How appropriate !

At night, suddenly I hear blasts. The blasts are different from the sounds of Apache helicopters firing missiles or tank shells. We've become familiar with that sound coming from the north. I look out the window and see fireworks. "How appropriate," I say silently. Israel celebrates "independence", that is, on the expense of Palestinians locked up in their homes, that is, if their home is not destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, attack helicopters or tanks. Israel celebrates "independence" while Palestinians have been yearning for freedom all along Israel's existence. In every settlement on the West Bank, that is, colonies that have been built on confiscated Palestinian land, fireworks shoots into the sky. "How appropriate to celebrate with fireworks, even from the Psgot settlement that overlooks Ramallah, where all residents are confined to their homes and shelters," I sigh.

Israel celebrates "independence" on the expense of refugees, the ultimate victims of dispossession, expulsion, and destruction. Refugees that have their shelters being bulldozed, shelled, destroyed, who are looking for relatives that might be killed, injured, detained or missing. Refugees that have experienced the horrors of Israeli war crimes committed under the eyes of the world.

Israel's "independence" in 1948 followed mass expulsions and ethnic cleansing that led to the death of 13,000 Palestinians, the expulsion and displacement of 750,000 Palestinians, and the destruction of 531 Palestinian villages. How appropriate to celebrate this "independence" when there has been ongoing dispossession of land, homes, and identity. In the past 18 months the world has witnessed an escalation of destruction, expropriation of land, property, homes, arbitrary detention, torture, mass killings, suppression, and oppression.