Lauren Booth – Muslim Women Respond to Apartheid in the Holy Land

			Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah Dear brothers and sisters As salam o
Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh and welcome to the LM feed Podcast. Today I have a guest who I'm
really looking forward to speaking to all of our hearts are with our brothers and sisters in
Palestine. I have
		

			hamdulillah sister Lauren booth. Salaam aleikum, Sister Lauren, while they come salaam Rahmatullahi
Wa Barakatuh, it's great to see you again, one of your reflections being in the last few weeks.
Well, Palestinians have been calling out this apartheid since 1967. They've been going to the United
Nations, they've been demanding their rights. They've been listing the the crimes. And you know,
there have been pockets of external resistance of activists and groups say, trying to be advocates
and ally, because this is different. Can you taste it? It's like a really nice, it's like a really
nice chocolate with a tank at the end. It's like, huh, this is great. This is good stuff. We're
		

			going to do this, we're going to drive this through, because people are listening. And we can go
into this a bit deeper in Charlotte in this. But yeah, it is exciting. And we do feel strong.
Because there's been a sea change, right? Like, whether it's celebrities, whether it's even
politician, I felt like this time round. There were many more voices that were willing to just say,
you know, what, this is apartheid. You know, this is oppression, there is no justification for this.
This is wrong, this is occupation, we're watching occupation in front of our very eyes, and we're
allowing an entire country to get away with it. Subhanallah, you know, allows planning is perfect.
		

			And, you know, has some of them locked, who's the British ambassador to Palestine, he's been
smashing out the park. And he makes
		

			it makes it very clear that, you know, Black Lives Matter has played a big part in setting the
groundwork for a new understanding of what white supremacy looks and feels like. And I was speaking
to him last night, and I was saying, You know what, I think as a as a white European, that we've
become kind of used to questioning ourselves a bit now, like, that feels a little bit like it was a
little bit racist. There was a it was like just a little soups on a racism there. And we've had to
start questioning ourselves. So when something else big comes, we're like, Oh, this looks like
smells like tastes like what we've been dealing with and had to ask ourselves. So it's like this big
		

			groundwork that's been going on through the suffering of, of black people in America, and globally,
has set the groundwork for the for the * base to then reflect on ourselves and go, Well,
are you saying Jews can't be white supremacists, or they are all but this really look kind of looks
a bit like that. So I think all of this work that's been going on, for the last, you know, you know,
year particularly has really made a new framework possible. Your experience, just a glimpse of your
experience, especially the last time maybe you went to Palestine?
		

			I think what's what is it like for people who haven't been on here, every time for me, it's been
different. I went in 2005, as a journalist for the West Bank, when in 2006, as a journalist to the
West Bank and Gaza 2008, as an activist on the Free Gaza on a boat 2009 hamdulillah with Viva
Palestina, which was a road that remember 2009 I went by bicycle cycling from Amman, a trip from
Amman to Jerusalem with my daughter with peace cycles SubhanAllah. And then 2009 as an activist
2011 2012 is delivering a 2013 Delivering ate every time, every time has felt different. And there
have been elements that are the same. I think in in 2005 The first time I went CES, what really
		

			struck me as someone who's only known an exceptional amount of freedom in their lives, was
checkpoints. 2000 The first time I went it was all about checkpoints. And that was because there was
it was that the first national Palestinian elections for the PA and I was with Chip Carter Jimmy
Carter's son
		

			on you know, we were the group and he was checking out the freedom of movement that was supposed to
be allowed for the Palestinians. Because if you're in Bethlehem, and you're supposed to vote in your
birthplace of Nablus normally that may not be possible but they had to free up the roads. You had to
be able to go vote and come back of course that wasn't that was that was not happening as it should
be happening. And I just remember the sort of the fury the the humiliation I mean, Nablus is a
horrendous checkpoint where
		

			You know it's like you're out you're out you're a cow you're just heard it in areas checkpoint in
2006 was one I don't like to use were traumatized because you can't in reflection to what everybody
over there goes through but I was shocked.
		

			Watch the lady in a wheelchair be humiliated and refused exit to go and get to go and get her to go
and get an operation in America. I watched members of the PA the newly formed Palestinian Authority
sitting there you know, humiliated it was like, What's going on here? And then when you when you say
anything collective punishments, a man with a with a walkie talkies? Yeah, they're not going to go.
Yeah. Okay, so we'll shut the whole checkpoint for four days. Hang on a minute, there's somebody
else who needs so in other words, if you don't shut up, right, when there's an injustice, we're
going to punish everybody else for you not shutting up, because we've caused an injustice. So you so
		

			I really got a sense of, you know, collective punishment, which is illegal under international law.
But and that's just
		

			what you're talking about is known as Israeli exceptionalism. Why is applicable everywhere else, but
not in Israel? And this is what really, I think, has people continually scratching their heads and
thinking it can't be that bad, because otherwise it will be criminal. You know, it's true. I believe
you've got two bad guys, you Muslims, you activist, you've got to be missing a very intelligent
piece of information here. Because
		

			and that's why we keep saying, Well, it's complicated. I need to look into it, you know, cuz,
because they literally think it can't be that bad. Like
		

			this stuff. Yeah.
		

