T

urkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday that Türkiye  would continue to strongly defend the Palestinian cause, as he met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ankara for talks on Gaza, the West Bank and efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state.

Speaking at a joint news conference after the meeting, Erdoğan said Türkiye  was working with the Palestinians to advance the Palestinian cause on the basis of a two-state solution. He accused the Israeli government of continuing what he described as unlawful actions in the West Bank and Jerusalem, including settlement expansion, demolitions and forced displacement.

According to United Nations figures cited by Erdoğan, about 3,800 Palestinians had been displaced in 2026 as a result of settler violence, demolitions and evictions, while nearly 100 Palestinians had been killed.

“Palestinian statehood is being undermined,” Erdoğan said, adding that the international community could not ignore what was happening. He said Palestinian support was a shared responsibility, particularly for the Muslim world.

Erdoğan calls for Palestinian state

Erdoğan said he and Abbas discussed developments in the occupied Palestinian territories as well as bilateral relations. He also welcomed the decision to hold Palestinian legislative and presidential elections, saying they could contribute to reconciliation and strengthen Palestinian unity.

The Turkish president said Ankara opposed attempts to alter the status quo at Muslim and Christian holy sites, particularly the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

He accused the Israeli government of seeking to benefit from instability and new conflicts while pushing the Palestinian issue out of international attention.

“Whatever they do, they will not succeed,” Erdoğan said, adding that Türkiye  would continue supporting the Palestinian cause “on every platform.”

He reiterated Türkiye ‘s support for the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and with territorial continuity.

On Gaza, Erdoğan said Israel’s government continued to take what he described as an uncompromising and aggressive approach despite international efforts and Palestinian calls for peace.

He called for conditions to be established quickly for reconstruction in Gaza and for ensuring security for its population.

Abbas thanks Türkiye for support

Abbas thanked Erdoğan and Türkiye  for their support for Palestinian rights and for providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza, hosting Palestinian students and treating patients and wounded people.

He said the two leaders had held productive discussions on regional developments and bilateral relations and agreed to strengthen dialogue between Türkiye  and Palestine.

Abbas also welcomed the recent joint defense agreement between Türkiye , Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, describing it as potentially important for regional stability and security and for protecting the interests of Muslim countries.

He said a just peace could only be achieved by ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international law and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Abbas said a ceasefire agreement in Gaza had been reached through efforts by Türkiye , Egypt, Qatar and the United States, but warned that humanitarian aid had yet to enter Gaza at the level needed. He also called for reconstruction and the return of legitimate Palestinian authority to Gaza.

“Gaza is an integral part of the State of Palestine,” Abbas said, emphasizing that there could be no Palestinian state without Gaza.

He also said the Palestinian Authority faced serious financial difficulties, claiming Israel was withholding about $6.5 billion in Palestinian funds, affecting the government’s ability to pay salaries and cover expenses in Gaza.

Settler violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem

Abbas said he and Erdoğan also discussed escalating tensions and settler violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem. He accused Israeli settlers of acting under the protection of Israeli forces and said attacks had targeted Muslim and Christian holy sites alike.

“We are standing firm on our land and are opposed to displacement,” Abbas said.

He stressed the importance of Palestinian unity and said the Palestine Liberation Organization remained committed to a unified political program and national institutions.

Abbas also said Palestinians were preparing for legislative and presidential elections scheduled for November 28, describing them as an important step toward strengthening the Palestinian political system.

The Palestinian president ended by thanking Erdoğan for Türkiye ‘s support and expressing hope that Palestinians would achieve independence and freedom while peace and stability returned to the region.

Both leaders also expressed condolences following the crash of a Turkish F-16 fighter jet during a training flight in Yalova.

(Source: Anadolu Agency)

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urkish tennis player Zeynep Sönmez has attracted international attention both for her historic performances at Wimbledon and for a symbolic display of solidarity with Palestinians after tournament officials barred her from wearing a pro-Palestinian badge.

The 24-year-old became one of the tournament’s most talked-about players after using a watermelon-shaped vibration dampener on her racket — a symbol widely associated with Palestinian identity and solidarity because it shares the colors of the Palestinian flag.

Sönmez said Wimbledon officials prohibited her from wearing a pro-Palestinian brooch during the tournament, prompting her to adopt the watermelon symbol instead.

“I used to wear a brooch, but tournaments no longer allow me to wear it,” Sönmez told Türkiye’s Anadolu Agency.

She questioned what she described as inconsistent standards governing political expression in tennis, noting that players have been permitted to display Ukrainian symbols while similar expressions of solidarity with Palestinians were not allowed.

“I argued that the Ukrainian flag is allowed, but the Palestinian one is not,” she said. “They told me they would not permit it.”

Unable to wear the badge on her clothing, Sönmez attached the watermelon-shaped dampener to her racket, explaining that tournament officials could not object to her choice of equipment.

Her gesture received widespread praise in Türkiye.

Turkish Youth and Sports Minister Osman Aşkın Bak commended Sönmez’s stance, describing it as an example of sport promoting universal human values. Ömer Çelik, spokesperson for Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), also praised her expression of solidarity with Palestinians.

Sönmez thanked supporters, saying the encouragement she received from Türkiye made her feel she was “never alone” on court.

From ball girl to national trailblazer

Born in Istanbul on April 30, 2002, with family roots in the Black Sea town of Arhavi, Sönmez began dreaming of a professional tennis career while working as a ball girl at a Women’s Tennis Association tournament in Istanbul.

Watching fellow Turkish player Çağla Büyükakçay win a WTA title inspired her ambition to reach the sport’s highest level.

Coached by Issam Jellali and Mehmet Bayraktar, Sönmez transformed her game following a difficult Wimbledon qualifying defeat several years ago, adopting a more aggressive playing style while building on her speed and athleticism.

She has also earned recognition for her sportsmanship, including a widely praised fair-play moment during a tournament in Monastir, where she and opponent Eva Lys corrected line calls in each other’s favor.

Sönmez has enjoyed the strongest period of her career over the past two seasons.

She captured her first WTA 250 singles title in Mérida, Mexico, in 2024 before continuing her rise through the rankings.

Her performances elevated her to a career-high world ranking of No. 51, making her the highest-ranked Turkish woman in WTA history, surpassing Çağla Büyükakçay’s previous national record.

Sönmez also became the first Turkish player—male or female—in the Open Era to reach the third round at Wimbledon in 2025.

She matched that achievement at the 2026 Australian Open, defeating Anna Bondár and upsetting 11th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova before exiting in the third round.

Earlier this season, she earned the first top-10 victory of her career by defeating Italy’s Jasmine Paolini at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

Wimbledon campaign ends

Sönmez’s 2026 Wimbledon singles run concluded in the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 loss to American Claire Liu.

Despite the defeat, her performances on court and her symbolic show of support for Palestinians made her one of the tournament’s most prominent figures, drawing international attention both for her sporting achievements and her advocacy.

(Source: Aljazeera English)

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he Palestinian Authority on Monday strongly condemned a new law passed by the Israeli Knesset mandating the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, calling it a war crime and a grave violation of international law.

In an official statement, Palestinian officials said the legislation breaches the Fourth Geneva Convention, which guarantees protections for civilians under occupation and ensures fair trial standards. The Authority warned that the move represents a dangerous escalation in Israeli policies across the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. It urged the international community to take immediate action to halt what it described as systematic violations and to hold Israel accountable.

‘Dangerous shift’ toward extrajudicial killings

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry described the law as a “dangerous shift toward legalizing genocide” and accused Israel of institutionalizing extrajudicial executions. It said the legislation places Israel in direct confrontation with international legal norms and called for sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and the activation of accountability mechanisms through bodies such as the International Criminal Court.

Palestinian factions echoed the condemnation. The Palestine Liberation Organization said the law effectively legalizes extrajudicial killings, while the Fatah movement described it as “legalizing policies of killing” already experienced by detainees in Israeli prisons, including allegations of medical neglect and abuse.

Calls for international action grow

The Hamas movement called the legislation part of an “escalating criminal campaign” against Palestinian prisoners and urged international human rights organizations to intervene urgently. Meanwhile, Palestinian political figures, including members of the Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee, warned that the law reflects what they described as a deepening system of discrimination and repression.

The Palestinian National Initiative also called for comprehensive sanctions and boycotts against Israel, arguing that the law marks a turning point toward entrenched “racist” legislation. Officials warned that failure to act would embolden further measures targeting Palestinians and undermine prospects for stability in the region.

The legislation passed its final readings in the Israeli parliament with the support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, drawing sharp reactions across Palestinian political and civil society groups, who say the measure poses an immediate threat to the lives of Palestinian prisoners.

(Source: Anadolu Agency)

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s the global map of recognition shifts, Palestine now stands acknowledged by 157 of the 193 UN member states, following a wave of diplomatic moves in 2025 that included the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Malta. These recognitions, nearly eight decades after the 1948 Nakba, mark a critical moment in the long and uneven pursuit of Palestinian statehood.

From Gaza, where daily life remains under blockade and the air carries the tension of uncertainty, such announcements are followed with cautious observation rather than celebration. Many remember previous moments of symbolic gestures—Oslo, the UN observer status in 2012—each met with brief optimism, then folded back into occupation and control.

Yet, this year feels different in its scale and timing: public outrage in Western capitals has reached an intensity unseen in decades, as mass demonstrations fill streets from London to Rome, Sydney to Toronto, demanding political accountability and an end to complicity. For Palestinians, these shifts signal that the narrative once monopolized by power is being challenged.

Recognition alone will not change the checkpoints, empty shelves, or loss, but it disrupts the silence that has long defined international diplomacy—and from Gaza, that disruption, however delayed, is still seen as a necessary beginning.

Demonstrations are not enough

But what does recognition mean for those outside Palestine who have long stood in solidarity with it? To move beyond the language of diplomacy, I reached out to voices abroad — people who marched, spoken, and acted in support of Palestine from afar.

Hannah, a 59-year-old activist from the UK, reflects on decades of demonstrations for Palestine in her country. “Demonstrations have been going on in the UK for decades. I’m ashamed to say that my understanding of the situation in your country was limited despite this,” she admits.

When asked what motivates her to continue participating, Hannah explains, “I lost faith in the power of demonstrations to impact government decisions after an enormous protest failed to prevent Tony Blair committing the UK to war in Iraq. But in the absence of anything else productive ordinary citizens can do, I join others in the streets. I find marches depressing because people seem to think marching is enough, and conversely, marching doesn’t seem to achieve much. Yet, hearing Palestinian people gain some small comfort from knowing people around the world are marching in their name encourages me to take part.”

She emphasizes her preference is for more targeted protests. “A narrower message, like ‘stop arming Israel,’ seems more relevant in the UK than ‘free Palestine,’ which is obviously desirable but perhaps not immediately achievable—certainly not without first withdrawing arms sales to the occupier,” Hannah adds.

Paul, a 53-year-old author and academic with Irish roots living in England, reflects on decades of demonstrations for Palestine in the UK. “I believe the current wave of demonstrations started very soon after Israel’s response to October 7, but support for Palestinian goals has been ongoing for decades,” he explains. Paul traces public support for Palestine back to the 1990s, during events such as opposition to the Iraq War, when many British and Irish people recognized the moral and political consequences of actions in the Muslim world.

His motivation to participate in demonstrations stems from a deep sense of social justice. “From the very beginning, I wasn’t afraid to express my views. Almost immediately after October 7, I was asked to write a news article in which I tried to present an impartial viewpoint,” Paul recalls. He emphasizes the importance of speaking out despite potential consequences, noting many in Britain fear losing their jobs or facing backlash. Yet he trusted the integrity of institutions enough to be outspoken and to call for peace.

Significant mobilizations

Tess, a 36-year-old activist from the United States, notices, while there have been longstanding protests tied to broader liberation movements, the mobilizations following October 7 were particularly significant. She remembers attending a major protest in Washington, D.C. and highlights the ongoing efforts of her local BDS cooperative grocery store, which has been organizing since 2012, but found renewed energy after October 7.

Her motivation to participate is rooted in a lifelong awareness of government interventions and colonial violence. “Living in the U.S., my life has been marked by witnessing colonialism, and its ultimate expression in Israel’s occupation of Palestine felt especially vivid after October 7,” she explains. Tess emphasizes the responsibility she feels as an American: the weapons used in the conflict are made, sold, and funded in her country, implicating her complicity. Additionally, her background as a farmer deepens her emotional response to the destruction of land, olive trees, and ecosystems in Palestine. She also mourns the destruction of libraries, archives, and cultural artifacts, which represent precious human knowledge and heritage.

Maria, 65, is a criminal defense lawyer from New Zealand. Her professional life has been devoted to standing beside marginalized individuals in court, a guiding principle for her activism for global human rights. She recalls the first large-scale demonstrations for Palestine in New Zealand occurred shortly after October 2023, when images and testimonies from Gaza began circulating widely. In Auckland, thousands marched down Queen Street, representing a broad coalition of young families, long-time activists, Pacific Islander communities, Māori sovereignty advocates, union members, and students. For Maria, this marked a transition from isolated protests to a significant social movement.

Her motivation to participate stems from a commitment to fairness and the principle that all lives matter equally. She draws personal resonance from parallels with the historical dispossession of Māori people in Aotearoa and her Irish heritage, recognizing patterns of structural violence and intergenerational trauma.

Piazza Palestina

Francesca, 30, from Italy, recalls demonstrations for Palestine began a few months after October 2023, though protests had occurred in various forms prior. In Turin, Piazza Castello has been transformed into a symbolic “Piazza Palestina,” with a permanent sit-in where young protesters share information by day and sleep in tents by night—a striking display of commitment and visibility.

Francesca’s sense of solidarity comes from both academic study and following news as well as following Palestinian photographers, journalists, and writers like Francesca Albanese, on Instagram. She also reads books and novels written by Palestinians to better understand their culture, history, and experiences.

Gabrielle, 31, from Australia, recalls major protests in Sydney, particularly at Town Hall, began around October 23, 2023. Her motivation to participate was fueled by feelings of helplessness while doomscrolling through her phone. Attending rallies felt like the minimum she could do in response to the crisis.

Though Gabrielle is not Palestinian, her work in fashion has brought her into contact with Arab and Muslim designers. Hearing their grief made the crisis feel personally close.

Thomas, 62, a mechanical engineer who spent most of his career in the steel industry, lives in Wollongong with his wife and has three children and seven grandchildren. For him, activism is a privilege, but also a moral responsibility.

I

n the heart of Gaza, under the suffocating weight of a relentless genocide, the name Anas Al-Sharif stands as a luminous beacon of courage, truth, and unwavering dedication. A journalist for Aljazeera Arabic, Al-Sharif devoted his life to documenting the brutal realities endured by the Palestinian people—stories marked not by mere genocide but by systematic extermination and destruction.

His frontline reports from the northern Gaza Strip, delivered amidst shelling and destruction, offered the world an unvarnished window into a region subjected to one of the most severe humanitarian catastrophes of our time. Yet, his story transcends the tragedy of his death; it is a testament to the enduring spirit of those who risk everything to bear witness, even as the forces of genocide seek to silence them.

Born in 1996 in the Jabalia refugee camp, Anas Al-Sharif’s childhood was shaped by the legacy of displacement and the harsh realities of life under siege. His family’s history is rooted in the 1948 Nakba, when Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes in Al-Majdal. This history of dispossession instilled in him a profound commitment to telling the stories of his people—stories that might otherwise be erased from global memory.

From a young age, Al-Sharif viewed journalism as more than a career; it was a vital instrument of resistance and a means of survival. He began his media career at the Al-Shamal Media Network before joining Aljazeera Arabic, where he rose to become one of its most prominent correspondents in Gaza’s northern frontlines. His fearless approach to reporting, characterized by his steadfast presence amidst bombardments wearing his press vest and helmet, gained him recognition not only for the risks he took but also for the uncompromising integrity and humanity that infused his work.

Deeply personal journalism

Al-Sharif’s journalism was deeply personal. He was not just a reporter; he was a husband and father to two young children—a daughter named Sham and a son named Salah—who carried with them his hopes for a future beyond the rubble. He famously vowed to “report until my last breath,” a pledge that became tragically prophetic.

His presence on the frontlines was not an act of recklessness but a deliberate choice. Each report was an act of bearing witness against a genocidal campaign, designed to ensure that the human cost of the assault on Gaza was seen, heard, and never forgotten by a world that preferred to look away.

In every frame he captured and every word he spoke, Al-Sharif transformed journalism into a powerful weapon against injustice and silence. His mission was simple yet profound: “To tell the story of Gaza from the ground, from the heart.” His work was an unfiltered counter-narrative to attempts at erasure and denial, providing raw testimony amid the smoke and rubble.

In many videos captured by Anas Al-Sharif, his daughter Sham and son Salah appear, carrying with them the purest hope amid the destruction. These tender moments with his children reveal the deeply human side of a man who devoted his life to giving Gaza a voice. Sham and Salah, now fatherless at a young age, represent one million children in Gaza living through indescribably painful stories, struggling to find normalcy under the shadow of loss and violence.

A family man

In a poignant post shared by Anas’s wife, Bayan, on January 22, 2025, she reflected on the heart-wrenching yet hopeful reunion between Anas and his children after fifteen months of separation due to genocide, displacement, and devastation:

“My husband Anas met Sham and Salah after 15 months of war, displacement, and destruction. Though the time was short compared to their young lives, each day carried the pain of absence and the weight of longing. This moment felt like a new birth for hearts worn down by separation, as souls torn apart by war gathered again under a roof of love and yearning. Thank God for reuniting us after all this pain.”

Her words capture the depth of suffering experienced by Palestinian families, reflecting a painful reality shared by two millions in Gaza every day.

Some videos circulating online captures his life, and one of these shows a tender reunion with his daughter Sham. I have saved the video, replaying it countless times—watching how they embraced tightly, exchanged kisses, and how their eyes locked in a gaze filled with longing and deep yearning. In the background, his trembling voice calls out, “Yaba, wayn ya rouhi, ya omri” (Dad, where are you, my soul, my life), “wayn enti” (Where are you?), “eshtaqtellik” (I missed you).

The second video shows Anas breaking down in tears as he documents the massacres around him. Through his tears, he heard the voices of his hungry people urging him on: “Keep going, Anas, you are our voice.” He wrote in response:

“Indeed, I could not hold back my tears at the horror of these massacres, but the cries of my starving people rang beside me: ‘Keep going, Anas, do not stop, you are our voice.’ By God, this is my sole mission—to carry the voice of the forsaken, the besieged, the starving people of Gaza.”

The brutal reality of this mission was made clear on August 10, 2025, when an Israeli airstrike targeted a media tent outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, killing Al-Sharif along with four fellow Aljazeera journalists—Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa.

This was not accidental. It was a premeditated attack on press freedom, a war crime under international law, carried out in the midst of a genocidal siege aimed at destroying not only the Palestinian people but the very mechanisms through which their suffering could be reported to the world.

The immediate aftermath was marked by condemnation from media organisations, journalists’ rights groups, and international observers who recognized this strike as part of a broader campaign to silence independent reporting. Aljazeera called it “a blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom,” describing it as a desperate attempt to erase voices exposing the systematic occupation and obliteration of Gaza.

The toll on Gaza’s media workers

This attack fits into a wider, deeply troubling context. According to the most recent data compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists and corroborated by independent observers, over 270 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, marking the deadliest period for the press in any war zone in recorded history.

These deaths are not “collateral damage.” They are the consequence of a systematic strategy—part of a genocidal campaign—that targets journalists to obscure the scope of the atrocities being committed. By attacking the press, the perpetrators seek to blind the international community, cutting off the flow of information and crippling accountability.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression had already issued dire warnings about the escalating threats facing journalists in Gaza, highlighting Israeli military campaigns specifically targeting media personnel. Yet, despite these warnings, the international response has been insufficient, allowing these violations to continue with near impunity.

The final message: A testament of defiance

In the wake of his assassination, Al-Sharif’s final words were released, resonating deeply as both a personal testament and a rallying cry. This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”

“O God, accept me among the martyrs, forgive me my sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people.”

These words capture a lifetime of defiance and commitment, embodying the spirit of a man who fully understood the dangers he faced but refused to let fear dictate his mission.

Al-Sharif’s final message transcends mourning; it is a call to the world to remember the profound human cost of this genocide and to resist efforts to erase truth through violence.

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majority of Americans believe that all United Nations member states should recognize Palestine as a sovereign nation, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week, as Israel and Hamas consider a possible ceasefire in the nearly two-year-long Gaza genocide.

The nationwide survey, conducted over six days and concluding Monday, found that 58% of respondents support universal recognition of a Palestinian state, while 33% opposed the idea and 9% expressed no opinion. The findings come at a time of mounting humanitarian concerns in Gaza and growing international pressure on Israel.

The poll revealed a sharp partisan divide on the issue. Among Democrats, support for Palestinian recognition was overwhelming, with 78% in favor. In contrast, only 41% of Republicans backed the move, while a narrow majority of 53% opposed it. Independents were more evenly split but leaned toward recognition.

The results suggest a gradual shift in U.S. public opinion, traditionally aligned with Israel, as the war drags on and civilian suffering escalates. Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s genocide has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians and displaced the majority of Gaza’s population, according to local health authorities.

Humanitarian concerns drive support for action

Beyond the question of statehood, the poll found that 65% of Americans believe the U.S. should take action to alleviate starvation in Gaza, a sentiment echoed by recent statements from Western allies including Britain, Canada, and Australia, which have warned of “unimaginable” humanitarian suffering in the enclave. Twenty-eight percent of respondents opposed U.S. intervention to prevent hunger, including 41% of Republicans.

The United Nations human rights office said this week that Israel has not allowed sufficient humanitarian supplies into Gaza to prevent famine.

The survey comes just weeks after Canada, Britain, and France announced their intention to recognize a Palestinian state, adding to Israel’s diplomatic challenges as it faces criticism over its military strategy and settlement expansion. On Wednesday, an Israeli government statement confirmed final approval for a contentious settlement plan cutting across occupied West Bank land sought by Palestinians for a future state.

Israel relies heavily on U.S. military aid and diplomatic backing, and analysts say declining American public support could carry long-term implications for this relationship.

U.S. policy still aligned with Israel—for now

Despite shifting public opinion, the Biden administration has maintained its stance that recognition of a Palestinian state should come through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, not unilateral moves. Former President Donald Trump and many Republicans continue to prioritize an “America First” foreign policy, favoring cuts to overseas aid programs.

The poll suggests that Americans are increasingly critical of Israel’s conduct in Gaza: 59% said Israel’s military response has been excessive, up from 53% in a similar Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in February 2024.

The online poll surveyed 4,446 adults across the United States and carries a margin of error of about 2 percentage points.

(Source: Reuters)

On July 2, 2025, the UK House of Commons overwhelmingly approved a motion to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, with 385 MPs voting in favor and just 26 against. The decision was subsequently endorsed by the House of Lords on 3rd July. As a result, the proscription officially came into effect on 5th July, making it a criminal offence to support or be associated with the group under UK law.

