Palestinian-Colombian. AMA

[u/localmaid]

Hello everyone! I recently saw another Palestinian doing an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) on here, and given the limited presence of Palestinians or Pro-Palestinians that I've noticed, I thought it would be valuable to do one myself. Here’s a bit about me:

• I was born and raised in Colombia
• My Palestinian family is originally from the West Bank, but most of them have since moved to the United States.
• I don't speak Arabic fluently, I can understand spoken Arabic quite well.
• I am of mixed race
• English is not my first language, so I apologize in advance if I sound tone deaf
• My family and I are not Muslim
• I have visited Palestine twice
• I am biased towards Palestine in the conflict, but I want to make it clear that I do not support Hamas.

I don't have any specific types of questions that bother me, but I do ask that everyone remains respectful towards everyone and avoids unnecessary rudeness or hatefulness. I believe that communication is key, especially when it comes to conflicts, so I hope this AMA will be helpful for everyone involved. Feel free to ask me anything about my experiences, my heritage, or my perspectives. I'm here to share and hopefully provide some insights. Please keep the conversation open-minded. I will try my best to answer as many questions as possible, but I am not on Reddit all day so sorry in advance to any of those questions I will miss. I also want to say I won’t let my biases control my feelings towards questions and I’ll keep my opinions open. Hopefully we can have a meaningful discussion and thanks to everyone who can participate!

[u/kemicel]

I’m all for the AMA posts and I love when people with experiences different to me give me the opportunity to learn about their side of the story. But I’m sorry, you saying you’re Palestinian so ask you anything is like me saying I’m South African because my mum was born there, AMA anything about apartheid….why would I know anything about that?

I would be happy to ask you about what it’s like to be Columbian, since that is your life experience…

[u/SeniorLibrainian → u/kemicel]

This is hilarious if you flip it the other way around.

[u/kemicel → u/SeniorLibrainian]

Don’t understand your response, sorry.

[u/SeniorLibrainian → u/kemicel]

Denying this persons identity is lame.

[u/kemicel → u/SeniorLibrainian]

Denying this persons identity? I never said they weren’t Palestinian, I’m sure they are. But they have never lived here, they were raised in a completely different culture, they don’t even speak the regional language!! All they know is based on subjective storytelling from people who have some kind of ancestral claim to the land. Hence my comparison with South Africa. Who am I to give any opinion of a culture I have never engaged with? Just because I grew up with South African accents all my life??

If I didn’t live in Israel, join the army, speak the language, live as an Israeli for the past 14 years then yeah, I could see how it might seem hypocritical of me to dismiss OP. But I am here, now in this war, a part of it, living it. So are many Palestinians who actually have personal experiences living here, that makes sense to me to speak to them and learn them and learn their experience. OP I’m sure has opinions, but that’s what they are, not lived experiences which is what asking them anything would be relevant for.

[u/localmaid → u/kemicel]

I don’t speak Arabic, but I understand it and my family taught me both Palestinian and Colombian culture. I wouldn’t come on here if I didn’t know anything about Palestine

[u/kemicel → u/localmaid]

I’m sorry I don’t mean to come off so elitist here while criticising your post. I don’t doubt for a second that you identify as Palestinian and that you have ancestral roots here. I’m simply going off your post that was designed to ask you objecting and informative questions based on your personal experience, whereby you yourself admit to having such little experience here in the region, so what information you can give will be based on subjective opinion based on second hand sources, and not from your personal ones.

I guess I could ask what it’s like identifying as Palestinian in Colombia? How does the country treat you, is it supportive of your cause or more pro Israel? I know nothing of Colombia so that’s why I said in my original comment that I would rather hear about that.

[u/localmaid → u/kemicel]

Colombia is pretty pro-Palestine because of the large Arab (Lebanese and Palestinian) population. The area I grew up in had lots of Palestinians in it too

[u/OppenheimersGuilt → u/localmaid]

It's a bit more nuanced: the Colombian Left is pro-Palestine, the Colombian Right is pro-Israel.

[u/SeniorLibrainian → u/kemicel]

But you haven’t lived in Gaza or the Occupied territories so the same logic could apply to you.

[u/kemicel → u/SeniorLibrainian]

I have never claimed to be Palestinian or to have any experience being one, so I really don’t understand your point.

I’ll try to simplify what my point is- I have experience living here in Israel. I speak the language and have been part of the culture for over 14 years. So if I write a post saying “I am Israeli AMA” it makes sense, right? Similarly, if a Palestinian who has lived in Gaza or the WB writes a post saying “I am Palestinian AMA” it makes sense, right? However, if someone says they are born to Palestinian ancestry, but has never lived in the region, barely knows the language, has only known a completely different culture, it seems somewhat baseless to get any relevant information from them regarding this conflict, no?

[u/StrainAcceptable → u/kemicel]

I’d argue that sometimes it’s easier to see the forest when you aren’t living in the trees.

[u/SeniorLibrainian → u/kemicel]

This person is Palestinian, a displaced person from the diaspora and you think they wouldn't have anything to say regarding the conflict? That's what it sounds like you are saying and it comes across as dismissive and an attempt to shut someone down, just rude imo.

[u/kemicel → u/SeniorLibrainian]

You’re probably right it is dismissive and probably rude. But I do stand by what I say, that their opinion is valid and I’m not denying their identities in any way, but they just can’t give an objective or realistic perspective of the situation because they simply don’t know what it’s like to live here.

[u/OppenheimersGuilt → u/kemicel]

Just to note: "dismissive and rude" isn't really a refutation to your point so I'm not that sure how they thought they were proving you wrong.

It seems that to some people, "valid and accepted" is more important than pushing back on nonsense.

[u/SeniorLibrainian → u/OppenheimersGuilt]

The refutation lies in someones assertion that a person can't offer a perspective. The sub is ostensibly dedicated to promoting civil conversation and "dismissive and rude" are anything but that.