Dr Salim Nazzal.The power of questions revisited during the Israeli rape scandal

from Dr Salim Nazzal -

The Palestinian truth shal prevail in the end.

The power of questions revisited during the Israeli rape scandal.

"The wheels of justice are turning and the truth will come to light, even
after a delay of many years" These are the words of the young Israeli woman who, according to Haartz was raped on several occasions by the Israeli president Katzav.
This young woman should be greatly valued for her courage to stand up to the state of Israel.
There is a Palestinian proverb "Ma besih Illa Al saheh" which means that the truth will prevail in the end. If Katzav is discovered in time to be a rapist, who took advantage of his post to rape this young woman, it will give hope to the Palestinians that the questions about the Zionist rape of Palestine 60 years ago may also one day be looked at. I use the rape of Palestine in an allegorical perspective, in the political dimension if you will. A rapist imposes sex on a woman against her will, Zionists impose themselves on Palestinians by acts of terror and violence. What made the young Israeli woman endure all of the hardships imposed on her are in her words "the desire for justice".
There is a story about an old Palestinian man, who asked a simple yet powerful question. In the aftermath of the Zionist ethnic cleansing war of 1948 which uprooted around 70
percent of Palestinians from their ancestral homes, an American congressman
came to meet the Palestinian refugees to tell them that the U.S.A. was ready to
help them with food and with other humanitarian needs. When the congressman finished his speech he asked through the translator if there were any questions. The old Palestinian stood up and said to the congressman, "Thank you for offering the help. But why do you not help us to return back to our villages? There we can plant corn ourselves." The congressman had no answer. For 58 years the American administration has chosen not
to answer that one powerful question.
Our questions are motivated by the desire for justice. No people are more eager for justice to be implemented than people who are deprived of justice. Socrates was right, questions open up cases. To reach our goal of justice, we need to throw a small stone in the quiet lake and ask: Why is a society willing to punish a single rapist while overlooking the mass rape of an entire nation? Why is justice being implemented in the singular case and ignored in the multiple cases? For the sake of justice we need to keep asking questions, and to press for specific answers.
Questions should be straightforward. Why is there no outrage over the many U.N. resolutions unimplemented by Israel that would benefit the Palestinian people? Why did the West stand behind the creation of the state of Israel on the existing native Palestinians? How can the west continue to attempt to legitimize the support to the occupiers, contrary to laws, contrary to civil codes, contrary to logic, contrary to compassion and decency? Why have other nations been given U.N. protection and yet the Palestinians must bear the brutality of the Israeli occupation, with no U.N. intervention?
To echo Kant,Palestinians should not give up questions because these questions are part of their existence and part of their struggle towards truth and justice.
Questions can never be restricted, never get old and never die. Questions
are the powerful tool of the powerless. Questions plants the seeds of knowledge, knowledge lead to understanding, and understanding lead to justice. Giving up the questions would mean giving up the whole idea that one day international law will stop the rapists of Palestine.
Questions survive simply because of the "justice principle" which historians agree is a
decisive factor in the construction of political realities. The Egyptian film director Yousef Shahen points at the power of great ideas, in his film "Al Maser: the destiny" the hero says that "Ideas are like birds with wings, they can fly and reach remote places". Indeed history demonstrates this: Lincoln was murdered but the idea of equality survived and became stronger, Gandhi was murdered but the ideas about peace, love and coexistence
became a lighthouse for all humans.
In the present time, Palestinians are restricted inside Palestine by about 530 Israeli check points. According to BTselem the Israeli human right organization, "Palestinian travel is
restricted or entirely prohibited on 41 roads and sections of roads throughout the West Bank, including many of the main traffic arteries, covering a total of over 700 kilometers of roadway. Israelis can travel freely on these roads". But Israeli check points can not stop the questions of the Palestinian victims. If lady Macbeth, in William Shakespeare's play, thought that all the perfumes in Arabia could not wash away the crime her husband committed on an innocent king , how much perfume will the Israeli's need to clean from their hands the blood and the suffering of three generations of Palestinians?
Dr. Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian historian. He has written extensively on social and political issues in the Middle East .E mail:  gibran44@hotmail.com