Palestinian Writer Describes Daily Life

MARIAM BARGHOUTI, PALESTINIAN WRITER: So, a cease-fire for us right now is, we are celebrating that we’re no longer being bombed. Our people are no longer being bombed. I’m in the West Bank. I wasn’t being bombed.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Right.

BARGHOUTI: So, we’re celebrating that. The cries and the horrors that I was getting from my friends in Gaza is terrifying, and I wasn’t even there. So — but a cease-fire is a pause. It is a pause until there is accountability and until there’s change. And we really need to recognize that as what it is. There’s a cease-fire on the bombings in Gaza. But, just earlier this week, you had Israeli police shoot in the head Dohamed Kiwan (ph) and Ilme Pahon (ph). He’s 17. You had them kill seven Palestinians. And this is the police, the army and the settlers that are currently working together in tandem with — they’re still chanting “Death to Arabs” for Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, and it’s still being called a civil war. No, this is not a civil war. This is not just between Israeli citizens. This is — this is ethnic cleansing. If you want to call it a civil war, a civil war is between Israel’s right wing and left wing, not between settlers trying to take over the homes of Palestinians and kill them. They just stabbed a man who was working in Pelot (ph) settlement near Yatta (ph) with — 25 times. He was stabbed 25 times.

GOLODRYGA: I guess my question to you is, in having this conversation — and I don’t know if you were able to hear the conversation that I had with Yossi — something needs to be done to move forward. And it looks like both political parties are frozen, they’re weakened, and it may come down to the younger generation. It may come down to people on the streets, as you write about in one of your latest pieces in “The Guardian.” You say: “More and more of this. This is a continued growth of stamina, endurance and loss of faith, in terms of people, a new generation, a coming of age generation born since the pitiful Oslo Accords of 1993 to 1995.” These are different voices. And the conversation seems to be the same. And I’m wondering if it can be moved to a different direction of peaceful equal coexistence.

BARGHOUTI: Right. So why do we only speak about coexistence when Palestinians are making noise in the media? Why is no one telling us about coexistence and equality and justice when we are being shot down and displaced from our homes every single day for 73 years? And I can lay you out the evidence, but it will — you will need to give me 73 years’ worth of airtime. And Yossi is saying, let Palestinians join the mainstream. The mainstream is screaming “Death to Arabs” right now in Israel. That is the mainstream. It’s disheartening that we’re still having these conversations without real actions.