The ignorant person is the enemy of himself

Palestinians, wherever they are, can no longer hide the embarrassment they feel as they continue to appear as victims who have an irreproachable moral right of sympathy and support from the world. Additionally, there is discomfiture within the continual blaming of all their problems on the occupation. The occupation could be a deep or distant reason for the clustered feelings and the psychological problems of the Palestinians. It could also be responsible for the widespread underdevelopment. However, Palestinians must blame themselves now that their own rules have been broken, such as the “prohibition of Palestinian bloodshed” and “a Palestinian cannot become the executioner because he has been the victim.” The Palestinian has now become the executioner of himself, and self-destructive by giving in to chaos. He also practices self-oppression upon opportunities to be free of the occupation.
The Palestinians have not made Gaza the Singapore of the Middle East or a Banana Republic. All features of the rule of law have disappeared. The armed militias and death squads were sent to the streets and to Israel’s borders, killing each other and fighting over the limited self-rule.
Palestinians have proven that they can make mistakes – they fought at the first opportunity for self-rule. They resorted to arms to solve their political disputes. There are also oppressive measures against freedom of speech and a forced return to ancestral ideology, on the bases of cultural heritage. However, the minute the strict and fundamentalist right-wing movement took hold of municipal councils, it canceled the cultural festivals, which had been regularly during the summer throughout the West Bank. When the same movement took hold of the parliament, it ordered confiscation and destruction of Speak Bird, Speak Again, which has only barely been saved. These are just a couple examples among many other similar measures.
The parliamentary majority embodied a cover for oppressive actions through the guise of heritage, and the official practices encouraged attacks, destruction, and sabotage of cultural institutions.
Cultural heritage, which has acted as confirmation within the Palestinian battle for the right to life, has turned into the enemy. Thus, enforcing the worth of the wise saying “the ignorant person is the enemy of himself.”
The Palestinians did not have to strip themselves of the morals and the ideology that had previously prevent inner conflict over the achievement of national freedom and the establishment of their own state. However, no harm will be done if the Palestinians think again and be more sensible, with the understanding that they too are simply humans —
like others — who can be subjected to ignorance, disease, and poverty. Also, they must acknowledge that they are captives of a theoretical “integrity” that had made them fragile and breakable though they have thought otherwise for many long years.
Rajab Abu Sariyya is a Palestinian writer in Gaza.