Israel Should Know: “What Thou Sowest, Thou Shall Also Reap”

Richard S Dunn, October 16, 2023

On Saturday October 7, 2023 the military section of Hamas in Gaza, one of the National Liberation organizations of Palestine, initiated a military  incursion inside Israel. The corporate media, politicians, and some in the international community, are desperately trying to convince us that this was an “unprovoked” attack. This characterization is so banal, simplistic, and loaded with falsehood, that had it not been such an important and critical issue in global social history, should be ignored. Let us begin here for our discussion. Since the beginning of this year,  before Hamas’ military action, it has been reported by independent media and Human Rights organizations that over 225 Palestinians, including children have been killed by Israeli security forces.

The Context Of The Current Conflict

The genesis of the current Israeli/Palestine conflict began in 1897 when the First Zionist Congress was held in Switzerland, establishing the World Zionist Movement. To establish their Jewish State, the Zionists considered countries like Cyprus, Argentina, as far as Uganda, and the State of Texas here in the United States. Palestine was eventually decided on, a country that was predominantly Arab and owned close to 100 percent of the land. Some 20 years later in 1917, Arthur Balfour, Britain’s Foreign Minister, sent a letter to Lionel Rothschild a leader of the British Jewish community stating in part: “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people;”  the letter further stated that Britain would “use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object.” This letter is historically known as the Balfour Declaration. The British earnestly facilitated European Jews’ emigration to Palestine where their population was under 30 percent.

In 1917, the Balfour declaration divided the area known as the Middle East… In 1948 the state of Israel was formed on territory belonging to indigenous Palestinians; for 75 years the people of Palestine have experienced occupation, genocide, and Apartheid. For 75 years the people of Palestine have been subjected to a holocaust of demonization; ethnic cleansing; bombings; raids; wanton killings including women and children; frivolous imprisonment, and indefinite detention, known as Administrative Detention. All these atrocities fueled by a Zionist ideology rooted in racism, national chauvinism, and a misguided fallacy of religious exclusivity.

Although the Balfour Declaration hypocritically suggested that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine;” the complete opposite was done, by the settlers. The Jews used the opportunity and the conditions created by the Declaration to undermine, organize, and arm themselves, which became the precursor to establishing the formal State of Israel through the Nakba in 1948. During this almost two-year siege more than 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed, over 13,000 Palestinians killed and more than 750,000 forced to flee their homes. To this day the majority of Palestinians have not and cannot return to their former homes, because Israel through its occupation and Policies have prevented it. Al-Jazeera has reported that “Palestinian refugees and their descendants number more than seven million. Many still languish in refugee camps in neighbouring Arab countries, waiting to return to their homeland.”

In the “1967 War” Israel completed its Pogrom against the Palestinian people by seizing all the remaining lands of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. For the next 56 years, Israel has committed the worst crimes against humanity during its continued illegal occupation of Palestine: Numerous military checkpoints; a “passbook” System of identification; separation walls; frequent military raids and operations resulting in the massacre of civilians; air-raids and bombings against civilian targets; military sniper shootings of civilians; destruction of infrastructure and the destruction of Olive plantations; restricting of free movement and the prevention of unification of families are a fraction of the apartheid and genocidal experience of the daily life of the Palestinian people. Numerous academics, peace activists, elected officials, and non-governmental agencies, have warned for years, that if Israel did not change its oppressive and barbaric treatment of Palestinians, there will be serious and bloody consequences.

National Liberation is Not Terrorism

 Hamas’ demands prior to the operation they called “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” and continues to be their demands are: Freeing all political prisoners; respecting the sanctity of Palestinian holy sites in Jerusalem; ending the 17-year siege on Gaza among others. These are legitimate aspirations of any oppressed and besieged people; Palestinians are no different. Hamas is not a terrorist organization; they are the governing party in Gaza. Political, racial, or national bias does not change this objective reality. Hamas is one of the representatives of the Palestinian people, in their struggle for self-determination, National Liberation, an end to the illegal occupation, genocide and Apartheid that they have been subjected to by Israel for 75 years. I vividly recall when the people of Gaza in 1987 elected Hamas as their organizational representative; Israel and their international collaborators, headed by the United States, decried the election results, and used armed force to dissolve the results of the election and isolate Hamas.

News Click has published a short list of military atrocities carried out by the Israeli Security forces against the people of Palestine: Operation Summer Rains (June2006); Operation Autumn Clouds (October – November 2006); Operation Hot Winter (February – March 2008); Operation Cast Lead (December 2008 – January 2009); Operation Running Echo (March 2012); Operation Pillar Cloud (November 2012); Operation Protective Edge (July – August 2014); Operation Black Belt (November 2019); Operation Breaking Down (August 2022). Included in this list should also be the massacre of 1953 in the West Bank, where 69 Palestinians were killed when 45 of their houses in the village of Qibya  were blown up, by Israeli security forces. Who can forget in January of this year, the Israeli massacre in Jenin also in the West Bank; medical attention was severely delayed because of the presence of Security Forces snipers, and the targeting of hospitals and makeshift clinics with tear gas.

