A letter from Bethlehem

Dear Humanity,

My name is Haneen Dwaib from Bethlehem, Palestine. I’m writing to you from the Holy Land, the land of peace, harmony and cohesion. A land that holds Palestinians from all walks of life and religions. Dear Humanity, I’m writing to you today because this year’s Christmas is gloomy and sad in the holy land, and I will tell you the story as to why.

It all started in 1917, when Balfour (the former Prime minister of Great Britain) declared that the U.K. government would give Jews (all over the world) a national homeland in Palestine. Since then, the British mandate facilitated the immigration of Jews to Palestine, allowing them to steal the land of Palestinians by inches, feet and miles. Thirty-one years later, in 1948, Balfour’s promise was fulfilled by declaring Israel as the national country for Jews in parts of Palestine.

In 1967, the apartheid state occupied the rest of Palestine including the Palestinian religious, spiritual, political and financial capital Jerusalem. Subsequently, The Israeli occupation tried—and is still trying—to make the city as Jewish as possible, to erase its Palestinian religious and historical identity. The UN tried to keep the city under international protection. The UN has tried to hold back Israeli plans to change Jerusalem for the past 50 years.

Considering Trump is now president of the mighty United States, it was no surprise to me when the U.S. declared Jerusalem as Isreal’s capital. Trump made the same declaration that Balfour did 100 years ago. Both of them gave what they do not own to those who have no rights to take. And in both contexts, it is a crime.

Trump’s unfair and dreadful declaration made the situation in Palestine even more irritable, unstable and disturbed. It gave Israel permission to abuse and rape the city, under U.S. protection and support. It proved the ill will of Israel and the U.S., harming any potential for peace. It supported the ongoing ethnic cleansing practiced by the apartheid state towards Palestine and Palestinians. It proves that Trump is biased, and that the international politics of the U.S. government is not as democratic, liberal and supportive of human rights as it claims. In addition, the U.S. government is cutting the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) fund for Palestinians in order to silence the Palestinian government.

Once again, I am disappointed by the U.S.’s blind support for the Zionism and the apartheid in Palestine. This declaration unleashed the anger, despair and hopelessness that we Palestinians have felt since ignorant Zionists give away parts of our land.

Dear Humanity, Palestinians still believe in you. Despite the brutal and aggressive threats of the U.S., 128 countries in the UN are against Trump’s declaration. Dear humanity, we are tired, imprisoned and abused by the occupation. Dear humanity, we still believe that good Americans exist, despite the dreadful hegemony of their government. Dear humanity, as Palestinians, we are fighting because we still believe in a better future.

Dear Humanity, Merry Christmas from the city of Christ,

Haneen Dwaib

Bethlehem, Palestine.