“In the settler mind, land was property, real estate, capital, or natural resources. But to our people, it was everything: identity, the connection to our ancestors, the home of our nonhuman kinfolk, our pharmacy, our library, the source of all that sustained us. Our lands were where our responsibility to the world was enacted, sacred ground. It belonged to itself; it was a gift, not a commodity, so it could never be bought or sold. These are the meanings people took with them when they were forced from their ancient homelands to new places.”
-Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass
What would happen if instead of having disingenuous debates over who has indigeneity in Israel-Palestine, we shifted the conversation to how all living there could respect the land as a gift? Would anyone be so quick to fire rockets, harming the land, if it were viewed as its own precious self? If we saw this land as home for nonhuman kinfolk, would we refrain from abusing land? How do we draw closer the extinction of power madness, and the disconnection from and disrespect for our own habitats?
