By Imad Hatbe – Nov 21, 2023
Why is war ugly and civilians considered collateral damage only when Palestinian lives are lost, yet it is “terrorism” when the oppressed people fight against their occupiers?
This is the first question you face when addressing the atrocities happening in Gaza. The first checkpoint to assess your humanity. You avoid answering this question; saying Yes means that you accept and justify the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, saying No corners you into the anti-Semitic zone, and you are labeled a “terrorist”.
I want to answer this question loud and clear, but after a historical tour that might help in understanding the Arab’s point of view. What is currently happening in Palestine is not a religious conflict; it is one of the longest colonial settler projects aimed at the ethnic cleansing of an indigenous population.
In 1948, the “free” world supported establishing a Jewish “state” in Palestine in redemption for the atrocities of the Holocaust. As a result, 750,000 Palestinian Muslims and Christians were expelled from their homes and their land. Nobody bothered telling those people who lived in refugee camps for 75 years why they had to pay the price for European crimes committed against Jews. Those refugees waited 75 years for the “free” world to pursue violations of 140 international resolutions. On the other hand, the alleged violation of one international resolution was enough to invade Iraq and Libya, killing 1 million Iraqis, but the violation of 140 resolutions was not enough to even acknowledge the Palestinian people’s right to return to their homes or let alone just their basic human rights.
After withdrawal from Gaza in 2006, the IOF forced a siege on Gaza. Limited amounts of food, medications, water, and construction materials are allowed into Gaza, 99% of travel requests are denied, and the unemployment rate is at 67%. There are limited opportunities for education and advanced medical treatment and less than 1% opportunity to live in the world outside the walls of this open-air prison. This is how life was in Gaza for 16 years for 2.3 million individuals.
Future is a meaningless word for people who have been living in refugee camps for 75 years, they concluded, and they were right, the world abandoned them and left them without choices. Don’t even dare try to feel appalled when hopeless, desperate people take their destiny into their hands and change it. It is so ironic to ask these people to act according to international and humanitarian laws when the “free” world ignored such laws in dealing with them.
In 2018, during the Great March of Return (a peaceful protest against the harsh living conditions in Gaza), “Israel” killed 214 Palestinians in Gaza, 36 of whom were children, and injured over 8000 civilians. One in five of those injured was targeted by live ammunition.
The ‘Hamas Human Shield’ Justification For Israeli War Crimes
In 2022, 230 Palestinians, 171 in the West Bank and 53 in Gaza, were killed. The “free” world acted deaf and mute. Since 1948, the United Nations recognized tens of massacres committed by Israeli forces: in Deir Yassin (107), Tantura (200), Lyd (400), al-Dawayima (145), Qibya (69), Kafr Qasim (49), Khan Younis (40), Sabra and Shatila (3500), Bahr al-Baqar elementary school (30 children). Unlike “Israel”, Palestinians do not have the right to defend themselves when their people are killed. In addition, not only the “free” world did not condemn “Israel”, but it also used the VETO to make sure that no international resolution could condemn these massacres. No aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, or military experts were sent and no “free” world leader visited the region to express support or even condolences.
I do not condemn Hamas.
I see freedom fighters trying to liberate their country and defend themselves against atrocities committed against them for 75 years. Like the glorious French resistance against the Nazi occupation, those freedom fighters slapped the whole world in the face to wake them up from their criminal ignorant slumber to witness the plight of the Palestinian people.
I do not condemn Hamas in its pursuit of liberation. Why is war ugly and civilians considered collateral damage only when Palestinian lives are lost, yet it is “terrorism” when the oppressed people fight against their occupiers?
As we speak, 13,300 Palestinians in Gaza have lost their lives. Of those 11,000, almost half are children. They are, according to the “free” world, a kind of collateral damage as “Israel” exercises its right of “self-defense”. It is obvious that the Palestinian people are considered children of a lesser god, and it is not the first time and sadly not the last time that history sides with the occupier and not the occupied.
It is not acceptable to support the Western practice of suspending humanitarian codes when it comes to people in other parts of the world. You can’t condemn actions in Ukraine and accept them when they are practiced on non–European, non–white people. White man supremacy, laws, and democracy don’t apply in our part of the world anymore. We are the victims of the white man’s hypocrisy and double standards, and we are not concerned with following in his footsteps.
It is our right to fight back, to struggle for a better world for our sons and grandsons, and to care about our national interests, not the interests of multinational companies. For all these reasons and much, much more, no, I do not condemn Hamas.
