Opinion: End Israel’s colonial occupation and apartheid system
Opinion: End Israel’s colonial occupation and apartheid system
Last weekend, Palestinian fighters in Gaza broke through the illegal wall that imprisons them into the ancestral lands from which their families were driven. Some Palestinians who have never experienced a single day of freedom were outside a cage for the first time. For more than 75 years, Israel — purporting to act in the name of all Jews, myself included — has been forcing Palestinians from their homes and killing and kidnapping Palestinians of all ages. I’m 44 years old and on Saturday, for the first time in my lifetime, Palestinians used these same tactics at a large scale against Israelis, killing more than 1,200 people and capturing an estimated 150 others. I know what you’re wondering: Am I writing to celebrate the killing of civilians? No. I am haunted when I see a photo of any civilian killed, my throat involuntarily choking up every time. My question is, if you were more shaken by the Israeli lives lost in one day than 75 years of killing and kidnapping of Palestinians, why is that? What message does that send to Palestinians about the value of their lives and safety? Hamas used a fraction of Israel’s daily tactics. Hamas did not take medicine off Israeli shelves, deny Israelis drinking water, put all Israelis “on a diet.” Hamas didn’t stop Israeli farmers from growing food or fishing to feed their families. Hamas did not turn off Israel’s electricity or prevent fair Israeli elections. These are the everyday inhumanities — funded by billions of U.S. tax dollars every year — endured by 2 million Palestinians in Gaza trapped in an open-air prison, demonized no matter how they resist, listening to their captors call for genocide, unable to cross the wall to live in freedom on their own land, simply because they are not Jewish. As Israeli columnist Gideon Levy , “Israel can’t imprison two million Gazans without paying a heavy price.” It’s possible to let in the truth of Levy’s statement without agreeing with Hamas’ actions. Anyone who expects 2 million people to die quietly in a cage is deceiving themself. Of course people will break out and be ready to fight to the death that they were already condemned to. Dare I say, of course some would resort to taking prisoners to trade back for their own family members trapped in Israeli jails, many of them civilians held for years without charge. It’s possible to hold that reality while also knowing that those Israelis are human beings who also have a right to life and freedom. So, for some, last weekend also represented the possibility, against all odds, of a people who have been invisibilized, starved, massacred, kidnapped, tortured, disenfranchised, demonized and dispossessed for decades to soar over the walls of their military oppressors — not just any military but one of the most powerful and sophisticated in the world. As my friend Sandra Tamari wrote, “The ability of Palestinian fighters to breach Israel’s incredible military infrastructure is a psychological breakthrough.” Right now, as Israel rains terror on 2 million people in Gaza, half of them children; as food and water are cut off and Israel threatens outright genocide; the United States is sending Israel more weapons and mainstream media seems to justify Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians, if they mention it at all. All people deserve to live in safety and peace. This can only be achieved through freedom and justice for all. As we mourn the loss of life, we must address the root of the problem and end Israel’s siege, colonial occupation and apartheid system — which no person would accept for their own people.
Publish Date : 2023-10-13 20:40:45
Image and News Source : mercurynews