Following the designation, the Metropolitan Police updated their official news site with a public statement, titled “Update on policing in London following proscription of Palestine Action.” The statement reads:

“Palestine Action has now been proscribed by the UK Government and expressing support for them is a criminal offence in the UK. There are a number of events taking place in London this weekend, and anyone attending should be aware that officers policing these will act where criminal offences, including those related to support of proscribed groups or organisations, are committed.”

The proscription, under the Terrorism Act 2000, grants police additional powers to intervene where individuals or groups are seen to be endorsing or facilitating a proscribed organization.

The Road to Proscription: From Warnings to Crackdown

Talks of proscribing Palestine Action have been circulating in government circles since late 2023, as the group’s high-profile actions escalated. Their direct-action campaigns, including the occupation of Elbit Systems sites in Leicester and Bristol, and the targeting of weapons factories and offices connected to the Israeli arms trade, drew both media attention and condemnation from officials.

As public support for Palestine surged amid Israel’s escalating military operations in Gaza, government ministers began signaling a harder line. In October 2023, then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman sharply criticized pro-Palestine demonstrations, branding them “hate marches.” She drew no distinction between peaceful protesters and violent ones, stating: “To my mind, there is only one way to describe those marches, they are hate marches.”

Who Are Palestine Action and Why Are They Targeted?

To understand the gravity of the UK government’s recent decision to proscribe Palestine Action, it’s important to consider who the group is and why it has been targeted.

Founded in 2020, Palestine Action is a direct-action network known for its disruptive protests against British complicity in Israel’s military operations, particularly through targeting Elbit Systems UK, a major arms manufacturer supplying drones and weapons to the Israeli military.

The group’s tactics include occupying factory rooftops, damaging equipment, and defacing buildings with red paint to symbolize Palestinian blood. While these methods are confrontational, they are non-violent. Supporters argue the actions are a necessary form of civil disobedience to expose and disrupt what they describe as the UK’s role in human rights abuses in Gaza.

The U.K. government’s move to proscribe Palestine Action came shortly after activists breached a Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, on the 20th June. Members of the group damaged two military aircraft, in which the Police estimated that the damage caused by the incident amounted to approximately £7 million.

The incident marked a sharp escalation in the group’s direct-action tactics and appears to have been a key trigger for the government’s decision to invoke terrorism legislation.

Palestine Action does not use weapons or target civilians; instead, it targets corporate infrastructure linked to international conflict, a distinction now at the heart of a contentious national debate.

The Public Pushback: What’s at Stake?

Since the ban on Palestine Action took effect, the Metropolitan Police, also known as the Met Police or the Met, which is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within Greater London, has cracked down on public displays of support for the group. In Parliament Square, Met Police officers arrested over 20 demonstrators, many holding placards reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

Key developments include:

• 29 protesters have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences.
• The group was officially proscribed as a terrorist organization after a last-minute legal challenge to delay the ban at the Court of Appeal failed.
• Palestine Action now joins a list of banned organisations including al-Qaeda, ISIS (Daesh), and Hezbollah.
• Membership or support for the group is a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
• Even wearing a T-shirt or badge with the group’s name can result in a maximum six-month prison sentence.

Among those arrested was Reverend Sue Parfitt, aged 83, an emblematic figure of the broad crackdown.

Leslie Tate, a 76-year-old Green Party councilor, condemned the ban as “the creeping edge of totalitarianism” and called the protests “necessary to defend our democracy.”

What does this mean for future activism in the UK?

The proscription of Palestine Action is not an isolated event but part of a broader democratic challenge facing the UK. Growing emphasis on security concerns is increasingly influencing political discourse, sometimes at the expense of fundamental civil liberties.

Democracies depend on dissent, protest, and the freedom to question authority. When protest is criminalized, the balance of power can shift away from citizens toward the state.

Critics caution that equating disruptive but non-violent activism with terrorism risks blurring vital democratic boundaries.

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n the midst of genocide taking place in Gaza by Israel, Turkey rebuffs claims of military collaboration with Israel, an assertion vehemently criticized by Ankara for the violence inflicted upon innocent Palestinians.

Turkey’s Defense Ministry swiftly dismissed allegations of any cooperation with Israel, particularly in the defense sector, emphasizing the nation’s unwavering support for Palestine.

“It is not possible for the Republic of Turkey, which has always supported Palestine, to engage in any activities that would harm the Palestinians,” stated the ministry on Tuesday.

“The National Defense Ministry has no dealings with Israel, including military training, exercises, or defense industry collaboration.”

False reports

The statement comes in response to reports circulating in certain media outlets suggesting Turkey’s continued export of firearms, weapons, and ammunition to Israel.

Separately, Turkey’s Presidency Directorate of Communications Center for Countering Disinformation refuted these claims after scrutinizing several social media posts.

“The products listed in the alleged export list’s 93rd chapter do not pertain to war weapons and ammunition, but rather include ungrooved rifle spare parts, accessories, and fishing equipment used for individual purposes such as sports and hunting,” the center affirmed.

“Additionally, the products exported under the heading ‘Gunpowder and explosives, pyrotechnic products, matches, pyrophoric alloys, combustible preparations’ in the 36th chapter of the export list were ‘gel fuel and lighter fluid.'”

Ankara has long advocated for a two-state solution, championing an independent Palestine even before the latest genocide in Palestine. This time, Turkey has intensified its criticism of the United States for its overt support of what President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has labeled as “war crimes” committed by the Netanyahu administration against innocent Palestinians.

Turkey supports Palestine

Instead, Turkey has collaborated with Egypt, which hosts the only feasible land crossing with Gaza for delivering aid. Since the onset of the Gaza genocide, Turkey has dispatched thousands of tons of aid to Egypt for further delivery to Gaza, employing military planes or vessels for transportation. Turkish charities have also organized nationwide campaigns to collect donations for the people of Gaza.

The Israeli military offensive on the Palestinian territory, initiated following a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, has resulted in a staggering loss of life and widespread destruction. Despite international calls for an immediate cease-fire, Israel has persisted in its military campaign.

As the genocide continues unabated, Gaza’s civilian population faces dire circumstances, with the majority displaced internally and essential resources in critically short supply. The situation has drawn condemnation from international bodies, with Israel facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Turkey has also been subjected to false claims and disinformation campaigns, including allegations of providing military equipment to Israel. However, Turkey has remained resolute in its stance in support of Palestine and has shelved plans for normalization with Israel in light of the recent hostilities.

Source: Daily Sabah

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srael launched an all-out attack on Gaza on October 7, citing a counterattack for Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Gaza was first heavily bombed from the air, sea, and land for twenty days, and then a three-phase land operation was launched on October 27, supposedly to clear Gaza of Hamas.

Israel’s three-phase operation plan

In the first phase of the operation, the 40-kilometer-long Gaza Strip was cut in half, with the northern part divided into sectors to be screened and cleared of threats. Armored units were then introduced into these sectors and sweeping operations began. The Israeli army, which destroyed almost 70 percent of the buildings in the northern region where Gaza City is located, meanwhile asked the civilians living in the region to move to Khan Younis in the south for their own safety.

In the second phase, the town of Khan Younis, which had been declared a safe zone for civilians, was targeted and the superstructure there was severely damaged, while civilians sheltering in the area were told to move to Rafah in the south.

At the end of four months, the Israeli army had killed nearly 30,000 civilians, injured 70,000, and displaced about 1.5 million Palestinians, forcing them to migrate first to the south and then, if possible, to third countries. To make this possible, it has flouted international law and not refrained from committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Israel’s current target is the town of Rafah, now the last frontier, and some 1.5 million Palestinians who have taken refuge there. It wants to enter Rafah and destroy and depopulate it, and in order to do so, it is trying to distract the world with a series of lies.

Israel’s arguments for the humanitarian attack

When Israel launched its attacks on Gaza on October 7, it claimed that its main objective was to rid Gaza of Hamas. However, from the first day, it became clear that its problem was not only Hamas: its aim was to destroy the whole of Gaza and depopulate the region by killing as many Gazans as possible.

In fact, according to reports by certain Jewish think tanks, all this is being done to return Gaza to its pre-2005 status.

In order to achieve this goal, Israel has indiscriminately bombed all settlements, hospitals, schools, and holy places of Muslims and Christians, as well as United Nations camps and aid facilities, and massacred tens of thousands of civilians. In doing so, it has resorted to lies such as claims that Hamas is hiding in tunnels dug under buildings, using civilians as human shields, or that those who appear to be civilians are in fact Hamas fighters.

As the Israeli army advanced from the north to the south of Gaza, it claimed that there were either hostages in the area or that Hamas leaders were hiding there, in an attempt to legitimize the attacks and massacres of civilians.

Egypt’s position on Rafah

Although the Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only link to the outside world, is open to Egypt, Egypt does not control it alone: when the gate is opened, how long it remains open, and who and what is allowed to pass through it are determined in coordination with Israel.

This joint control is based on the agreements Israel made with Egypt when it withdrew from Sinai in 1982 and from Gaza in 2005. In the agreements, Egypt guaranteed that it would provide the necessary controls at the Rafah gate for Israel’s security and that it would not open the gate without Israel’s consent, this has been the case with the exception of the Morsi period.

During these recent attacks, Egypt has opened the gate to humanitarian aid in a controlled manner and is, in fact, the country most opposed to Israel’s recent aggressive rhetoric against Rafah. Egypt estimates that 1.5 million Palestinians waiting in Rafah will gather at the border in the event of a possible attack, and it perceives Palestinian infiltration into its territory as a threat to national security.

On the other hand, according to rumors, it was proposed to Egypt to take the Palestinians from Gaza and settle them in Sinai in return for the payment of Egypt’s debts to the IMF and new economic aid worth about $20-25 billion. The Egyptian government allegedly did not accept the offer and even tried to cancel the Camp David Peace Accord signed with Israel in 1979.

Recent reports in international media claim that Egypt has started to build concrete walls one kilometer from the Rafah border gate to temporarily shelter Palestinians crossing the border in case of an Israeli attack on Rafah. In this way, the Palestinians forced to migrate by Israel will be given temporary shelter before entering Egypt, and a de facto buffer zone will be created.

In has also been reported that during President Erdoğan’s visit to Egypt on February 14, bilateral relations and the situation in Gaza were discussed and an agreement was reached that the two countries would work together to protect the Palestinians who would be crowded at the border in the event of an Israeli attack on Rafah. Turkey’s support alleviated pressure on Egypt and allowed it to take a firmer stand against Israel.

Latest situation in Rafah

The population of Rafah, which was around 300,000 before the war, increased to approximately 1.5 million with the arrival of those who had to flee from the north. Since the city was unable to accommodate this number of people and meet their needs, most of this population was directed by the Israeli forces to the al-Mawasi area on the coast.

However, as there are no shelters or food supplies in the Mavasi area, and as it is completely defenseless, it is inevitable that hundreds of thousands of people will die of hunger and disease before the Israeli attacks unless the necessary aid is delivered.

Although Rafah is currently Gaza’s only gateway to the world, Israeli restrictions mean that only a small proportion of the aid arriving at the Egyptian port of al-Arish is allowed into Gaza. Israel’s attacks on UN camps and aid warehouses in Gaza have also disrupted the flow of aid from the UN, particularly the UNRWA. The situation in Rafah is, thus, worsening by the day.

International reactions to the possible attack

A possible Israeli attack on Rafah is opposed by the countries of the region, the OIC, the UN, the EU, Russia, China, the African Union, and Latin American countries, as well as the U.S. administration, which has supported Israel from the beginning.

Although the U.S. administration is now opposing the Rafah attack and increasing its criticism of the Netanyahu government, it continues to veto the ceasefire resolutions in the UN Security Council and continues to support Israel with arms and ammunition. The U.S. stance has had an effect on the ground, has it not? Would the situation not be different now if the U.S. were not vetoing a ceasefire and sending support.

Meanwhile, the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was accepted and an interim decision was announced on January 26. The decision did not include a ceasefire decision, but comprised the decision for Israel to stop its actions, which constitute the crime of genocide, and to take action against those responsible. These developments undeniably affected the international public’s view of Israel negatively.

Israel is now a genocide suspect and has lost the privileges it enjoyed as a Holocaust victim.

In addition, 52 countries, including Turkey, made oral statements at the ICJ during the advisory hearings which took place on February 19-26, “on the situation in Jerusalem and the legal consequences of Israel’s violation and occupation of the Palestinian right to self-determination.” His statement also showed the growing reaction against Israel.

At the same time, many investigations against Israel are underway in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and it may be possible to file criminal cases against those responsible for the genocide crimes committed by Israel based on the decisions of the ICJ or even before.

W

ill the conflict that began after Israel’s disproportionate and genocidal attacks on Gaza following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by Hamas on October 7 turn into a regional war? First, it is useful to emphasize that Operation Al-Aqsa Flood caused a major rupture not only in the Palestinian-Israeli issue, but in the Middle East as a whole. October 7 opened the door to a period in which many regional and global actors will have to rethink their policies. The Arab uprisings and revolutions that began in late 2010 and the processes of “restoring and strengthening despotism and normalizing Israel” that began after the weakening/collapse of the Arab states will also have to fail or evolve in a different direction.

The fact that Israel was unexpectedly dealt a heavy blow by Hamas and was unable to inflict serious damage on the organization despite its massive and endless attacks for almost four months has caused deep concern to Israel and its supporters. As a result, Israel has launched genocidal attacks against the civilian population of Gaza in the name of destroying Hamas. The fact that some 70% of those killed in Gaza so far have been children and women is an indicator not only of Israel’s brutality but also of its impotence: unable to reach the Hamas resistance, Israel targets their families and innocent people in order to deter the organization.

In the face of these negative developments, Western supporters, knowing that Israel would try to spread the conflict to the region in order to save face and change its image, made statements to prevent Israel’s efforts. The majority of Western states, especially the U.S., which unconditionally supports Israel, know that they will be seriously affected by the spread of the conflict and are trying to take precautions against the possibility of a significant blow to their presence in the region.

The fact that Arab regimes, under the influence of Israel and Western states, do not speak out against Israel’s brutality, which has great global repercussions, and in some cases even indirectly support it, creates a new situation in the regional balance of power. As Arab governments have failed to speak out, the response of non-state actors in the region to Israel’s brutality has come to the fore.

The most effective of these was the announcement by the Houthis in Yemen that they would attack ships passing through the Red Sea after the ceasefire they called for failed to materialize. The Houthis’ targeting of merchant ships passing through the Red Sea has become one of the most significant short-term consequences and costs of the Israeli attacks on a regional and global scale. The fact that the Houthis, one of the most effective actors in the civil war in Yemen, which is the world’s poorest country facing a humanitarian crisis, attacked merchant ships in response to Israel’s brutality against the Palestinians can be seen as an example of the widening of the conflict front.

In such times, it is highly likely that unexpected negative developments will occur as leaders both maintain their personal power and make miscalculations. For example, the efforts of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to maintain his power and the efforts of U.S. President Biden to be reelected are influencing the course of developments in the region. In such fragile situations, the conflicting decisions of leaders prioritizing personal or group interests are likely to plunge the region into a deep spiral of conflict.

For example, Iran bombed parts of Pakistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism. A few days later, Pakistan retaliated by bombing some points in Iran. After this senseless attack by Iran and Pakistan’s response, the region suddenly faced a completely different axis of conflict. One of the actors targeted by Iran in this process was the Kurdistan Regional Government, which it has intimidated on several occasions with targeted bombings.

When it comes to the Middle East, Iran tries to be effective through its proxies in the region rather than through its own state institutions. For this reason, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Ansarullah (Houthis) in Yemen, and the Hashd al-Shaabi militia in Iraq work with state and non-state actors who pursue positive policies towards Iran. To deal with regional threats, Iran mostly mobilizes regional proxy actors associated with it. The main reason for choosing this method is to prevent Iran from being directly blamed by other states.

Iran also has the potential to demonstrate its deterrent power through its proxy actors. For example, in response to Israel’s recent attacks, it created a major deterrent against Israel and its supporters by mobilizing the Houthis, the most effective actor in the Yemeni civil war. Indeed, the Houthis quickly turned the Gaza conflict into a regional and even global crisis by attacking ships passing through the Red Sea.

Inactivity in the Arab Streets

Third, the response of the Arab states is very important. To date, there has been no influential Arab state that considers the Palestinian issue to be an important part of its foreign policy. Most Arab regimes want developments in the Palestinian-Israeli issue to continue in a way that will affect them as little as possible. In other words, they avoid becoming a party to the Palestine-Israel issue to the extent that they can. Only when situations directly affect them, like Israel’s project to remove the Palestinians from Palestine, do Arab states tend to oppose Israeli policies.

The expected reaction from the Arab streets could not be given because the Arab regimes have put the Arab people under serious pressure and dispersed or pacified the organized social structures in the Arab world. The fact that the Arab regimes are trying to preserve the status quo, on the one hand, and are supporting the actor(s) that are changing the status quo, on the other, is also a serious paradox. For example, with the so-called Deal of the Century, which was developed under the auspices of the U.S., and the Abraham Accords, which were also signed under the auspices of the U.S., the Arab regimes wanted to completely shelve the Palestinian issue.

The Hamas attack on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli brutality put the Palestinian issue back on the regional and global agenda. In fact, in order to pursue a more flexible foreign policy and successfully complete their ongoing projects, the Arab regimes do not want the Palestinian issue to be discussed. That is why, they oppose Israel’s harsh policy. However, they do not have a position to say against Israel and the U.S.

Turkey’s Policy in the region

Fourth, it is necessary to look at Turkey’s policy in the region. By using its hard power to respond to national and/or regional threats against it and regional projects that harm its interests, Turkey pursues a relatively independent policy. Turkey pursues such a policy by emphasizing that it defends regional stability. During the normalization process over the past five years, it has sought to improve its relations with all regional states and non-state actors, including Israel and Iran. After October 7, Turkey has shown its aim, intention, and efforts to cooperate with all actors except Israel.

On the Palestine-Israel issue, Turkey argues that a response to Israel should go beyond diplomatic condemnations. However, to date, it has not been able to form a regional coalition to ensure the implementation of the guarantor model proposed by its officials, especially since the Arab states have not accepted it. With its own limited national potential, it has not been able to act effectively against the continuation of Israeli brutality, except for the delivery of humanitarian aid and efforts to create a global anti-Israeli front.

Turkey tries to follow a more comprehensive policy, thinking that the way to take an effective stance on this issue is to cooperate either with Arab states or with Western/global states. While pursuing this policy, it does not prefer to have conflictual relations with any state in the region. On the contrary, it advocates that all regional states form a common front and respond to Israel and its supporters. Therefore, it does not refrain from taking the necessary initiatives to prevent the conflict from spilling over into the wider region.

In the tumultuous landscape of the Israel-Palestine conflict, international law emerges as a critical but often elusive framework for addressing the issues at hand. Its application becomes both a beacon of hope for justice and a labyrinth where legal principles intersect with geopolitical realities. 

This month’s curated book bundle unveils a series of thought-provoking works that dissect the interplay between law, politics, and human rights in the context of Israel-Palestine. These books traverse the historical, legal, and humanitarian dimensions of the conflict, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and potential avenues for justice.

Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine by Noura Erakat contends that judicial intervention has failed to address the most pressing challenges facing the Palestinian struggle for freedom. She delves into the shortcomings of occupation law, which, rather than deterring Israel’s settlement enterprise, has proven ineffective in curbing its expansion. 

Furthermore, Erakat scrutinizes the laws of war, revealing how they have permitted the use of lethal force and widespread destruction during Israel’s military offensives in the Gaza Strip. The once-promising Oslo Accord’s two-state solution, as posited in 1993, is declared a dead letter, underscoring the need for a fresh perspective.

Justice for Some introduces a novel approach to understanding the Palestinian quest for freedom by examining the relationship between power dynamics and international law. Erakat navigates through pivotal historical moments, from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to contemporary conflicts in Gaza, illustrating how the strategic manipulation of legal frameworks has played a pivotal role in shaping the current conditions of the region.

Erakat persuasively argues that, over the past century, the application of law has disproportionately advanced the interests of Israel, highlighting that the outcome was not an inevitable consequence but rather a product of political interventions. 

This book emphasizes that law is inherently political and that its interpretation and enforcement are contingent on the actions of states and individuals. It posits that change within the legal realm is possible and that international law can become a potent force for advancing the cause of freedom when mobilized in support of a political movement.

Noura Erakat, Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019) ISBN: 9781503613577, 352 pages

Protecting Human Rights in Occupied Palestine: Working Through the United Nations offers a brilliant and authoritative exploration of the UN’s attempts to address and expose Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories since the 1967 War. 

Authored by three independent international legal experts who served as UN Special Rapporteurs, the book unveils a compelling narrative of their six-year-long, unpaid mandate to investigate and report on Israeli transgressions.

What sets this study apart is the unprecedented political independence enjoyed by the Special Rapporteurs outside the typical UN bureaucratic constraints. Despite divergent backgrounds and political perspectives, the experts unanimously confirm the routine and diverse violations of Palestinian basic rights by Israel. The book delves into their frustrations, trials, experiences, and the consensus they reached.

This collaborative effort sheds light on both the positive role the UN can play in addressing contentious issues and the geopolitical forces that hinder the implementation of international law. The vehement reactions from Israel and pro-Israeli NGOs underscore the importance of a reliable account of Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights. 

The book exposes how critics sidestep substantive charges by resorting to discrediting attacks, including accusations of anti-Semitism, aimed at undermining the credibility of the Special Rapporteurs.

While skeptics may dismiss the UN’s ability to enforce international law, this book emphasizes the impact of expert findings on shaping international public opinion and solidarity politics. The well-evidenced conclusions presented within the book have fueled transnational activism, exemplified by the growing global support for the BDS Campaign and other nonviolent external pressures.

Richard Falk, John Dugard, and Michael Lynk, Protecting Human Rights in Occupied Palestine: Working Through the United Nations (Clarity Press, 2023) ISBN: 9781949762549, 398 pages

The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: Rule by Law and the Structure of International Legal Subalternity, authored by Ardi Imseis, unravels the complexities and tensions that exist between the UN’s actions and the requirements of international law, revealing a nuanced and often contradictory relationship when it comes to Palestine. The exploration delves into the various forms that the UN’s failure to adhere to international law has taken and the far-reaching implications of such deviations. 

The book unveils a state of ‘international legal subalternity’ imposed upon Palestine and its people. It contends that the promise of justice through international law is consistently offered, yet remains elusive, perpetually withheld under the guise of political legitimacy furnished by the international community.

The book provides readers with a critical perspective on the UN’s handling of the Palestinian question. The author’s exploration invites readers to reconsider preconceptions, offering a thought-provoking analysis of Palestine’s pursuit of justice on the global stage.