			And it's quite a quite literally is that simple. It literally it's, it's apartheid, as you'd
recognize it with with with checkpoints and different allowances, whether it's building a house,
whether it is access to health care and medical care,
		

			and civic facilities within Israel, Palestine, 1948, whether it is literally your right to travel
and move about it as outlined in international law. And, of course, the the determination that the
occupier must pay for the occupation. And Israel's never, never had to do that. The EU, the EU, or
charities, international corporate, international organizations pick up the bill. So it's the
cheapest, longest occupation in modern history.
		

			Pamela Silla and I just want to share with you, you know, there's a there's this near shift genre,
there's a neighborhood called is a Ouija. Okay. And when I was 16 years old, I was in Egypt. And I
had this map of the Middle East on my wall. And one day, I woke up just staring at the map. And I
realized how close Jerusalem was to Egypt, right. And I said to my friends, like, Oh, my God, I
could go and pray in much Luxor. And they were laughing. They were like, you know, yeah, you know,
that you know, what's going on? And,
		

			but I just got this just very strong feeling that I wanted to go. And this is in 1996 97. Right. And
so myself and my sister, so two Brits, and two American sisters, African American sisters, we got on
a bus basically, and went on an eight hour trip to wrap up the rougher border, okay. And then into
Jerusalem, from there to Jerusalem. And we arrived there in the middle of the night.
		

			And what happened was, we were last week, you know, we were just being very carefree and slightly
naive, teenagers, I guess. And I just wanted to, we're just like, we want to pray in much laughter.
Alhamdulillah they allowed us in very easily, maybe because of our passports and, you know, and
maybe the climate at that time.
		

			But when we arrived
		

			before we went there, a lot of brothers and sisters were telling us don't go because you know,
you're going to be basically helping the Israelis you're kind of acknowledging them. There was like
a fatwa at the time that you know, nobody should even go there. Right. But we did our own research.
And I remember the Hadith of the Prophet SAW Selim. Don't, don't make effort to go to any Masjid.
Don't make any spirit spiritual journey, you know, except three places. Masjid Al haram, much his
masjid, the prophets, mercy and Masjid Al Aqsa, and I thought to myself, Wow, the Prophet SAW Selim
would not have said that if Masjid Al Aqsa was not. So was not immensely significant, right.
		

			And that's
		

			is what kind of drove us to go. And when I, when we arrived, we were lost and
		

			panela when we first arrived, there was some Jewish
		

			youth who were just walking on the streets. This is 3am in the morning, by the way, and one of them
literally started yelling at us. This is in Jerusalem, outside Damascus Gate kind of area. And he
started, he started shouting at us, Arabs, Arabs, you deserve to buy. And when we were like, This is
too cliche. But that was literally our welcome to, to, you know, occupied Palestine. And then one of
his friends came over to us. And he said, Excuse me, you're not Arabs, are you? You're, we were
like, American and, but we're Muslim. You know, we're British and American, but he was. And he said,
Look, I really want to apologize. So. So we saw that both of those sides, you know, like the kind of
		

			more peaceful side of Israelis, and then also the very kind of aggressive side. But anyway, the the
long short of it is that in the middle of the night, a guy just comes out of the blue in a taxi.
		

			He sees us and he said, What are girls like you doing in the middle of the night on the street, you
know? And he was really worried about us. And he said, Listen,
		

			we said, we want to pray much love. So he says, You're too late. It's too late at night now. But
what you've got to do is find some accommodation. He said, Look, I've got a sister. We live in
Jerusalem, East Jerusalem.
		

			And she lives by herself common stay. And we have to make a split second decision. We agreed.
		

			I don't know if we're foolish. But, you know, that's one of the great things about being young,
right? You just make these decisions. And it was one of the best decisions of our lives because we
ended up staying with them for 10 days. Wow. And
		

			this angelic man, you know, subhanAllah, he fed us he provided whatever we needed, he got us to
phone home to our dads, you know, like, because he was probably thinking, Dad's worried. He has a
daughter, so he invited us to his daughter's wedding. This is East Jerusalem is so beautiful. It's
such a beautiful, such beautiful people, wonderful people. And I think it's always one of those
neighborhoods, you know, like chef's genre, that Muslims that the Palestinians are being so called
evicted, right.
		

