Two Ships: What’s the Difference?

Dear Editor,

    10 June 2025-    This coming week-end, traditional leaders, community members, and youth will welcome the Alingano Maisu with a diverse crew back from its historic voyage from Palau to Taiwan. I wish to thank the Micronesian Voyaging Society for their support in making this happen. I wish to congratulate and commend the crew, especially for the oidel a chas as one Master Navigator brought his son with him, preventing the death of one of our richest traditions as Micronesians. However, as I write this, and in the same breath, I must condemn the leaders of the world, including our own, for their silence about another vessel, the Madleen, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, who have been kidnapped by the Israeli Military. Their mission was to sail a symbolic voyage with a small, yet symbolic humanitarian package of aid to prevent the death of actual youth and children in Gaza. It seems that this ocean that makes us one may risk dividing us too? I wish to applaud the Flotilla for brining the world’s attention to Gaza and the genocide.

      I hope it pushes our youth to ask: Why do we maintain diplomatic relations with the State of Israel? What benefits do we get? What economic packages, aid, or recognition do we get for being the minority of states “supporting” one of the few countries in the world credibly charged with committing genocide? Are we deciding foreign policy based on the “rapture” or religious beliefs that a few will be saved and the rest damned by a minority of leaders? Do we see videos and pictures of dead babies, child amputees, and malnourished toddlers and insist that this is a “war on terror?” We cannot afford to be hypocrites by applauding the Maisu and turning a blind eye to the Flotilla. We, as a Pacific region, cannot afford the hypocrisy of speaking of the need to preserve a future for our children while Palestinian children are being murdered live on Instagram. A threat to any child anywhere is a threat to children everywhere, so while one ship is being welcomed, another is being seized. I hope that it is not lost upon those paying attention to the double standards imposed here.

      I know that the “adults” in the room will call the Flotilla performative, but that was the whole point, as the vessel made it clear that one yacht cannot alleviate the pain and suffering of more than one million people, almost three-fourths children starving and being murdered on a strip of land a little over the size of Babeldaob. In this case, I will agree, this is for attention, as it is way too easy, especially out here in Palau to “forget” the genocide in Gaza. In that spirit, we cannot afford the hypocrisy of taking away the need for the future without addressing the wrongs of today, we cannot have it both ways.

      I hope the youth paying attention note this gross injustice, knowing that celebrating one vessel does not happen in a vacuum, where the Flotilla and her peril are invisible to us in Palau.  Israel is not our friend, and each day, I wonder what action we can do here in Palau, and dream of it as the world is catching up to calling evil evil. When will we sever relations and refuse to identify with an internationally wanted war criminal charged with genocide? When will our border authorities refuse entry of tourists looking for R&R from murdering babies? When will our courts order investigations of any of them who dare come to Palau and charge them with the ICC and ICJ’s on-going genocide proceedings? When will “sovereign” Palau vote on morality and not whether or not this affects the Compact, as the Palauan children of the future will not applaud us for hyper-fixating on money paid for with the blood of other children. I hope that these youth will at least grow up on the right side of history.

When will the “adults” see what the children of Palau are seeing? In one way, I am proud of many young people who are picking up the conversation. Whether from social media feeds of their own, or the work of a small, but proud group of Palauans who see the Palestinian cause as similar to our own, the youth of Palau have a chance to be on the right side of history. With more and more coverage, it becomes even harder to tell the children to “shut up and listen” when morality is “standing in solidarity with Israel” even as they commit a genocide, as a necessary evil of a “holy war” or “war on terror.” I think there is nothing “holy” about murdering children and making up horrible accusations against them  as they starve and suffer to live for the world.

Perhaps it will be these youth who will one day be the leaders who will not hesitate when a resolution comes to the House of Delegates calling for a ceasefire and resumption of humanitarian aid?  Perhaps a future leader among these Palauan youth will set aside self-interest, both personally and on behalf of the Palauan people, and make decisions that the future will be proud of, meaning that these children will simultaneously welcome the Maisu and demand the release of the Flotilla. Maybe these children will use critical thinking and not hesitate to condemn genocide? Maybe as they gather to welcome the Maisu and her crew, they also say prayers for detained humanitarians in the Mediterranean? I am afraid sometimes that Gaza and all of Palestine is one example where children should not learn by example, as this is not normal, and as the “leaders” remain silent on it, violence risks popping up anywhere, including here. I hope these youth consider this as another “oidel a chas” to choose humanity over self-fishness.

Sincerely,

Palauan for Palestine

End to Genocide