Ardi Imseis, The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: Rule by Law and the Structure of International Legal Subalternity (Cambridge University Press, 2023) ISBN: 9781009076272, 303 pages

In Gaza: An Inquest to Its Martyrdom, Norman G. Finkelstein delivers a powerful and meticulously researched examination of the tragic plight befalling the Gaza Strip. As one of the world’s most densely populated areas, with a majority of inhabitants under eighteen and two-thirds classified as refugees, Gaza has been the recurrent target of eight devastating Israeli military operations since 2004. 

Finkelstein portrays the dire reality faced by its largely defenseless population, with thousands perishing and tens of thousands left homeless, exacerbated by a merciless and illegal Israeli blockade.

Finkelstein’s book, drawing on numerous human rights reports, conducts a penetrating inquest into Gaza’s martyrdom, challenging Israel’s justifications for these actions as self-defense. He convincingly argues that these assaults were blatant violations of international law. 

However, the book also unveils a disheartening narrative of the failure of international guardians, including renowned organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as the UN Human Rights Council, to adequately address Gaza’s suffering.

One of the most unsettling conclusions is the succumbing of human rights organizations to the Israeli juggernaut, particularly highlighted by Judge Richard Goldstone’s retraction of his UN report. Finkelstein’s book only serves as a tribute to Gaza’s martyrs but also stands as an act of resistance against historical forgetfulness. 

In unraveling the man-made humanitarian disaster that is Gaza, Finkelstein offers a compelling call to action, urging readers to confront the uncomfortable truths and advocate for justice in the face of ongoing tragedy.

Norman Finkelstein, Gaza: An Inquest to Its Martyrdom (University of California Press, 2021) ISBN: 9780520318335, 440 pages

Prolonged Occupation and International Law: Israel and Palestine is a significant academic study stemming from the 2018 conference on “The Threshold from Occupation to Annexation.” This collection expands the discourse on the 55-year Israeli administration of the Palestinian Territories, covering themes from colonialism to potential international criminal liability.

In response to the prevailing political inertia, the volume offers a poignant examination of international legal frameworks in the context of Palestinian life under prolonged Israeli occupation. It emphasizes the dynamism of international law, showcasing its potential, when coupled with imagination and social movements, to advance justice in Palestine and beyond.

This scholarly collection, featuring contributions from renowned experts, provides a comprehensive exploration of fundamental legal issues arising from Israel’s prolonged occupation of Palestine. It serves as a crucial resource, weaving together rigorous analysis and lived experiences to guide a nuanced understanding of the challenges posed by prolonged occupation and the quest for justice.

Nada Kiswanson and Susan Power, Prolonged Occupation and International Law: Israel and Palestine (Brill, 2023) ISBN: 9789004503922, 402 pages

In the shadow of the birth of Israel seventy years ago, the Palestinian refugee question remains an enduring and complex crisis, making it one of the most protracted post-WWII refugee issues. With over six million refugees scattered across the Middle East, their status is intricately tied to the political circumstances surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the specific state or territory ‘hosting’ them. Despite the foundational role of international law in addressing their plight, it often takes a backseat in political discussions.

This compelling new edition builds upon the seminal work of its predecessor published in 1998, offering a clear and comprehensive analysis of various facets of international law relevant to Palestinian refugees. From refugee law and human rights law to humanitarian law, the book explores the intricacies of providing international protection for Palestinian refugees and delves into potential durable solutions. Notably, it examines the current interpretations of Article 1D of the 1951 Refugee Convention and various definitions of Palestinian refugees.

A key reference text, this book serves as an authoritative account of the subject, shedding light on the roles of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in relation to Palestinian refugees. It stands out for its innovative framework proposing just and durable solutions, drawing on recent developments in refugee law and a holistic, rights-based approach.

Francesca Albanese and Lex Takkenberg, Palestinian Refugees in International Law (Second Edition) (Oxford University Press, 2020) ISBN: 9780198784050, 608 pages

T

he idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine was implemented by the European secular Jewish elite in the 19th century. Fueled by anti-Semitism in Europe, the First Zionist Congress convened to bring this project to light. In keeping with the spirit of the times, Zionist ideas embraced colonialism. Like the early colonialists’ disregard for the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Zionists viewed Palestine as an “empty land.”

Despite the inclusion of the Ottoman Empire in the Concert of Europe and the long history of Ottoman subjects there, wishful thinking persisted, driven by a singular goal: the elimination of the indigenous Palestinian population by any necessary means.

This colonialist mindset took root when the British invaded Palestine in 1917. Jewish underground organizations, particularly the Nili, undermined Ottoman authority and paved the way for the British invasion. With the advent of British colonial rule, Jewish colonialists flocked to Palestine, provoking reactions from the Palestinian population. The Nabi Musa riots of 1920 and the Jaffa riots of 1921 were the first to protest Jewish migration. Throughout British colonial rule in Palestine, there was a series of riots in protest of the establishment of new Jewish colonies.

British protection

During this pivotal period, the Zionist colonies in Palestine coalesced into the formidable Yishuv, a political entity designed to lay the groundwork for a Jewish state by attracting more colonialists. In this calculated move, the Yishuv adopted a strategy aimed at eliminating the indigenous population of Palestine. The Jewish Legion, embedded in the invading British army, played a pivotal role in this regard, with its members serving as early recruits for the emerging colonial Zionist terror groups.

Despite the presence of Zionist terror groups like Bar-Giora and Hashomer in Palestine since 1904, their true emergence occurred under British protection. Emboldened by the promises of the Balfour Declaration, Zionist colonialists deliberately incited violence and provoked unrest across Palestine. The paramilitary Zionist organization Haganah was born during this era as the primary violence apparatus of the Yishuv; the Irgun and the Lehi split from Haganah as more radical offspring. Moreover, entities such as the Jewish Settlement Police, which was a part of British colonial rule, operated under a de facto Haganah command.

For more than three decades, the actions of Zionist terror groups cast a long shadow over Palestine. The landscape intensified during World War II as British support for Zionist colonialists became increasingly overt. An impactful fighting force took shape within Haganah, also known as “Palmach,” thanks to British training and material support. Post-World War II, Zionist terror groups pivoted their focus to challenge British colonial rule. Among the dark chapters etched in this history are the ruthless acts of Zionist terrorist groups, marked by events like the bombing of the King David Hotel on July 22, 1946, and the chilling assassination of United Nations Mediator for Palestine Folke Bernadotte on September 17, 1989.

Assassinations

In 1948, the conflict between Zionist colonialists and Palestinians escalated into a full-fledged war. The traditional perspective on the 1948 Arab-Israeli War suggests that Palestinians rejected United Nations Security Council Resolution 181 and initiated an attack on the Yishuv. However, the reality is more nuanced. As detailed in earlier sections, Zionist colonialism staunchly refuses to acknowledge the existence of the indigenous Palestinian people. In the face of any denial, it is morally prepared to entertain the notion of eliminating the entire Palestinian population.

Subsequently, exemplified by the assassination of Folke Bernadotte, Zionist colonial forces were poised to resort to terror attacks even against United Nations representatives. Their stance remained unyielding, refusing to adhere to any resolution except for the recognition of their colonial presence as a state.

The war strategy of the Zionist colonial body was to expand beyond the borders of UN Resolution 181. In addition to launching offensives into Palestinian lands outlined in the partition plan, they sought to “purify” the territories under their control through Plan Dalet. The plan aimed at ethnically cleansing Palestinian towns and villages between early 1948 and October 1948. Throughout the April-May 1948 offensives, all Zionist terror groups acted in accordance with this plan, revealing a colonial mindset more prevalent than ever, driven by the pursuit of racial integrity in historical Palestine.

The destruction of Palestinian villages

As detailed in documents published by Palestinian scholar Walid Khalidi in 1981, tactical choices in Plan Dalet included the “destruction of villages (setting fire to, blowing up, and planting mines in the debris),” especially in population centers difficult to control. The guidelines instructed to harass civilian villages and expel civilians to “Arab areas” if they resist the harassments.

In 2006, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé highlighted that Ben-Gurion’s directives, Israel’s first Prime Minister, explicitly called for the “destruction of Arab villages” and the “eviction of these villagers.” These specific orders underscore that Zionist terror was not an isolated incident; rather, it occurred in alignment with hierarchical directives from Zionist High Command, which would evolve into the state of Israel once the war was over.

The overarching goal of the entire Jewish campaign in 1948 was the “de-Arabization” of Palestine. In Haifa, the Carmeli Brigade (still a part of the Israeli army today carried direct attacks on the civilian population, while in Acre, the city’s water sources were poisoned, resulting in a devastating typhoid epidemic. Perhaps the most notorious consequence of Plan Dalet was the Deir Yassin massacre in 1948, strategically employed by Zionist colonialists as a psychological warfare tool to compel indigenous Palestinians to flee.

An Army Like No Other: How the Israeli Defence Forces Made a Nation by Haim Bresheeth Žabner provides a thought-provoking and comprehensive exploration of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and its profound impact on Israeli society and the nation’s history. As the child of Holocaust survivors who settled in Palestine in 1948, Žabner offers a unique perspective.

Initially embracing the Zionist agenda, Žabner became disillusioned during his conscription into the IDF in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Serving in the Golan Heights, he witnessed disturbing war crimes committed by the IDF.

The book delves into Israel’s formation, the establishment of the IDF, and the role of Zionist settler-colonialism and violence in asserting and expanding Israeli power. Žabner’s historical analysis highlights the foundation of Zionism on anti-Semitism and explores how Israeli society accepts the Zionist narrative through crucial roles played by schools, communities, and the IDF.

The book traces the origins of the IDF, connecting it with Zionist paramilitaries like the Palmach and Haganah, and emphasizes how impunity for actions like the Nakba became ingrained in Israeli settler-colonial society. Žabner underscores the integral role of military violence in any settler-colonial project, arguing that it is the linchpin without which such endeavors would be impossible.

However, it’s important to note that the book is not a military history but rather a social history of Israel through the IDF. The author identifies the IDF as the most constant institution in Israel’s 75-year history, receiving 96 percent of Jewish support.

Expanding on this premise, Žabner argues that the IDF is not only a formidable fighting force but also the core ideological, political, and financial institution of Israeli society. The IDF’s influence permeates every facet of Israeli life, emerging as one of the nation’s most profitable and influential industries. It is the institutionalized legacy envisioned by Ben-Gurion to create the Israeli nation and society, as he believed ‘the whole nation is the army.’

The book also emphasizes the racialized experiences of Palestinian citizens of Israel, who have historically faced inequalities and disenfranchisement, including living under a military government for the first two decades of Israel’s existence.

Challenging Israeli claims of being “Jewish and democratic,” Žabner argues that Israel has become a fully-fledged apartheid state, both in practice and de jure, drawing parallels with South Africa. The book examines how racist legislation has institutionalized legal apartheid, reinforcing the antidemocratic nature of the settler-colonial regime.

Adding a left-wing perspective, Žabner critiques liberal Zionists who argue for a “humane” or “liberal” Zionism, contending that such positions deny the inherent inequalities within the Zionist project. He challenges the narrative of equality propagated by liberal Zionism, asserting that it serves as a cover for actions violating human rights and international law.

In conclusion, An Army Like No Other provides an eye-opening examination of the IDF and its role in shaping Israel. Žabner’s work challenges conventional assumptions about true peace in the region, calling for a reevaluation of these notions from an informed historical perspective.

Haim Bresheeth Žabner, An Army Like No Other: How the Israeli Defence Forces Made a Nation (Verso, 2020) ISBN: 9781788737845, 448 pages

T

he Israeli-Palestinian conflict has polarized Africa. The earlier reflection of this was seen in Israel’s attempt to join the African Union. It has become clear that African countries that have cordial relations with Western countries side with Israel on Gaza. The Middle East and Gaza in particular has divided African nations one more time.

The Palestinian cause, whose origin dates back to 1917, remains important in the global system today. Israel’s occupation of Palestine, which began in 1948, is important not only for the Middle East, but also for countries struggling against colonialism, such as numerous countries in Africa. Israel’s inhumane practices in Palestine, i.e., apartheid, displacement, injustice, and disregard for human rights, are practices that African countries have also been subjected to and have similar intersections with many of the practices of colonial forces in Africa in the past, such as capitalism and dispossession.

Israel’s occupation of Palestine based on strategies similar to those that underpinned colonialism and apartheid in Africa has survived despite 75 years of criticism and reactions. In fact, Israel’s unfair land acquisition/usurpation of Palestinian lands, the blockade in Gaza, the apartheid wall in the West Bank, the failure to treat the real owners of the land as human beings, its discriminatory policies, and practices in place stopping the Palestinian people from practicing their culture and beliefs as they wish are all part of Africa’s dark legacy. It all feels like a familiar memory. These difficulties are an important factor in the Palestinian people empathizing with the injuries and inequalities experienced during the colonial period, on the one side, and in the peoples of Africa supporting the Palestinians’ struggle for freedom, on the other.

This intersectionality is emphasized in the statement by Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, who said, “Our freedom will be incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people.” The fact that South Africa’s support for Palestine has attracted the most attention in Africa is a reflection of a sensitivity towards the apartheid system. While this is an example of solidarity extending from one continent to another, it is also a strong message that emphasizes support for societies that share similar difficulties, evils, and injustices.

The African Union’s position

Africa’s solidarity with Palestine is based on Palestine’s solidarity with Africa. Historically, the Palestinians see their struggle for liberation in the context of the struggles of most African countries against Western colonialism. Resolution 77 (XII) adopted by the African Union in 1975 states, “The racist regime in occupied Palestine and the racist regimes in Zimbabwe and South Africa have common imperialist origins, form a whole and have the same racist structure and policies aimed at the suppression of human dignity and integrity.”

The African Union has taken decisions on Palestine that are fundamentally supportive of its independence and sovereignty, and aim at ensuring a just and lasting peace between the two countries. The African Union supports the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian question, and takes the position that the capital of the Palestinian state will be East Jerusalem. However, not all members of the African Union, which has 55 members in total, have the same opinion, and each country takes a position within the framework of different national interests. For example, countries such as Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda support Israel and condemn Hamas.

Competition and new opportunities for cooperation on the African continent are leading some countries to move away from the united stance of the past and towards pragmatic relations. In this context, Israel’s initiative to become an observer member of the African Union in 2021 was viewed by the African Union Commission as controversial. However, following this decision, several countries such as South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Namibia, Botswana, Comoros, Tunisia, Djibouti, and Mauritania announced their opposition to the decision.

The African Union responded to the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel with a statement issued through the African Union Commission calling for an end to the attacks and encouraging the parties to negotiate a two-state agreement as the only solution to the conflict.

Forty-six of the 55 African Union member states have established diplomatic, economic, and development cooperation with Israel. This cooperation has not, however

Division in Africa after October 7

The conflict between Hamas and Israel which began on October 7, 2023 has revealed divisions in public opinion in Africa and world. While some states claim that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas’s attacks, others stress that Israel continues to occupy Palestine and separate the Palestinian people living in Gaza and the West Bank, viewing Hamas’s attacks on Israel as justified.

In the face of Israel’s massacres in Gaza, some African countries abstained from voting for a ceasefire at the UN General Assembly, namely Tunisia, Gabon, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Zambia. Countries such as Kenya and Rwanda are among those supporting Israel. While Rwanda issued a statement “expressing its deepest condolences and sympathy to the government and people of Israel following the attacks on Israeli territory,” Kenya’s foreign minister also condemned the attack in Israel and said he was “saddened by the tragedy.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s interest in African countries has increased in recent years. As diplomatic relations have grown, so has cooperation in areas such as defense and security, counterterrorism, intelligence, and border control. In addition, arms transfers between African countries and Israel have reached a remarkable level. In fact, over the past decade, various arms transfers have taken place between Israel and countries such as Senegal, Morocco, Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Uganda, and Zambia. In fact, the silence of some African countries on Israel’s genocide and massacres in Gaza is due to their dependence on the West and Israel in political, economic, and security terms.

Determined support for Palestine in Africa

According to research by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), Israel’s military operations against Gaza have sparked a wave of protests and rallies around the world. Protests over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which account for 38% of global demonstrations, are estimated at 4,200 in total. More than 3,700 of these demonstrations were pro-Palestinian and more than 520 pro-Israeli. Morocco is the country with the most pro-Palestinian protests (267 protests in total) despite its government remaining close to Israel.

There are also countries on the continent that are reacting against Israel’s bloody policy, massacres, and genocide in Gaza. Countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Chad, and Algeria have taken actions that go beyond expressing support for Palestine. For example, while the Nigerian Senate called for a ceasefire and the start of negotiations for a two-state solution, South Africa called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. South Africa went a step further and issued statements accusing Israel of genocide and war crimes. Chad also supported South Africa, which recalled its diplomats from Israel and withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has polarized Africa. An earlier reflection of this polarization was seen in Israel’s attempt to join the African Union. African countries that have friendly relations with Western countries side with Israel on the Palestinian issue. However, the people of these countries, who have experienced pain similar to that of Palestine in the past, do not always agree with their governments. The structure of the international system is reflected in today’s relations between states and the countries with which they are heavily interdependent. Areas of economic cooperation are undoubtedly reflected in global politics, and Africa’s positions and reactions on the Palestinian issue should be read in this context.

However, the African people, who have brutally experienced firsthand mankind’s disregard for human life, stand by the Palestinian people, regardless of their rulers and policies that support Israel against Palestine. Africans’ principled stances and the positions of the governments that govern them are not aligned. All in all, Africa’s position on the Palestinian issue is weakening the continent’s standing with divisions between governments and societies, and between countries supporting Palestine and those supporting Israel.

“The media is the most powerful thing in the world. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

Malcolm X

Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack, known as Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, on October 7, another war has been waged on the internet with Israel flooding social networking sites with misleading information and fake news. These propaganda campaigns, led by fake pro-Israel accounts, challenge the Palestinian narrative and attack the Palestinian resistance. The fake campaigns have been accompanied by a fierce media war waged by Israel, using a policy of misinformation and lies to deceive global public opinion.

In more than one case, Western media organizations and presidents have repeated Israeli claims without verifying them. Israel’s claim that Hamas killed 40 Israeli children and beheaded them is perhaps the most prominent example of recent Israeli media misinformation.

Cyber army

Coinciding with the ongoing war in Gaza, dozens of fake accounts suddenly appeared online, relentlessly attacking Hamas and the Palestinian resistance. As a journalist and researcher specializing in diplomacy and digital media in times of conflict and war, I noticed the random and unusual appearance of dozens of accounts across social media platforms, most notably X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

Some of these accounts appeared shortly before the war, but they all have the following in common: they impersonate Arab or unknown identities, place the flags of Arab countries next to the Israeli flag, and all repeat the same story, whether as individual tweets or as comments on news and events disseminated on digital platforms. Many of these profiles also deliberately incite strife among Arab peoples by referring to the political and historical differences between them, such as the differences between Morocco and Algeria, and the political problems between Iraq and Kuwait.

I have also noticed that many of these fake accounts follow everything that is published about the war on famous Arabic digital platforms , such as the Al Jazeera website, Al Jazeera Mubasher, and TRT Arabia , in order to attack the Palestinian resistance and the people of Gaza in general. I followed some of these accounts and found that they are constantly commenting on war news with the same content, the same words, and the same narrative. Some of them even go further and leave comments that are meant to anger and provoke their followers.

Between Mossad and “Pallywood”

The cyber war is not limited to fake accounts and includes accounts claiming to be affiliated with official Israeli entities, including an account claiming to be the Israeli National Intelligence Agency (Mossad) on the X platform. The account with the blue authentication mark has more than 100,000 followers.

Shayan Sardarizadeh, a journalist who specializes on online misinformation for BBC Monitoring, was one of the first to discover that the account was not real, exposing the truth about one of the videos it had posted. The video, posted on the tenth day of the war, claimed to show Israel’s Iron Beam, a directed-energy weapon air defence system, but Sardarizadeh revealed that it was, in fact, the video game Arma 3. Since then, the administrators of the account in question have changed its name and continue to spread misinformation.

Such misinformation has been accepted by many in the world as established fact.  The ongoing war has brought back the use of the word “Pallywood,” a portmanteau of “Palestine” and “Hollywood,” used by Israel years ago to discredit Palestinian narratives and claim that Palestinians were cinematically representing their suffering. The hashtag has proliferated during the war with misleading, out-of-context images and videos accusing Palestinians of faking their deaths and injuries in Gaza.

Take, for example, the misleading information about Gaza activist Saleh al-Jaafrawi, who has played a major role in exposing and publishing dozens of clips documenting Israeli massacres during the current war. Al-Jaafari angered Israel, which launched a massive campaign against him, accusing him of lying, misleading, and acting, and dubbing him a “Hamas Pallywood actor.” The use of the term is intended to strip the Palestinians of their humanity and to distort their image worldwide.

Organized electronic campaigns 

An investigation by Innovative Contractors for Advanced Dimensions (ICAD), that specializes in open source intelligence, has revealed the truth about many digital accounts attacking the Palestinian resistance and criticizing Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. The investigation, conducted in October 2023, revealed that organized electronic committees are behind these accounts, as they repeat the exact same phrases and use the same emoticons on more than one digital platform to create an imaginary public opinion.

According to the investigation, the fake accounts have the same digital characteristics, as they impersonate a specific country, tweet in broken Arabic, and their number of followers does not exceed 50. The evidence points to accounts that work in an organized electronic fly group, the name used to refer to online bots and harassers and trolls,  and deliberate manner to achieve certain political goals.

There are specific clues to determine the authenticity of social networking accounts: if a profile is newly created and suddenly shares a large amount of content that is divisive, misleading, and sometimes contradictory, it is likely to be fake or operated by certain people or entities for political purposes. This is true of dozens of accounts I have tracked during the current Israeli war on Gaza.

The fake accounts work within organized committees or are affiliated with a certain party, which leads us to Israeli hasbara, the Hebrew word for propaganda and misinformation.

The term “hasbara” was first coined in the early 20th century by the Zionist activist Nahum Sokolow. It was later used as a synonym for public relations, but in reality, it is nothing more than an organized program to spread Israeli political propaganda around the world with major government and security support. Hasbara efforts often target Western political elites, opinion leaders, and the general public, and involve almost every Israeli government institution, including the army, the Foreign Ministry, NGOs, universities, research centers, advocacy groups, and even students.

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he “Jewish problem,” which the Western world defined as such and has made efforts to resolve up to a century ago, was thrown into the Islamic world as a bomb with a Zionist-Evangelical alliance. Due to the chaos caused by World War I in the Islamic world and the instability that emerged after the Ottoman Empire was forced to withdraw from the Arab world, Jewish invaders, who were encouraged by the West to migrate by force, began to settle in Palestine under the auspices of Britain. The Palestinian territories and the geography of Jerusalem were occupied over time as a result of raids on villages and towns by Jewish terrorist organizations, and this de facto situation gave birth to “Israel” in 1948.

