A pro-Palestine group seen whose members spoke at a Monument Square rally Wednesday night has taken some heat for their stance on the current Israeli conflict. But a longtime member of the group insists it does not condone violence against civilians.
“We want peace and security for Israelis. We want peace and security for Palestinians,” said Robert Schaible, spokesperson and former chairperson of Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights. “We want peace and security for all people living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.”
But that peace won’t happen until Israel allows Palestinians living in Gaza to have their own autonomous state, Schaible said.
“The path to that peace is justice for Palestinians,” he said. “Give justice to Palestinians, and you will get peace.”
Maine’s Jewish community has been reacting with shock, anger and sadness since receiving reports Saturday that the Palestinian militant group Hamas, based in Israeli-occupied Gaza, launched attacks on Israel. Reports indicate Hamas targeted civilians, including infants.
While members of local Jewish communities held a solidarity vigil in Portland’s Monument Square Wednesday night, a second rally was taking place alongside them protesting Israel’s counterattacks on Gaza.
Most of that protest, Schaible said, was organized and run by another organization, the local chapter of a national Communist party. There were, however, a handful of members of Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights, he said, at least one of whom can be seen speaking on the group’s Facebook page.
Their appearance angered Rep. Jared Golden, who issued a statement in response.
“The idea that any organization or group of people would seize upon the tragedy taking place in Israel and the suffering of the Jewish community to present a false equivalency between the government of Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran would be almost laughable were it not so sickening given the atrocities committed against the people of Israel these past few days,” Golden wrote.
Golden went on to cite atrocities by Hamas, reported by the international media, and called for support for Israel in the wake of the violence.
“There is no substantive debate to be had here – America does, and should, stand with Israel against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and any other terrorists who seek the destruction of Israel, all of whom are known to harbor an intent to harm and kill Americans abroad and here on our own homeland,” he wrote.
Golden, a Democrat, represents Maine’s 2nd District, a more conservative district that does not include Portland.
Schaible said he has studied the conflict between Israel and Palestine for more than 20 years, and the issues that surround the conflict are anything but simple or clear-cut. Both sides, he said, have fought for decades over Gaza, with both sides getting plenty of blood on their proverbial hands long before Saturday’s violence.
“Israel does not have the moral high ground upon which to condemn Hamas for doing this,” he said.
As to the reports of violence, Schaible said the international media hasn’t done enough to independently confirm the atrocities reported by Israeli authorities but added that he doesn’t condone such horrific acts.
“I don’t approve of that,” he said. “That’s horrid. That is awful. If Hamas is doing that, they are doing immoral, horrid, awful actions.”
Schaible, who does not have familial roots in the Middle East, became interested in the conflict there in 2000, when his stepdaughter began studying abroad in Gaza.
He said he joined Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights, then called Maine Peace and Justice in Israel-Palestine, in about 2009, after visiting the Middle East and becoming convinced that Palestinians needed a voice outside of their homeland.
In the early years of his work with the organization, Schaible said, “People just pretty much ignored us.”
That changed, he said, with the outbreak of the 2014 Gaza war, where public support seemed to shift to Palestine, Schaible said.
Schaible said the Portland-based organization doesn’t keep count of members but does have an email list with more than 400 subscribers. Despite public anger with Hamas, his organization has interacted positively with people.
At a rally held in Portland’s Congress Square Park on Sunday, the day after the violence broke out, he said 15-20 passing vehicles blew their horns in encouragement. The only pro-Israeli perspective, he said, came from a single truck full of people who, passing by, shouted, “God bless Israel.”
“We’re finding there’s a lot of support,” he said.
Ultimately, Schaible said, informing himself about the nuances of the conflict broadened his perspective, and he urged the public to do the same before passing judgment on what took place Saturday.
“Please take the time to learn the history of this conflict,” he said. “Try to learn what has provoked the Palestinians to this desperate act and understand that we all want peace and security and the path to that is to give justice to Palestinians. To end the siege, end the occupation, give the Palestinians their own freedom to act politically, to be free and to be equal.”