A David star with “colonial” written all over it along Al Nakba (above) and Palestine (below). File photo.
By Susana Khalil – Jan 18, 2023
Facing this inhuman colonial attempt to make the native Semitic Palestinian people disappear, there are three aspects that must be rescued for the liberation of the native Palestinian people: to put an end to the Israeli colonial anachronism, re-incorporate the armed struggle and give birth to our own lexicon and agenda.
These are the three great tragedies that mark the struggle of the native Arab-Semitic Palestinian people in the face of Euro-Zionist colonialism.
Al-Nakba 1948. A European movement, Zionism, succeeds in imposing a colonial regime on 71% of the territory of historical Palestine, on the basis of falsification of history and ethnic cleansing against the native Palestinian people, calling it “Israel.”
Al Naksa 1967. The colonial and expansionist regime of “Israel” colonizes the rest of historical Palestine, launching a war against five Arab armies who strived to liberate Palestine. Palestine “disappears from the map,” according to the West, but remains alive in the memory and present of the young Palestinian generation.
Oslo, 1993: A glorious native popular uprising, the Intifada, was stopped by putting in place a Palestinian political bunch that recognizes the colonial regime of “Israel” as a state on its homeland in exchange for 22% of the territory of the native Palestinian people. Today Palestine “has” only 7%, and colonial settlements have increased fivefold. The Wall of Shame has been built, separating not only Palestinians from colonials, but Palestinians from Palestinians as a method of extermination. The Wall is drawn inside the native Palestinian territory so that “Israel” can seize all the water sources. The Right of Return of the Palestinian refugees was not included in these agreements, as proof of the extermination equation. In Oslo, the Palestinian leadership signed its death warrant by renouncing armed struggle. Today, the Palestinian Authority is a traitorous instrument of colonization.
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But beyond the condemnation of the Oslo Accords, we condemn ourselves, because after Oslo we have become the spokesmen for this colonial obscurantism. We have become Zionists, progressives and the left wing. Fear has achieved a subjugation in the sacred mantle of intellectuals, academics and activists. The intelligentsia shouldn’t be the neo-religion, the opium of the people.
Many talk of decolonizing minds but they contradict themselves, there is a useful and operative sanctuary of intellectual demagogy.
After that mockery and humiliation known as the Oslo Accords, Palestinians and pro-Palestinians stopped talking about the liberation of Palestine. They put us in a dark room and we believe that we are enlightened to talk about one-state or two-state solution. We are being led to the slaughterhouse and we’re the gravediggers of our own corpses.
They demand a peaceful struggle from us, which does not exist, and is not allowed either because repressive measures forbid resistance. The Western agenda is imposed, and our minds are colonized. For example, we cannot argue in favor of the end of the colonial regime of “Israel”. It is not just a question of raising the issue of the end of the Israeli Apartheid, because apartheid is already one of many instruments of colonialism. Therefore, it is rather an attempt to put an end to this genocidal colonial anachronism. This is a taboo subject, much feared, and in that fear, there is an impostor and lugubrious talent.
As a native Palestinian of the Diaspora, I must not accept any colonial anachronism today in the 21st century.
Moreover, the Arab-Persian-Kurdish world and culture is in danger because of this expansionist colonialism that invents historical rights, in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and more. It is about creating “Greater Israel”. The Arab-Persian world is obliged to liberate itself. The world per se must fight this colonial obscenity.
Facing this inhuman colonial attempt to make the native Semitic Palestinian people disappear, there are three aspects that – I believe – must be rescued for the liberation of the native Palestinian people: to put an end to the Israeli colonial anachronism, re-incorporate the armed struggle and give birth to our own lexicon and agenda.
End of Israeli colonial anachronism
Before Oslo, there was honesty, spontaneity and sincerity in the struggle. Native people and pro-Palestine activists were able to express their wish to put an end to “Israel’s” colonial regime. Let’s be honest, and courageous and get back to the roots of our Palestinian Cause. Colonialism is not a guarantee of peace. Peace is based on justice. The end of “Israel’s” colonial anachronism is a contribution to human rights, a blow to the most powerful fascism of our time.
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Armed struggle. By renouncing the armed struggle, part of an imaginary, Il FidaĂ (Freedom fighter), was lost. The raison d’ĂŞtre of the Palestinian Liberation Cause was disfigured. It disfigured this sacred feeling, extinguished the burning fire of resistance, spoiled the sweetness of dignity, and erased poetry and memory. We have become objective, yet objectivity does not really exist, and we have become marketing, elegant submissives. We have lost our rebelliousness. Armed struggle is no guarantee of liberation, but neither is peaceful struggle. The two must operate as a weave, one and the other is one and the same. no one has the right to impose on the native Palestinian their way of struggle.
Give birth to our own lexicon and agenda. Rather than talking about Palestinian society, our lexicon should talk about the Palestinian cause, there is a lot of distraction in that sophisticated repression. There is self-censorship wrapped in the “you have to be objective;” strategy and things end up in a vacuum by not positioning our raison d’ĂŞtre: The struggle of a native people against a colonial anachronism called “Israel.” Within the debate of human rights, racism, feminism (these three, sadly, are addressed without the notion of class struggle), apartheid, imperialism, fascism (terrorism), Islam, etc., the struggle is to point out that classic colonialism today is anchored in our 21st century.
The “right” of “Israel” to exist must be included in the debate and there are honest pro-Palestinian figures in the West like Chris Hedges, who support the right of “Israel” to exist. All these people should be given that right in their own country. But beyond this, it is unacceptable and unworthy to impose their opinions on the struggle of the native Palestinians to accept the existence of “Israel’s” colonialism in the Palestinians’ homeland. This is not a debate, this is despotism.
There are those who express solidarity with the Palestinian people, and at the same time express the right of Israeli colonialism to exist. This is naĂŻve and comforting. This position softens or disguises the colonial and genocidal reality, thus benefiting Zionist fascism.
To clarify one point, I deeply and vehemently believe that in the liberation of Palestine, the so-called Israeli population should get the Palestinian demonym. Never be expelled, racism will make many of them return to their Aryan Europe, and the Zionist ideologues know this.
… For those Arabs who have not been born yet, may they live in a world without Zionism, and that future depends on us. May they live and/or die in the struggle of their times inspired by the anti-Zionist struggle.
… And to protect myself from colonial atrophy and/or the western agenda, I take refuge in history and memory. Honour and glory to my brothers in Algeria. Five million martyrs, blood shed against colonialism that we Palestinians must not let down.
Susana Khalil
Susana Khalil is a politologist and researcher. Founder of the Canaán Association. She is also a columnist and the producer of the YouTube channel: "Palestine 11 thousand years of history."