The “Jewish problem” of the Western world became the “Israel problem” of the Islamic world, and Palestine turned into an all-out cause. On its 75th anniversary, this occupying power, which still acts with the reflex of an organization and tries to destabilize the region and feed on the violence and chaos it causes, has been condemned and isolated by the world’s collective conscience following the recent massacres it has perpetrated. Palestinians, on the other hand, have succeeded in turning their cause into humanity’s common cause by passing the flag of resistance against this century-old policy of occupation, plunder, and usurpation from generation to generation. In the face of the disproportionate attacks and massacres they suffered after the raid on the occupation outpost in the Gaza envelope on October 7, 2023, the Palestinians have given their struggle for freedom a global dimension.

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood started as a reaction to the silent death of Gaza for the last two decades, but has also led to regional mobilization and change. Faced with the threat of expulsion from their land, the Palestinians did not leave their homeland in the face of the bombardment, exposing the “de-Palestinization of Palestine” project that has been talked about in the occupation circles for decades. In fact, this plan is a continuation of the policy of occupying the land and expelling its inhabitants, which has been practiced since 1948.

Today, 70% of Gaza’s population is made up of Palestinians who have been expelled from their land over the last 75 years; in other words, people who have been forced to become refugees in their own homeland. The people of Gaza, who have been subjected to ethnic cleansing by Israel for its own survival and to obtain a Jewish-majority territorial integrity, did not leave their land of refuge, this time at the risk of death.

The Abraham Accords (Safqat al-Qarn/The “Deal of the Century”) 

With the Arab revolutions that started in Tunisia in 2011 and spread across the Arab world, particularly in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, the Palestinian issue took a back seat. Peaceful street demonstrations, which started with demands for freedom, justice, and dignity, eventually turned into civil wars in some countries, and nearly ten times the number of people who were massacred in the Palestinian territories over the course of the century lost their lives. In short, Baghdad, Damascus, Aleppo, and Yemen cannot be compared to any Palestinian city in terms of humanitarian catastrophe.

One of the two axes that emerged with the Arab revolutions was in favor of maintaining the status quo, and Israel cooperated with this axis and increased its pressure on Palestine. However, since it perceived the mass demands for change and transformation in the region as a long-term threat, it pursued a policy of rapid normalization with the Arab regimes in the region. Some Gulf monarchies, perceiving the demands emerging with the Arab revolutions as a threat, accelerated their normalization policy by aligning with Israel. The Abraham Accords, announced by then U.S. president Donald Trump at a ceremony attended by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt, were proclaimed to be the “Peace of the Century.”

In fact, the accords were an acknowledgment that Israel was a source of regional unrest and in perpetual violation of regional peace. These initiatives, which it should be noted did not involve Palestinian actors, envisaged numerous economic, political, and cultural activities, such as the flooding of economic aid to the region; support for the governments of Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt; the establishment of investment zones in Sinai where Gazans would work; and the construction of a high-speed railway between Gaza and the West Bank. As part of these cultural activities, a Jewish group organized joint events with certain Gulf countries which expressed the universal peace messages of the three Abrahamic religions.

A Medinan farmer invited a British Jewish family to his date palm orchard in Medina and planted a symbolic date palm sapling, which was reported in the news as “the first time in 1,400 years that a Jew has been in Medina.” Although the main purpose of this agreement was to approve Israel’s occupation policies and normalize relations with the countries in the region, the Palestinians, i.e., the real victims, were completely ignored. These attempts to determine the fate of Palestine by excluding the Palestinians seem to have failed with Al-Aqsa Flood, as the massacres that started afterwards unsettled Arab countries involved in this initiative.

The Jewish “Israel Question” 

Since its inception, Israel has been trying to survive with financial support by claiming that it is the state for all the world’s Jews in accordance with its founding philosophy, the Zionist ideology. While Israel settled the world’s Jews in the “Jewish ghettos” it systematically established in the occupied Palestinian territories, it promised them a trouble-free, secure life. With Al-Aqsa Flood, this Israeli firewall collapsed, and all Jews were affected by the conflict and became victims of the atmosphere of violence produced by their own state.

After the 1973 defeat, Israel’s Jewish citizens were traumatized, and the security they had been promised and felt confidence in became a moot point as they began to feel the same fear and anxiety that Palestinians had been experiencing from the very beginning. The questioning of Israel’s aggressive policies, which are a product of radical Zionism and Christian Evangelicalism, continues at an accelerated pace and Jews outside Israel are uneasy about these developments. In addition, since the beginning of the Gaza massacres, Western leaders known for their Christian or Evangelical identities, have traveled to Tel Aviv to support war criminals there, which has drawn the reaction of people across the world.

Israel’s disproportionate use of force in its attacks on Gaza, raining bombs on hospitals, educational institutions, and shrines, and massacring innocent civilians, mostly children and women, have left a mark on the world’s collective conscience. The protests against Israel, which started in Europe, the United States, and other countries, grew in numbers and turned into anti-Zionism. Especially the demonstrations in European countries, where criticism of Israel and Zionism is viewed under the shadow of anti-Semitism, have revealed that being against Israeli policies is not anti-Semitic. With the recent massacres in Gaza, the state of Israel has been crushed under the responsibility and privilege of being a state, exposing the fact that 75 years after its establishment, it still has not reached the maturity required to call itself a state in the true sense of the word.

Palestine: A cause of dignity and freedom

The issue of Palestine and Jerusalem, which was overshadowed and forgotten by the Arab revolutions, has come to the forefront once more with the recent massacres in Gaza, and the cause has taken on a global dimension. People of all religions, nationalities, and ideologies have taken to the streets to show that they embrace Palestine as a cause of honor and freedom, regardless of their countries’ regimes. The Palestinian cause has become the youth’s new motto for independence and freedom, and this issue has transcended Arabs and Muslims and has reemerged as the common conscience of all humanity. The people who took to the streets in European and U.S. cities to condemn Israel’s massacres, despite obstacles, are also criticizing the pro-Israeli policies of their own administrations.

For a long time, the U.S. administration has not made any effort for a two-state solution. On the contrary, it has defended Israel’s occupation and supported policies that have led to the gradual erosion of the Palestinian West Bank. Today, more than half of the West Bank territory is controlled by Israel with the support of Jewish donors in the United States. By openly supporting Israel’s massacres, governments in the Western world have provoked the reactions of their own people. In addition, the mainstream media in the Western world has amplified these reactions with its pro-Israeli coverage. Despite all these constraints, the united, common cry by the public, especially in the squares of the Western world, makes the Israeli administration uneasy. At the same time, Palestine’s cause for dignity and freedom can be crowned with permanent solutions only if the political actors within Palestine unite under the Palestinian cause.

After 75 years of systematic occupation and the recent Gaza massacres, Palestinian leaders have reached a new crossroads. The political divisions that took place after Oslo have pushed the Palestinian Authority towards two different axes. The West Bank is dominated by the Fatah movement under Mahmoud Abbas, while the Gaza Strip is under the control of Hamas. As long as the Fatah and Hamas administrations do not act in unison against the Israeli occupation, which is the reason that brought them both into existence, it is not possible to solve the current problems.

This unification does not seem possible without solving the structural problems of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), the common umbrella organization of Palestinian political actors. As a matter of fact, this mission was underlined in the Extraordinary Joint Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League, which came together to condemn the massacres in Gaza and to determine a road map. The resolution issued after the meeting in Riyadh, stated, “We emphasize on that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and call on all Palestinian factions and forces to unite under its umbrella and shoulder their responsibilities under a PLO-led national partnership.”

As a result of the decision taken at the Arab League summit in Cairo in 1964, the PLO was established with the aim of gathering the Palestinian groups on the ground under a single umbrella organization in line with the will of the Arab leaders led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Due to the conjuncture of the period of its establishment, the PLO had a national socialist and secular character. Under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Fatah movement, the representation of other Palestinian groups was reduced over time.

As of today, the PLO is completely identified with the Fatah movement and other effective groups on the ground are excluded from it. Hamas, whose popular support across Palestine is at least as strong as that of Fatah, is not represented under this umbrella. It is time for the PLO to include all Palestinians so that they could face the unfolding genocide in Gaza and elsewhere targeting their very existence.

Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein’s groundbreaking book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, offers a chilling exposé of Israel’s military-industrial complex and its sinister role in perfecting and exporting oppressive technologies developed through the prolonged occupation of Palestinian territories. For over half a century, the West Bank and Gaza have served as a testing ground for weaponry, surveillance tools, and control mechanisms, solidifying Israel’s position as a global leader in the military-techno complex.

Loewenstein takes readers on a riveting journey through a clandestine world, backed by secret documents, revealing interviews, and on-the-ground reporting. The book unveils, for the first time, the meticulous architecture of control that Israel has honed through surveillance, home demolitions, and brutality, evolving from the occupation of Palestinian lands. 

From the notorious Pegasus software implicated in high-profile hacks to the weapons supplied to oppressive regimes like Myanmar, Israel’s technological prowess is exposed as a driving force behind some of the world’s most brutal conflicts. A striking example is the use of Israeli drones by the EU and Frontex, battle-tested in Palestine, for surveillance and border control, particularly in response to the refugee crisis after 2015. 

The author skillfully connects the dots, illustrating how Israel’s ethno-nationalistic approach has become a global model, influencing governments such as Modi’s in India where admiration for Israel’s actions in the West Bank influences their approach in regions like Kashmir. Loewenstein highlights the alarming rise of Israel as a major player in spying technology and defense hardware, revealing the dark underbelly of its contributions to the violation of human rights on a global scale.

The book further unmasks the ruthlessness with which Israel leverages the experiences gained from an illegal occupation. It argues that Israel has successfully exported its tested technologies and methods to over 130 countries worldwide. This includes the sale of spyware, smart walls, facial recognition tools, and other tools of occupation and repression. The book serves as a stark reminder of how Israel’s oppression of Palestinians has become the cornerstone of its military and security industries.

Moreover, The Palestine Laboratory sheds light on Israel’s questionable alliances, exposing its support for despots worldwide. Over the past 50 years, the U.S. and Israel have formed close partnerships, with Israel serving as an invaluable partner in arming and training nations that the U.S. officially couldn’t support due to various restraints.

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he Israeli-Palestinian issue is a critical test for China, a candidate for the leadership of the new world. The steps that China, which has strengthened its diplomatic influence with the Iran-Saudi Arabia reconciliation, will take with regard to developments in Palestine will affect both tensions in the region and China’s position in the global system.

The war between Israel and Hamas, which began on October 7, soon turned into a campaign of mass murder and displacement of Palestinian civilians. As developments unfold before the entire world, everyone is closely watching the position of global actors vis-à-vis the ongoing events. While the developments in Palestine are a test for the countries that defend the current global order, especially the United States, they are also a test for the countries that produce high rhetoric about changing the global system and implementing parallel strategies.

From the very beginning of the conflict, the world watched to see what solutions the countries of the second group will propose to de-escalate tensions and stop the humanitarian crisis; which side they will support in the conflict; and in what direction they will make statements to influence the international community and their own citizens. The People’s Republic of China, which belongs to the group of countries seeking to change the world order, stands out as an actor that is drawing a unique road map on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, which is causing ever-growing divergences across the world, China is trying to convey this position to the international community by by embedding it into its international relations narrative.

The “Chinese Century” in the Middle East

Before analyzing China’s position on the events in Palestine, it is important to examine the extent to which the tensions between Israel and Hamas have affected China. If we look at the atmosphere in the Middle East just before the flare-up, China’s influence was quite strong. During this process, which started in the last quarter of 2022 and was defined as the “opening up of the Middle East,” Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Saudi Arabia, met with many leaders in the region, and had the opportunity to convey Chinese narratives in person.

As a result, the Iran-Saudi Arabia reconciliation, which was watched by the whole world, was achieved, polishing China’s mediation image and adding points to its diplomatic score. At the same time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry presented the international community with versions of China’s prescriptions for the governance of the global system tailored to the conflicts in the Middle East, particularly Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

While the countries in the region embraced the approaching “Chinese Century,” queued up to sign agreements with China in many fields, especially technology, trade, artificial intelligence, and green transformation, and organized visits to China, the freezing of disputes among the countries of the region, in parallel with the softening atmosphere, had a positive impact on China-Israel relations. Furthermore, the relatively stable image of the Middle East, reflected in China’s Belt and Road investments, enabled China to make plans for the region.

These developments, which served the strategic interests of both China and the Middle East countries in general, were replaced by a completely different framework with Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Since then, the countries of the region and China, like all actors in the global system, have adopted a position of watching developments closely.

China’s position on the Palestinian issue

In the early stages of the escalation between Israel and Hamas, China adopted a position calling for restraint and remained relatively in the background. China refrained from choosing between the parties and adopted a stance that declared the need for the peaceful settlement of disputes, emphasizing that it opposes all kinds of activities targeting civilians. It is important to note that in the past, China has proposed a three-point solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

During the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to China in June 2023, the following recommendations were made by President Xi:

1. The fundamental solution to the Palestinian conflict lies in the establishment of an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
2. It is essential to address the economic and social needs of Palestine, and for the international community to increase development and humanitarian assistance to Palestine.
3. It is important that the peace talks move in the right direction. The historic status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem must be respected, and extreme and inflammatory words and actions must be avoided.

A larger, more authoritative and more effective international peace conference should be convened to create the conditions for the resumption of peace talks and contribute to concrete efforts to help Palestine and Israel live in peace. In my opinion, China is willing to play a positive role in helping Palestine achieve internal reconciliation and promote peace talks.

China’s basic stance on the Palestinian issue is based on the above three points. In this context, China has launched a diplomatic offensive to play a role in resolving the crisis, especially since the escalation of violence from the Israeli side. Accordingly, it actively participated in the UN meetings and, after assuming the rotating presidency, organized a UN session on Palestine and the peaceful governance of the global system titled “Shared Development Promotes Lasting Peace.”

It also contributed to the adoption of Resolution 2712 on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict at the UN on November 15, the first Security Council resolution since October at a time of heightened tensions. In November, Xi held a summit with U.S. President Biden on the sidelines of the APEC summit, and included the Palestinian issue on his agenda for both the bilateral meeting and the APEC summit.

Shortly after President Xi’s return from San Francisco, where APEC was held, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that a delegation including Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha would visit China on November 20-21 as the first stop of global mediation talks.

The fact that this extraordinary ministerial committee, appointed by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League to conduct diplomatic negotiations on Gaza, chose to visit China as the first stop of their planned visit to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council has been touted by Beijing as proof of the international community’s confidence in their impartiality. The delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and determined that there was consensus with China on numerous objectives/aims/topics, particularly on ending the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and on a two-state solution.

At the same time, BRICS, one of the platforms where the Global South makes its voice heard, organized the “Special Summit on the Palestinian-Israeli Question” in November, in which all members except India participated at the level of heads of state. Delivering a speech titled “Realising Ceasefire, Achieving Lasting Peace and Security” at the summit, President Xi listed an updated three-point list of recommendations, including (1) the immediate cessation of hostilities by the parties, (2) ensuring the safe and smooth passage of humanitarian aid, and (3) preventing the escalation of the conflict. He reiterated that the main solution to breaking the cycle of conflict between Palestine and Israel is the implementation of the two-state solution.

In the same speech, Xi emphasized that “there will be no sustainable peace and security in the Middle East without resolving the Palestinian issue,” while referring to the low impact of the previous peace conference and stressing the urgent need to convene a more effective and authoritative international peace conference.

In addition to China’s diplomatic steps towards developments in Palestine, it has also provided economic assistance to alleviate the effects of the humanitarian crisis in the region. According to data released in Xi’s speech at BRICS, China’s assistance includes $2 million provided through the Palestinian National Authority and UN agencies, and RMB 15 million (approximately $2 million) worth of emergency humanitarian supplies, such as food and medicine, to Gaza with Egypt’s assistance.

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ocal authorities in Gaza have accused Israel of stealing organs from the bodies of Palestinians, adding to the misery of Palestinians who are facing genocide there. In a strongly worded statement, the government media office in Gaza asserted that the examination of bodies revealed significant changes, pointing to the alleged theft of vital organs.

The statement particularly criticized what it deemed “the silent position of international organizations operating in Gaza,” including the International Committee of the Red Cross, regarding this alleged crime committed by the Israeli occupation.

The accusations come as Israel released the bodies of dozens of Palestinians killed during its ground operation. The bodies were received by the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing. According to Marwan Al Hams, the director of Mohammed Yousef El Najar Hospital in Rafah city, the bodies arrived in various conditions—some intact, others in pieces, and some decomposed.

The Gaza-based government media office claimed that the Israeli army handed over bodies without specifying from where they were seized. The statement further alleged that Israel repeated such acts during the ongoing genocide, even exhuming bodies from graveyards.

International outcry and calls for investigation

The allegations of organ theft have triggered international outcry, with human rights organizations and activists demanding a thorough investigation into the matter. The Euro-Med Monitor, a human rights group, had previously accused Israel of stealing bodies from Gaza’s medical facilities for potential illegal organ harvesting.

In a report released earlier, the Euro-Med Monitor stated that the Israeli army took bodies from medical complexes in the northern Gaza Strip, including the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital. The report claimed that Gaza’s medical experts found evidence suggesting the absence of organs, including corneas, in bodies returned to their families.

The Geneva-based organization also accused Israel of keeping the bodies in freezing temperatures, potentially to conceal organ theft. Israel has a history of holding Palestinian bodies, with some kept in morgues, a secret facility near the Jordanian border, and others still missing and unidentified.

The health ministry in Gaza has revealed that scores of bodies of unidentified Palestinians were buried in mass graves multiple times throughout Israel’s indiscriminate war on Gaza. In an effort to aid future identifications, Salama Maarouf, head of the government’s press office, stated, “We have documented all the bodies and photographed all distinguishing marks before burying them in the mass grave.”

Global concerns and urgent appeals

The allegations of organ theft add a disturbing layer to the genocide in Gaza. The international community has expressed deep concern over these accusations, urging a swift and impartial investigation to uncover the truth.

In his Christmas message, Pope Francis voiced his concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, emphasizing the need for an end to military operations and a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation. The pope’s plea for peace and his call for international support to address the Palestinian question now resonate more strongly amid these shocking allegations.

The United Nations and other international organizations are under increasing pressure to intervene and ensure a comprehensive investigation into the organ theft allegations.

As the genocide continues to unfold, the international community awaits Israel’s response to these serious accusations and anticipates concrete actions to address the broader humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The quest for truth and justice in the face of these disturbing allegations remains at the forefront of global concerns.

Sources: TRT World and the New Arab

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olonizing Palestine: The Zionist Left and the Making of the Palestinian Nakba by Areej Sabbagh-Khoury, a senior lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is in many ways a groundbreaking study of the formation of Israel through the lens of settler colonial studies. By examining a component of the Zionist movement that ostensibly sought to break with the movement’s overtly colonialist leadership, Sabbagh-Khoury uncovers the unavoidably racist core of Zionism as an ideology and practice.

The author specifically examines the Marxist socialist formation known as Hashomer Hatzair (Hebrew for “Young Guard”), which refused to endorse the notorious 1942 Biltmore Program, in which the Zionist movement publicly proclaimed that its goal was the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. As an early Socialist-Zionist settler group in Palestine, Hashomer Hatzair had also distanced itself from the Zionist labor federation known as the Histadrut because its policies excluded Arab workers.

The Illusion of Marxist Zionism

Settler colonial studies typically earmark two distinguishing features of settler colonialism: the “conquest of labor” and the “conquest of land.” But whereas Hashomer Hatzair repudiated the idea of creating a dominant Jewish labor force in Palestine, it actively pursued Jewish settlement of the land in the form of the kibbutz (Hebrew for “communal farm”). In its early years this left-wing component of the Zionist movement appeared to be open to the idea of sharing the land with the indigenous Palestinians known as fellahin, but as Sabbagh-Khoury shows, all that changed seemingly overnight with the 1948 Nakba (Arabic for “The Catastrophe”). The author’s unique contribution is exploring how and why that changed.

Other studies have probed the core beliefs of Socialist or Labor Zionism, as proclaimed by founding figures such David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister. Most notably, the Israeli historian and political scientist Zeev Sternhell in The Founding Myths of Israel (1999) exposed the fact that these Zionists were more nationalist than socialist. Sternhell depicted Socialist Zionism as a form of National Socialism, much like the extreme right-wing ethnonationalists of the European fascist movements; National Socialism is a better descriptor of their ideology than Marxism.

In choosing to focus on Hashomer Hatzair, however, the author of Colonizing Palestine (2023) explicitly probes the self-proclaimed Marxist variation of Socialist Zionism. This relatively small wing of the Zionist movement never embraced Marxism-Leninism and, therefore, never became identified with Communism; nevertheless, it strove to hew to the ideas of Karl Marx as it understood them. And it is this contradiction that intrigued the author who wondered how its ideology and practice came to diverge.

As a historian, Sabbagh-Khoury studied the archives of three kibbutzes belonging to the Hashomer Hatzair movement in Palestine’s Jezreel Valley: Mishmar HaEmek, HaZore’a, and Ein HaShofet. However, she cautions that her analysis was not centered on examining their “experiences and ideologies,” but rather “their interactions with the indigenous Palestinians,” mainly farmers in nearby villages. Building on archive records that were contemporaneous or nearly so with the events described, she then probes more deeply into the “selective memory” or the “double reconstruction” revealed by later memoirs and accounts written by the kibbutz settlers decades after the 1948 Nakba.

A few settlers expressed remorse: “I had very mixed feelings all day long,” one wrote. “I was glad that we were being rid of the village, but, on the other hand I am wholeheartedly against murder and warfare.” Sabbagh-Khoury notes a rare sentiment expressed about Palestinians belonging to the land: “I am not at peace with the idea of war against Arab villagers who have been on this land longer than us and are fighting for their home with the same feeling we are.”

Many of the accounts of the Nakba that appear in the original, contemporary archives simply disappear in subsequent memoirs and other recollections written decades later. Except for one account by, Arnon Tamir, who wrote in a journal published in 1972 about his continuing difficulty in coming to grips with the expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and land.

Noting in particular the fate of two nearby towns in 1948, Tamir lamented, “I am not at peace with myself neither about Qira nor about Abu Zureiq.” He remained particularly troubled about the looting of the villages that followed their destruction and the way the kibbutz settlers left their former neighbors “lying under the rubble of their homes, unburied.” Yet even he added, “I cannot say today whether this was wrong or not. It did relieve things for us considerably for a while and enabled us to establish the state, but whether it brought us closer to a solution, that I doubt.”

For others, however, in subsequent accounts, the atrocities committed during the events of 1948 simply disappear in what Sabbagh-Khoury labels “selective memory.” If the events no longer fit in the dominant narrative of justifying the expulsion, the memory ceases to exist in subsequent memoirs.

The author attributes the phenomenon to the process described by the French-Tunisian chronicler of settler colonialism, Albert Memmi, who writes in The Colonizer and the Colonized (1957) about the process of “double reconstruction” in which the colonizers imagine themselves becoming the native and erasing entirely the existence of the indigenous.

