Palestine. The Right to be Like Any Other People

In this text, Mostafa Barghouthi draws up the macabre balance sheet of the last year and clearly announces what awaits the Palestinians if nothing is done: the annexation of the rest of the occupied territories, the continuation of apartheid and the completion of ethnic cleansing. While affirming the continuation of resistance, ‘whatever the cost’.

The image depicts a moment of interaction between two individuals at a conference or event. Both people are smiling and engaged in a handshake, suggesting a friendly and positive exchange. The person on the left is wearing a suit, while the individual on the right is dressed in traditional or cultural attire with a colorful shawl. In the background, there are other attendees, some seated and others standing, indicating a busy atmosphere typical of a conference. The setting appears to be indoors, likely within a large hall or meeting room.
Sandton (South Africa), 10 May 2024. Mostafa Barghouti (left), Palestinian doctor, activist and politician, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, greets Naledi Pandor (right), South African Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, at the first World Conference Against Apartheid.
EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP

Israel’s war on Gaza, which began on October 7th 2023, is unprecedented in modern history.

Since that date, Israel conducted three war crimes in parallel: genocide, collective punishment of a civilian population, and ethnic cleansing.

During the first year of this devastating war, which has now expanded as we expected to Lebanon, the Israeli army bombed the 2.2 million inhabitants of Gaza living in less than 140 square mile, no less than 83,000 tons of explosives. This means 32kg of explosive for each man, woman, or child. To put this number into perspective, 83,000 tons is four times more than the explosive power of each of the nuclear bombs thrown on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War.

Nearly 80% of all homes have been partially or completely destroyed. In Germany only 10% of homes were destroyed by the end of the Second World War. The Israeli war machine intentionally destroyed all universities, more than 70% of schools, 34 out of 36 hospitals, 165 health institutions, 80 health centers, 137 ambulances, 178 shelters, 611 mosques and all 3 churches in Gaza.

“Dad, will my hands grow again when I grow up?”

Israeli bombardment killed more than 41,595 Palestinians, in addition to more than 10,000 who are still missing under the rubble. Among those killed, 70% were children, women, and elderly. Nearly 17,000 Palestinian children have been killed, including 115 children who were born and killed during the war. Some, like the children of Mohamed Abu Alkumsan, lived for less than three days. It was heartbreaking to hear him explain how happy he was that his wife managed to give birth during the war to two healthy twins, how he rushed to get birth certificates for them, and how shocked he was when he returned to his apartment to find both his children and his wife killed by Israeli bombardment.

Besides, 96,251 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were injured. This figure includes 4 000 who had amputations, among them 1 300 children. On one of the days of this seemingly endless and brutal war, I was heartbroken when I turned on the television and saw a five-year-old Palestinian child who had lost both his hands asking his father: “Dad, will my hands grow again when I grow up?” The father could not say a word, his eyes full of tears.

By the end of September 2024, the Israeli army had killed or injured 6.5% of the population of Gaza. Had this happened in the USA it would mean proportionally that more than 20 million Americans are killed or injured in less than a year.

The Israeli military attack on Gaza was accompanied by a ruthless campaign to dehumanize Palestinians. It was led by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli Army Minister Galant who called Palestinians “human animals”. The fascists Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gavir, both of whom were previously accused by the Israeli Judiciary of belonging to terrorist Israeli groups, ran campaigns to eliminate Palestinians who, according to them, were all terrorists even children.

No longer living, no longer caring

During Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, the Israel military did not only target civilians indiscriminately, but also specifically targeted medical personnel. By the eleventh month of the war, they had killed more than 880 medical doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and other health professionals. They also arrested and tortured, sometimes to death, no less than 200 health workers. This includes Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh and Dr. Iyad Rantisi, previously head of Orthopedic surgery at Shifa hospital, and Obstetrics and Gynecology-respectively at the Kamal Edwan hospital who were tortured to death at the Sde Timan and Ofer prisons.

The Israeli attacks on Palestinian medical and health facilities clearly intended on destroying medical resources for the treatment of the sick and injured. Out of the 95,000 injured, at least 25% could die due to absence of medical facilities and proper treatment and are unable to receive proper medical treatment because of Israel’s refusal to allow them to leave Gaza.

Israel did not only conduct a genocide through bombardment, but they also allowed an explosion of epidemics and diseases by depriving people from food, proper nutrition, clean water and all forms of energy such as electricity and fuel. According to Palestinians Medical Relief, which runs medical operations in Gaza, providing medical treatment to about 200,000 patients monthly, on September 2024 there were 1,737,524 infected with infectious diseases as a result of displacement., including 112,000 suffering from an outbreak of infectious hepatitis, 3,500 children with severe malnutrition, hundreds of thousands suffering from skin diseases including scabies and impetigo, several children with Meningitis and 6 cases of suspected poliomyelitis in addition to one confirmed case. The WHO was obliged to run a new polio vaccination campaign under Israeli bombardment, since Netanyahu refused to allow a humanitarian ceasefire even for a few days.

According to PMRS every person in Gaza gets sick an average of 3 times a month, sometimes with respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, or skin diseases.