The military incursion by Hamas into Israel, is a direct result of 75 years of the illegal and immoral occupation, dehumanization, genocidal and Apartheid living conditions heaped on the people of Palestine by a belligerent, fascist, and colonialist State of Israel. It is simplistically infantile, and illogical to expect that human beings so oppressed would not offer resistance, including military action; this logic lays bare the ignorance of those who call Hamas’ incursion “surprise” and worst “unprovoked.” The struggle for National Liberation and self-determination takes many forms, depending on the objective social conditions. The people of Palestine were forcibly driven from their ancestral homes; they were and continue to be subjected to atrocities, carried out by one of the most repressive regimes, in the history of mankind. Resistance is inevitable and resistance is justifiable. Israel and its media collaborators, would have us believe that only Israelis and Americans were taken hostage; but again, it’s party of the hapless “victim” strategy of Israel to garner increased support for their genocide and Apartheid against Palestinians. The hostages taken are dual nationals and “citizens of more than 20 countries,” reports Al-Jazeera.

In the absence of a clear and firm understanding of revolutionary theory, errors in judgement and execution will be made by revolutionary forces; at the same time the status of the enemy cannot be underestimated or overestimated. Both are extremes that can prove critical to the forward movement of the liberation struggle; underestimation can result in adventurist actions, that drowns the liberation struggle in blood unnecessarily. Overestimation can lead to in-action, political impotence and strengthens the position of the enemy. Revolutionaries have to be always aware of the advice of late Cuban President Fidel Castro; always have moral superiority over the enemy. The international rules of conduct surrounding military engagement must be observed and practiced.

Ethnic Cleansing Again For Gaza

On Monday October  9, 2023 the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, announced that Israel will impose a total blockade on Gaza. This constitutes a total siege on the already occupied and beleaguered territory, which has resulted in the cutting off of food, electricity, and water. This action is illegal under International Law as it constitutes a crime against humanity. Gaza has been pounded by air-strikes and bombings for 7 consecutive days; Israel has mobilized up to 300,000 troops near the border with Gaza and Thursday October 12, Israel has issued evacuation orders for the over 1 million people living in Gaza, to move south within 24 hours or “face death.”

Gaza currently is an area of 225 square miles; it is the most densely populated area on earth, with an estimated 2.3 million residents. This evacuation order is not only cynical and condescending, but also shows the arrogance of Israel; it is also logistically impossible. You cannot move that amount of people within that time and the most important question is: “move them to where?” The crux of the matter is that Israel is opportunistically using the current conflict, as a pretext to continue and escalate its ethnic cleansing of Gaza and expand the building of settlements. A considerable amount of Gaza’s residents are refugees or descendants of refugees who were forced out of their homes in 1948; the founding of the State of Israel. A significant number of Palestinians have been killed during this siege on Gaza, including an attack on the refugee camp in Jabalia; as reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry and the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, according to Al-Jazeera.

Whilst meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, on Friday October 13, 2023, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, rejected the evacuation order of Israel. Reports by Al-Jazeera, TeleSur and other independent media sources, have reported that President Abbas underscored the urgency for humanitarian corridors to be opened to Gaza; this will allow the restoration of water, electricity, fuel, and much needed medical supplies to reach the people of Gaza. This cutting off of Gaza worsens the already Israeli imposed 17-year blockade on Gaza.

The United States and The International Hypocrisy

There has been 77 Resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly, condemning the occupation, genocidal, and Apartheid treatment of Israel against the people of Palestine. The United States have never voted on one, and Israel have never been held accountable for ignoring any of the Resolutions. Ever since its disproportionate retaliatory actions against Hamas and Gaza, Israel has violated several international Protocols surrounding military conflicts: The bombing and air-strikes against civilian targets, including schools and hospitals; carrying out “collective punishment” operations in Gaza; the use of White Phosphorus an agent that is banned by International Law. None of the corporate media or reactionary politicians have condemned the use of this agent or call for accountability from Israel for using this deadly substance. All the “frothing at the mouth” concerns regarding human rights and morality, have suddenly been abandoned; where are the calls for sanctions and the implementation of such sanctions? Where is the listing of Israel as a sponsor and perpetuator of State Sponsored Terrorism?

The wider international community is complicit in the seemingly permanent subjugation of the people of Palestine; they have given “lip” service to the Rights of the Palestinian people and have ignored enforcing any of the United Nations (UN) resolutions surrounding Israel. They have been selective in their condemnation of Human Rights atrocities and Violations against Palestine. The President of the European Commission, was very emphatic last year, when she referred to Russia’s alleged attack on civilian targets in Ukraine as terror; however, everyone is now silent even in the face of documented and proven terror against Palestinians. France and Germany have banned public solidarity protests in support of the people of Palestine.

What Is To Be Done

· There needs to be a complete cease-fire by both parties in the conflict.

·  The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement against genocidal and Apartheid Israel, needs to be strengthened and expanded.

·  The United States must stop its obscene financial support of Israel, which props up a terroristic and oppressive regime.

·  Israel must put an end to the continued building and expansion of the illegal settlements.

·  Israel must end its occupation of Palestine, withdraw all troops from occupied Palestine, return all lands stolen in the formation of the State of Israel, and all displaced Palestinians allowed to return to their homes.

· The Israeli/Palestine conflict is not a militarily resolved issue; it’s a political one, an issue that can only be resolved by the two-States solution.

Richard Dunn can be contacted at: contact@makingitplain.net