Class reductionist paradox of the Zionist Left

How was Marxism or simply a belief in the “brotherhood of peoples” so easily discarded in this process? Sabbagh-Khoury offers several explanations. One is simply the fact that the very material existence of kibbutzim depended on the successful colonization of the land. Marxist principles stood in direct contradiction with the practical activity of surviving as settler farmers, particularly because the communal effort in the kibbutz involved Jews alone, not the “brotherhood of peoples.” Workers may have had nothing to lose but their chains, but settler and Jewish-only farmers actually had much to lose if their enterprise failed.

Another reason was a kind of class reductionist position adopted by the Hashomer settlers, a position that some would describe as a betrayal of Marxism. Hashomer Hatzair never acknowledged that the Palestinians had national aspirations as a people. They depicted the situation as one in which the fellahin were exploited by the effendis, the rich absentee landlords who actually owned the land on which Palestinian farmers mostly worked as tenants. In their eyes, the fellahin had no attachment to the land. The settlers’ usurpation was therefore justified.

Furthermore, Hashomer Hatzair settlers depicted socialism as progress, an unleashing of productive forces otherwise constrained and held back by capitalist greed. In this vein they depicted the Palestinian farmers as backward and undeveloped. According to their view, the rightful progression of history depended on the advanced European settlers who were improving the land, never mind that the Palestinian farmers were actually quite successful in their work.

“Backwardness,” as the author notes, allegedly “justified the erasure of the Palestinians from their land.” This is a common refrain still heard today among Zionists who claim their settler enterprise made the “desert bloom,” whereas in fact the land was historically well cultivated and more ecologically balanced than the non-native pine forests planted over destroyed Palestinian villages.

Because many Palestinians were tenants on the land, the Hashomer settlers also depicted them as rootless and easily transferable. This alleged rootlessness, in contrast to the newly arrived European settlers who were in fact the ones uprooting 800 years of indigenous habitation, supposedly justified the Nakba expulsion. Sabbagh-Khoury quotes the settler Eliezer Be’eri: he “drew on a common representation of indigenous people to justify expulsion: they were rootless, he argued. There was no chance for them to resume their life here. He invoked the inherent logic of settler colonialism: ‘it’s either them or us.’”

Those chilling words today play out in the ongoing Nakba and genocide visible for the whole world to see in Gaza.

W

arfare, including civil wars, counterterrorism, and other conflicts, is a part of daily life around the globe. From the end of the Cold War to the present, not too far in the past, in other words, the world has witnessed many wars and armed conflicts. This includes the war in Bosnia, the civil war in Somalia, the war in Kosovo, the Chechen rebellion, the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, Israel’s attack on Hezbollah, the Arab Spring, and subsequent civil wars like those in Libya, Yemen, and Syria.

Added to these, the massacres of the Rohingya, the terrorist attacks of ISIS, and Russia’s attempt to invade Ukraine followed. In addition, there is the continued occupation of Palestine by Israel, which in the last two months has escalated to genocide in Gaza.

Muslim states or groups make up one or both sides in most wars. At the same time, other Muslims are greatly affected and enraged by the killing, inflicted injury, oppression, and abuse of their fellow Muslims throughout the world. These events have sparked resistance among affected Muslims and the emergence of armed factions, some of which later evolved into terrorist groups such as ISIS. Overall, however, Muslim responses have been and continue to be largely nonviolent.

The intensity of the responses has varied from conflict to conflict. For example, Muslims denounce the invasion of Muslim nations, the persecution of Muslim minorities, and the persecution of Arab authoritarian regimes. But more than any war, tyranny, struggle, or act of brutality of any kind, Israel’s occupation of Palestine has provoked the most anger among Muslim populations.

Given that more people have died in earlier conflicts, many people find the overwhelming support for the Palestinians strange and even incomprehensible. Thus, for instance, Muslims denounced the Assad regime’s killing of 500,000 Syrians, but they still feel Israel’s crimes against Palestinians are incomparable. The U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan angered Muslims, but Palestine remains their top priority.

Non-Muslims in particular seem perplexed by this anger, but they shouldn’t be. It is reasonable to pay more attention to the occupation of Palestine for a series of reasons. First, Israel has been occupying Palestine for 75 years, during which the Palestinian people have been systematically massacred, displaced, imprisoned, and their land stolen.

Palestine is still being annexed today. What is more, thousands of Palestinians are imprisoned by Israel at any given time, and since October 7, 2023, Israel has been carrying out ethnic cleansing and genocide. After the indiscriminate killing of more than 27,000 civilians by the Israeli army, 70% of whom were women and children, including those who died under the rubble, Gaza has been virtually destroyed.

Israel’s horrific actions have led to the denouncement of the genocide in Gaza not only by Muslims but by people of other faiths as well. Given how long Palestine has been persecuted, even if the recent genocide had not occurred, Palestine would still be on the world’s radar. Israel’s persecution is continuous, and when the world begins to lose interest in the Palestinian cause, an Israeli attack or a decision to build more illegal settlements draws people’s attention back again.

Second, Israel is undeniably the offending party and has no justification for occupying and harming Palestinians. Israel is acting illegally and in violation of international law. Not even its supporters, including the U.S., support the occupation. Legally speaking, no one supports Israel’s policy, because it is completely unlawful and immoral; Palestinians, conversely, are universally accepted as the victims of Israeli aggression and supported by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

For example, while Muslims were generally opposed to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden’s presence in the country and the Talibans’ self-defined Islamic rule that was seen as overly fanatic, softened Muslims’ reaction to the U.S. invasion. Added to this, while the Americans eventually withdrew from Iraq, Israel seeks to occupy all of Palestine and perhaps its surroundings permanently.

Third, Palestine never had the opportunity to acquire weapons to oppose Israel. The Palestinians were forbidden to arm themselves by both Israel and other international actors. With a better equipped army, Israel has continuously murdered Palestinians in cold blood. As expected, outsiders, especially Muslims, could not resist Israel’s massacring of civilians with advanced weapons.

Fourth, the Zionist movement is using religion it its war against Palestinians. The British offered the Zionists many different places to live, but they insisted on Palestine, saying that the region was the homeland promised to them by God—despite the fact that the majority of Zionists, in fact, were secular.

When the Palestinians did not hand over their land to Jewish migrants, the latter used force to annihilate them. The Muslim community feels obligated to speak out against Israel’s actions because religion is still heavily used by the Zionist movement. In other words, Muslims respond with their religious beliefs because the criminal party, i.e., Israel, invokes Judaism when it kills. Thus, faith-based activities elicit faith-based responses.

Embarking on a reflective journey through the memories and heirlooms passed down through generations within one’s family can lead to a profound exploration of the historical narrative embedded in one’s heritage.

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi, a distinguished US historian of the Middle East, stands as a monumental account, representing the first comprehensive history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from an explicitly Palestinian perspective. Khalidi’s familial connection to the history of the region adds a personal and unique dimension to his groundbreaking narrative.

In crafting this extraordinary work, Khalidi draws on a wealth of archival materials and firsthand accounts from his eminent family members, including mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists. This meticulous approach not only adds originality and depth to the book but also imparts an authoritative touch to the narrative.

The journey through time commences in 1899 with a poignant letter from Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, the mayor of Jerusalem and the great-great-uncle of the author. In this letter, al-Khalidi warns Zionist founder Theodore Herzl about the perilous consequences of the Zionist movement’s ambition to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine.

This moment, according to Khalidi, serves as the prologue to the prevailing Zionist narrative, marked by the dismissal of indigenous populations and their interests as inconsequential. Khalidi provides a meaningful reflection on this letter, offering his unique and authentic perspective.

Weaving together personal history with pivotal events that have shaped the conflict, Khalidi challenges conventional interpretations that frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict merely as a tragic clash of competing nationalisms. Instead, he unfolds a narrative of colonial warfare waged against the Palestinians, underscoring its underappreciated centrality to the issue.

This colonial campaign, initiated by the Zionist movement and later endorsed by the state of Israel with the support of influential global powers, including Britain and the United States, becomes a focal point of Khalidi’s analysis.

Born out of a lecture on the ‘deal of the century’, Palestine: Matters of Truth and Justice offers a thought-provoking analysis of the Palestine-Israel conflict, settler colonialism, occupation, and the issue of Palestinian nationhood. In the book, prominent scholar Azmi Bishara advocates for a justice-based approach and makes the important distinction of approaching the issue at hand with objectivity rather than neutrality.

Palestine: Matters of Truth and Justice is composed of two parts; First is a historical account and reflections on history, and the second addresses the Trump-Netanyahu deal, the concepts of settler colonialism and apartheid, and the question as to what comes next in the future.

The book begins by emphasizing the significance of the Nakba (Palestinian Catastrophe), not merely as a historical context but a central element in understanding the ongoing issue. Bishara delves into the Nakba’s impact and its symbolic importance. The book highlights the core problem as settler colonialism, which involved occupation, expropriation, ethnic cleansing, and the displacement of the native population to establish a Jewish state.

When examining the Trump-Netanyahu deal, Bishara highlights the economic and political incentives and alliances that influenced it. He addresses the embrace of religious Zionism in the Trump administration and its role in the deal, and underscores how regional governments have sought to sideline the Palestinian cause and normalize relations with Israel.

The book concludes by discussing potential future strategies for the Palestinian struggle. Bishara indentifies that the task ahead is not ultimately theoretical and abstract but also practical and strategic- depending on a number of factors including political actors, the strength of resistance and the nature of international order.

In summary, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of the historical context, complexities, and possible paths forward in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, emphasizing the significance of justice as a fundamental aspect of resolution.

The book comes as a valuable source following the escalation on October 7 that developed into a humanitarian crisis with Israel’s heavy bombardment in Gaza. As an urgent path to longlasting peace is needed, Palestine: Matters of Justice and Truth may offer some answers.

Azmi Bishara, Palestine: Matters of Justice and Truth (Hurst Publishers, 2022) ISBN: 9781787387102, 360 pages

I

n what has been reported as a nearly tenfold increase, Germany has significantly ramped up its arms exports to Israel. According to a statement from the German Economic Ministry on Wednesday, November 9, 2023 exports worth almost €303 million ($323 million) have been approved up to November 2, compared to €32 million for the entirety of 2022.

The surge in military exports follows an attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, which has led to an expedited processing of permit applications by German officials. A total of 185 permits have been granted post-attack, emphasizing Germany’s commitment to Israel’s security as a primary concern.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, at a NATO meeting in Brussels, confirmed that requests from Israel for naval munitions are being considered. He stated that discussions with Israel on how to proceed with these requests are ongoing, signaling further material and military support could be expected.

A key defense partner for Israel

This development comes as Germany continues to position itself as a key defense partner for Israel, supplying primarily components for air defense systems and communications equipment. Despite the significant increase, these exports still represent a minor share of Germany’s total military exports, which reached 8.76 billion euros in the first nine months of 2023.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also weighed in on the broader security context, discussing potential peace solutions for the Gaza Strip at the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Tokyo. Baerbock underscored the need for “clever solutions” and practical steps toward a two-state solution, though she acknowledged the complexity and potential for a long-term endeavor.

As Germany accelerates its defense support to Israel, it also calls for peace and stability in the region, advocating for sustainable solutions that would address the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Sources: Anadolu Agency, Reuters and Middle East Monitor

I

n recent years, human rights organizations and legal experts have increasingly labeled Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians as apartheid, fueling a long-running controversy over whether this is a fair approach to define the country’s actions toward the Palestinians.

In 1973, the United Nations General Assembly passed the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (ICSPCA). ICSPCA defines apartheid as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them”.

The policy of apartheid, originating in South Africa, mandated that non-white South Africans, who constituted the majority of the population, reside in separate areas from White South Africans and utilize separate public facilities. Additionally, contact between the different racial groups was heavily restricted. This policy resulted in the physical separation of individuals based on their race, affecting various aspects of their lives, including their residential locations, access to public amenities, and social interactions. The sole focus of apartheid was to elevate one racial group over another in order to perpetuate the dominant group’s hegemony.

Notable apartheid laws in South Africa:

The Glen Grey Act 1894: (Established the Foundation of Apartheid prior to the National Party’s election in 1948). It was dubbed “a Bill for Africa” by then Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes to further disenfranchise Black South Africans and limit their economic opportunities.

The Population Registration Act of 1950:  The registering of every South African based on their racial traits. In which the group to which an individual belonged significantly determined their social rights, political rights, educational prospects, and economic standing.

The Separate Amenities Act 1953: The Act made racial segregation in public places, transportation, and services permissible. The Act only applied to public highways and streets.

Exploring the parallels in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

On November 2, 1917, Britain’s then-foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, famously wrote a letter, coined as the Balfour Declaration to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community. This subsequently fostered the British government’s commitment for the Zionist movement to allow the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. The establishment of a Jewish state in a primarily non-Jewish land became a crucial pillar of apartheid. Palestinians, both Muslims and Christians, consequently, became the oppressed majority in their own land.

According to Amnesty International, the comprehensive report titled, ‘Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity’, explains how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, severe movement restrictions, and the denial of Palestinian nationality and citizenship are all components of a system that amounts to apartheid under international law. This system is sustained through violations which Amnesty International determined to be a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention.

In a statement, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard, said, “Our report reveals the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime. Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid. The international community has an obligation to act”.

Apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories:

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, successive administrations have enacted and enforced a system of laws, policies, and practices aimed at oppressing and dominating Palestinians. This system manifests itself in many ways throughout the various sectors where Israel exercises control over Palestinian rights, but the goal is always the same: to favor Jewish Israelis at the expense of Palestinians.

The Israeli government achieved this through three basic strategies:

Maintaining control and dominance over the non-Jewish population. In 2018, the Knesset enacted a bill with constitutional authority confirming Israel as the “nation-state of the Jewish people,” asserting that the right to self-determination “is unique to the Jewish people” within that area, and defining “Jewish settlement” as a national value.

Various Israeli administrations have enacted laws and policies to ensure the continued fragmentation of the Palestinian population. Palestinians are limited to enclaves in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and refugee camps, where they face separate legal and administrative systems. This has contributed to the erosion of social, and political alliances amongst Palestinian groups, as well as stifling prolonged resistance against the apartheid system.

In March 2019, Netanyahu stated, “Israel is not a state of all its citizens,” but rather “the nation-state of the Jewish people and only them”.

Settler colonialism and economic impoverishment

In the occupied West Bank, Israel forcibly relocated Palestinians and demolished their homes to make room for illegal Jewish-only settlements, which the international community condemns as illegitimate.

In Israel’s Negev desert, where Bedouin Palestinians are now confined in townships, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, slammed Israel’s plan for coordinated ethnic cleansing as a “Strategy of Judaization that “excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities, particularly affecting Palestinian communities, side by side with the accelerated development of predominantly Jewish settlements”.

According to the 2019 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Assistance to the Palestinian people (UNCTAD), “Forced dependence on employment in Israel and settlements impairs exports and weakening long-term growth”. The report notes that “The depression-level unemployment rate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory continued to climb in 2018, reaching 31 per cent; 52 per cent in Gaza and 18 per cent in the West Bank. As in previous years, women and youth were disproportionately impacted”.

T

urkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan put forth Turkey’s guarantorship proposal at the Cairo Peace Conference on October 21, 2023, about two weeks after the beginning of Israel’s intensified attacks on Gaza.

The global concern to end the grave humanitarian tragedy caused by Israel’s ongoing large-scale military attacks has attracted attention to Turkey’s offer. Although the full content of the proposal has not yet been clearly explained, it is important to take a closer look at it and what it offers.

First and foremost, Turkey appears to have a specific scheme for the guarantor proposal, but is deliberately leaving it open for discussion by experts and all relevant parties. It is hoped that this flexibility will stimulate a broad discussion and lay the foundations for further talks and negotiations.

In his speech on October 25, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that the proposal is currently the most concrete and effective method to bring a realistic solution to the conflict, at least in the short and medium term.

President Erdoğan stressed that “we are ready to be one of the guarantors of the Palestinian side with our humanitarian, political, and military presence” and invited the countries which have a desire to find a solution to this issue to evaluate the proposal as soon as possible, take concrete steps, and open the doors to peace.

President Erdoğan indicated that Turkey was primarily proposing to be a guarantor “on behalf of Palestine.” Erdoğan suggested that for the full and complete implementation of a possible ceasefire agreement and perhaps a future peace process, any guarantor on behalf of either Palestine or Israel would be helpful.

The model of multiple guarantors for Palestine and Israel, based on the urgent need to stop the current attacks, which have serious humanitarian consequences, could be a step towards achieving a lasting peace this time. Possible guarantor states for Palestine should be drawn from the countries of the region; for Israel, Western countries could act as guarantors.

Ankara’s proposal, the full details of which are not yet known, involves Turkey and regional countries, as well as the U.S. and European countries, and bears similarities to the Astana Process established for Syria, though not entirely.

The primary goal of the guarantors should first be to achieve a ceasefire in Palestine. Turkey’s approach to the post-ceasefire phase is to ensure a solution based on a two-state solution, which is imperative for a lasting peace.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that the U.S. is also in favor of a two-state solution, but that Israel should be forced by the international community to accept it. Fidan reiterated that “Turkey wants to turn the crisis into an opportunity for peace” and said that Turkey had already conveyed this idea to its interlocutors.

Russia backs Turkey’s guarantorship proposal

The most open support for the Turkish proposal came from Russia. The Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov made the following statement: “We are ready to discuss any constructive proposal. This initiative, which I heard about the other day, is clearly motivated by a desire to de-escalate and normalize the situation.

Any approach to solving the problems in the region should be based on a balance of interests between the parties, not on the imposition of the interests of one party at the expense of the interests of others. It seems to me that this Turkish initiative seeks to achieve just such a balance. We will be ready to work together to take this into account.”

The United States and European countries, which unconditionally support Israel’s attacks, do not seem interested in Turkey’s proposal to stop the attacks and find a solution to the ongoing conflict. They have all been completely silent about the Turkish proposal; on the contrary, these countries appear to support the continuation of the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that the attacks are not only aimed at destroying Hamas, which they consider a terrorist organization, but also at cleansing the entire Gaza Strip of Palestinians.

Moreover, no matter how constructive Ankara’s proposal may be, certain Western capitals, especially Washington, are deliberately showing no interest in it as they want to prevent Turkey from taking more initiatives in the region.

There is no efficient system for the effective enforcement of the rules of international law, including the rules for the maintenance of international peace and security, and the rules for the resolution of international conflicts with grave humanitarian consequences. As a result, there is great value in seeking new ways to resolve crises related to all the above.

The activities and proposals of states that have a strong interest in a particular conflict or problem and have the power or influence on the ground are of unsurpassable importance and value.

On October 7, Israel’s military response to the clashes that began with Hamas’s military operations exceeded the limits of both the right to self-defense and international humanitarian law. Since the first days of the Israeli attacks, there have been grave humanitarian consequences, and Israel is showing no sign of stopping its offensive. Turkey’s efforts to bring the conflict to a halt, at least through a ceasefire, with the offer of becoming a guarantor, should be followed by other countries immediately.

T

he latest eruption of violence in the Middle East has shifted the balance in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Seeing the striking and deterrent power of Palestinian actors, the Israeli government responded with a recklessly violent and disproportionate response in violation of human rights and the principles of international law. Realizing that this all-out attack will not solve the problem, Israel will soon have to accept the existence of a “counterparty.”

Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel on October 7 was a big surprise in many respects and, at the same time, an important breaking point in the context of both the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and regional developments. This article will begin by a brief look of the Hamas attack and how it took place before moving on to a discussion of the effects of the attack on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The possible effects of these developments on Palestine, and on regional and global politics will then be examined.

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood

The Hamas attack against Israel is not the event that started the latest series of developments. According to United Nations resolutions and principles of international law, the Gaza Strip, which Hamas governs, is Palestinian territory that has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. However, it has been subjected to direct and indirect Israeli attacks continuously since 2006. Israel has cut off all air, sea, and land connections to Gaza, including destroying the Gaza International Airport in 2000, isolating Gaza from the world. By preventing the movement of people and goods, it has turned the region into an open-air prison.

For a long time, the Israeli government has been punishing the people of Gaza with severe sanctions, waging a comprehensive and systematic war of attrition against the Palestinian people, in general, and the people of Gaza, in particular. Particularly in the period following the Arab uprisings and revolutions, it has developed more unilateral policies towards Palestinians and their territories. With the collapse of the relatively stronger regimes that were the bearers of Arab nationalism, the “Palestinian cause” lost its meaning and importance in the Arab world. Israel was, thus, experiencing one of the most comfortable periods in its history.

However, far from seizing the opportunities that emerged during this period, the Israeli leadership exploited the power vacuum and made the Palestinian-Israeli conflict even more intractable. With the support of the U.S. government, it imposed the conditions it wanted on the states in the region and normalized relations with those that complied with its conditions.

The so-called deal of the century, developed under the auspices of the U.S., especially during the Trump administration, and the Abraham Accords, signed with a number of Arab states, are important developments in this unilateral process. Naturally, they were not the result of real negotiations with the other side, but remained half-finished unilateral projects representing the interests of Israel and the United States.

The recent power vacuum, the influx of invaders from other parts of the world who were brought to Palestine and settled in Palestinian homes and lands, the daily loss of Palestinian lives and land, the intensifying human rights violations, and the oppression of the Palestinian people led to the “explosion” of October 7. In other words, the full-swing continuation and escalation of Israel’s policies of dehumanization, confiscation of land, and statelessness towards the Palestinian people can be cited as the main reasons for Hamas’s latest attack. All these local and regional developments have deeply shaken the balance of power in the Middle East.

A brief analysis of Hamas’s attacks on October 7 and Israel’s disproportionate response to this attack is now possible. Such a large-scale attack can only be the product of long-term planning and strategy. It, thus, seems that Hamas had been working on the attack for a long time.

It is also important to underline that Hamas is not an Iranian proxy organization. In fact, Hamas and Iran diverged on many issues during the Arab uprisings and revolutions. Especially after Iran and its proxies targeted and killed innocent Sunni Muslims in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, Hamas grew cold and distant from Iran. Yet, when Israel emerges as a common enemy, they can find common ground. All in all, Hamas, a Sunni and Arab actor with a Muslim Brotherhood background, has independent interests and goals, and receives help from Iran—but not instructions.

Second, it seems that Israel, for different reasons, underestimated the power of Hamas. In Israel’s thinking, in the post-Arab revolts period, there were no Arab states left to help the Palestinians, and almost all actors and movements in the Arab world committed to the Palestinian cause were suppressed by Arab regimes. In addition, the Israeli government had built a high security wall around the whole of Gaza, isolating it from the world. The latest attack showed that Israel miscalculated Hamas’s power.

Third, Al-Aqsa Flood was the largest and most effective attack waged by Palestinians against Israel in history. Demonstrating the strength and deterrence of Hamas and other Palestinian actors, this attack shattered the myth of Israel’s invincibility and invulnerability, and inflicted the greatest military, political, and psychological damage on Israel in its history.

