I was born in the United States and lived there through early childhood, but since returning with my family to Palestine, I have never wanted to go back. The United States has always evoked mixed feelings in me. I have a certain nostalgia for the place of my birth but my overall sentiments always culminated in a sense of resentment for this so-called superpower that has systematically aided in my people’s oppression, occupation and dehumanization.

That is, until present day. The scenes of American university campuses breaming with students in kuffiyehs, waving Palestinian flags and resisting the brutality of the police and their own university administrations, has uplifted my spirit in ways I cannot fully articulate. In a word, what is happening on US campuses today is validation of our people, of Palestine and of our struggle. To those who live comfortable lives in free countries, this may sound like an exaggeration, but for my people, who have been denied their very right to exist, who have been demoralized, demonized and dehumanized, this is huge. We are seeing students of all races, creeds, backgrounds and religions, calling for an end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip and marching for a free Palestine and divestment from the Israeli occupation. We are hearing Jewish voices, debunking Zionist propaganda and its below-the-belt attempts to conflate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. We are being validated for our struggle, for our resistance against oppression, occupation and settler-colonialism and we are finally being heard and seen.

Students have always been the litmus test for social and political justice. Rallies and demonstrations on university campuses have been the driving force against imperialist wars throughout the ages, the Vietnam War being the best example. However, what is so incredible about this movement is that American students are not directly involved in Palestine. Students are not being drafted into an army to fight on foreign soil, so the stakes are not as high for them at the personal level. What is happening today is the direct result of the intersectionality of struggles and the belief that no one is free until all of us are free. This is a force far more powerful than a genocidal regime will ever be.

The scenes from university campuses in the United States and now in Europe, juxtaposed against the crushing images from the Gaza Strip, are a balm for our wounded hearts. We feel a kinship with these incredible Gen Zs who have put their very lives on the line for Palestine. We send them love, energy and solidarity as we watch them being thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested and we burst with pride as we hear them chant ‘Free Palestine”.

This is a moment in time that must not be squandered. May these American university protests spread like wildfire throughout campuses across the world, putting to shame both Zionism and American imperialism, which has allowed this racist ideology to survive. The Palestinians have never wavered in their determination to liberate their land from Israeli occupation and oppression, whether they do it alone or with the help of friends. Today, thanks to the beautiful people all over the world who have championed our cause alongside of us, a free Palestine is not only an inevitability, it is just around the corner.

When Israel claimed women were sexually assaulted on a mass scale on October 7, the world exploded. Almost the entirety of Israel’s genocidal war was based on these and other allegations, many unsubstantiated. We all remember the infamous’40 beheaded babies” story, do we not?

This article is not about Israeli allegations per se, neither will it only focus on violations against Palestinian women. This is about a world that is immediately up in arms when one side merely alleges atrocities while it turns a blind eye to actual documented violations against the “other”.

In Gaza, it is painfully clear that we indeed, are ‘the other’. How else can anyone explain the muted cries of women being stripped, raped, starved and murdered practically in real time, on our phone screens, documented in UN reports and described in horrific detail in eyewitness testimonies? There is no other explanation than that Palestinians are what Arundhati Roy calls “Children of a lesser God”. We are the victims of deep-rooted colonialism, one whose geographic demarcations may have vanished but whose insidious, dehumanizing mentality still prevails and manifests in the ugliest of manners.

For nearly six months, Palestinians have endured unspeakable atrocities at the hands of Israel’s occupying army. Today, the Gaza Strip has been reduced to an emaciated shell of what it once was. As Gaza is being systematically decimated and ethnically cleansed, the world, for the most part, looks on. Barring sympathetic supporters and a few well-intended but timid political actors, nothing has been done to stop the carnage. Palestinians once believed there was no way the world would allow Israel to erase Gaza off the map, no way it could see a live-streamed genocide and do nothing. But that is exactly what is happening.

Then, when we thought things could not get any worse, something unfathomable emerged from the deathtrap of Gaza. When this happened, we were certain it would be the turning point in this hellish nightmare. Well-documented reports, corroborated by the UN and eyewitnesses on the ground, told of harrowing stories of sexual assault against Palestinian women in Gaza.

We were paralysed with horror when we heard of women being raped by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, assaulted and stripped in front of their families. What’s worse, we all know that in times like these, the undocumented atrocities will far outnumber those documented. Who knows what horrors will unfold once the dust settles in Gaza; no doubt they will be so horrific, our entire nation will be traumatized for years to come.

