Truth & Reconciliation

By Jeremy D Parker

XR Wordsmiths Statement on the Latest Troubles in Israel & Palestine

A child is dying every ten minutes in Gaza.

It is a statement of such magnitude it is difficult to comprehend. It is a statement of suffering. It is a statement, a fact, that can only bring grief.

Many words have been spoken, and many bitter arguments held, over the place where we find ourselves in the so-called “conflict” between Israel and Palestine.

Is it even possible, any more, to find a place of hope? Is refusing to abandon hope now too audacious, when United Nations Human Rights director Craig Mokhiber resigned in despair at the abject failure of the so called “International Rules based order” to not be complicit in the genocide we see unfolding?

Well, if Extinction Rebellion has a purpose, perhaps it is this: to look into the darkness of the future, and search for the light shining, however dimly, from this elusive hope. We must believe that a better day will come.

We won’t rest until we have justice. Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty.

Andy McDonald MP

At this moment the journey towards that brighter day seems impossibly long and fraught. And when the slaughter has finally ended, when the hostilities have ceased, the process of Truth and Reconciliation will be a vital one.

One thing is for sure – the horror that now dominates what many people call The Holy Land did not begin on 7th October 2023. Any commentator or news medium that states or implies that this is the case is misrepresenting the facts, either through ignorance or wilful deceit.

When did this road to Apartheid begin then? When should the Truth and Reconciliation start its examination in an effort to find forgiveness and redemption and build a future with justice, equality, and understanding as its foundation?

The answer to the question is the 2nd November 1917 – Balfour Day.

Because that is when an arrogant colonial power – the United Kingdom, gave away a land that did not belong to it, to another non-indigenous people.

The nightmare began on that day.

Today we raise our voices in calling for freedom, liberation, dignity, and return for the Palestinians. We speak truth to power—knowing it is an indispensable part of any anti-colonial struggle. We pray that it will not be too long before the world finally wakes up, and gives peace, justice and equality to the Palestinians.