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I just read a op-ed in
Al Jazeera that I had to share. I’ve long said that Fatah and Hamas are enormous obstacles to peace and that the Palestinians, like the Israelis, need a large grassroots movement, one which is wholeheartedly committed to achieving a solution to the conflict. Fellow
Haya Rimawi cannot remember the last Palestinian election.
The producer at a Ramallah radio station, who was a young girl when elections were last held 15 years ago, says for her and her peers, the political “old guard” has been the only guard.
“Ever since I was born, I have heard the same politicians’ names over and over again, rotating in and out of the same positions,” says Ms. Rimawi, now 25. “It can’t continue like this.”
Exhibit A is Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. At 85, he is the very embodiment of the old guard; he remains in office 12 years after his mandate expired.
By Richard Mertens Correspondent
Luke Kapayou, who grew up on the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama, Iowa, noticed as he got older that fewer people were gardening. So he resolved to keep growing traditional beans and squash, and he began to seek out other varieties both on and off the settlement.
“I don’t know, I think I believe these seeds are sacred,” he says. “It makes me want to keep growing them, and I want to make sure our kids keep growing them.”
Seeds are a key part of a rising “food sovereignty” movement among Native Americans, an effort aimed at increasing local food production and reviving Indigenous practices that involve agriculture and food preparation. But it’s not all about seeds. Native Americans are also raising bison, spearing fish, and picking chokecherries. And there are a growing number of chefs who are promoting Native cuisine, among them Sean Sherman, an Oglala Lakota and recipient of a James Beard Award.
A different reality
Life for Palestinians in the occupied territories has changed dramatically since the 2006 election, which saw Hamas take a surprise majority – largely in protest against Fatah’s corruption – and prompted parliament’s dissolution.
Fighting between Fatah and Hamas divided Palestinian society into cantons.
In the West Bank, an increasingly autocratic Palestinian Authority (PA) has restricted speech freedoms and reduced a diverse and vibrant Palestinian political ecosystem to what in practice amounts to a one-party state. In Gaza, Hamas rules with an iron fist.
Young Palestinians’ distrust in their leaders has deepened after years of failure to improve economic conditions, secure political or human rights, or advance statehood, while PA elites and their business partners built villas in Ramallah and Amman. Over the last two years their sense of isolation increased, perceiving that even Arab allies had turned their backs on the Palestinian cause.