Post by Moses on Apr 30, 2005 3:08:51 GMT -5
Of Passover, Exile, and deliverance
By Mike Odetalla
Al-Jazeerah, April 29, 2005
<br>
The Jewish holiday of Passover is once again upon us.
As the Jews of the world and particularly those that live in Israel get ready to celebrate the Passover holiday or Pesach, I cannot but help draw an analogy of this holiday and my experience during the 1967 war. This holiday commemorates the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. Pesach marks the birth of the Jewish people as a nation led by Moshe (Moses) over 3000 years ago. This is as much a celebration of their spiritual freedom as the physical liberation from slavery. In their haste, the Jews had no time to let the dough sit and rise. Rushed as they were, the Israelites did not have time to bake their bread, nor prepare any food, and the dough they kneaded did not have time to rise. The Children of Israel wrapped up their dough and their leftover matzah and bitter herbs in their clothing, placed the bundles over their shoulders, and walked joyfully out of the land of Egypt. The dough was baked in hot sun and eaten along with the bitter herbs. Passover marked the freedom of the Jews from slavery.
As a child, I remember hearing tales from the elders, particularly those that became refugees, of how they were forced to flee their homes, lands, and villages. They were forced to leave in such a hurry, taking with them only what they could carry, leaving behind most of their belongings. Many lifetimes worth of hard work and memories was left behind in those homes and villages which were eventually looted and destroyed in a deliberate and systematic manner by the Zionists!
As I look at the black and white pictures of long lines of Palestinians who were forced to flee their lands, I cannot help but equate Pharaohs army with the Zionist army as they chased my people from their ancestral homes! The Israelites made camp and began celebrating their freedom from Egypt after crossing the Red Sea, while the Palestinians were given tents and told to wait for their eventual return from their exile! More than 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes, destitute and suffering from hunger and thirst, they were left to the elements, their only shelter were the flimsy tents that were donated by the International community!
The Mukhiamat, which means “tent cities” in Arabic, were supposed to be temporary housing for the Palestinian refugees. They were promised by the International community and the UN through the passing of UN Resolution 194, that they all would be able to return to their homes as soon as possible. In fact, as a condition for entry into the UN, the newly declared State of Israel had to agree to UN Resolution 194! More than 57 years later, the “temporary” solution to the Palestinian refugee’s plight is still ongoing! The “tent cities” have grown and become squalid ghettos, the tents having been replaced by cinder block hovels with corrugated tin roofs!
Today, I can’t help being mindful that we Palestinians have our own experiences with the unleavened bread - as is celebrated by the Jews who commemorate their exodus and freedom from Pharaoh. Except, of course, we commemorate our Nakba (catastrophe of being dispossessed) and entry into our own Diaspora. The Palestinian women, which included my mother, anxious to feed their children, would slip into nearby abandoned homes looking for any kind of food to feed us. Once they returned with flour, water, sugar, and olive oil. They kneaded the dough and immediately baked it over a fire covered with the metal lid of a barrel, the lid providing the surface upon which the bread was baked: there was no time to wait for the dough to rise as we were in constant fear and flight as we lived in and moved from cave to cave in the surrounding hills. The unleavened bread was eaten with Za’tar, a somewhat bitter herb that grows wild in the Palestinian hills.
As an adult, sharing the Jewish holiday of Passover, with my friends, I am drawn by powerful but ironic parallels between the Palestinian experience of running away in fear into the wilderness, chased by an army, looking for freedom, eating unleavened bread as we ran. For me, Pharaoh’s army was the Israel Defense Forces and we; the Palestinians were the persecuted Jews. I remember a particular meal of stale bread, which we found outside of an abandoned home, and the green onions that my mother pulled from the garden. She fed me this with a sip of stale water to wash it down.
While Jews in Israel celebrate their freedom, they continue to oppress and imprison others. The unleavened bread is now eaten with the leaves of organically grown lettuce which serves as the “bitter herbs” and is grown on Jewish only settlements in the occupied Gaza Strip, tended to by the “slave labor” of Palestinians, which by the way also happens to be one of the most densely populated and impoverished places on the planet!
Fleeing in fear, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs…something to think about this Passover…While the Palestinians still wait their “deliverance” from modern day Pharaoh!
Mike Odetalla..."A seed in the eternal fruit of Palestine" 4-24-2005 www.hanini.org
"Come, I'll tell you about Palestine" www.Hanini.org
www.palestinecalendar.org/
www.palestineonlinestore.com/
www.alnakba.org/
www.nakbainhebrew.org/
www.palestineremembered.com
www.al-awda.org
www.pcwfund.org or www.pcwfund.org The link to thewebsite of Palestine Children's Welfare Fund ...Click to buy Palestinian embroidery online, sponsor a Palestinian child, buy a flag or a Kuffiya to feed one, or a donation of 25 dollars to plant an olive or orange tree in honor of some one you know or to commemorate a hero of yours . <br>
“The ink of the scholar is holier more than the blood of the martyr"- Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him)
By Mike Odetalla
Al-Jazeerah, April 29, 2005
<br>
The Jewish holiday of Passover is once again upon us.
