There was a peace event sponsored by the Indian community in Seattle today. I ended up attending it purely by chance; happened to spend my morning at the beach where the event was held. Parts of the event were dancing shows put by various groups. One of them was Palestinian students who used dances as messages of peace for Palestine. At least that was what the host said in his initial introduction.
What it turned out to be was Palestinian students using dancing symbolism to carry messages of them being the only victims of the Israel/Palestinian conflict, along with re-writing the history and facts. During the show the students talked about never giving up their struggle, changed few historic facts, and I quote “Prophets Moses, Jesus and Mohamed being born in Palestine.” Are you kidding me? Everyone agrees (Jewish and Muslim historians) that the word Palestine didn’t come into existence until after the birth of Prophets, who were born in Israel.
I was really disappointed by the whole thing. On one hand, there were posters carrying Gandhi’s about peace and tolerance, on the other hand, there are Palestinian students who are yet to say anything about peace and tolerance towards their Israeli neighbors.
I feel defeated in advance when I come across Palestinian students making subtle attempt to blame Israel during peace events. How is that being productive? Is that even fair to hide behind the message of peace to bring an unproductive point across? This was a peace event, yet I haven’t heard one word of peace from Palestinian side. When I participate in such events, I speak for both sides, and the need for peace. If today’s event was seen as a peace event by Palestinians, do I truly have an honest counterpart on Palestinian side?