Fourth, with the latest attack, it became clear that the unilateral steps taken by Israel and the United States, together and separately, will not solve the problems in the Palestinian territories. Both the U.S. and Israel have learned that they must also take into account the concerns and expectations of the “other side.” For example, the U.S. declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and it recognizing Israel’s decision to annex the Golan Heights, the Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, is contrary to the relevant UN resolutions, international norms, and principles of international law. Both countries violate the basic principles of international law and alienate the vast majority of the international community.

Regional and global implications of the Gaza war

One of the immediate effects of deterrence will without a doubt be an expected reduction in Jewish immigration to the Palestinian territories.

Second, the Israeli counterattacks in the aftermath of the Hamas attack disrupted the normalization process in the Middle East. The governments of the Arab states cannot remain indifferent to the anti-Israel sentiment in the Arab streets. If they do not take the necessary measures, which they probably will not, the Arab peoples will put pressure on their governments to end the normalization process.

Meanwhile, Western states’ unconditional support for Israel shows that they are uncomfortable with the normalization process in the region. The Western states which have been trying to control all developments in the region for the last 150 years, do not want the regional states to pursue independent politics and are opposed to the success of moves for political stability and economic development in the region. This is because as long as political turmoil and poverty continue in the Middle East, the countries of the region will remain dependent on them.

Third, Israel’s reckless attacks on the Palestinian people and the values and symbols of Islam and humanity have united all Muslim sectors and, albeit temporarily, removed the Sunni-Shia tension. For example, the Saudi and Iranian ministers who attended the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting convened in response to Israel’s mass killings, discussed the issue among themselves, and tried to take a common stance. In the aftermath of the Arab revolts and revolutions, the Sunni-Shiite conflict, which had been so sharp in the process, was relegated to the background, especially in the face of attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Muslim Palestinian people.

Fourth, the recent Israeli attacks have sharply divided world public opinion into different camps. In the face of these developments, almost all Western states have declared their biased stance by telling Israel that it is not alone and that they stand by it unconditionally. Conversely, almost all non-Western countries, except India, have made more balanced and neutral statements, calling for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is one of the most important issues exacerbating the tensions between the West and the non-West, which have become quite pronounced in recent times. At this rate, Israel’s expansionist and disproportionate policies of violence and human rights violations will increasingly impose costs on Western states.

From the first hours of the Hamas attack, Western states issued statements of support for Israel, expressing their readiness to mobilize their military, political, economic, academic, and media capabilities. No major Western state such as the U.S., the UK, France, or Germany has held the Israeli government responsible for the mass killings of Palestinians. However, Israel and its Western backers, which constantly want to target Hamas, know very well that Israel’s violence against Palestinians did not start with Hamas. For nearly a century, the West has stood behind Israel’s unilateral and oppressive policies that have victimized the Palestinians in every way. In other words, in addition to Israel, Western states are equally responsible for all the atrocities that Palestinians suffer from today onwards.

Fifth, as a result of their unconditional support for Israel, to a greater or lesser extent Western states will pay for Israel’s crimes in the Palestinian territories. To start off with, the West has lost much of its moral discursive superiority over the rest of the world. As long as the West continues to support Israel, which refuses to behave like a normal state, it cannot invoke universal moral values, international norms, and principles of international law against anyone.

Lately, a self-righteous trend of asking Palestinian speakers and guests ‘Do you condemn Hamas?’, in light of the organization’s Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, is sweeping across Western media outlets. While Palestinians have differing opinions about Hamas, the question hits a nerve even with those who do not support the organization. Ideally, it should be needless to say that this question is both insensitive, and comes off as ill-willed.

To Palestinians, who have been traumatized by the dynamics of the Israeli occupation and apartheid, years of collective punishment, and prolonged silence from the international community, it is difficult to provide an answer to a trap question asked by a press that looks for a cue to demonize Palestinians and justify their deaths and suffering by pointing to the actions of Hamas.

So, what is Hamas? Is Hamas a terrorist organization or a liberation organization? Officially, Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Palestinian political and military organization that has played an increasingly pivotal role in the contentious dynamics of the Palestinian-Israeli issue. Understanding the fuss about Hamas requires delving into its origins, ideology, tactics, rise to power in Gaza, and the broader context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Founded in 1987 during the First Intifada, Hamas has evolved into a multifaceted entity. While it holds governance over a population exceeding two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Hamas is most widely known for its armed opposition against Israel.

Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by numerous countries, some classifying the whole entity, while others just the military faction as such. It has fired rockets and mortars into Israel since the group took over the Gaza Strip in the mid-2000s in claims of resistance against Israeli occupation.

The most striking assault in terms of strategy and scale is the recent Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, which was launched as a reaction by the organization against the increasing harassments on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the intensifying systematic nature of the occupation, and the trend of normalization between the countries of the region with Israel, according to experts.

A majority of the literature focusing on Hamas is through a simplistic western lens. This month’s bundle attempts to provide books that reflect mixed views about the organization, covering both journalistic and scholarly perspectives. Here’s what to read to gain a deeper and nuanced understanding of Hamas’s place in one of the most enduring crises of our time.

Where to begin? In an updated and fully revised edition of Hamas: A Beginner’s Guide, professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Northwestern University in Qatar Khaled Hroub provides an easily approachable introduction to Hamas in a straightforward Q&A format. This book takes readers through Hamas’s history, core beliefs, and its political agenda, offering valuable insights that are often missing from conventional news reports.

Hroub meticulously covers major events that have shaped Hamas’s trajectory, such as the crucial January 2006 elections, the evolving relationship with Fatah, and the 2008 Israeli Gaza offensive. Furthermore, the book delves into the intricacies of Hamas’s ideology by closely examining its charter, socio-economic strategies, and stance on Israel. Hroub goes beyond mere facts and figures and explains the underlying reasons for Hamas’s popularity, shedding light on the nuanced aspects of this influential organization.

Khaled Hroub, Hamas: A Beginner’s Guide (Pluto Press, 2010) ISBN: 9780745329727, 224 pages

Hamas Contained provides a thought-provoking perspective on an organization that has long been a subject of controversy and oversimplification. Author Tareq Baconi challenges the prevailing narrative that has demonized Hamas in both media and policy debates. Rather than resorting to simplistic accusations, he offers an in-depth exploration of this controversial organization. Baconi’s work, based on interviews with Hamas leaders and internal publications sheds light on the organization’s evolution over three decades.

He argues that Hamas cannot be neatly classified as either a democratic political party or a terrorist group. Instead, that it emerges as a complex liberation organization deeply rooted in the Palestinian nationalist cause. This perspective calls for a more comprehensive understanding of Hamas and its role in the Palestinian struggle.

Baconi traces Hamas’s transformation from a fringe military resistance group to a political entity attempting to govern. He emphasizes the need to challenge the conventional understanding of Hamas, highlighting how the group’s ideology, at times, poses a threat to the broader Palestinian cause and to its own legitimacy.

Crucially, the book scrutinizes Hamas’s reliance on armed struggle as a means of achieving liberation. It argues that this strategy has faltered in the face of a relentless occupation designed to fragment the Palestinian population.

Under Israel’s strategy of managing the conflict rather than resolving it, Hamas’s demand for Palestinian sovereignty becomes effectively neutralized, especially in the confines of Gaza. This stalemate perpetuates a cycle of brutality, allowing for the collective punishment of millions of Palestinian civilians. The book raises important questions about the impact of ideology, governance, and armed resistance on the quest for Palestinian self-determination.

Tareq Baconi, Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance (Stanford University Press, 2018) ISBN: 9781503632622, 368 pages

In The Foreign Policy of Hamas, Leila Seurat conducts a comprehensive analysis of Hamas’s international relations based on extensive fieldwork and interviews with Hamas officials across different locations, and insights from video conferences involving West Bank, Gaza, and Diaspora Palestinians.

Despite international boycotts following its 2006 electoral victory, Hamas has emerged as a significant global player. The book explores how Hamas strategically uses Palestinian internal issues to gain international legitimacy and competes with political rivals on the Palestinian stage through its interactions with non-Palestinian actors.

Seurat’s work reveals the strong link between Hamas’s foreign and internal policies, both driven by the quest for global recognition. The book dissects Hamas’s political strategies in dealing with Israel and other nations. It covers pivotal moments, such as the Trump administration’s ‘deal of the century,’ Israel’s Jordan Valley annexation plan, the impact of the UAE-Israel normalization accords and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leila Seurat, The Foreign Policy of Hamas: Ideology, Decision Making and Political Supremacy (I.B. Tauris, 2022) ISBN: 9781838607449, 312 pages

Paola Caridi, an Italian journalist and historian, provides a compelling account of the rise of Hamas in her book Hamas: From Resistance to Government. When the organization scored a victory on the 2006 elections, it sent shockwaves through the Western world. Caridi delves into the critical questions that arose at the time: How did a majority of Palestinians come to support an organization often labeled as extremist, and how would Hamas’s newfound political power impact the broader Israel/Palestine conflict?

Caridi offers an understanding of the complex sentiments among Palestinians who rallied behind a government that endorsed armed resistance. Through on-the-ground research and interviews with Gaza residents and Hamas leaders, the book traces the history of Gaza from its golden age as a bustling port city to the formal emergence and gradual militarization of Hamas. The book strikingly includes a chapter on Operation Cast Lead, startling revelations from WikiLeaks, and the Cairo Revolution.

Paola Caridi, Hamas: From Resistance to Government (Seven Stories Press, 2012) ISBN-10 1609803825, 416 pages

Hamas: A History from Within delves into the multifaceted goals of Hamas, both in the short term and long term. In the immediate sense, Hamas aims to expel Israeli forces from the West Bank and Gaza, employing a combination of tactics that include attacks on Israeli military personnel, settlers in the Occupied Territories, and, more controversially, targeting civilians. Simultaneously, it nurtures the long-term ambition of establishing an Islamic state encompassing historic Palestine.

Hamas gained power and influence, particularly as Israel systematically dismantled the power structure of the secular Palestinian Authority led by Yasser Arafat. As a grassroots organization, Hamas has garnered significant respect among Palestinians due to its perceived lack of corruption.

Tamimi also delves into Hamas’s relations with Jordan, documenting Hamas’s constrained relationship with the Jordanian government. He traces the origins of Hamas within the Muslim Brotherhood, shedding light on the influence of its exiled leadership located in Syria and other regions. It also clarifies the internal structure and political objectives that guide the organization.

The book divides the organization into two main sections, with one responsible for establishing crucial institutions like schools, hospitals, and religious centers, while the other oversees military operations and acts of terrorism through its covert armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Azzam Tamimi, Hamas: A History from Within (Olive Branch Press, 2007) ISBN-10 1566566894, 372 pages

Hamas comes as a paradoxical organization, recognized as a terrorist organization employing terror tactics all the while securing democratic mandate to govern Gaza. It promotes the concept of an Islamic state while conducting its own internal democratic elections with the organization’s leadership largely composed of secular professionals. Moreover, Hamas vocally calls for the destruction of Israel, yet it has reluctantly committed to honoring previous peace agreements.

Jeroen Gunning’s insightful analysis in Hamas in Politics: Democracy, Religion, Violence reveals that many of these apparent contradictions arise from Hamas’s ideology, its local support base, and the unique political landscape of Israel/Palestine.

Drawing on interviews with members of Hamas and its critics, as well as a decade of close observation of the organization, Gunning provides an exploration of Hamas’s dual commitment to ‘God’ and ‘the people.’ This book offers an examination of what Hamas’s political practices reveal about its stance on democracy, religion, and violence.

Additionally, Hamas in Politics delves into Hamas’s internal organization; the methods by which its leaders are selected, and the decision-making processes within the group. Through this comprehensive examination, Gunning sheds light on the complex blend of ideology and realpolitik that characterizes Hamas’s role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Jeroen Gunning, Hamas in Politics: Democracy, Religion, Violence (Hurst Publishers, 2010) ISBN 9781849040297, 312 pages

Although not necessarily about Hamas, Loren D. Lybarger’s Identity and Religion in Palestine: The Struggle between Islamism and Secularism in the Occupied Territories is a refreshing break from the two-dimensional thinking about Palestinian politics.

Lybarger’s provides a deeply insightful exploration of how dynamics between the Islamist movement and secular-nationalist factions within Palestinian society dynamics have transformed the identities of ordinary Palestinians. Identity, Religion, and Palestine takes the reader through the turbulent landscape of Palestinian life, starting with the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, of the late 1980s, through the subsequent Oslo Peace Process, its disappointments, and the resurgence of violence during the second intifada in 2000.

Lybarger rejects of simplistic dichotomies that often plague discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He doesn’t force Palestinians into the oversimplified categories of pragmatists willing to accept territorial compromise and extremists advocating for armed struggle.

Instead, he takes the approach of listening to Palestinians themselves and, in doing so, uncovers layers of internal conflicts and divided loyalties that exist among individuals. Lybarger’s nuanced analysis humanizes the Palestinian experience, emphasizing the diverse array of opinions and aspirations that shape the identity and trajectory of the Palestinian people.

Lybarger’s research highlights a notable transformation in the core beliefs and group loyalties at both the individual and collective levels. It underscores how the convergence of identity and allegiance, coupled with the reshaping of convictions in the years following the intifada, has paved the way for an increased occurrence of shifts in factional memberships and loyalties. This model offers valuable insights into the dynamics that drive these changes and provides a deeper understanding of their causes.

(Originally published in 2007)

Loren D. Lybarger, Identity and Religion in Palestine: The Struggle between Islamism and Secularism in the Occupied Territories (Princeton University Press, 2012) ISBN: 9780691155425, 295 pages

T

hinking makes man human. Humans are beings that can exist as long as they think. Sometimes you think about a weed, a tree, an insect; sometimes you think about an event that affects the whole world. In the world we live in today, there is a topic that we have to ask and think about: the attacks of the Zionist regime on Palestine.

We also need concepts to think about: we can think about the genocidal attacks of the Zionist occupation regime on Palestine, for example, in terms of compassion, justice, and righteousness.

Killing compassion with the sense of envy

Let us begin with a simple question: what is compassion? According to Schopenhauer, compassion is the virtue of loving people, “true morality,” and inherent in human nature. Therefore, to be human means to have compassion in all circumstances, in all places, in all countries. For Schopenhauer, the feeling of compassion is intertwined with pity, and the source of this feeling is the suffering, needs, and concerns of others.

Accordingly, compassion opposes behaviors that can cause pain by saying “Stop!” What happens is that compassion tends to protect and help the other as a shield at the expense of self-harm. Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist, was an example of this. She was crushed to death by an armored bulldozer of the Israeli Defense Forces in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 16, 2003, while helping to prevent the occupation regime from demolishing the home of a Palestinian family.

While compassion is intertwined with pain, its opposite is envy. Envy is another name for the hedonistic attitude of taking pleasure in the misfortune of others. The envy of the bulldozer operator who killed Rachel Corrie and many leaders of the Zionist regime is not hidden— it is openly displayed. This, in Schopenhauer’s words, is “diabolic,” and when there is no compassion, there is envy as its opposite. Where there is envy, discrimination is inevitable. Discrimination is either direct, based on personal characteristics, or indirect, based on language, religion, race, gender, age, and so on.

While characterizations such as “human animals” and “animals” against Palestinians are direct discrimination, discrimination based on the characteristics of “being Muslim, Palestinian or Christian” is indirect discrimination. Another aspect of discrimination is the stigmatization of support for those who are discriminated against. Such stigmatization almost creates the perception that the “person is not human.” The stigmatization and even imprisonment of those “in favor of Palestine” in Europe is a typical example. This is called “social isolation” and it not only prevents peace, but also paves the way for social disruption and chaos. This can only be prevented by a policy of social inclusion which requires a will.

Holding on to truth to overcome oppression

Overcoming oppression requires the means of righteousness, because righteousness is essentially another aspect of justice, and righteousness has a significant impact on the establishment and maintenance of justice.  However, the nature of righteousness varies according to philosophical views, religious beliefs, and understanding of science. For this reason, righteousness is explained in terms of “convenience, internal consistency, excess, and pragmatic approaches.”

In the oldest and most widely accepted approach to justice, the convenience approach, on which other theories of justice are based, justice means correspondence with reality. For example, if you say, “There’s an airplane up there,” all you have to do is look up to know whether it is true or not; if the airplane is visible, then the statement is true. Despite the open bombing of innocent people by the Zionist occupation regime, U.S. .and European politicians are playing with people’s minds, making statements that the Zionist occupation regime did not bomb the hospital. This has nothing to do with “truth” because “the airplane is up there” and “bombing innocents during a live broadcast.”

At the same time, the actions of the Zionist occupation regime are correct according to the “internal consistency approach.” This is because it is based on behavior that is consistent with what is believed to be right. If this consistency exists, then what is done is considered right. In this sense, one’s essence, words, and actions must be consistent. Thus, righteousness means upholding one’s self-proclaimed (moral) principles in all times and places. Therefore, the Zionist occupation regime is “righteous” in the sense of internal consistency because it acts in accordance with its beliefs. The bombing of Palestinian homes, schools, hospitals, mosques, or churches, and innocent people by the Zionist occupation regime is a righteous act! Anyone who thinks otherwise is ridiculous according to the Zionist occupation regime.

Another approach that complements the convenience approach and helps overcome its shortcomings is the excess/surplus approach. The basic idea of this approach is that the use of the word “true” in propositions is redundant. For example, instead of the proposition “It is true that there is a book on the table,” one could say “There is a book on the table.” Here, the media comes to mind as the force that determines the field of “excess” or “deficiency.” Depending on the position of the Zionist occupation regime, the media renders the statements of the Palestinians and those who support the Palestinians meaningless by categorizing them as necessary untrue” or “unnecessary untrue.”

A final approach to explaining justice is the pragmatist approach. Here, truth is “what meets the need,” truth is only relative to results. Truth is shaped by the hands of self-interested people, and absolute or fundamental unchanging truth is irrelevant. What is at stake, then, is a lack of virtue. Thus, Western countries and especially Islamic countries “justify” their position on Palestine by saying that it is against their national interests.

As a result, let us consider someone who believes that it is right to help people who are oppressed. This person is expected to act justly, i.e., with righteousness, in a way that is consistent with this belief. In doing so, they should also activate their sense of compassion. This is the minimum requirement for being human!

Ilan Pappe’s remarkable work, Ten Myths about Israel, takes a fearless approach to scrutinizing the contested ideas surrounding the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel while offering a critical examination of the past, the present, and the path ahead. In this insightful exploration, Pappe meticulously dismantles ten myths, etched into the collective consciousness, that have long perpetuated and shaped our understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Focusing on the fallacies of the past, Pappe confronts six enduring misconceptions. The first myth contends that Palestine was an empty land, a claim he systematically debunks by delving into the historical record. The second myth suggests that the Jews were a people without a land, a notion Pappe addresses with a nuanced perspective that challenges conventional wisdom.

Myth number three posits that Zionism is synonymous with Judaism, a misconception that Pappe dissects to reveal its fallacious underpinnings. He also tackles the assertion that Zionism is not colonialism. Pappe’s exploration examines the formation of Zionism and its instrumental role in the early phases of nation-building

The fifth myth claims that the Palestinian population voluntarily left their homeland in 1948, a narrative that Pappe refutes by drawing from historical accounts and testimonies. The sixth myth revolves around the belief that the June 1967 War was a conflict of “no choice,” an assumption he subjects to rigorous examination.

Pappe then shifts his focus to the fallacies of the present, highlighting three prevalent myths that continue to shape the discourse on Israel. Myth number seven proposes that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, a claim he scrutinizes through the lens of contemporary politics and policy.

TI have a message to journalists in mainstream media, to the journalists with a conscience. A message which I have always wanted to write about:
While the world is witnessing another phase of ethnic cleansing and mass killings of Palestinians, in this current war on Gaza (which international media is deceitfully calling a ‘conflict’), where more than 5,000 Palestinians’ have been killed (not ‘died’), at the time of this message; 70% of them are babies, children, women, and elderly, and while more than 60% of the population of the Gaza Strip had been displaced – journalists can do one of two things:

2. Resist journalistically the deceitful narrative which equates the colonialist oppressors’ powers with the oppressed colonized people. This can be done in various ways; in the field, inside the newsroom, on air, in editorial meetings, via emails, in your terminologies, via the choice of words, images and footages, your sources, in explaining the context and the history of the occupation and the sufferings of families under the apartheid regime.

2. If you have tried hard and failed and you cannot make even 1% change, if you are made to be silent, if you are pressured to become complicit in twisting the truth, if you have been marginalized to become just a number, a journalist with no contribution towards correcting the narrative, then you need to think seriously about your career choices, where you don’t become a bullet in the machine gun of the mainstream media which can manufacture the public’s consent in supporting massacres.

You are a journalist, with a mission to convey the truth and stand up for justice, not a tool in the occupiers’ army propaganda machine. You can also be a tool by your shameful silence, in the time when you are mostly needed to speak up.

I have never regretted leaving the BBC after the coverage of BBC NEWS of the 2014 war in Gaza, when 551 children and 299 women were murdered, and in which the scale of human loss, devastation and displacement caused was catastrophic and unparalleled, since 1967 according to the UNRWA . People have forgotten that massacre as they forgot others, but Palestinians who are living with its after mass can never forget.

Now, the so called international community is giving the green light to another neo-colonial project accompanied with war crimes in Palestine, and the dehumanization of Palestinians in media discourse and political rhetoric doesn’t only impact their lives but it intersects with the Islamophobic and neo-orientalist discourse about Arabs and Muslims worldwide, which demonizes them and leads to a spike in hate crimes.

For journalists to make a change, they need to decolonize their mind-sets first.

I

n the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the ongoing Israeli retaliation, is there anything different in the U.S. government’s response this time around?

The question must be answered in context. Ever since the 1967 War, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands has actually been a U.S.-Israeli occupation, with the U.S. government not just fully complicit with the occupation but also the principal backer of Israel’s continued settler-colonialism economically, politically, diplomatically, and most importantly, militarily.

Given this context, nothing much has changed in the U.S. response, except it has gotten scarily worse. In any number of ways, the U.S. government has double-downed on its support for the Israeli apartheid regime and pretended that the oppression of the Palestinian people is not even a factor in its calculations.

The first statements out of the White House of President Joe Biden articulated full-throated support for Israel and condemnation of the Hamas attack as “pure unadulterated evil,” casting Hamas not just as a terrorist organization but as a group “whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews.”

Raising the spectre of antisemitism–as if the armed Palestinian resistance was based purely on ethnic and religious hatred and not on dispossession, occupation, theft of lands, the 16-year long siege of Gaza, and denial of fundamental human rights–was an entirely new twist for a U.S. administration and probably reflective of the Christian Zionist views held by Biden.

From there it only got worse, with the stakes for the Biden administration heightened by the upcoming presidential elections, the killings and capture of U.S. citizens, pressure from the Israel Lobby, the desire to jettison the left-leaning wing of the Democratic Party that increasingly supported Palestinian rights, and the geopolitical calculations that the attack might spoil Biden’s efforts to entice Saudi Arabia into normalizing relations with Israel.

