Talking about Palestine/Israel – what words to use?

A Palestinian artist painting a mural on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Gaza City, 28 November 2019

In a recent Zoom meeting sponsored by the Voices from the Holy Land Film Salon to discuss Sut Jhally’s film The Occupation of the American Mind, the two panelists, current and past journalists, were asked by the moderator, Diana Buttu, what term they use to name the struggle for justice in which they are engaged.  Both responded, somewhat diffidently,  that “conflict” is the journalistic shorthand used for this topic.

Comments from audience members then flooded the chat with many alternative terms used by allies in the Palestinian solidarity struggle:  settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, Occupation, sociocide, Apartheid, and incremental genocide.  Several comments avowed in a confessional tone that the writer had seen the light and would never use the too-mild term “conflict” again.

Variants of this conversation occur often in circles where Americans are trying to find their place in the struggle for justice in Palestine.  But here are some questions and comments that do not seem to crop up and should do so.

To whom are we speaking and for what purpose?

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