre#ail. &uch Palestinians and +sraelis are not on the headlines of the news" and the are not in go#ernment cabinets" and the are not the Peacenik *rokers who ha#e benefited from the situation and transformed it into profitable businesses in the last decades. &ome ears ago" + happened to be part of a discussion with the /.0 head'uarters in 1aza while complaining about ,amas go#ernment for not allowing the holocaust education in the curriculum. Entering 1aza for the first time" into what looked like a #isual ghetto + suggested 2 c nicall -

that ,amas should allow the courses with assigning filed trips to show them the entrance to 1aza as a real e(ample of 1hettos. A 'uestion remained in m head since then" what should + as a Palestinian learn from stud ing the holocaust3 4hat am + supposed to learn from stud ing or understanding the injustice" murder" crimes committed against m oppressor3 &hould + justif his crimes against me3 + know that when + understand m mother-s miser as in her earlier ears" makes me let-s sa justif her insecurities in her bea#ers toda . *ut she remains m mother. 4hen + identif with the ill doings against the 5ews in the holocaust" does it make occupation an easier place3 &hould + thank them for not putting me et in an o#en and fr me3 &hould + ask them to mark m arms with signs that sa + am Palestinian3 )or ears" + tried to grow into a more tolerant person" that + belie#e aim tr ing to become. ,owe#er" + found it so unfair" and so unjust" to ask me as a Palestinian to look at the miser of the jews that resulted +n the creation of +srael on m own life and land" while + li#e e#er single moment of m life" a life f diaspora" racism" s stemic ethnic cleansing" separation with barriers" checkpoints" and permits to mo#e from one plot to another. 4hen m life as a Palestinian is not far" if not the same or ma be worse than what the 0azi did. 6E&" + know we were not killed in millions. *ut in si(t ears of occupation" +srael has performed and continues to perform what the 0azis did in centuries of European resentment to 5ews. + refuse to bring a Palestinian to see the Auschwitz in Poland" and +sraeli to a refugee camp. &orr sir" the Auschwitz with all its cruelt " resembles a crime that ou ma resemble with the memories of the past. The refugee camp is the result of the creation of +srael. $ur miser is not the same. 4e are asked to s mpathize with our oppressor o#er crimes that others caused him. As a matter of fact" this act backfires. *ecause" on a human le#el" + can resemble with an +sraeli on man acts of life. 4e can s mpathize wit hone another on losses. 4e can be happ for one another for intimate occasions. 4e can be friends" we can be colleagues" we can sometimes put politics aside and be just who we are PE$P7E. *ut the moment ou tell me that + ha#e to s mpathies with a 5ew" + cannot but seem m own miser . $ur corpses" our homes" our land are the demonstration of his miser . +t feels like stumping o#er our corpses and making a show to the

world pointing towards a documentar on the holocaust" while the world is watching" it is our corpses" dead and ali#e that are being stumped. + see each and e#er face of Palestinian #ictims dead and ali#e with each scene + watch. 6ou cannot stump on me from one side" and ask me to be our audience forms the other. 6ou cannot ask me to identif with a demonstration that + am suffering toda b its heroes. + need +srael and the world" to uplift its occupation from me first. + need to be treated like a human being first. + need to e(perience justice in order to be just in m emotions and judgments to others. And + still insist " that there are causes that + am read to fight for with m life that concern +sraelis . *ecause peace is about two people standing on the same ground regardless to their weight or height. +t is about two people who see each other as people . People who look towardss the other and see another e'ual human that he can deal or not deal with . And these people e(ist . And these people don-t need to show me the Auschwitz . *ecause the Ausszchwitz reminds them as me" in the cruelt of opression " and thus 8 occupation .
Humanism should be a form of disclosure,not of secrecy or religious illumination. Edward Said