An early diplomatic sign was the deletion of Turkey’s call for a “cease-fire” from a social media message posted by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to X, formerly Twitter. Apparently Blinken thought better of mentioning a cease-fire after posting the tweet. Past U.S. responses to Israel’s bombardments of Gaza in 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014 usually involved an interregnum before the State Department stepped in to call for a cease-fire or softening of the bombing.

This time around, no such consideration. The deletion signaled a U.S. green light for an all-out attack against Gaza. And indeed, as of this writing, Israel has dropped 6,000 bombs on Gaza’s dense population over a six-day period, almost as much as NATO forces dropped on Afghanistan over an entire year, according to calculations by war crimes investigator Marc Galasco, who was quoted in The Guardian.

According to internal memos obtained by the Huffington Post, the State Department also counseled that the word “de-escalation” was not to be used, and from there the Biden Administration began to actively take part in planning war crimes. It did so with Blinken’s initial call for a “safe corridor” out of Gaza and into Egypt for Gaza’s civilian population, a barely disguised call for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

A number of factors play into the U.S. role, principally the fact that it has a long-standing history of imperialist and colonialist behavior and is itself saturated with a settler-colonial tradition that included a genocide and forced removal of Native Americans. Indeed, the shared values that the U.S. claims with Israel include both the dispossession of the indigenous and establishing apartheid regimes—one of white supremacy and the other Jewish supremacy.

Several other developments also must be accounted for. With presidential elections looming next year, Biden already finds himself trailing in the polls against the likely Republican nominee, Donald Trump, who endeared himself to the Israel Lobby during his first term by recognizing the annexation of the Golan Heights and moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Since Biden took office, he hasn’t undone anything Trump did, but he did snub Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by not inviting him to the White House in the first few years of his term and openly criticized Netanyahu’s plan to neuter Israel’s High Court.

Prior to the Hamas attack, Biden sought to make amends by finally inviting Netanyahu to the U.S. capital, likely in the hope of soliciting more funds from the powerful Lobby for his 2024 election campaign. Since the Hamas attack, the mainstream news media highlights the cheek-to-cheek relationship between the two administrations. Meanwhile other Republican Party presidential hopefuls appeal stridently to the Christian Zionist and racist base of their party in the hopes of galvanizing support.

Thus, the following Republicans have issued statements like these: “Level the place,” said Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). “I don’t think there’s any way Israel can be expected to coexist or find some diplomatic off-ramp with these savages,” said Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). “…You can’t coexist. They have to be eradicated.” “They’re a territory that’s about to probably get eviscerated and go away here shortly, as we’re going to turn that into a parking lot,” said Republican Rep. Max Miller.

Biden was hopeful of inducing Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel, especially after witnessing China’s recent diplomatic moves in the region. During his 2020 presidential campaign Biden promised that Saudi Arabia would be treated as a “pariah” due to its human rights record, but he quickly reversed course once in office, fearful of a spike in oil prices. He must have anticipated that improving relations with both Israel and the Saudis would reap rewards not only from the Lobby but also from the U.S. and the Israeli military-industrial complex, which stand to gain huge profits from the so-called Abraham Accords.

Iran represented yet another geopolitical objective complicated by Hamas. Biden administration officials carefully noted that Iran seemed to be caught by surprise by the Hamas attack. However, Republicans were quick to blame Iran for the attack, claiming that $6 billion due to be freed from the sanctions regime helped enable the Hamas offensive. The Biden administration quickly shut down any release of those funds–now controlled by Qatar–which anyway were earmarked for humanitarian purposes only.

The Hamas attack has likely spoiled any effort to get Iran back into the nuclear accord that Trump exited at the Israel Lobby’s behest. Biden saw Iran’s reentry into the accord as part of his “pivot to Asia,” essentially leaving Middle East concerns behind so that the U.S. could focus primarily on its economic and political rivalry with China.

Finally, the Biden administration’s wholehearted embrace of Israel can also be seen as a way for the Democratic Party establishment to isolate its growing left-wing. Polls show that nearly 50 percent of the party’s base now has more sympathy for the Palestinians than Israel. The Israel Lobby has increasingly grown fearful of losing the bipartisan support it has long enjoyed.

By pummeling that left-wing with the images of Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians (itself a mirror image of Israel’s conduct over the last 75 years) and by casting Hamas as simply a terrorist organization, Biden and cohorts whipped most elected officials into line. Only Reps. Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib continued to center Palestinian suffering in the wake of the attack, while 55 Democratic congresspeople urged Israel to obey international law and called for humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The U.S. double standard is alive and well for the moment. But the more it enables the crimes of the apartheid regime, the more it isolates itself from the rest of the world, especially the Global South.

O

n Sunday, October 15, Israeli warplanes targeted a residential building in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp where dozens of my family members live, killing nine of them. Among the victims were my father’s cousin Azmi Aljamal, 63, a retired nurse, his wife Hanan, 60, and their children Mustafa, 33, Suad, 36, and Sondos, 28. Three of their grandchildren, Omar, Mustafa, and Jana, were also killed, along with their niece Ola, 33, who had sought refuge in her father’s house from where she lives in southern Gaza because of the intense Israeli bombardment.

When I was in Gaza, I remember visiting them during the holidays and seeing a picture of our great-grandfather, Ahmad Aljamal, on the wall. Our great-grandfather was killed in 1948, days before the Zionist militias depopulated my ancestral village and forced its inhabitants at gunpoint “further south” to Gaza, where we have lived for the past 75 years. Today, nothing has changed as Israel demands that Palestinians move from the north of Gaza and Gaza City “further south” in what looks like another horrific scene of the Nakba that continues since 1948.

Even as thousands of Palestinians followed the orders or threats of the Israeli army and moved south, their convoys were targeted by Israel, killing at least 70. It became clear to many Palestinians in Gaza that there is no safe place in Gaza, and that being in Rafah is as deadly as being in Jabaliya, as the Israeli massacres targeted everyone and planted death and fear once again in the hearts of Gazans.

As I turn on the news, I see a heartbroken Palestinian father telling an Aljazeera reporter: “The Israeli army asked us to move south, and we did. They targeted us in Rafah; I ran from death in Gaza City to find it in Rafah. I lost three of my children. I don’t know who to bury first.”

Doctors find their beloved among the dead

As dozens of bodies are brought to Gaza’s hospitals, many of which are on the verge of collapse, tragic stories are repeated. Medical teams sometimes find their own family members among the dead, and burst into tears, unable to treat them or others. As hospitals overflow with corpses, families are urged to take the bodies of their loved ones and bury them as soon as possible. A Palestinian from Gaza posted a video showing the body of his dead father in the back seat as he drove to bury him alone after losing the rest of his family the day before.

In Gaza, Palestinians feel that their deaths do not count. They feel that they are being treated as “human beasts,” as described by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant who ordered the cutting off of water, internet, and electricity supplies to Gaza without worrying about any reaction from the so-called international community. Even those who keep animals as pets, provide them with food and water—something Israel refuses to do in Gaza. Israel’s ability to shut down life in Gaza is a reminder of its complete control over the coastal enclave and the fact that it is the occupying power there, as it always has been.

My aunt Somaiya appears in a video as I scroll through social media, asking my cousin Ayman to let her touch the body of my cousin Ola, lying on the ground and enclosed in a coffin for the last time. She has tasted death several times. “The dead have survived, the living have not,” comments another cousin, describing how people in Gaza comfort themselves in the face of death while the world watches in silence as Israel kills them. Death also haunts Palestinians in Chicago, thanks to fabricated news from Israel that led to the tragic death of a Palestinian boy named Wadee Alfayoumi, who was stabbed 26 times by a landlord who repeated Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian slogans.

Entire families removed from civic records

As I write, entire families are being killed by Israeli strikes in Rafah, Khan Younis, and Al-Burij. Dozens of Palestinian families have already been erased from the civil registry. Palestinians are still being asked by the mainstream media to condemn themselves. Palestinians are still expected to pay the price for European guilt, military and political interests, and shared values with Israel, which has been described by reputable human rights organizations as an apartheid state with different laws for different peoples.

Palestinians are even targeted in UNRWA schools, where at least 600,000 have sought refuge. Where can Palestinians go? Gaza looks like the last haven and Palestinians are not willing to become refugees for the second and third time in their lives. They would rather die than become refugees and be displaced again.

After all, in 1948, they were told that they would be allowed to return “within a few days” and 75 years later they are still waiting for their return. Will anyone intervene and stop this death march that the Palestinians have been forced to take because they don’t want to live another Nakba, this time with the world watching and TV stations broadcasting the imminent expulsion of the Palestinian people?

For many Palestinians, death in Gaza is preferable than becoming refugees in Sinai, as Israel wants. Israel has not shied away from targeting Palestinian civilians, killing a total of 3,300, including 1,000 children and 400 women, and injuring more than 12,000 others. Around 1,000 Palestinians are still trapped under the rubble. Will the world intervene and stop the ongoing death march of Palestinians in Gaza towards the south, which is a crime under international law?

Shortly after an Israeli air strike killed 500 Palestinians at the Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on October 17, an Israeli air strike destroyed one of the two bakeries in my refugee camp. Palestinians are not safe in hospitals, nor do they have access to bread, even in the south, where Israel has asked them to evacuate.

It is important to remember that throughout history, Gaza has always risen from the ashes, and Israel’s military might will not bring it peace; treating Palestinians as equal human beings with full dignity will bring it peace. Palestinians in Gaza are being treated worse than animals; as victims of siege, military occupation, and a slow death, their treatment is as unacceptable as their imminent death.

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he Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a century old. Throughout the years, there have been many actors involved in this conflict. After 1967 and 1973, the Palestinians developed different entities that fought Israel using their own local means. Hamas recently appeared on the stage and has increased its effectiveness primarily in the Gaza Strip. In the past decade, Hamas has become an effective actor in the West Bank.

The Al-Aqsa Flood Operation launched by Hamas has brought the Palestinian issue back on the agenda. In the context of regional developments, the Palestinian experience has been increasingly disregarded, which can be seen as the external reason for the intensive operation against Israel on October 7. The current developments increase the responsibility of the Arab nations in the region, and signify a shift in the Palestinian leadership against Israel.

Palestine returns to the regional agenda in a brand-new light

With the Arab uprisings, the issue of Palestine and Jerusalem was left on the sidelines as other events and other actors in the region came to the fore. In the past decade, Palestine has been overlooked and become a victim of the Arab uprisings.

During this period, the Egyptian tunnels, which were Gaza’s only connection to land, were closed with Sisi’s coup in 2013. This exacerbated the difficulties that 2.5 million people experience daily in the narrow strip of Gaza. Not to mention the fact that the number of Palestinians killed by Israel since the Arab uprisings exceeds 5,000—in the last year alone, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed.

A second regional issue is that other Arab countries from Morocco to Jordan, and Saudi Arabia to the Gulf countries have not included the Palestinians in their normalization policies with Israel, known as the Abraham Accords. In other words, they have presented the matter of normalization with Israel as one that is solely between them and Israel, and have left the Palestinian actors out of the picture. Operation Al-Aqsa Flood has brought the Palestinian issue back to the agenda.

Countries like Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, which support the Palestinian cause, have not been able to take a political stance on the Palestinian issue due to their internal turmoil. Arab countries, especially the Gulf countries which have been carrying out the normalization process with Israel may be prompted to rethink the process.

In this context, it should be taken into account that until recently, one of the sources of legitimacy of the regimes, monarchies, and states in the Arab world was the nature of their relations with Israel. Now, Palestine and Jerusalem are back on the agenda in a brand-new light, imposing great responsibilities on other countries in the region in the forthcoming process.

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he adeptly prepared attack by Hamas from air, sea, and land on October 7 has revealed that traditional threats persist for Israel. Specifically, Hamas at the local level and Iran at the regional level pose an existential threat to Israel.

In addition, although the existence of terrorist threats has always posed a security risk for Israel, further indirect security threats for the country have arisen from the recent coups in Africa, which have created instability; the strengthening of terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and DAESH; and and the presence of factions of the latter across the African continent. In this context, Israel’s security policy in Africa focuses on effective measures against terrorist threats and the expansion of radicalization.

In recent years, Israel has sought to increase its security cooperation by developing relations with African countries through deepening diplomatic ties. Israel maintains cooperation with various new partners in Africa through security intelligence, counterterrorism, border control, and arms transfers. In this way, it aims to gain significant advantages both to ensure its own security more effectively and to increase its legitimacy in the international community.

Africa’s strategic location, especially East Africa, has the potential to offer Israel significant support in combating regional threats. Iran’s growing presence in Africa and the rise of radicalism and terrorism in the continent in recent years have shaped Israel’s approach to the continent in the context of security.

African countries’ positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni expressed regret over the renewal of violence in Israel-Palestine, emphasized that the issue was the failure to implement the two-state solution and called for restraint. He stated that the targeting of civilians should be condemned. Like Uganda, the governments of Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania have also called for restraint.

The South African government stated that the continued illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, the expansion of settlements, the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and holy sites, and the oppression of the Palestinian people are the main reasons of the current events. South Africa, it must be noted, suffered under an apartheid rule for many years.

It also emphasized the need for a two-state solution and a credible peace process that will fulfill previous United Nations resolutions for a just and comprehensive solution for both sides. He went on to express the necessity of establishing lasting peace by creating a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and its territorial integrity intact based on the 1967 borders.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), stated that the denial of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, in particular the denial of an independent and sovereign state, is the main cause of the persistent Israeli-Palestinian tension. North African countries, among them Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt and Djibouti have also voiced their support for Palestine.

Kenya described the terrorist attack on Israel as “despicable.” It expressed regret over the carnage and senseless loss of life in the region and condemned those who had a hand in the planning, financing, and execution of the attack. Finally, Kenyan representatives emphasized that although Israel has the right to retaliate, it is seeking a “peaceful” way out.

President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Felix Tshisekedi stated that the attack on Israel was an act of terrorism and that his country would always cooperate with Tel Aviv in the fight against terrorism. Zambia was also among the countries supporting Israel with a statement condemning the Hamas attacks and emphasizing a diplomatic solution.

Possible scenarios

Ethiopia and Kenya are two of the most prominent countries in the region in terms of Israel’s interests in East Africa. Israel’s development of bilateral relations with Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda has the potential to promote the idea of an “alliance” in the face of the unstable and threatening reality that currently characterizes the Middle East. Meanwhile, Israel has embassies in Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea, and Rwanda in East Africa, and its interests in the Horn of Africa are more salient in the regional subsystem.

In 2006, Hamas’s victory in the elections in Gaza was perceived as a precursor of the wind of change in the Middle East. Since then, local actors have voiced rumors that Hamas would launch a major offensive. However, Hamas’s Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7 was a great shock for Israel, similar to the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

In the past, Israel has responded to attacks with retaliation. After recovering from the shock, Israel is likely to continue its intensive bombardment and attacks on Gaza, which it frames as deterrent measures, for a prolonged time. In this process, it seems possible that actors such as Hezbollah, Hashd al-Shaabi, and Houthis will support Hamas in different ways due to the magnitude of the attack on Gaza.

In this scenario, there is also a risk that the war will move from an Israel-Hamas dimension to a regional dimension. Even in the mid-term, if not in the short term, various groups in Africa may support this war from different standpoints. In Nigeria, for example, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, the Shiite leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), has long had close ties with Iran.

If the war gains a regional dimension, it is possible that Zakzaky may mobilize in support of Palestine. Yet, different problems may arise at this point: just as the IMN wants an Islamic state based on Islamic law in Nigeria, Boko Haram, which declared its allegiance to DAESH, also wants an Islamic state based on Islamic law.

The existence of this common desire gives rise to the possibility that Boko Haram, which is effective in Nigeria and its surroundings, may declare a global jihad. As a matter of fact, the coups that have been taking place in the Sahel for a long time and the instability caused by these coups have created power vacuums in the region, which various terrorist organizations have attempted to fill.

Meanwhile, the involvement of al-Shabaab in Somalia and the Al-Qaeda affiliates in Africa, especially in the Sahel, in line with the call for a global jihad may also arise. However, even if a global jihad is declared, Hamas will not welcome another non-state armed actor fighting alongside it in Gaza.

Considering the presence of DAESH in Morocco and at certain points in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, as well as the current environment in Libya, a conflict with Israel over the Sinai Peninsula should also be considered among the possibilities.

Therefore, this situation may make it possible for the above actors to attack Israel through different geographies. If there is a possibility of radical groups and terrorist organizations in Africa attacking Israel, it is likely to happen in two ways:

• From the Sahel Belt, through Libya to the Egyptian-Sinai Peninsula and east through Port Sudan to the Red Sea to reach the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
• A direct threat to Israel with access to the Gulf of Aqaba.

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n October 7, the Palestinian armed group Hamas carried out a surprise attack on Israeli military posts surrounding the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Israel since 2007. The unprecedented attack shocked not only Tel Aviv but the whole world, as it was carried out against Israel, a country that prides itself on its past victories against Arab countries thanks to its professional army and advanced weapons.

The death toll on the Israeli side is still being counted at the time of writing. However, it is almost certain that around 1,300 Israeli soldiers have been killed so far, along with a number of civilians. Whether the number of casualties will remain stable is not yet known, but Israeli officials have admitted that October 7 was the worst day in the country’s history, having lost fewer people in the Six-Day War of 1967 when Israel fought four Arab countries simultaneously. What is more, the perpetrator of this latest defeat is a non-state armed group, confined to Gaza City and without even access to conventional weapons.

Immediately after the attack went viral, the U.S. and European countries expressed solidarity with Israel and condemned the Hamas attack. For example, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission, posted several consecutive tweets saying that they [the EU] stand with Israel. Thierry Breton, a member of the EU Commission, asked Elon Musk, owner of X, to remove pro-Palestinian posts. The EU Commission tried to suspend financial assistance to Palestine, but failed as several countries rejected the proposal; however, some EU members, such as Denmark and Austria, suspended Palestinian development aid but decided to maintain humanitarian assistance.

In addition, the U.S., the UK, Germany, France, and Italy issued a joint statement supporting Israel’s right of self-defense. British Home Secretary Suella Braverman even said that the flying of the Palestinian flag might not be legitimate. In addition, U.S. President Joe Biden, senators, and many other American politicians not only verbally expressed their support for Israel, but immediately ordered the U.S. Army to supply arms to Israel. At present, a U.S. aircraft carrier has docked close to the Israeli coast and another is about to arrive in the region.

As for the Western mainstream media, it can be said that unsurprisingly their coverage has been anything but neutral. In almost all the reports, Israel is portrayed as the victim and the Palestinian side as the guilty party. Their bias can be seen in headlines: BBC News’ X account wrote, “More than 500 people have died in Gaza after Israel launched massive retaliatory air strikes, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Israel since Hamas launched its attacks on Saturday.” [emphasis added] According to the BBC, when a Palestinian is killed by the Israeli army, they just die, but when it is the other way round, the action becomes murder. Moreover, almost all British newspapers on their October 10 front pages claimed that 40 babies had been beheaded by Hamas, although no such brutality took place. The editorial approach of other Western media was more or less the same as that of the BBC.

However, despite the staunch and unrelenting support of Western capitals and media, it can be argued and substantiated that Israel has long lost the information war against Palestine. A poll conducted by Pew Research Center in 2022 shows that the U.S. public opinion is only slightly more favorable towards Israel than Palestine, which was not the case before. The striking aspect of the poll is that American youth have more positive feelings towards Palestine than Israel.

A year later, a poll conducted in July 2023, shows that views of Palestine are more favorable than those of Israel. Polls conducted in Europe show similar results, with younger generations having more positive perceptions of Palestine than Israel, in contrast to their elders. In general, while Westerners’ perceptions of Palestine and Israel are almost the same, support for the former is gradually increasing while the latter is losing momentum in terms of positive perceptions. Across the world, people are more sympathetic to the Palestinians than to the Israelis.

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, the Israeli government reported that civilians were among the casualties. Although the number of civilians killed is not currently conclusive, it is clear that this will affect perceptions of Palestine, but it may not stop the growing support for Palestinian rights at the grassroots level.

There are several reasons for this positive momentum. First, anyone with a conscience and the ability to apply reason can fathom that the attacks by Palestinian groups are a response to previous Israeli attacks, the blockade of Gaza, the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinians, the deprivation of basic rights, and the occupation of Palestinian land. It is straightforward to compare the asymmetry of power between the two sides, the number of victims, and the violations of international law, among others. Moreover, anyone can deconstruct narratives that are clearly biased; for example, if one side argues, “Israel has the right to defend itself,” the other side can ask, “Why do the Palestinians not have the same right?”

Second, the internet, in general, and social media, in particular, allow access to different sources of information, including those of the disadvantaged side and even the victims. Giant media corporations may be the mouthpiece of Israel all the time, but a video taken by a Gazan can easily refute the lies. Disinformation is no longer dominant in the flow of information. Thanks to the internet, people learn the truth not through biased media(tors) but directly from the sources.

Finally, with the ever-increasing number of Palestinians expelled from their land over the last decades, the Palestinian diaspora has grown larger and stronger. Living among foreigners, the diaspora has the opportunity to explain what is happening in their homeland. The BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement, a platform fighting for Palestinian rights, Palestinian academics, pro-Palestinian communities, NGOs, and governments are helping to make the Palestinian cause known transparently and without malicious interceptions. As a result, people sympathize and empathize with the Palestinians and their suffering.

Palestine is winning the information war; technology hates bias, and people have the ability to distinguish truth from lies—and, first and foremost, Palestinians are right in their cause.

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peration Al-Aqsa Flood was launched on Saturday, October 7 against Israel from the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli blockade since 2007. It has once again become necessary to address the many legal issues such as the rights and responsibilities of the Palestinian and Israeli sides in the context of international law, as well as the legality of their actions and methods.

Israel’s military response to the operation prompts a series of legal considerations. At this stage, however, the most important one is to determine within what limits and up to what extent Israel, which has invoked its right of self-defense, can legally exercise this right.

Israel’s expansive control of occupied territories

When Israel was established in 1948, it was based on a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution which allocated a territory to a Jewish state to be established on Palestinian territories. In other words, the resolution itself did not establish a Jewish state—it defined a region where the state would be established.

The resolution also defined a region where an Arab state would be established and proclaimed Jerusalem to hold international status.  With and following the establishment of Israel, Resolution 181 was never properly followed. Especially with the 1967 war, Israel went far beyond the 181 Resolution. Today, there is a large area known as the “Occupied Territories,” which Israel controls, but which are unequivocally Palestinian territories.

Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is omnipotent and omnipresent: the presence of Israeli soldiers, the lack of separation between East and West Jerusalem, Gaza being essentially an open-air prison. The Gaza Strip is a narrow band of Palestinian land on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, which stretches for about 40 kilometers and at its deepest measures about 12 kilometers. It is said that about two million people try to live here in very difficult conditions. Since 2007, Israel has been imposing a blockade regarding what can go in and what can come out.

