Palestinians are either the accomplices or the architects of their occupation and dispossession, or are no more than a pawn of the people who are.

What are some examples of this?

• “Women, children and militants dead” -- this language robs Palestinian men of their humanity and justifies their carte blanche slaughter;

• Women and children screaming in front of rubble became a cliched visual symbol of Palestinian women to contrast with the violent men. They are nameless, their words will not be translated, nor will her anguish be explained;

• Generic “terrorists” in Hollywood movies wearing Palestinian Keffiyehs (“Resources” see Reel Bad Arabs, and Cultural Appropriation;

• Hamas will be described as oppressive when people are discussing Palestinian human rights and representative when people are discussing the suspension of Palestinian human rights.

What are the impacts of this?

• Loss of civilian or innocent status for all Palestinians, every death becomes a statistic and tragedies are explained as collateral damage;

• Loss of civilian or innocent places, as all Palestinians are either guilty or enablers then everywhere they are (churches, schools, hospitals) becomes a fair target;

• For diaspora Palestinians, our media representation becomes traumatic because our overwhelming options are victim or victimizer, and positive representation is seen as controversial;

• This binary also works to obscure actual power dynamics by framing Palestinian men as oppressors and Palestinian women oppressed.

What are some responses to this?

• The complexity of human experience is obviously so much more than this binary — what aren’t we seeing? Palestinian joy, beauty, optimism, innovation, etc.

• Each Palestinian life matters, but Palestinian deaths are too often treated like abstract numbers rather than innumerable tragedies,