			And so I really, I really feel for them, because I haven't been to Gaza. But I've been to Jerusalem,
and I've lived in Jerusalem, a number of days. And I just I can't imagine what it must be like for
them to literally be driven out of their homes that they've lived in for generations and, you know,
homes that are theirs and land that is theirs under international law. SubhanAllah. And what always
strikes me when I go is the love for the land, the love, we love the soil. I mean, I remember when
we were cycling through the West Bank in 2009. And we got to belie in Beeline is a wonderful, tiny
little village, really,
		

			by the wall, which is resisting so that they can keep their crops and their land, because it's a
separation of checkpoints for farmers. So not only have you got Jeeps coming in in the middle of the
night and grabbing your young men from the beds and terrorizing the sisters and the children. What
you've got is a deliberate effort so that the farmers cannot get to their planting areas cannot get
to their animals so that things die. Oh, well there you have it. And you know, and then have we lost
like if it's untended, then it goes to the state sorry, it's not yours anymore. Clearly it was scrub
land. It's like a you literally stopped me for six months. But so there's all that going on, but I'm
		

			just getting there and, and seeing people's love of their land. And that getting them to do the talk
about the Earth and the trees the love of the olive trees. So just like a heron sister Lauren, is
there anything else you want to add? Is there anything else you want to any message? Yeah, give
		

			Mannerheim educate your children, show them maps with Palestine on it. Talk to them about how
Prophet peace be upon him visited Al Aqsa, there are a wonderful wonderful booklets out there
available that are worksheets to do with Al Aqsa to do with Palestine you talk about it around the
family table you know share the cuisine night speak to his fight find Palestinian groups and and
twin your school with a school in Nablus or a Bethlehem or you know Ramallah there are things that
you can do as
		

			The parents at the school at the school where you're at in Sharla. And and speak to teachers as well
and say, Is there room on the curriculum for us to have a discussion about this? We can do it with a
smile. It's perfectly legitimate to speak about the world if we're speaking about the world, can we
do it this way? You know, be engaged, we're engaged people in sha Allah to Allah. And yeah,
hamdulillah just mela mela mela bless our brothers and sisters. And thank you, thank you so much to
Allah to Allah for, for allowing us to have this great, great group of people who teach us on deen
and teach us the real meaning of patience and steadfastness anima. That I think that's really
		

			powerful, what you said about our children, because I think one of the reasons why normalization
probably occurs is because a new generation have completely lost the link, right? They've forgotten
they've forgotten the significance, and they've forgotten the history, right? Or the turning a blind
eye to the history. So I think it's, it is really important, not only to talk to our children about
it, teach them the history, tell them the stories, take them there, if you can, you know,
		

			let them feel that connection. For a lot of kids, this would have been the first time they ever
heard of Palestine or they heard about,
		

			you know, I want to add here is I really hate it. When I hear young people say, I really want to go
to Gaza with this charity and do some work there. I want to go to Al Aqsa and teach kids, but my
parents won't let me go and then Muslim parents, you know, as a, you know, brothers and sisters, we
love our children, we have a duty of care, but when they're 18, and they're wanting to do good for
the Ummah is it? Is it our place to really stand in ways that
		

			we should be proud? I mean, I felt proud with my son's just going to the protests, you know, because
I was like, subhanAllah like,
		

			this is why we have kids, you know, we want them to have a positive impact on the world. You want
them to be awake more than to be contributing to positive change. And when our kids do good deeds,
and when they do good things, we as parents are rewarded for that right?
		

			You know, there's a beautiful dua for our children or a banana I mean, as well as you know, what
would react in our Kurata on what Elena little mattina Imam that oh Allah bestow upon us are going
to have done I mean, as well, as you know, from our spouses and our children, the coolness of our
eyes, make them the coolness of our eyes, and make us leaders of the God conscious, may cause
leaders of the God conscious and in the in the explanation why it says, In the explanation of that
door, it says, what it means by the coolness of your eyes is that make our children active, make
them pious, make them servants of Allah, in such a way that when we see them when we see them
		

			worshipping Allah when we see them doing good, when we see them on those protests, when we see them
standing up for the truth, it gives us this immense happiness right our hearts so just like a heron,
Sister Lauren, we make dua for our brothers and sisters, in Gaza and in Palestine. We make but other
Allah
		

			give them patients give them steadfastness and your Allah forgive us for our shortcomings, you know,
as an ummah and help us to revive ourselves and our leadership and help us to do right by them. Free
Palestine Free Palestine Leila hit Allah Allah, we're going to do this because Allah has written it
so and he's made our people strong. May Allah bless you are Shahida in heaven, and our people are
doing well. Don't worry, stay strong. Stay blessed. And I'm Ali Khan Rahmatullahi but a curtain does
Zach Allah Heron sister