ISRAEL, THE U.N., AND WAR WITH HAMAS: STOP DENYING CONTEXT, START SEEKING SOLUTIONS
Dr. Common Good
Now Israel is calling for the resignation of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and barring UN personnel from entry into Gaza. Why? Because Guterres said that the Hamas attack “did not happen in a vacuum” and that Israeli bombing was causing “clear violations of international humanitarian law.” For that, he is being called biased against Israel and somehow “understanding” of terrorism – even though, as part of the same address, he clearly said that the Hamas attacks were “appalling” and that “nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians, or the launching of rockets against civilian targets” (reported by CNN, October 25). He also referred to the context, saying “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished,” yet, significantly, adding “But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
So let’s step back a minute. Guterres was not in any way condoning Hamas or its unforgivable, brutal attack. He was merely acknowledging that there is a context, and that the massive loss of life now occurring in Gaza is not a justifiable response. I ask you, what did he say that was incorrect here? Was he incorrect about occupation and displacement? Was he incorrect that there is a context to consider? Was he incorrect about the disproportionate response? Not at all.
There is clearly a context. That 56 years of occupation has only intensified under Netanyahu’s right-wing government. As reported by the Norwegian Refugee Council (August 10, 2023) and the UN, just since 2022:
- At least 488 Palestinians, including 263 children, from seven communities in Area C of the West Bank have been forcibly displaced due to an increasingly coercive environment, according to the UN. These include Ein Samiya (132 displaced), Wadi As-Seeq (35 displaced), Wedadie (21 displaced), Lifjim (46 displaced), Ras At-Tin (99 displaced in 2022, 89 displaced in 2023), Al-Baqa’a (54 displaced), and Khirbet Bir Al-Idd (12 displaced).
- The UN has documented 591 Israeli settler attacks so far this year that have resulted in casualties and property damage. The monthly average for the first six months of 2023 is 39 per cent higher than the monthly average of settler-related incidents in all 2022.
- Settlers killed six Palestinians and injured 204, including 24 children, in the first six months of 2023 (before the Hamas attack).
Moreover, the UN recently reported that Israeli settlers had displaced more than 1,100 Palestinians from the West Bank, just since 2022 (ABC News, September 21, 2023). Since the re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister in 2009, some 14,000 Palestinians have been forcibly removed from their homes, including in East Jerusalem (UN data, reported by CNN October 22, 2023). As it is, Palestinians are living on only 22% of the land that was traditionally known as Palestine. The greater proportion of 78% was already claimed as part of Israel in 1948. And then there are Netanyahu’s cynical attempts, for years, to prevent formation of a Palestinian state. As part of this strategy, outlined by Zvi Bar’el in Haaretz, Netanyahu essentially nurtured Hamas. As reported in The Week (October 27, 2023), under his divide-and-conquer strategy, “he undermined the Palestinian Authority, which wants a two-state solution, while propping up Hamas, which doesn’t” (it wants elimination of Israel). He even allowed Qatar to supply Hamas with $30 million a month, and members of his cabinet, including security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, have shown open contempt for, and dismissal of Palestinians – the latter routinely claiming that there is no Palestinian people.
So yes, there is a context. If we are ever to achieve peace, denial, obfuscation and suppression of this context cannot continue. It is not anti-Semitic to criticize Israeli policy, or Israeli politicians, or to report the glaring violations of human rights that have characterized Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory for years. It is actually pro-Israeli. If Israelis are ever to live in peace and security, a goal I support, this history must be acknowledged and rectified. Don’t forget, whether you want to hear it or not, that prior to Israel’s founding in 1948, there were multiple Jewish terrorist groups – including Lehi and Irgun – that assassinated British officials, bombed the King David hotel in Jerusalem, bombed civilians at a bus stop near the Jaffa Gate, bombed the Ramla market in 1948, and committed other acts of sabotage and terror during that time. Importantly, however, these groups were disbanded or absorbed following the declaration of an Israeli state. There is an obvious lesson here. A state was formed, and terrorism stopped. The situation is not exactly parallel, of course, and the current conflict has festered for many more years, but denial of Palestinian self-determination, land and dignity is just going to keep producing a repeat of the same cycle of violence, whatever organization becomes the perpetrator.
This is a history that cannot be denied. It is context. It does not justify Hamas terrorism and brutality, but it does describe the wellspring from whence it came. In order to stop such terrorism, bombing and more violence is clearly not the answer. Ignoring settler violence and the appropriation of Palestinian land is not the answer. Ignoring decades of Israeli policy is not the answer. Shutting down the UN and its Secretary General is not the answer. Reconciling with the truth is the only meaningful step forward.