50 Things I Absolutely Hate About Palestine:

a misleading foreign media depiction of Ramallah here

The following post was inspired by my friend Ahmad al-Nimer who listed 50 things he hated about Palestine:

I am not a patriot, patriotism stands against my values. I avoid being labeled a nationalist Palestinian as well although often I am perceived as one and perhaps deep inside I may harbor certain discriminatory feelings and certain xenophobia.

Also, I do not find it necessary to explain to my readers that in order to be a good son of one’s country that one should be able to see its many flaws, should try to correct them whenever possible, or at least try to bring attention to them in hopes that someone else will be able to do something to change it for the better.

The following are 50 things I absolutely hate about post-Oslo-agreement Palestine, and I know they need to change, most of the following apply to Palestinians living inside of Palestine as opposed to refugees outside of Palestine and those in diaspora (points were not listed in any specific order):

1- Ultra-nationalism: Palestine is an ultra nationalist nation. Sometimes I fear that if Palestinians had power they'd be willing to annihilate all non-Palestinians who disagree with us without even taking over their territories, because Palestinians are so deeply connected to their home-towns located inside of the historical map of Palestine.

2- Racism: While harmless and not as severe of an issue as in other places across the globe, Racism based on ethnic background still finds its way into the Palestinian everyday life. Palestinians form what looks like a fruit salad platter. I cannot say a mixture because they don't necessarily mix. There are blond Palestinians with blue eyes and Palestinians of African descent. While highly desired, White Palestinians are discriminated against by the predominant "wheat-colored" Palestinians, and are typically treated as outsiders. Black Palestinians suffer even more, they only intermarry and rarely do you find other Palestinians fond of their skin color. Black Palestinians in most towns and villages integrate well with the rest of the society and are not excluded from everyday norms of the Palestinians; however, a certain distance is kept between them and the rest.

3- The Kuffiyeh: The white linen with black, red or (any other combination of colored threads) have become so stereotypical that any Arab movie depicting a Palestinian has to show him/ her, wearing it in order to immediately identify his/ her national back-ground. This item has also become a symbol for fashion that personally I think Palestinians should refrain from using it as a national symbol anymore.

4- Ignorance regarding the map of Palestine: Most Palestine think of the map of Palestine as long, svelte, green shadow of a map which expands from Imm ar-Rashrash (Eilat) all the way up north to Ras-an-Naqura. Not knowing that their historical map has been shriveled down to few cantons in the West Bank and the tiny Gaza strip. This fact is the result of the cowardice on the side of the Palestinian politicians who never completely explained this reality to average Palestinians walking the streets.

5- Inability to differentiate between the West Bank and Historical Palestine: Historical Palestine includes modern-day Israel (over 75% of Historical Palestine), the West Bank on one side and Gaza strip on the other. Most Palestinians who support a 2-state solution do not get this fact straight.

6- Ignorance about where is Israel located: Average Palestinians who want back their entire historical Palestine somehow assume that Israel is a foreign country that came down from somewhere and occupied them in 1948. Therefore, a 2-state-solution to them means that Israel goes back to where it came from, which really defeats their battle to regain historical Palestine.

7- Ignorance about the history of the conflict: Most Palestinians somehow assume that the Palestinian history starts with the Nakba in 1948, with a single exception they keep referring back to over and over as if it was the only decisive event that ever happened in Modern Palestine’s history: the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Anything in-between 1917 and 1948 is almost intentionally or unintentionally over-looked.

8- Symbolism: Palestine has a beautiful diverse culture. The Culture ranges according the beautiful diverse landscapes and stems from the wide-range of cultures that settled this land since the time of the Arab Canaanites and Arab Jebusites even before. However, Palestinians often sum-up their culture with few symbols that have become so over-used that it threatens their identity as a whole: From the over-use of Kuffiyeh, to Handala to symbolize the refugees (a caricature figure of a boy with his back to the world which I don’t mind so long people understand its symbolism), Dabke dance with a focus on a single theme while keeping all other dances fade away into oblivion (for instance, the Dance of the fishermen, the Arab modern dance of the cities, and Bedouin dances.) Thyme, olive oil and bread for food (and the whole complex culinary culture can just go to hell). And finally, the Palestinian flag: An old loner at all Palestinian events. Always present at either weddings or political conferences, but almost never hung higher than the picture of the political party leader and the political party flag. The Palestinian flag is the last remaining living symbol of Palestine that is slowly becoming an unwanted guest and slowly being replaced by other political flags. Many Palestinians now declare with confidence their dislike of the flag in favor of their political affiliation flag.

