As we approach Nakba78, the Palestinian nation and people stand before you undefeated, unbowed and with a new generation ready to demand their birthright. Yes, the price they have paid has been high, but it has also fully exposed the lie of Zionist and US invincibility. From Gaza to AlQuds, to diaspora communities all over the globe, Palestinians are proud of their resistance and existence. And so they should be.
They have gone through hell the last 78 years (particularly during the original Nakba and the last 30 months), but despite all predictions and attempts at eradication they cling to their dignity and principles. They have been betrayed by so many – from the reactionary Arab regimes to some of their own leaders to Western governments. But it has not stopped them from demanding what is rightfully theirs.
My father and mother-in-law were both typical of the generation that was catapulted into a reality of violent dispossession and occupation that changed their lives forever. Living and working in Jaffa in 1948 (allegedly under “British Mandate” protection), they were forced to flee for their lives when the Zionist militias attacked. My mother-in-law was pregnant and only remembers the bullets that were whizzing over their heads.
October 7, 2023 represents the new Karameh of this century for Palestinians – both challenged the fallacy of Israeli “invincibility”. Karameh (Jordan) was a pivotal battle in March 1968 after the demoralizing 1967 war. It was the first major Israeli aggression following that war and the Israeli military were out to destroy the growing Palestinian fedayeen units. They counted on their air superiority, clearly a time-honoured tactic, and although they demolished much of the town they suffered unexpected heavy losses in the process and withdrew after one day without achieving their goals. The news of Karameh spread quickly and the image of lightly armed fedayeen standing and fighting instead of retreating inspired Palestinians and Arabs across the region.
Fast forward to the Hamas resistance in Gaza the last two years, the images of Sinwar throwing his stick at the enemy drone, the fighters in sandals taking on the technologically advanced Israeli army – and you can grasp the comparison.
And don’t pretend to be surprised that Palestinians are not keen on renewing any kind of “reconciliation” efforts, despite what the so-called Palestinian Authority might claim. After more than a quarter of a century of the failed Oslo Accords, and the constant violations of agreed-upon ceasefires in Gaza and elsewhere the last year, co-existence with the Zionist genociders is not (and cannot be) an option.
As the late Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote back in September 1988 in “Those Who Pass Between Fleeting Words”:
“We have the past here
We have the first cry of life
We have the present, the present and the future
We have this world here, and the hereafter
So leave our country
Our land, our sea
Our wheat, our salt, our wounds
From Everything, and leave”
We should study the lessons learnt over the past few years to guide us through the new realities of the declining US-Israeli hegemony in West Asia. The prophecy of the late Hassan Nasrallah has been proven correct- Israel is indeed “weaker than a spiders web”.
Here in the imperial core, our job is to help the support movement understand that Palestinians are not just a charity case, that we defend the armed resistance and that the cause of Palestine is not something that can be championed and then discarded based on crass opportunism. How many times have we seen a celebrity or allegedly progressive politician claim to advocate for Palestinians only to later throw them under the bus when politically convenient?
The hypocrisy and double standards regarding Palestinian (and all) resistance to the US-Israeli dreams of regional dominance are deeply embedded in Western narratives. We have tired of documenting all the government, media and other institutional acts of minimising and downplaying Zionist brutality and war crimes. We are done with the constant distrust and smearing of Palestinian aspirations for a life free of settler colonial interference while celebrating Zionist false claims and motivations.
Nakba78 must mean a reaffirmation of Palestinian rights – the right to their land, the right to resist and the right to return!
By Marion Kawas
Cover photo Michael YC Tseng
Also published in Al Mayadeen English