When we consider the United Nations resolutions in terms of international law, we are talking about a geography in Palestine where the borders are legally unclear, blurred, and, most of the time, even lost. These are completely illegal circumstances.

It is questionable whether Israel will be bound by the current borders. Considering that the Netanyahu government is already in a difficult position politically, it may see the current escalation as an opportunity to go to extremes and push legal limits to prove it is strong and able to provide security for Israel.

The Israeli army spokesperson has claimed that Hamas militants are hiding in schools, mosques, and residences, and, therefore, that these are all legitimate targets. Israel also claims that it has warned civilians to evacuate Gaza. The fact that Gaza is facing the possibility of coming under the de facto control of Israel and the tensions that this will later create make the situation even more worrying.

Within Israel, a strong emphasis needs to be given to the two-state solution. Currently, Israel does not even feel the need to discuss this anymore as it has established almost complete control everywhere.

The extent of Israel’s right of self-defense (under international law):

Even if Palestinian actions were to constitute an aggression and give rise to the right of self-defense, many legal limits and constraints await Israel when it declares that it is exercising its right of self-defense.

The right of self-defense is regulated in Article 51 of the UN Charter. The crucial elements emerging from this article are as follows:

• The right of self-defense is inherent, that is, every state has such a right.
• There must be a current armed attack.
• States may exercise their right to self-defense alone or in conjunction with other state(s) that may assist them.

First, as indicated in Article 51, since the right of self-defense is a right inherent in natural and customary law, there is an element of proportionality in this right. Therefore, the force used within the framework of this right must be proportionate.

Responses that are not proportionate to the action that gives rise to the right of self-defense, or that aim to punish the other party or take revenge, exceed the legal limits of the right of self-defense. In short, the response can only be sufficient in stopping and repelling an attack, and when force is used beyond this condition, the limits of the right of self-defense are exceeded. Statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seem to go beyond the scope of the right of self-defense as concepts such as retribution and revenge are used.

Israel can only continue its counter-military actions until the Palestinian attack is stopped and until it reclaims its captured territories—if any. Proportionality, in this case, indicates that the response must not go beyond what is necessary to stop the attack and recover legal parts of territory.

The second point indicates that there must be an ongoing attack against Israel, so the issue of whether Hamas is actively carrying out an attack is important and needs to be evaluated.

Third, the article mentions that the right of states to self-defense can be exercised alone or together with other states. In this context, the statements made by the United States in the last few days may indicate the intent to exercise Israel’s right to self-defense collectively.

In this context, the use of warships and aircraft, which the United States claims to have sent to the region to assist Israel, presumably on the basis of the right of collective self-defense, would grossly violate the principle of proportionality. On the opposing side of the combined U.S. and Israeli armed forces is a piece of Palestinian territory where some two million people are squeezed into a narrow zone of 41 kilometers that never exceeds 12 kilometers depth.

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amas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, as the name suggests, was motivated by a central focus on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Israeli aggression against the holy sites. The aim of the operation is to put an end to the 15-year blockade of Gaza and the related status quo in the Palestinian arena. It can be said that Hamas has achieved this goal at a tactical level in a short period of time. This operation has shaken global public opinion and forced it to take a position.

Although the operation carried out by Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has been hyperbolically described as “Israel’s 9/11,” it would be more accurate to characterize the al-Aqsa Flood as a successful deception operation in which Hamas skillfully managed to conceal its military plans by convincing Israel that it no longer wanted war.

Hamas meticulously continued its preparations for this operation while Israel, with an unexpected naiveté, thought that it was keeping Hamas under its control. It has even been claimed that during the preparation process, Hamas deliberately reduced the tempo and frequency of its actions against Israel. Military experts have claimed that the operation was the most surprising attack since the Yom Kippur War with some describing it as an unprecedented intelligence maneuver.

Why was Israel taken by surprise?

The timing of the operation, which coincided with the Sabbath, the Jewish day of worship and rest, created a shock factor that made it difficult for the Israeli forces to react immediately. Moreover, infiltration from multiple points (air, land, and sea) took the Israeli defense by surprise.

Hamas decided on the details of the operation with a very limited group of people in order to prevent leaks from within its ranks. Some analyses have also pointed out that recently Israel shifted its focus on the steps to be taken to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and away from Hamas.

An analysis of the tactical phases of the operation reveals that as the rockets launched from Gaza caused surprise, infiltrations were carried out with motorized parachutes and hang gliders in the shadow of the rockets. The initial infiltrating elements and elite units of Hamas were seen fortifying area control and security which facilitated attacks on the concrete barriers reinforced with electronic systems. This allowed buldozers, motorcycles, and land vehicles to breach the barrier system, enabling more elements to infiltrate.

Drones carrying improvised explosive devices (IEDs) disabled the electro-optical systems of the Israeli watchtowers. At the same time, the communication line with the Israeli army headquarters was disrupted, limiting the ability to respond to the attack immediately.

The kidnapping of Israeli prisoners into Gaza will provide Hamas with political leverage to increase its bargaining power in future prisoners’ exchange.

Finally, it is argued that the Israeli army made a strategic mistake in deploying its troops mainly in the West Bank, which was one of the factors that facilitated the execution of this operation.

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alestinians with American citizenship will be able to enter the West Bank and later the Gaza Strip via Ben-Gurion Airport following an agreement between the United States and Israel that began on 20 July 2023, including a seven-week trial period.

The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot noted that Israel and the United States have agreed to begin preparations for a crucial stage on the road to visa-free travel to the United States, which will allow Palestinians with American citizenship to enter the West Bank – and some to enter Gaza – via Ben-Gurion Airport.

U.S. President Joe Biden has been pushing to admit Israel into the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which would allow Israeli citizens to travel visa-free to the United States.

The American condition for Israel’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program is that American citizens, regardless of origin, be allowed to enter Israel freely through Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport without being discriminated against at security checkpoints.

The United States has already made it clear that without this condition, Israel will not be included in the waiver program which is due to take effect in October or November.

Palestinian-Americans from Gaza turned back

After the US-Israel test period, several Palestinian-Americans from Gaza were turned back by Israel and told they couldn’t enter Israel. These Israeli procedures caused a wave of frustration among Palestinian Americans from Gaza who felt discriminated against.

Several Palestinian Americans reported their experiences of being turned back at Tel Aviv airport and at Allenby Bridge, which connects the West Bank to Jordan and is controlled by Israel, to the U.S Embassy. Palestinian-Americans were marked as Palestinians in Israeli permit systems upon entering, which prompted the U.S. government to put pressure on Israel. Despite being American, Palestinian Americans felt being labeled by Israel due to their national identity.

Israel has responded by saying it will implement new procedures by 15 September that will allow Palestinians from Gaza who hold American citizenship to enter Israel, but it is still unclear under what conditions Palestinian-Americans from Gaza will be able to travel.

With Israel plagued by protests against Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, many observers see the American decision to include Israel in the visa waiver program a gift to the Netanyahu government. Whether or not Israel is included in the program depends on its treatment of Americans equally, regardless of their background.

There are thousands of Palestinian Americans from the Gaza Strip who hope that the new rules will allow them to travel directly in and out of Gaza, rather than having to travel through Jordan and the West Bank, or Israel or Egypt, which requires permits and causes delays.

The Visa Waiver Program

The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens of 40 countries to travel to the United States for 90 days for tourism or business without a visa. In return, citizens of the United States should be allowed to travel to these countries for tourism or business without a visa.

Israel has been demanding inclusion in the visa waiver program for years, but its treatment of American citizens of Arab and Palestinian origin has remained a stumbling block. It appears that Israel has agreed to meet the US conditions in return for allowing its citizens to travel to the US without visas, which will boost the popularity of the current Israeli government.

It is difficult to estimate the number of Palestinians living in the US because many of them were stateless when they arrived in the US or had different passports and travel documents. But it is estimated that there are 250,000 Palestinian Americans, with some estimates suggesting they could reach 500,000. The new agreement will allow them to travel freely to Israel, the West Bank and, hopefully, Gaza.

For this to happen, a group of NGOs, such as American Muslims for Palestine, started calls and petitions to make sure all Palestinian Americans are allowed to visit Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip without restrictions.

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ael Khoudary, a 60-year-old patient who relies on a nebulizer to inhale his medication, is one of many Gazans impacted by the new reality of climate change. The constant power outages that have persisted for more than 16 years prevent him from taking the necessary medication regularly.

“I must use the nebulizer once or twice a day. But when the power is out, imagine what happens next,” laments Wael.

Wael is used to such power outages; when his home loses power, he can hardly afford to pay for transportation to the closest hospital.

The Gaza Strip is a densely populated Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. Israel maintains a blockade on Gaza since 2007 which has had a significant impact on its economy and infrastructure, including the Gaza Strip’s electricity supply.

Israel controls several entry points and border crossings for goods and fuels into Gaza, including the supply of electricity. Due to the blockade, Gaza’s electricity infrastructure is heavily dependent on imports from the Israeli occupiers. The main power plant in Gaza, which is capable of producing electricity locally, has been operating well below its capacity due to limited fuel and restrictions on the import of spare parts.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Gaza Strip has faced a sixteen-year-long Israeli siege. Recently the situation worsened when the Israeli government restricted the electricity supply, inflicting further collective punishment on the Palestinian people.

The siege has severely impacted all aspects of life, with hospitals forced to postpone non-urgent surgeries and prematurely release patients. The lack of reliable power also poses life-threatening risks for those dependent on dialysis machines and newborns, while nights become engulfed in complete darkness due to power restrictions.

“A Pitch-Black Sauna”

Ibrahim Hasan, a father of two, finds solace in taking his small family to the beach to escape the stifling daytime heat, while thousands seek refuge there from the oppressive temperatures at night as well. Many families in Gaza adopt this strategy to survive the extreme weather conditions.

“I can never stand to spend even a single second inside my house during the heat of the day,” Ibrahim explains. “I accompany my wife and children to the beach until almost midnight every day.”

Ibrahim compares power outages at home in Gaza to spending time in a sauna in a pitch-black room.

This year, around two million Palestinians will endure scorching temperatures over 35.2°C, deprived of air conditioning or any means of cooling, exposing them to perilous living conditions.

Each night, Gaza City is cloaked in darkness, except for the faint glimmer of windows from the fortunate few who own generators. These generators, few and far between, are a lifeline for hospital patients and represent the only hope for access to water.

Chronic electricity shortages have plagued the Gaza Strip for the past ten years, making the already precarious living circumstances worse. The continuous power outage has had a negative impact on Gaza’s already unstable economy, particularly the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, and has severely limited accessibility to basic services, such as health, water, and sanitation.

In the face of such challenges, Gazans are courageously enduring each day, navigating life on the edge of surviving the realities of climate change and a prolonged electricity crisis.

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hanks to the Iraqi army, the Palestinian city of Jenin was not captured in 1948 when Israel was created. The Iraqi army was able to retake the city, and the dozens of graves in the Iraqi Army Martyrs’ Cemeteries bear witness to the battle that took place there against armed Jewish militias, which eventually lost control of the city. But in 1967, Jenin was captured when Israel “finished the job” and occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Sinai, and the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War.

Just outside the city of Jenin, a refugee camp was built in 1948 and became home to thousands of Palestinian refugees who were expelled at gunpoint when Israel was created. In 1967, more Palestinians were driven from Jenin into Jordan, becoming refugees for a second time. Mornings in Jenin is a novel by Palestinian writer Susan Abulhawa that tells the story of a Palestinian family from the village of Ein Hod, near Haifa, who became refugees in Jenin in 1948. The scenes of Palestinians leaving the refugee camp en masse on July 4 was a stark reminder of the Nakba.

Jenin is more than a Palestinian refugee camp. It is a symbol of the refugee issue and of the defiance in the face of Israel’s expansion; in 2005, Israel withdrew from the Hermesh settlement near Jenin when it also decided to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. The right-wing Israeli coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu decided to legalize the settlement as part of its drive to expand settlements and annex parts of the West Bank, namely Area C, which makes up 60% of the territory. In the eyes of Israel’s most right-wing government, the 2005 disengagement from Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank was a strategic mistake that needed to be reversed.

Area C and taming Jenin

For this reason, and to pave the way for Israel’s plans to annex Area C of the West Bank, the Israeli army has launched a campaign targeting the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Over the past year, Israel has carried out repeated incursions into the refugee camp, killing dozens of Palestinians. For Israel, the crushing of any Palestinian resistance is a precondition for its annexation plan. For the first time since 2002, when Israel razed the Jenin refugee camp to the ground, the Israeli army used drones and helicopters to demolish dozens of Palestinian homes, calling the incursion “Operation Home and Garden.”

Ironically, Operation Home and Garden left many Palestinian homes and gardens in Jenin in ruins. Israeli bulldozers deliberately destroyed roads, targeted media and medical crews, and forced thousands of Palestinian refugees out of the camp after threatening to bomb their homes. In this manner, Israel announced the start of the second phase of the operation in which it plans to target every single house in the refugee camp and capture or kill Palestinian armed men inside the crowded refugee camp. So far, the Israeli operation in Jenin has killed 12 Palestinians and injured 100 others, 20 of whom are in critical condition.

The Israeli army will extend its operations to other towns and refugee camps in the West Bank—Jenin is just the beginning. The Israeli government is determined to confiscate more Palestinian land, demolish more Palestinian homes, and give the green light to Israeli settlers to carry out more pogroms against Palestinian towns, as happened recently in the West Bank towns of Huwara and Turmus Ayya.

Jenin is the only the start

Palestinians on the ground know only too well that Israel will never leave the West Bank and will only expand there. They also knew back in 1993 when the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel agreed to establish a Palestinian state “within five years,” it was simply a trap and that Israel would never have allowed the Palestinians to have their own sovereign and independent state. All the Palestinians can aspire to is a couple of mayorships outside Area C of the West Bank, without any political representation or rights. The Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp, and probably other West Bank towns, is proof of this.

In Israel’s eyes, Palestinians are merely cheap laborers that can build Israeli cities and settlements, and granting them full rights is out of the question. For Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, who make up 20% of Israel’s population, all that is in store for them is more violence and crime that will eventually force them to leave, without the Israeli police ever intervening to make any arrests. What is certain, sadly, is that there are worse days ahead for the Palestinian people and that their conditions will only get worse under Israel’s continuing military occupation: Jenin is only the beginning.

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n May 2, 2023, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) announced the death of iconic Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan in his cell following 87 days of hunger strike. Adnan’s health started to deteriorate in the past few days and his family was not able to communicate with him via videoconference as they had done in the past at court due to what many believed a serious deterioration of his health. His family and lawyer were also not able to visit him for the past few days.

This was not the first time Adnan went on hunger strike: he was well-known on the Palestinian streets for his previous prolonged hunger strikes to protest his administrative detention without charge or trial in Israel jails.

Adnan was 44 years old and married to Randa Adnan. He was the father of nine children who live in the town of Arraba in the West Bank, southwest of Jenin. Israel arrested Adnan 12 times in total; he spent eight years in prison and went on six hunger strikes.

Multiple hunger strikes

In 2004, he went on a hunger strike for 25 days; in 2012, he went on a hunger strike for 66 days; in 2015. he went on a hunger strike for 56 days; in 2018, he went on a hunger strike for 58 days; and on May 2, he lost his life following 87 days of hunger strike. Due to multiple hunger strikes, he suffered from long-term health implications in his kidney, lungs, and throat.

In A Shared Struggle: Stories of Palestinian and Irish Hunger Strikers, published by An Fhuiseog in Belfast in 2021, Adnan’s story is featured along with 23 other Palestinian and Irish hunger strikers. While working on the book, I had a brief phone call with Adnan. I remember his voice was very weak and he was barely able to talk due to his illness and the damage his vocal cords suffered from past hunger strikes.

He shared with me that he works as a baker and that he does not subscribe to Palestinian factionalism, although he was a former spokesperson for the Palestinian Islamic Jehad Movement during his student years. His discourse tended to be focused on Palestinian unity and nationalism, and one could find him at different political and social events across the West Bank.

In the book, he spoke of how he inspired a generation of young Palestinians to stage hunger strikes to win their freedom, “I came to the idea of how I could break the chains and destroy the arrogance of the jailer by declaring that I would go on hunger strike, alone.” He added, “Time for me was unlimited, everyday passed like a year, each day became heavier than the day before. Mentally, it was not easy at all. However, I was determined to teach the occupiers a lesson in dignity and defiance. They, the occupiers, spared no means to weaken me. I will never forget their insults. I was usually showered by the jailers. I will never forget how they moved my weak, faint, and emaciated body from one position to another; even my organs collapsed. They tried to kill me by neglecting me medically.”

No revenge

Speaking at a press conference after his death, his wife said that there is no point to “take his revenge now, after people failed to show solidarity with him,” when he was left to go on a hunger strike alone. She added, “We don’t need to have rockets fired and blood spilled now.” Adnan concluded by asking people to “remember the faces of her children” who she said will follow the same path as their father.

Following a previous hunger strike, Randa Adnan had stated, “Khader does not need someone to carry his coffin today; if he loses his life, then let people enjoy a life without a dignity, in which a brother abandons his brother.”

Following his death, Palestinians announced a general strike in Jenin, Adnan’s hometown. Protesters took to the streets in Gaza, Ramallah, and Nablus to express solidarity as every Palestinian household had become familiar with the name of Khader Adnan in the past few years.

Randa Adnan noted that Israeli jailers “left him without help until his flesh blended with his bones,” referring to his medical condition and loss of weight following 87 days of hunger strike.

Blackout about the conditions leading to Adnan’s death

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir gave orders to the IPS to crush any attempt by Palestinian prisoners to protest Adnan’s death. Although his death is likely to lead to more unrest in the Palestinian Territories, Adnan was left to die and it is suspected that he lost his life as he was forced-fed by his jailers, according to Majed Al-Najjar, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners Club in Ramallah.

As of yet, it is uncertain exactly how Adnan lost his life; however, his death brings to mind the death of three Palestinian hunger strikers on July 14, 1980, after they were force-fed by Israeli jailers while on hunger strike.

The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees called for “forming an international investigation committee to look into the conditions that led to Adnan’s death,” noting that Israel’s prevention of Adnan’s family and lawyer from visiting him in the past days was an introduction to his death.

Similar to his past hunger strikes which won him his freedom, this time too Adnan will win his freedom, but in a coffin – that is assuming that Israel, which holds the bodies of dozens of Palestinian prisoners who lost their life in jails, will release his body. It is certain that his death will cause more tensions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as Adnan was an iconic figure, taking the region once more time into unchartered waters.

Israel, especially under its current government, fails to understand the symbolism of Palestinian political prisoners for Palestinian society. This is why it seems to be unaware of the implications of leaving a Palestinian hunger striker to die.

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he world watched in shock as the Israeli occupation forces broke into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, beating worshippers and forcing them out of the third holiest site in Islam during the holy month of Ramadan. Some 400 Palestinians were arrested, a hundred were injured, two of whom are in a critical condition, while the invading forces destroyed a small clinic attached to the mosque to prevent providing medical care to those in need. Ambulances and hundreds of Palestinians, who protested outside the gates of the mosque, were prevented from entering.

Israeli forces broke into al-Aqsa and forced worshippers out to clear the way for right-wing Israeli settlers who planned to storm the holy site during Passover on Wednesday, April 5. These Israeli provocations are the immediate result of an incitation by radical Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was formerly convicted of criminal charges and who, as a lawyer, defended and celebrated Israeli settlers burning a Palestinian family.

During an interview on Israeli Channel 12 on April 4, Ben-Gvir said, “Jews should storm the Temple Mount (al-Aqsa Mosque), because it is not only for Arabs; I call on Jews to storm the Temple Mount. It is the most important site for the State of Israel. I don’t accept that only Muslims enter the site … Jews, too, have human rights in this country, and they have the right to break into the site; I will, too, storm it, but not on Wednesday.”

His proposal was that Israeli settlers should break into al-Aqsa, but without offering sacrifices, again because “there are human rights for Jews too in this country.” Palestinians know these human rights well—they have been deprived of them for 75 years. Human rights and what remains of democracy in Israel today is only for Jews. It is no coincidence that the so-called democracy protests in Israel almost completely ignore Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine and concentrate exclusively on the rights of Israeli Jews rather than the rights of Palestinians, who don’t even come second in this narrative.

Protests in Israel as aggression against the Palestinians continue

Some Israelis today feel threatened by the growing influence of right-wring religious parties, which make the majority of Netanyahu’s government. These fears, however, have nothing to do with the Palestinians. Most Israelis, be they on the right or left of the political spectrum, agree on the need to continue the occupation and they have no problem with what the world recently witnessed at al-Aqsa. The world will get used to it—or so they tell themselves. Instead, they are concerned that the Israeli government, which was formed on the premise of making life for the Palestinians who are already second-class citizens even worse, might suppress some of their rights.

Palestinians have no place in this equation and that’s why they are not involved in the ongoing protests in Israel. One of the demands Ben-Gvir was conceded and a quid pro quo for postponing judicial reforms until the summer was forming a new force under his command, which mainly aims to target Palestinians—as if Israeli police and army violence directed against them, especially during Ramadan, was not satisfactory. In other words, Ben-Gvir, who provoked storming al-Aqsa, will have a new force under his command that will further crush the Palestinians, as we have seen on April 5, in return for postponing judicial reforms in Israel, which have nothing to do with Palestinians.

Israel has been implementing a plan to divide al-Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and Jews, both in terms of space and time, as it did with the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. This is why we see an increasing number of raids into the holy site during Ramadan, which sees increasing Muslim worship and presence there. Israel has been gradually implementing its plans to divide al-Aqsa Mosque.

Until three years ago, it rarely conducted raids into the mosque during the month of Ramadan. Now, not only do Israeli settlers break into al-Aqsa during Ramadan, but they also raise the Israeli flag in it. The next step will be allowing biblical sacrifices inside, and performing the biblical “epic falling”, in which they fall on the ground as part of their prayers, at the sacred site, which is an open call for a religious war in the Middle East.

This will necessarily translate into escalation in the Palestinian Territories, which, as the last two years have shown us all, Palestinians will pay for heavily. Soon after Israel assaulted worshipers at al-Aqsa, homemade projectiles were fired into southern Israel from Gaza, to which Israel responded by targeting several sites in the coastal enclave. Similar to May 2021, such provocations will likely lead to further escalations, leaving more destruction and loss of lives on the Palestinian side.

Are international condemnations enough?

Except for shy condemnations, the world chose not to take action to bring Israel’s right-wing government to account. This silence will encourage the Israeli government to implement more aggressive and expansionist polices in the coming weeks, which will take the region, especially considering the ongoing domestic crisis in Israel, into a new military escalation. The world has to act now to prevent such escalation, which is building up at al-Aqsa and in Gaza as Palestinians will not stand watching as Israel violates their right to worship at the holy mosque. Israel is trying to export its internal crises into Jerusalem and Gaza, and Palestinians will likely pay dearly for their policy as they always have.