I spent the weekend at the Islamic Society of North America’s national convention, this year held in Washington, D.C, where I volunteered at the American Muslims for Palestine booth and tried my hardest to sell little handmade souvenirs. It was both a fun experience and a sad one—fun because I discovered that I do not belong in a bazaar setting, and sad because, well, the Palestinian cause felt overwhelmingly neglected and misunderstood.

I know that this kind of convention isn’t the most ideal place to gauge the general public’s interest in Palestine but I do believe that, for the segment of the American public it does attract, it’s a great opportunity to share and discuss points of relation to the cause. For Muslims worldwide, Jerusalem is not only the occupied capital of Palestine but it is also the site of the third holiest mosque.

The remainder of this post will include reflections on quotes from some of the conference attendees I met during my time at the booth.

“It’s still not over? I thought Palestine and Israel became peaceful.” — High school student

It’d only take a quick glance at Google News or any other general news site to learn that no, the occupation isn’t over yet. Let there be no illusion about it: there is no peace and there won’t be any—and justifiably so—until all human rights are restored and protected and until Israel abides by international law and takes down the apartheid regime it has pitted against the Palestinian people.

“I’m with the Palestinians but I really hate that they think everything is about them.” — College student

I remember wishing he would’ve articulated that better. He revealed that he had only recently begun to learn about Palestine and its history mostly because, he sheepishly admitted, a classmate he had once eyed for marriage was Palestinian. So what prompted his comment? Palestinians, he said, choose to be too unrelatable and self-interested. The more I dwell on his comments, the more I realize how harsh they are. Yes, there’s a general exclusivity among certain Palestinians but that is to be found in any movement really. I’d even argue that it has little to do with selfishness and much more to do with an unpreparedness to build bridges with allied movements. Of course, this is still a problem and it’s one that needs to be addressed internally and reversed externally. But these connections are a two-way thing and it is important that both sides tackle the perceived exclusivity, not just complain about it at a convention that barely addresses Palestine at all. (Only one of the more than one hundred sessions offered at ISNA this year touched on Palestine—briefly too, because the session was mostly about foreign policy as it relates to the Middle East as a whole.) [Read more...]