WRITTEN BY Salim Nazzal –
Dr. Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian-Norwegian historian in the Middle East, who has written extensively on social and political issues in the region.
At the beginning I got “strange” e-mails which hinted towards assassination and the like. The Zionist character in these e-mails was obvious. I simply paid no attention. I know Zionists fear the voice of the victims. My voice is the voice of my people who were murdered and uprooted from their home country. My voice is the voice of my nation surrounded by cemented walls and 620 checks points. My family is an old Galilean family who fled to Lebanon after my village was severally attacked and bombed twice by Zionist planes. Several persons of my family were killed, and in Lebanon, I was born and brought up as a refugee without home, without rights, without a future, but with the hope that justice will prevail one day. The intimidation e-mails never stopped. And each time I changed my e-mail they continued to try to intimidate me in the new e-mail and sent viruses almost all the time my computer is on.
The same thing happened regarding my phone and my cell phone, where I used to get unknown phone calls at night very often. I had to change them and keep their numbers secret. My lawyer advised me to keep all suspicious e-mails as evidence for the police in case my lawyer takes the case to court.
Last summer I went with my family to Cyprus to spend one week vacation. I found out that they are following me even there. I did not believe myself unless I was sure of that. When we came home to Norway I found that the roses in the garden were cut and thrown on the ground, and a tree was half cut by a knife to be easily seen. Under the tree there was a lighter which I had never seen before. The lighter was obviously put there as a symbol of fire.
I informed the Norwegian police, and the Norwegian intelligence service. I also informed the academic circles, and the media in Norway and the world stating clearing that Zionists were behind this. I made it clear that if they aim to stop my voice they will for sure fail. My voice is the voice of the children I saw with their bodies torn out by the Israeli F16. My voice is the voice of all Palestinians who long to go back home and to be free and to live in peace. My voice is trying to convey the story of my nation who did no wrong to anybody, but who paid heavily with 61 years of the pain of exile, 41 years of occupation and injustice.
My voice is addressing the consciousness of humanity, regardless of faith or ideology, country or color. Because as Professor Howard Zinn taught us, we need to view the history of humans not only through wars and conflicts, but also through solidarity and care. For that reason I hate nobody except occupation and injustice. I believe in the coexistence between Palestinians and Jews in one democratic state where all can live in equality and peace away from the culture of hate and wars and conflicts. But I strongly doubt that this goal can be reached while the apartheid state of Israel is strong. Therefore the solution in my view is to delegitimize the apartheid state of Israel with the hope that this can occur peacefully and to construct a new society where Jews and Palestinians can live on equal footing.
One month ago I decided to stop writing articles because I needed time to work on a book. I am a historian in the first place and not a political analyst. But I was anxious that if I stopped writing they might think they had scared me. They for sure could not because I am too old to be scared, and too stubborn to be intimidated. And more, because I know that I defend the culture of peace and justice, and they defend the culture of war and occupation. The haters are too blind to see the beautiful picture of Palestine in the future, where the voices of prayers go in harmony to the sky from the synagogues, churches and mosques. This is my dream, which I share with all the oppressed Palestinians alongside all the peace and justice lovers on earth.
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