As the Jews of the world and particularly those that live in Israel get ready to celebrate the Passover holiday or Pesach, I cannot but help draw an analogy of this holiday and my experience during the 1967 war. This holiday commemorates the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. Pesach marks the birth of the Jewish people as a nation led by Moshe (Moses) over 3000 years ago. This is as much a celebration of their spiritual freedom as the physical liberation from slavery. In their haste, the Jews had no time to let the dough sit and rise. Rushed as they were, the Israelites did not have time to bake their bread, nor prepare any food, and the dough they kneaded did not have time to rise. The Children of Israel wrapped up their dough and their leftover matzah and bitter herbs in their clothing, placed the bundles over their shoulders, and walked joyfully out of the land of Egypt. The dough was baked in hot sun and eaten along with the bitter herbs. Passover marked the freedom of the Jews from slavery.
As a child, I remember hearing tales from the elders, particularly those that became refugees, of how they were forced to flee their homes, lands, and villages. They were forced to leave in such a hurry, taking with them only what they could carry, leaving behind most of their belongings. Many lifetimes worth of hard work and memories was left behind in those homes and villages which were eventually looted and destroyed in a deliberate and systematic manner by the Zionists!
As I look at the black and white pictures of long lines of Palestinians who were forced to flee their lands, I cannot help but equate Pharaohs army with the Zionist army as they chased my people from their ancestral homes! The Israelites made camp and began celebrating their freedom from Egypt after crossing the Red Sea, while the Palestinians were given tents and told to wait for their eventual return from their exile! More than 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes, destitute and suffering from hunger and thirst, they were left to the elements, their only shelter were the flimsy tents that were donated by the International community!
The Mukhiamat, which means “tent cities” in Arabic, were supposed to be temporary housing for the Palestinian refugees. They were promised by the International community and the UN through the passing of UN Resolution 194, that they all would be able to return to their homes as soon as possible. In fact, as a condition for entry into the UN, the newly declared State of Israel had to agree to UN Resolution 194! More than 57 years later, the “temporary” solution to the Palestinian refugee’s plight is still ongoing! The “tent cities” have grown and become squalid ghettos, the tents having been replaced by cinder block hovels with corrugated tin roofs!
Today, I can’t help being mindful that we Palestinians have our own experiences with the unleavened bread - as is celebrated by the Jews who commemorate their exodus and freedom from Pharaoh. Except, of course, we commemorate our Nakba (catastrophe of being dispossessed) and entry into our own Diaspora. The Palestinian women, which included my mother, anxious to feed their children, would slip into nearby abandoned homes looking for any kind of food to feed us. Once they returned with flour, water, sugar, and olive oil. They kneaded the dough and immediately baked it over a fire covered with the metal lid of a barrel, the lid providing the surface upon which the bread was baked: there was no time to wait for the dough to rise as we were in constant fear and flight as we lived in and moved from cave to cave in the surrounding hills. The unleavened bread was eaten with Za’tar, a somewhat bitter herb that grows wild in the Palestinian hills.
As an adult, sharing the Jewish holiday of Passover, with my friends, I am drawn by powerful but ironic parallels between the Palestinian experience of running away in fear into the wilderness, chased by an army, looking for freedom, eating unleavened bread as we ran. For me, Pharaoh’s army was the Israel Defense Forces and we; the Palestinians were the persecuted Jews. I remember a particular meal of stale bread, which we found outside of an abandoned home, and the green onions that my mother pulled from the garden. She fed me this with a sip of stale water to wash it down.
While Jews in Israel celebrate their freedom, they continue to oppress and imprison others. The unleavened bread is now eaten with the leaves of organically grown lettuce which serves as the “bitter herbs” and is grown on Jewish only settlements in the occupied Gaza Strip, tended to by the “slave labor” of Palestinians, which by the way also happens to be one of the most densely populated and impoverished places on the planet!
Fleeing in fear, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs…something to think about this Passover…While the Palestinians still wait their “deliverance” from modern day Pharaoh!
Mike Odetalla..."A seed in the eternal fruit of Palestine" 4-24-2005 www.hanini.org
"Come, I'll tell you about Palestine" www.Hanini.org
www.palestinecalendar.org/
www.palestineonlinestore.com/
www.alnakba.org/
www.nakbainhebrew.org/
www.palestineremembered.com
www.al-awda.org
www.pcwfund.org or www.pcwfund.org The link to thewebsite of Palestine Children's Welfare Fund ...Click to buy Palestinian embroidery online, sponsor a Palestinian child, buy a flag or a Kuffiya to feed one, or a donation of 25 dollars to plant an olive or orange tree in honor of some one you know or to commemorate a hero of yours . <br>
“The ink of the scholar is holier more than the blood of the martyr"- Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him)