Palestinian Liberation

Following October 7 2023, the Israeli Defense Force - at the direction of the Israeli War Cabinet and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Netanyahu ICC Arrest Warrant) - has committed multiple war crimes and human rights abuses including but not limited to:

• -Using humanitarian aid as a weapon of war (B'Tselem Article)
• -Targeting civilian infrastructure (Hospitals, Refugee camps, Schools, etc.)
• -Likened Palestinians to "Human Animals" and swore to a full blockade of food and water (Yoav Gallant)
• -Attacked food distribution points for displaced Gazans (Flour Massacre) 
• -Reports of attacks on Ambulances and medical personnel, as well as the use of mass graves to hide the evidence of the attacks.
• -Extrajudicial kidnapping of Palestinians in the West Bank
• -The explicit targeting of journalists and members of the media reporting on the situation. (List of Journalist deaths since October 7th)

History did not start on October 7th. In 2018 Gazan Palestinians began a peaceful protest at the border wall between Gaza and Israel (which Israel controls) and in the aftermath Israel deployed snipers to the border wall. Per joint reporting from B'Tselem and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, "As a result, 223 Palestinians, 46 of them under the age of 18, were killed and some 8,000 injured." President Jimmy Carter (NPR Interview with Jimmy Carter about his book 'Peace Not Apartheid'), who was a long-time advocate for Palestinians up to his passing described the state of Israel as it exists as an Apartheid, referring to the systemized racism and violence perpetuated by white South Africans against black South Africans from 1948-1994.

Where does that leave us today? Many critics will say that Israel is simply defending its citizenry from "human animals" and "jihadist" Muslims, but I think that explanation white washes historical acts of violence and oppression, and the repeated annexation of Palestinian, Egyptian, Syrian and Lebanese land. While I demand justice for the Israelis that were killed on October 7th, the state of Israel has prevented independent investigations into the attack on October 7th and they do not allow journalists access to the Gaza Strip. Now, the United States under Donald Trump has released plans to do an Iraq-style occupation of Gaza, with American leadership, and no definitive timeline proposed to allow Palestinians the right to self determination.

So what do we do? Truth and reconciliation, not unlike South Africa following the end of Apartheid. Palestinians must be given the right to return to their historic land, given reparations for the Nakba (UN article about the Nakba), and the systemized Apartheid must end. Gaza must cease to be an open-air prison, the IDF and its leadership must be charged for war crimes committed, and the rights of all people, not just Palestinians or Israelis, must be protected and championed, from the Jordan River, to the Mediterranean Sea.