How To Make A Terrorist: Gaza
- CIVILIAN Magazine
- Nov 1, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 8
"GAZA" // Hearts break for the innocent victims of Hamas' horrific attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. Lives lost in such a manner is a tragedy that should be felt by all. Hearts equally ache for Palestinians who, for so many years, have been dealt unbearable pain while international governing bodies stand idle, watching an apartheid unfold before their blind eyes with no desire, or economic motivation, to intervene. As we witness the tragic result of their years of inaction, it feels inappropriate to call the recent attacks on Israel "unprovoked" as stated by the U.S. government and many of its allies.
It’s important to understand that these words are not intended to condone Hamas’ violence against Israeli civilians—a blatant act of terrorism. Just like civilians who march against colonialism are not celebrating Hamas as perpetuated by media. This instead serves to dissect the motives of these enraged militants who have been led wildly astray by the solipsistic nature of the organization's leadership as well as to shed light on the hypocrisy of the powers of the world who choose to ignore the Israeli government's crimes against humanity all for the sake of protecting economic and ideological interests. Simply labeling all Palestinians as terrorists is a manipulative attempt at omitting an entire history of violence and radically unfair treatment that the people of Palestine have experienced for decades. These are people who feel as though they are facing an existential threat, fighting for survival by any means necessary. Likewise, Israel declares this same sense of an existential threat due to Hamas' 1988 charter which stated that "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it". Although Hamas softened its stance on Israel with an updated charter in 2017, the vindictive nature of these words lingering over the years, coupled with past traumas of the jewish community, has eliminated any conversation of peace.
Today, deep hatred disguised as a quest for survival has left both sides—Hamas and Israel's IDF—lacking any honour for the preservation of innocent human life as they callously murder civilians who want, and deserve, nothing more than a normal existence.
“Some say Israel has the right to defend itself. What rights do we have? Do we have the right to resist occupation?” -Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s representative in the United Nations.
“My right, the right of my wife and my children to move around Judea and Samaria is more important than freedom of movement for the Arabs” - Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir
It's difficult to pinpoint the root cause of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Some highlight the Balfour Declaration as the pivotal moment. Others look further back in history at the years surrounding the Young Turks Revolution in 1908. Whichever way the story is told, one must identify the likes of Albert Antebi and Theodore Herzl as leading figures of a Zionist movement which was birthed as a result of growing anti jewish rhetoric in Europe at the tail end of the nineteenth century. According to Amy Dockser Marcus' Jerusalem 1913, however, even Herzl didn't believe in Palestine as the right choice for Jewish settlement and only "political pragmatism made [him] realize that Palestine was the choice most likely to win the broadest support".
Zionists' colonial ambitions have been well documented throughout the conflict's history. The movement's sole aim was to establish a land where Jews can be majority. A clear mission to return the land occupied mostly by Arabs to its “rightful owners”. Unfortunately for individuals who genuinely seek peace, the beliefs from Herzl’s manifesto, The Jewish State, are the very same philosophies driving the Israeli government today as can be witnessed in the West Bank where Palestinians are continuously displaced from their homes and treated as inferior occupants of the region.
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