9- Dependency on others: Palestinians often appear like they assume the world owes them everything. I do agree that the world have mistreated the Palestinians for decades, but we should have been stronger and should have refused to receive help unless it was intended to recapture our rights and provide us with justice. From UNRWA to the USAID, Palestinians now assume the world is entitled to help them and often shamefully call it: Donor obligations.

10- The West Bank Bantustans: What is the West Bank? In the PLO declaration of 1965, the West Bank was declared to belong to Jordan; therefore the PLO gave up about 24 percent of the Historical Palestine to another sovereign nation, despite it being our “sibling in Arabism”. Currently, the West Bank is a “disputed” territory that the Palestinian Authority negotiates for their future country, and Israel keeps on building more settlements and colonial outposts in order to alter its status quo. Personally, the West Bank will never be my country and is merely 24% of Historical Palestine.

11- The Gaza strip Bantustan: the name in itself brings pictures of terror, Israeli war-crimes and fundamentalists. The Gaza Strip is the World’s largest open-air prison. Ran by thugs, its entrances are controlled by Israeli war-criminals. During the 2009 assault on Gaza, Israel created watching field which were setup for Israelis to come watch their county bomb the hell out of the Gaza Strip, as they cheered them on. Personally, I wish the Gaza Strip will disappear into oblivion after a single state is formed again.

12- Lack of promotional materials for Palestine: ever wondered why Palestine is not doing so well on the International level? It’s bad PR-ing, and bad promotion. Ever noticed how Palestine has absolutely no promotional materials? (Unless intended for further panhandling from donor nations?)

13- Al-Wiqa’i, al-Ri’asi, and other Dayton-trained forces: Palestine has one of the highest percentage of armed-forces per capita in the World which is calling for an eternal civil-unrest and a potential Police-state, if ever formed. Lt. General Keith Dayton served in Ramallah and Tel Aviv as the United States Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

14- Worshiping of Yasser Arafat: who is Yasser Arafat? Ever since I was a little child, he sounded anything but Palestinian. He’s symbolized, idolized, and near-worshipped by millions of Palestinians. But who is he, really? To me, Yasser Arafat epitomizes the countless failures Palestinians have encountered during their journey towards independence: from hijacking the PLO from early on till he died (nearly 40 years), claiming to be the one and only official speaker in the name of the Palestinians, to assassinating his opponents, to countless cases of corruption, to the Black September in Jordan in 1970 (Thus losing the longest border-line with historical Palestine) to helping keep the Lebanese civil war fueled, to losing the last border-line with Israel in 1982; to the secret unjustified agreement in Oslo and all of the disasters that followed. Yasser Arafat contributed almost nothing to the Palestinian cause but failures upon failures.

15- Prophetization of Mahmoud Abbas: To this day Mahmoud Abbas is being refered to as a holocaust denier in the Western media despite the fact that he was the first to call Palestinian martyrs: “Cadaver”, a derogatory term typically used to describe dead animals. If Arafat had some charisma, Abbas/ Abu-Mazen, lacks it completely, and he just simply does not give a flying sh*t about it.

16- Fayyadism of Salam Fayyad: Fufu is super-cute; he definitely tops my list of good local marketers and PR officers. However, a term coined by an American journalist Thomas Friedman and hailed to be an example of perfection for other countries to follow suite, “Fayyadism” simply boils down to "panhandling" from donors, and using the money gained to create a donor-based economy with magnificent public buildings and a general sense of security through providing security-jobs a priority; again, a recipe for a potential police state.

17- Failing to see the manipulation of Ismael Haniyeh: I do not care about his good looks, Haniyeh has absolutely no position on anything. He leads the Gaza Strip with an iron fist yet would never satisfy the Palestinian need to know about his position on anything that matters to them: from his role in the Palestinian political division to answers regarding creating of an Islamic state in Gaza, to his actual position on Israel, to current world affairs. He just won’t spit it out.