The real question here is not how Israel’s soldiers perpetrated such gross violations. I think by now we can all agree that this depraved military establishment and its political echelon to boot, has dehumanized and vilified Palestinians so much and for so long, they will justify just about anything. No, the question is more about the moral compass of the rest of the world. While alliances and political interests are always part of the equation, even when the issue pertains to basic human rights, nothing can better explain the blatant hypocrisy, double standards and loss of collective humanity than the deafening silence today.

Our women have not only been killed, starved and displaced, they have been exposed to the very violations that sparked global outrage and a genocidal war against an entire population under occupation, unprecedented in modern history. This is not only unacceptable, it is an indelible stain on humanity. Sexual violence is a crime so heinous it is imperative to condemn and prevent, no matter the perpetrator or the victim. That must always be the baseline in any argument.

Palestinians will never get past this genocide; it is not something you can come back from. However, be assured, this is not only about the Palestinians. The world’s women, the majority of so-called feminists who have remained disgustingly silent, must know this: when you do not stand up for women, all women, no one will stand up for you in your time of need.

I once heard that anger is not a real emotion, but a cover for other feelings such as sadness, disappointment or fear. You need to peel back that outer layer to understand what is really going on inside.

Strange how this has lately resurfaced for me, but I think I know why. Lately, I and surely, millions of other Palestinians, have been filled with a blinding rage -- at Israel, at the United States, and at the world overall. This is a rage that is all-encompassing, the depth of which is palpable at the cellular level, permeating every molecule and every atom of our being. The genocide in the Gaza Strip has grated our emotions raw and we are left stinging and burning from our head to our toes.

Our anger is like a huge magnetosphere and we are all trapped inside, but its walls are translucent and we can see the source of our rage mocking us from beyond. We Palestinians are angry because we are so disappointed and we are angry because we are disillusioned and we are angry because we are drowning in sorrow.

Our disappointment lies in the fact that the world has failed us in the worst possible way and has allowed the unspeakable to be committed against us. Genocide is the ‘mother of all crimes’ and, contrary to the promises, the conventions and the historical lessons the world was supposed to learn, it has been committed over and over again. The Palestinian genocide, however, is unique in at least one way: it is live-streamed, which means no one can claim ignorance and everyone has a responsibility in stopping it. Hence, our disappointment is not limited to countries, Arab or otherwise, or to international and human rights organizations. It has spread to everyone in our orbit; acquaintances and people we thought were friends, but whose silence towards our slaughter is a deafening betrayal. Our sense of disappointment has discolored every relationship it touches because every relationship for us is a dichotomy: you are either with or against genocide and either support Palestine in word and deed, or not.

Our anger is a thin veil concealing our disillusion with the international community and its institutions, supposedly established to protect people in situations precisely like ours. We have confirmed what we knew all along, that these organizations were constructed for some and not all, for colonial powers and not those who suffer beneath them. Even when the highest court in the land rules in our favor, the Global North ensures that its ruling will not be implemented to save us, the oppressed, indigenous brown people whose lives apparently do not matter.

And finally, our anger is a survival mechanism to shield us from our own grief. Our sorrow over the murdered men, women and children, defenseless, homeless, starving and shivering in the cold, is so deep, so immense, we ourselves cannot fathom it. If we dare peek behind this anger and truly feel a fraction of the aching in our hearts, it will paralyze us for sure, because no people can endure the magnitude and scale of such suffering and not lose their minds.

We Palestinians know we cannot let go and that a new day is near. We know we must hold on just a little bit longer, because Palestine depends on it. We are no strangers to oppression, suffering and sacrifice and we know the price of our freedom has and continues to be painfully high. Still, we also know that a life without shackles and the yoke of oppression around our weary necks is the only life worth living.

Journalists, pundits and politicians have used various words to describe the relationship between the United States and Israel― ‘special,’‘closest ally,’ and ‘strategic partner'―all of which are true and not necessarily unknown. Indeed, the United States and Israel are very close ‘friends’, and some would suggest a true political friendship merits a certain level of respect in the international arena. The United States provides Israel with $3.1 billion in aid annually, indisputably making it Israel’s largest financial backer. The unyielding political and monetary connection between America and Israel should call for Israel to respect all American citizens, no matter what their ethnicity or origin is. Sadly, this hope is exceedingly far from the truth, because if you’re a Palestinian with an American citizenship: forget it, it’s just not happening.

Some Palestinians hold American citizenship either through birth or naturalization, and only carry an American passport. Their status in the United States is as an equal to any other American citizen, regardless of origin. When traveling to any other part of the world, Palestinian-Americans are treated diplomatically, as everyday Americans; but, when they attempt to visit relatives in Palestine they face discrimination, long waits, and intense interrogation at airports or border crossings, and in certain cases “denied access” to the country.

