Freedom for all, except Palestinians
In July we celebrate our nation's promise of “liberty and justice for all.” For many Americans, that means all except the Palestinian people, especially those in Gaza. We’ve often heard, "The people of Gaza elected Hamas, so they deserve punishment for Hamas actions." This is a frightening statement. If Donald Trump or Joe Biden wins the next election because Americans had to make a choice, will we "deserve" punishment for all the winner's actions?
Palestinian elections in 2006 were encouraged by the international community, including the United States. But the only choices were the very corrupt Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which was a provider of social services and was seen as less "in the pocket" of Israeli leaders who were pushing Palestinians off their land. By refusing to support the PA, many wanted to send a message to the current government that it was time to clean up the corruption. It was a protest vote, which is the right of voters in a democracy. Exercising a democratic choice in a legitimate election should never be considered an excuse for collective punishment.
When Hamas was declared the legitimate winner of the elections, President Abbas refused to relinquish power in the West Bank and collaborated with Israel and the United States in a bloody attempt to overthrow the newly elected Palestinian government in Gaza. Hamas repelled that attempt and remained in charge there, while Abbas has presided over a huge increase in West Bank settlements and a dramatic worsening of Palestinian lives. Israel's response to Hamas's election victory was to isolate and imprison the whole Gaza Strip, beginning a brutal blockade that prevented fishermen from freely accessing their own fishing grounds and denied Gazans' access to the outside world. Repeated attempts at nonviolent protest were violently crushed.
The families living in Gaza are largely refugees who were forced to leave their homes when Israel was established in 1948. They don't live in the poverty and isolation of Gaza by choice; they deserve to return to their own villages and live lives of dignity and equality on their own ancestral land. When offered the "generous" land sharing agreement some refer to, bear in mind that despite rapid immigration during the British Mandate, the Jews owned only 7% of the land and comprised only 33% of the population (a majority of them new immigrants) before the United Nations gave them 56% of the land to establish a Jewish state.
Zionists delight in portraying the Arabs as rejectionists. But can we imagine a rapid influx of, say, Chinese people into Florida, going from 11% to 33% of the population in just 24 years, then having an outside entity declare that more than half the state will be handed over to them and watching them evict people from their homes? Would we be faulted for not accepting a small part of what until recently had been ours? People have a right to resist their displacement. Yet Israel's constant expansionism has continued to push Christians as well as Muslims off their land until there is very little left.
It’s important to note that, unlike the Jews who had lived as neighbors with the Arabs for centuries, the newcomers before World War II had not sought immersion and integration. They had formed their own labor unions to keep Arabs out of new jobs that were being created, and they made their presumed superiority over the local population clear. This has never been about Arab refusal to welcome Jews. It has been an active and aggressive displacement of a native population by people seeking ethnic domination in a multi-ethnic land.
July Fourth celebrates a revolution that overthrew the British government and declared an end to its exploitation and oppression. That was not a sterile uprising. Palestinians have an internationally protected right to resist their own exploitation, expulsion and oppression by Israel. While never applauding violence, we should be looking at the conditions that created the October attacks and realize that Americans would never stand for the kind of persecution that Palestinians have endured for seventy-five years. It is time for us to support their freedom as we celebrate our own.
-SH