Is hypocrisy sanctified?

By MAZIN QUMSIYEH

2011 NOVEMBER 30

Is hypocrisy ignored?

As children of lesser gods cleansed!

While colonial settlers from Europe enriched

and 7 million Palestinian refugees created

dozens of massacres committed

And 540 villages and towns depopulated

putting us here them there as planned!

While speaking of security not for the colonized

And Safety not for the occupied

 

Is hypocrisy sanctified?

When big brown eyes teared

As Mother was gunned

And Americans mourned

for Rachel bulldozed

While soldiers celebrated

a mission accomplished

and we, who were not chosen or selected

our dead we buried

our wound we licked

or in our drinks we drowned

even shopped while silenced

or behind closed doors muttered

or news on TV cursed

to the world as it is adapted

 

Is hypocrisy unquestioned?

When rich Abe Foxman "feels" discriminated

and the new Goebles called Regev worried

and Friedman in his column squeaked

Netanyahu hugging racists demanded

and a bar bouncer minister bellowed

and they all told us to be silenced

for only Jewish suffering was allowed

and apathy on today's atrocities encouraged

as the altered school curricula deemed

a whole history manufactured

bible myths promoted

while archeology ignored

and conflicts promoted

to fulfill prophecies

Hope diminished

Love massacred

 

Is hypocrisy worshipped?

When some Palestinian politicians adapted?

Their revolutionary spirit long quenched

And with VIP cards in 5 star hotels dined?

And their European-funded studies accumulated

While even prayers in churches and mosques were stopped

and a thousand year old tree was uprooted

And an old man became partially blind

for his olives behind the fence withered

and after a second stroke he was buried

But not in his land..

his neighbor said "with no choice I worked"

So that "with shekels from occupiers I was paid"

But others in suits in front of cameras their mouth opened

And to the dry hot dusty air contributed!

 

Is hypocrisy normalized?

When, not Bahrain but Syria sanctioned!

And not Yemen, but Libya attacked!

Belligerent Israel with its nukes supported

While Iran, attacking no one, is bullied

And so what if western politicians lied?

After they took the paid junkets and were bribed?

Isn't it normal for prostitutes to be sold?

And keep millions in apartheid?

While to millions the truth denied?

And poor Americans lose their homes?

While billionaires get more enriched?

 

Is hypocrisy easily digested?

When 20 racist laws are codified

In an apartheid country supposedly democratized

Or when an Israeli soldier's life is venerated?

While Thousands of Palestinian chained.

A hundred thousand Injured.

With high walls Surrounded..

In Bantustans warehoused..

Millions ghettoized.

And graves of hundreds of children overflowed.

And as collateral damage justified

an army with a state is called moralized!

 

Is hypocrisy elevated?

When on Yom Kippur they pledged

Sins and lies to be purified

And their US made F-16s bombed

refugee camps with explosives obliterated

While an old woman in Silwan evicted

And humanitarian ships pirated

Peace Activists on the deck executed

As the dreaded word "bitachon" regurgitated

And again and again Al-Araqib demolished

 

Is hypocrisy deified?

When monotheistic religions distorted:

Jacob with Elohim/El-lah struggled

And in triumph Isra-El renamed!

When idols like Zionism worshiped

and can't be challenged

by inferior gentiles who can't understand

and by us the native "roaches drugged"

Yahweh gave the deed to the land

to those who can create gods from Gold

and gold from hasbara as they lobbied

for yet another war and got readied

 

Is hypocrisy venerated?

when myths are believed

Jewishness and Zionism worshipped

And ashes of murdered Jews used

Even as living survivors screamed:

not in our name can history be politicized

and "never again" must not be Judaicized

 

Is hypocrisy exalted?

Or a global intifada launched

London to San Francisco echoed

Wall Street to Sidney "occupied"

our unity in humanity finally emerged

hypocrisy exposed!

Humanity reclaimed!

Love ascertained!

 

—Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home

Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour. He is author of Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle and Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment. This poem is posted at his blog site, Popular Resistance.