Today 10,000 cases of cancer don’t get proper treatment, 12,000 people are in urgent need for medical evacuation, and 350,000 suffer from chronic diseases that require continuous medical care and supply of medications.

Beyond Gaza

Journalists and media personnel were also major targets of the Israeli attacks. The aim was and continues to be to prevent the truth about the Israeli war crimes from reaching the world. Foreign journalists were forbidden from entering Gaza (except for one CNN correspondent for 3 hours only), and 174 Palestinian journalists were killed, many with their families, including Al-Jazeera correspondents, which is one of the main media outlets covering Israel’s war on Gaza, and which was punished by closing its offices in Palestine by the Israeli government.

This was the first war in modern history that international journalists were forbidden from covering, and yet no serious protests against this Israeli behavior of the suppression of the free media was made from the mainstream western media. If it wasn’t for the courageous Palestinians journalists from Gaza and news outlets such as Al-Jazeera, and Al-Mayadeen, or for the young social media activists, the world would not have known about the Israeli atrocities in Gaza.

Israel is now expanding its genocide to the West Bank. 720 Palestinians, mostly civilians, among them 150 children have been killed by Israeli settlers and military in the West Bank during this last year. More than 11,000 prisoners have also been arrested. Israeli bulldozers have caused massive damage in many cities and refugee camps like Jenin and Tulkarem, destroying infrastructure. Moreover, the Israeli government has dismantled most of the areas that are meant to be under the control of the Palestinian authorities, invaded several cities, and stripped the PA from any civil authority in Area B (Oslo Accords).

A new world order

The atrocities committed in Gaza by the Israeli army are not only detrimental to the people of Gaza, but to international law as well. The actions of Israel has undermined international and humanitarian law, which the West claims to care about.

Palestinians discovered the double standards of many western governments when comparing their attitudes towards Russia and Ukraine with that towards Israel and Palestine. Russia was subjected to 11,000 sanctions in two months while Israel was provided with 50,000 tons of explosives by the United States, in addition to thousands of weapons from other western countries such as Britain and Germany.

The world order will never be the same after the genocide in Gaza. People legitimately ask: where are the so-called western values of human rights, democracy, and international law?

Why do Palestinians have to face Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide? Why are we mistreated by many European and American governments which refuse to treat us as equal human beings?

What will be the impact of this ongoing genocide on the whole international order created after the Second World War? Will those in power not be held accountable for breaking the rules of international law? Will the world be run by the rule of ruthless power rather than by the rule of law?

The war that started on the 7th of October was not the cause of the current political situation, rather it was the result of 76 years of ethnic cleansing that the Palestinian people were subjected to by Israel in 1948, when 52 massacres were committed by Israeli military gangs and 520 Palestinian towns and villages were erased to the ground. About 70% of the population of Gaza were refugees, displaced by Israel in 1948. They were displaced again in 2024, six to 10 times in the course of one year.

The 7th of October was also a result of 57 years of Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza that evolved into the worst system of apartheid in modern history. It was a result of 17 years of a ruthless Israeli siege on Gaza, which left it with 94% of its water polluted or salted and a destroyed economy with 80% of young graduates unemployed.

And it was also the result of the declared Israeli government policy which resulted in the demise of a two State solution in which Palestinians were expected to build a state in 22% of their homeland, while the 181 UN Resolution gave them 44% at a time when they owned 82% of the land of historic Palestine.

No better or worse than any other people

This was a result of the Knesset state nation law which declared that the right of self- determination is historic Palestine (they call it Eretz Israel) is exclusive for Jewish people, followed by the Israeli fascist minister Smotrich’s declaration that Israel will fill the West Bank with Israeli settlements till Palestinians lose any hope of a state of their own, and then have to choose between immigration (ethnic cleansing), subjugation to Israelis (eternal apartheid), or death (genocide)1.

The 7th of October was a direct result of the Israeli shift not only to racism and extremism, but also to theo-fascism killing any hope for peace or justice, in Palestine.

Many Palestinians had hopes in the peace process, international law, and UN Resolutions. However, they have seen their homeland gradually and violently taken over by extreme settlers. They live in a constant state of threat, their children are at risk, and that the United Nations and western governments are failing to impose the implementations of no less than 84 UN Security Council resolutions, and about 800 General Assembly Resolutions that support Palestinians rights.

It is clear that the Israel establishment is attempting to annex the West Bank, including Jerusalem and Gaza Strip and t displace their Palestinian populations.

Netanyahu left no doubt about his intentions when he raised the map of Israel in the UN General Assembly, two weeks before the 7th of October, which included the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan Hights.

No innocent life of any civilian should be lost or killed, and this applies to Palestinians as well. The famous Palestinian poet Tawfiq Ziyad, who happened to be the mayor of Nazareth once said: “We, Palestinians, are not better than any other people, but no other people are better than us.”

We want to be treated as equals, with our rights to full freedom, dignity, and self-determination. Whatever it takes Palestinians will not be broken, and they will not give up till their dream is fulfilled and Palestine is free.

1Orly Noy, « The Israeli public has embraced the Smotrich doctrine », +972 magazine, 10 november 2023.