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| Laila Abdelaziz at the Separation Wall in Bethlehem, August 2014 (photo Abid Abdelaziz). |
From: Mondoweiss
Almost seven years ago, when I was just 19 years old, I challenged President Barack Obama on live, national news on U.S. support of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and people. I was thrilled when Mondoweiss covered my question to President Obama and highlighted its significance. While that moment was my first in a national spotlight, I’ve felt as long as I can remember that public activism in the United States is an obligation in the struggle for Palestinian self-determination and human rights. I’m writing now about what activism means to me in order to ask you to support the vital importance of Mondoweiss as a media outlet that covers U.S. policy battles ignored by other journalists.
In 1991, I was born in occupied Palestine. Since my birth, every aspect of my life has been shaped by my roots in Palestine. I did not even obtain a birth certificate until I was three years old—and then it was from Jordan. My family sought asylum in the U.S. when I was five years old. As a Palestinian American, I’ve traveled back to my homeland and experienced the humiliation of the Israeli occupation personally. I’ve been detained, interrogated, deemed a “security risk” by Israeli security forces, and my personal property has been seized. My life and identity as part of the Palestinian diaspora are direct results of the occupation of my homeland.
Because I grew up observing how U.S. policies propagate the occupation, I’m committed to resisting these policies and to organizing the social and political power to demand sanctions on Israel. I urge all of you to donate today if you, like me, have been sustained in your activism by the unique role of Mondoweiss.
The trauma of the occupation affects not just Palestinians living in the occupied territories, but also the millions in diaspora. The separation of families, the struggle for economic stability, and the mental health impact of the occupation overshadow my life and other Palestinian lives. Those experiences are what drive my effort to be a voice for the forgotten—and what make me grateful every day for the work Mondoweiss does.
As a community organizer, I often work to connect journalists to the stories they should be covering. It sometimes seems as though all we have as Palestinians are our stories. I have witnessed time and time again the unwillingness of the mainstream media to cover the anti-democratic positions and campaigns of U.S. Zionists and the Israeli state. The concerns of Palestinian rights activists often fall on deaf ears.
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