The end

This is my last entry from Palestine. Tomorrow morning - very early - I leave to go to Ben Gurion airport. Assuming they don't hold me until I miss my flight, I will depart at 12:30 and return to the States.

It has been a privilege to live in Palestine and assist the struggle against the occupation. My passion for this cause has been strengthened by the people I have met here and the experiences I have had. I have never been more convinced in the righteousness of the fight here, and the necessity for Israel to cease to exist.

If I have been able to give some perspective and detail about what is going on here through this blog, I am happy to have done so. It is impossible to sum up all the experiences I have had in a way I find sufficient, but I will say this: do not look at the conflict here as a conflict among equals. It is not as complicated as some would say it is. This is an occupation, and Israel is the occupier.

Look at what is going on day to day. There are many things that do not make headlines that make up the everyday struggle faced by Palestinians. The invasions by the Israeli military, the checkpoints, the arrest of children, the de facto ban on protests with the use of overwhelming force, the settlement of the West Bank - it's all making life much, much worse for the people here.

To say "it's too complicated" is an easy out. It's made complicated by those who would not have you see the truth. There is only one side to this conflict that has a military that can close off villages on a whim. There is only one side tear gassing and shooting the other. If there is occasionally a bomb or a shooting carried out by a Palestinian, this does not make them equals. This does not justify the treatment of an entire people. And there's only one side that has stolen and continues to steal land, only one side that ethnically cleansed and continues to drive out the other.

This is our tax dollars at work. We have a responsibility to oppose this. I have tried and will continue to oppose the occupation of Palestine to the best of my ability. I only hope that more will listen, and act.