The war in Gaza has divided public opinion. If worldwide protests are anything to go by, then it would look like the Palestinians have mustered greater support than the Jews. Everybody loves an underdog, I suppose, and in Gaza, Hamas, no matter how ruthless it might be, is up against a technologically and militarily superior force.
On October 7, however, the tables were turned and it was Hamas fighters that loomed large and dangerous while, for a brief moment in history, Israel looked weak and defeated. That brief moment lasted until the bombs started falling on Gaza.
Now that the ground war is underway and Hamas does not appear to be winning, everyone seems to have forgotten that a month ago 1,400 women, children, soldiers and senior citizens were brutally murdered.
Of interest at this point in time was an article written by Nazrana Darvesh, which did not go into the methods used by Hamas on October 7, but nonetheless asked an interesting question— Is Israel the real victim?
Darvesh marshalled facts to drive home the point that the Palestinians are the real victims here. The article is littered with facts put together in an interesting and engaging manner to show that the Palestinians were driven off their land which was claimed for the establishment of the State of Israel. And to do so the writer uses a time frame that begins in 1880 to the present. I have no quarrel with the facts, but the timeframe… that’s another thing altogether.
For instance if you go back to biblical times then the area known as Israel was populated by the Jews who returned from captivity in Egypt. Their take-over of the land was through war and conquest. And the land kept on changing hand over centuries till this day. Even though there was a time when there were more Jews living outside Israel than living within, they never really gave up their desire to return home. And, as mentioned by Darvesh this desire, labelled as Zionism, began to take concrete shape following the efforts of Theodor Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian Jew, considered the father of modern political Zionism.
The Palestinians too can trace their roots to ancient times and thus lay an equally convincing claim to the land. The Palestinians trace their ancestry to the two groups that existed when the Israelites first arrived — Canaanites and Philistines, who came to Palestine in the 12th century BC. Then, the Arabs, prior to the birth of Islam, began to drift northwards and eventually, Palestine became a part of the larger Islamic world.
The fortunes of both sides rose and fell with the passage of time. For the Jews the arrival of the Romans resulted in slaughter, fragmentation and dispersion. For the Palestinians, it was, first, the conquest by Turks and centuries later, arrival of the British and the Balfour declaration. Thus Israel’s war of independence is viewed as ‘nakba’ or disaster for Palestinians.
For every argument in favour of the Palestinians, there is a counter argument in favour of Israel. For every historical fact or interpretation in favour of Palestine there is one on the side of Israel. One can argue and debate the subject for days, months and years without a conclusion. Because the truth is these are two nationalist bubbles and these bubbles do not talk to each other.
On the ground, the fight is essentially, a dispute over land and it is fuelled by competing nationalist movements. Whoever wins, takes the land. There is nothing legal or illegal about it. It’s just a brutal fight to win.
Palestinians have survived blockades, creation of settlements, injustice, imprisonment, killings, torture… the list is a long one.
The people of Israel have experienced car bombs, bus bombs, several wars with its neighbours, rocket attacks, and on October 7, the killing of 1400 citizens and kidnapping of 240 hostages. This list is also long.
It is sad to see women and children dying, livelihoods wiped out by bombs and neighbourhoods flattened in Gaza. It was also heart breaking to see the havoc wrought by Hamas fighters in Israel. Women and children killed, some burnt alive, some beheaded and many taken hostage. You can’t see one without seeing the other.
Those on the Israeli side want the world to condemn the October attack as an act of terrorism and those on the side of the Palestinians want Israel to be condemned for the bombing of Gaza.
The only difference is that Israel will do everything to protect its citizens whereas Hamas does not balk at using its citizens as human shields. In the Hamas scheme of things Gazans are expendable.
So why did Hamas launch this attack, knowing very well that the consequences would be catastrophic for ordinary Gazans? They just didn’t care. Perhaps it is the nature of an asymmetrical war.
Hamas has made it clear that there will be more attacks and these attacks will continue until Israel is destroyed. So Israel has no choice but to destroy Hamas. It is a fight to the finish. It is also a fight in which, those who had no say in the war are dying and going to die.
This is an ancient war, which no side ever won completely. (For instance, the ancient Israelites never really defeated the Philistines. Consequently, they assimilated through marriage and lived in arranged peace.)
Presently, both aides are equally to blame for failing to arrive at a solution. Perhaps, the fighting continues because no one has a clear idea, or any idea of what the solution should look like. Which means the cycle of violence will repeat itself with disastrous consequences for both sides.
(Derek Almeida is a former editor who always took the road less travelled)