18- Fatah Figures (and I’m talking about people, not numbers): The Fatah political figures are synonymous with corruption on every angle: from stealing of public funds, to questionable weapon deals, to other issues mounting to cases of treason. These thugs perfectly represent a revolutionary party turned into organized-crime, they’re typically found at expensive bars and restaurants for the nouveau-riche around Ramallah and Amman, being equally (morally) corrupt.

19- Independent public figures: These photogenic politicians are the first to be found at any opposition demonstration, if it ever takes place. They love to speak to cameras and they take every opportunity to market for themselves without ever providing a solid answer to anything. These public figures are easily recruited into political parties which they suddenly become so loyal to it would be hard to differentiate between their current positions and their previous stances.

20- Hamas public figures: Talk about back-warded thugs with beards, weapons, and one-sided views which call for complete loyalty to their political party. The Hamas public figures represent fundamental ignorance. No matter what their positions are on issues, they are the perfect diplomats who please no one. As manipulative as any other political figures in Palestine, they still play on people's emotions, while taking huge leaps towards perfect diplomacy of the ignorant. Oh, and talk about the economy of the tunnels they have created.

21- Hamas: ditto above plus the Tunnels Economy.

22- Fatah: ditto above the above of the above plus Fayyadism.

23- PLO: If the Palestinian Liberation Organization contributed one thing to the liberation of Palestine, it would be the failure to liberate a square inch. The self-declared one and only representative of the Palestinian people ignores pluralism and makes room only for further Palestinian rift. The PLO currently needs an “Ltd.”-addition before it perfectly becomes a company that employs needless positions and has absolutely no presence in the daily lives of the Palestinians.

24- Self-centrism: Palestinians somehow assume they’re the center of this universe. Any event that takes place anywhere in the world must have to do something with Palestine. They dig to find links to Palestine or a reference to the conflict even if the incident was as far away as anything. Palestinians would bless or curse anyone or anything that slightly inclines towards or away from any of their positions.

25- Bias to one’s home-town: despite being ultra-nationalists, Palestinians are also ultra-home-townishts, if you will. Those from Nablus view themselves as a god-sent to the world, and so are all other Palestinians who hail from anywhere in Palestine.

26- Bias to one’s family: an olde’ Palestinian saying goes: “Me and my brother go against my cousin, me and my cousin go against the stranger”. It is still valid today. Almost like clan-hood, Palestinians are extremely proud of their families, even if their families have never contributed one thing to humanity. They would blindlessly fight for their family’s honor and name.

27- Machismo and Gender discrimination: Palestinians have gained much respect due to their struggle and continued resistance. But one thing they have also gained is the sense of Machismo. Palestinian men view themselves as the only remaining men created by the creator; therefore, they assume that being of the male-gender they are entitled to have anything possible. This often gives room to gender discrimination against women. Palestinians of the female gender are almost always intentionally and un-intentionally excluded from the public life and public quotidian. Those who oppose this status quo are quick to be labeled as feminists and are further estranged from the society. Palestinian cities often feel like an all-male-land.

28- Lack of participation and declining sense of belonging: Palestinians are slowly losing their sense of belonging and their urge to participate for change. For example, those who died in the name of Palestine are given a divine-like status, and they are forever remembered. Those remembering them never attempt to achieve whatever their loved-ones have fought for, not even through peaceful means.

29- Claiming copy-rights for Revolutions: Palestinians did not invent revolutions. However, somehow they assume they’re the only ones entitled for the name “revolutionaries”, even if they have never fought one. “Withstanding occupation is enough resistance” they whisper to each other.

30- The culture of jobs: the donor-based economy has created a culture unlike any that Palestine has ever experimented with. This culture is simple: one lives for their job. They consume it and they let it consume them and by the end of the month their wages are not high enough to pay for most of their bills, so they work more and hope for a better luck the next month, or the next. The culture of jobs is a new concept which really produces nothing in return. Palestinians are employed, and are paid, to never get a feeling of achievement, since in reality, they produce nothing: nothing in the goods sector, and nothing in the service-sector. This is especially true for employees in the public sector and NGO sector (the largest two sectors in tiny Palestine). Just further piles of papers and a hectic work schedule without ever fulfilling the desire of achievement or good wages.

31- The public media: The day I turned TV on the Fatah-controlled Palestine TV, and heard attacks on Hamas, then turned on Hamas-controlled al-Aqsa TV, and heard the term “Dayton Gangs”, I knew Palestine is going down the drain. That day, not a single reference was made to the Israeli occupation or the siege of Gaza on either television stations, just endless ranting from each side against the other, making no room for compromise.