I recall as a youth, back when I was allowed to use Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport (before being issued a Palestinian passport), Israeli custom agents would greet my mother and me right outside the airplane and take us away for interrogation (there was obviously no sense in waiting until we reached the customs booth), and a security officer always escorted us wherever we went. A traveler unaccustomed to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians could have mistaken us for VIPs, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. Even when we showed our young escort our American passports, he would ask us to take a seat and we would wait, and wait, and wait…until finally an officer would come to start the interrogation…

The officer always asked the same questions: “Why are you visiting Israel?”, “Where were you born?” ―it's written right there in my passport- and “How long will you be staying?” Round one of interrogations was followed by more waiting. Back then we waited in front of arriving passengers, but today I hear there is a ‘special’ room with a candy machine and a television. How thoughtful. Sometimes waiting could last hours and hours, all depending on the Israeli custom agent’s mood. Eventually, another officer would come and repeat the same questions. I never quite understood the purpose of such a tactic, but it seemed nothing thrilled Israeli officers more than asking questions. Yes, I was eventually given the “Access Granted” stamp in my passport, but not all Palestinians are as lucky.

A Palestinian girl and her little brother, who had regularly visited the region during the summer, were traveling to see their family last summer in Ramallah. After two long flights from the United States, they arrived at Ben-Gurion. Upon arrival they "luckily" reached the customs booth without being stopped. The guard asked them to step aside and wait while an Israeli officer escorted them to the waiting room, the one with the new candy machine. The usual procedure applied and the siblings sat seven hours in the room with various officials coming and going with questions. Then, the Israeli officers asked the siblings to separate for reasons unknown. Although initially objecting, the siblings eventually complied with the order. After a few hours of separate interrogation they were informed that they had been denied access. The Israeli authorities forced them to buy a plane ticket to their lay-over city and were given a ten-year ban from entering Israel due to “security reasons”. Their passports were returned upon arrival in the lay-over destination.

Shouldn’t all Americans be treated equally no matter their origin? I mean they are Americans aren’t they? The closest known allies of Israel? James Zogby, the founder of the Arab- American Institute, once correctly said,

“It appears that Israel has its own view of U.S. citizenship, seeing three classes: American Jews whom they see as having "birthright advantages," other U.S. citizens who are respected and protected, and then, finally, Arab Americans whose rights as U.S. citizens Israel does not fully recognize.”

So why does Israel not fully recognize the rights of Arab-Americans of Palestinian descent?

Demographics are one of many reasons. Over the years, what has Israel maintained since its conception? It’s Jewish majority. During the Nakba in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled their homes and became refugees around the world. From 1948 to today, scores of Palestinians carry foreign passports. Numerous attempts are made by Palestinians to return to their homeland, leaving Israeli officials to harshly target those with foreign passports at border crossings.

The demographic situation for Israel has always been fragile since its capture of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967. Keeping its Jewish majority is becoming harder with the growing Palestinian population in the occupied territories. Israel worries Palestinians carrying foreign passports may attempt to make their stay permanent. Interrogating, disturbing, and harassing Palestinians is a strategy to discourage travel into Israel. If such a problem has existed for many decades shouldn’t the United States say something to Israel on behalf of its own citizens?

Over the years, the United States' response to the problem has been minimal. Arab-Americans have tried to raise the political matter with numerous administrations over the decades with little avail. During the final years of President George W. Bush’s term, the State Department finally took “action” about the problem, after a petition was sent by Zogby and signed by various Arab-American groups. The State Department issued a “warning” on its website for all Americans traveling to Israel stating: that Americans of Arab descent could be subject to “additional” security checks, and ended with the following:

“The United States Government seeks equal treatment for all American citizens regardless of national origin or ethnicity. American citizens who encounter difficulties are encouraged to contact the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv or the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem at the telephone numbers below.”

Following this gesture, American officials raised the matter with their Israeli counterparts at various meetings. And surprise― nothing changed. The problem continues today and a new American administration is already well underway. Maybe President Barack Obama could bring the “change” he promised in Washington and deal with the issue seriously. But if history teaches us anything from his predecessors, I doubt serious concern will arise over the matter. Israeli Airport Authorities will continue harassing Palestinian-Americans, while Washington ignores the issue and continues to funnel billions of dollars to their dearest political partner, Israel. If any change does surface, it won’t be in the near future. For now, we should forget it―it’s not happening.

Iyad Romel is a Writer for the Media and Information Program at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). He can be contacted at mip@miftah.org.