this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2025
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You're just wrong on this one. Palestine existed way before the Zionist movement. If a group of people move into your ancestral home and tell you, "hey my fairy tale book here says this place is mine" will you leave quietly? Palestinian protests stem from this problem. Saying a keffiyeh is equivalent to a klan hood is fucking bizarre, because keffiyehs are a cultural symbol that come from people living in arid climates. It has become a political symbol to support Palestine in this genocide taking place against them.
"It's really not until the 1930s that we start to see the keffiyeh change in meaning, not by the patterning that's in the scarf, but in its use."
-Wafa Ghnaim, a Palestinian dress expert and a senior research fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
"Until the 1920s, the keffiyeh was almost exclusively worn by Bedouin men, according to Ghnaim, and it was simply a way to identify nomadic men in historic Palestine from villagers, fellaheen, and town people."
"According to Ghnaim, the first time we see the keffiyeh used as a political statement was during the Arab Revolt in Palestine in 1936 — an uprising against British rule that included demands for independence and an end to Jewish immigration."
"At that time, the majority of the armed resistance was taking place in the villages, and the fighters used the keffiyeh to hide their features — helping it to become associated with the revolution. The revolution's leaders issued an order for men to wear the keffiyeh to express solidarity with the revolutionaries and so that the British could not distinguish the fighters from others."
"In the 1960s, it became associated with Palestinian nationalism, particularly due to its adoption by leaders like Yasser Arafat. During this era, it represented solidarity and resistance against the Israeli occupation."
"Around the same time, the fedayeen — a term used to describe nationalist Palestinian militants — conducted guerilla operations while wearing the keffiyeh."
"Other prominent Palestinians also donned the keffiyeh during that time, included Leila Khaled — who was involved in two plane hijackings in 1969 and 1970 as part of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine."
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/06/1216150515/keffiyeh-hamas-palestinians-israel-gaza
Right, none of which is ethno-nationalism. British rule colonised a ton of countries around the world, a lot of which revolted against them. Why is Palestine any different in this case? Because they fought against Jewish immigration who openly declared that they wanted to take over the land? That's not immigration, that's invasion.
"Openly declare they want to take over the land" "invasion" - your hatred and paranoia towards Jewish existence is palpable in that statement. It echos two thousand years of Jewish persecution. The 1948 border were acceptable to all parties but the Arab coalition. Now 80 years later they wish they had taken the deal.
Jews aren't foreign invaders, they've literally always been in the levant. We never fully left, despite the efforts of multiple foreign empires. Most of the Jews who came to israel, came fleeing the various ethno-nationalist movements of 19th and 20th century Europe and the Middle East.
That's not an invasion, that's a refugee crisis. Notice the difference between how Europe and North America treat foreign refugees, vs the Palestinians. If you show up in dearborn Michigan, you might get some nasty rumors spread about you - if you show up in gaza as a Jew, you'll get your head cut off on a Livestream unless you act in service to their hybrid war on Israel.
Palestinian nationalism is an offshoot of Arab nationalism (which itself is a reaction to Turkish, German, and ultimately French nationalism). They're all ethno-nationalist movements, to varying degrees.
There's no version of a unified Palestinian state where Jews aren't basically enslaved and robbed of everything they've built there. Jewish independence in the middle east is an entirely rational self-defense measure against Muslim Arab Supremacy. Just look at how the Kurds are faring - and they aren't even Kafir.
I have no skin in the game. I'm not religious, I grew up in a much smaller religion than either Jewish people or Muslims, and I decided early on that I do not believe in any gods. Culturally, my environment was very Islamophobic growing up, my mom still can't stop badmouthing Muslims. I have no hatred towards Jewish people or Muslim people. When Muslim people commit atrocities towards any group, I call them atrocities, when Jewish people commit atrocities, I call them atrocities.
You seem to take issue with Palestinian nationalism, but what do you call Israel's genocide? Is that not a form of nationalism? Refugee crises are a topic of debate, and no country is obligated to take on refugees. Who's cutting whose heads off in Gaza? Israel has bombed it to rubble indiscriminately, they've not only killed innocent men, but also women and children. They've intentionally targetted marked and lit humanitarian aid vehicles and killed impartial aid workers and paramedics. To call their actions barbaric is an insult to barbarians. Nobody's enslaving Jewish people in Palestine, but there's thousands and thousands of Palestinians being rampantly murdered by Jewish people. If you could stop being the victim for five seconds, you could see why so many people have a problem with what's happening in Palestine.
P.S. You're more likely to get disappeared by ICE nowadays if you're in the States as a POC, especially a refugee.