32- Lack of interest in knowing about the others: Palestinians care not to learn about other cultures. The entire world is either with them or against them. It is not about culture or food or life-style, it is about how much they love or hate us.

33- Infatuation with foreign products, yet hating to learn about the other: explained in brief above, still: Palestinians love everything foreign. Anything with a tag that says Paris or Rome is praised, a local product is usually skipped for a foreign one.

34- Glorifying Israel and the Stockholm syndrome: this could be my most dangerous admission. Israel is glorified openly by the Palestinians. I don’t know if it is a case of the Stockholm syndrome, which I believe that part of it is, but it certainly is an undiscussed open secret. Palestinians use Hebrew terms to express many things. Visiting “Israel” is a dream that many have; working in “Israel” is a reality for the many “lucky few”. The openness and Westernization of Israel appeal to young men as well as those who worked in Israel for decades. While most openly admit their admiration for Israel, they are quick to deny it and even would get emotional when confronted with this reality.

35- Idolization: Palestinians idolize what they feel as rightfully theirs: from idolizing Yasser Arafat to idolizing their mistakes.

36- Nostalgia for the past and destruction of the present: When Palestinians think of Palestine as it once stood before the creation of Israel, and even under Israel in the early years, they remember it with nostalgia: endless green fields and happy people that felt like one big family. Now, that the endless green-fields have been divided into Oslo's A, B, C areas, a separation wall, and settlements, Palestinians feel they lost their past, and thus, it would be ok to contribute to the destruction of the present.

37- The dropping level of education: Palestinians once boasted as having the highest PhDs per capita anywhere in the world. The near 99% literacy rates under occupation have dropped to 89 percent recently. The Palestinians are quickly losing interest to learn, and are joining the culture of jobs to get paid and “start building”.

38- Educational system (Tawjihi, teaching about the West Bank...etc.): I do not blame Palestinians for not wanting to learn. With the glamour that Ramallah is promising young men with chic boutiques and an emerging Western-Café culture, it is no wonder many flee a rigid and completely out of date educational system. From the Tawjihi, Palestine’s national high-school exam, to educating the youngsters in History class that Gaza once fed the world oranges (Palestinian town of Jafa, or modern-day Tel Aviv was in fact the city that produced the most oranges) to Geography class that teach them that their country sits somewhere in the West Bank, the new educational system will only produce more failures.

39- Photo-shopping the past: I am shocked sometimes to see our past colored so brightfully, it sometimes makes me wonder: if the PLO was so amazing, and Mufti of Jerusalem was such a success, why the f*ck did we lose Palestine?! Oh, that, and few pictures that were recently actually photo-shopped to represent a brighter past from pre-1948 Palestine.

40- Everything we left behind was perfect, everything we’ve gained is the worst: Palestinians often act as if it is ok to randomly build, to destroy the landscape of Palestine, and to provide the worst quality building materials and labor, you know, because we got the worst of Palestine, and Israel took over the wonderful past. They got Haifa, we got Hebron. Go figure.

41- Donor-based economy, and panhandling from the donor nations.

42- Helping with the destruction of the Holyland landscape: This is slightly complicated as it may have some justification to it including the natural growth of the population and the limited available space available for an urban expansion. This takes us back to the failure in Oslo.

43- The battle for wages: every month, Palestinians are anxious and nervous, they are awaiting their wages and they are willing to demonstrate to get them in order to pay their bills. Not remembering that we never had such high bills before the battle of wages started.

44- The "end the division" revolution: or Twitter's #March26. People. I know al-Manara square in Ramallah. For Castro’s sake, that miniature Trafalgar-like square is not large enough for 1000 people to stand inside of it at the same time. Yet, never during the “revolution” had it attracted more than 300 people. Some stayed at the orphan tent, (yet showered at homes near-by). The so-called revolution called for an end to the political division between Hamas and Fatah. It looked like a big-show, except it was little. People would walk past it and not even realize what was going on. Yet it got the media coverage it wanted, and miraculously, a peace-treaty was signed between Fatah and Hamas. You know, the people called for it. Except I never saw anyone calling for anything and it was clearly perpetuated by Fatah, in a very professional manner that even meals and flowers were distributed by security forces to anyone walking past al-Manara at night. It was a big-love festival, except that it was tiny. The so-called revolution happened so openly, yet in such secrecy, that I can bet 99 percent of the Palestinians still do not realize how 10 young Ramallahwis with an agenda changed their lives these past few months.

45- Jealousy from other Arabs: Yes, I admit, we feel a certain level of jealousy if another Arab who is not of a Palestinian decent ever gained any international recognition. How could it possibly be that an Egyptian or an Iraqi, or even worst, a Jordanian who is not of a Palestinian decent ever becomes so well-known?! We are quick to claim that "Palestinian money after 1948 built Beirut, Kuwait City, Abu Dhabi, Amman...etc." the list goes on. While this may have some truth to it, Palestinians must realize that these Arab nations were mostly built by their own money gained from selling natural resources they had (i.e. Oil) plus successful local entrepreneurs.

46- Disdain for our dialect: Palestinians, after all I said about their loyalty to their families and home-towns, have historically had numerous number of accents. From Nabulsi to Khalili, to Galilee to Jafa, Palestinians often feel uncomfortable using their dialect when addressing an outsider. Do you pronounce Q-alb (heart) with a J? a Q? a Che? an A? Very few songs are composed with the Palestinian dialect unless folkloric or traditional. Movies produced by Palestinians often use as little dialogue as possible and YES I am convinced it is out of refrain from using the dialect. Palestinians carefully chose words that would sound less Palestinian and more-acceptable to a general public. Also, they would omit words that are not easy on the ear in a nit-picking fashion that is disgraceful. The youth of Ramallah have even started using a letter that was never used in Arabic “P”: it suddenly started appearing in words such as "hop" (love) and "ptihki" (to speak), a discovery they went crazy for.

46- Amman as the city of lights and center for Palestinian lives: Palestinians have mixed love and hate feelings about Amman, the capital of the kingdom of Jordan. It is often the only city from outside of historical Palestine which Palestinians feel it belongs to them. Amman consists of 90 percent Palestinian population. However, what is absurd is that Palestinians look up to Amman as being their only escape from occupation into the modern-world. They are exposed to the glitter and glamour of the big city only in Amman. This has turned Amman into an example of perfection regardless of the fact that, compared to the rest of world-class cities, and even the near-by Tel Aviv, Amman is simply not very cosmopolitan. Many Palestinians are willing to temporarily relocate to Amman in order to gain a world-class experience as having lived in a metropolis and when they come back… they're just different.

47- Exclusion of fellow Palestinians who do not follow any Palestinian social and political spectrum: Palestinians exclude each other. This is a fact. Palestinians who do not follow any political party have no place. Palestinian refugees outside of Palestine are usually forgotten and their plea ignored by fellow Palestinians. The West Bankers look down upon Gaza, Jerusalemites snob all others, the Palestinians living inside of modern-day Israel are left alone to tend for themselves and their involvement in the Palestinian struggle is unwelcome. Palestinians who support Fatah in Gaza are marginalized. Palestinians who support Hamas in the West Bank have their lives turn very uncomfortable.

48- Victimhood: Palestinians, rightfully, will never forget al-Nakba (the Catastrophe of 1948). But that does not mean that they will forever be the victims. Palestinians must face their past and present as sometimes having caused trouble and victimized others. From fueling violence in Lebanon to corruption cases in Tunisia, to their heartless support of Saddam against his assault on the sovereignty of Kuwait. Palestinians have certainly not always been the victims.

49- Passivity and the eternal "waiting game": Palestinians are tired of war. They often appear to be playing the “waiting” game ready to explode at the right moment but doing everything possible to appear normal. However, the truth is, Palestinians are passive; they require a leader to show them the way. Otherwise, when leadership is missing, they just sit, and wait.

50- Democracy with the lack of pluralism: the notion of democracy has become so over-used in Palestine that many cash-out on it from NGOs to politicians. A new term to describe Palestinian democracy should be coined, or have been coined (see Fayyadism), to describe the ruling of one party with the lack of others while not offering the minimal proof of an actual democratic conduct. Palestine lacks political pluralism. The political spectrum in Palestine stands on the right wing (Fatah, Hamas..etc.), with a near-invisible left-wing, and almost no-opposition.