Since Hamas’s attack on occupying Israeli forces on Saturday propaganda and misinformation operations have spun into action – particularly in the Western media. While everyone regrets any loss of life it is important to emphasise that – contrary to much of the narrative – this was not some murderous, unprovoked assault on innocent civilians. Context matters – and in this case the context is over 75 years of brutal occupation.
Palestinians live their daily lives under a system of apartheid. Checkpoints and restrictions on movement, discriminatory laws, violent settler extremists, home demolitions, and oppression from the Israeli occupation forces are part of everyday life. This has gotten worse under the current far-right and nationalist government. Prior to the Hamas assault over 200 Palestinians had already been murdered by Israeli forces and settlers just this year.
The areas attacked by Hamas are not simply some bucolic towns or villages, they are stolen Palestinian land occupied by Israeli settlers. The town of Sderot which has seen heavy fighting is built on the site of the Palestinian village of Najd and the residents are infamous for gathering on a hill beside the town to watch and celebrate Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
No one wants to see hostages taken but again many of those taken are members of the occupation forces or settler movements and this action comes in the face of Israel regularly imprisoning vast numbers of Palestinians – including children – often without charge in a process known as administrative detention.
No Peace Without An End To Apartheid & Occupation
This is the context in which the current war has erupted. The ongoing occupation is the root cause of the violence and any call for peace or restraint which does not recognise this fact is, at best, blinkered, at worst hypocrisy.
The two sides to the conflict are not equal, they are the oppressed and the oppressor, the occupied and the occupier. Unfortunately, this is likely to be borne out in the casualty figures over the coming days as Israel launches an all-out assault on Gaza. They have already cut electricity to the Gaza Strip and even announced they would cut off water and food supplies. Airstrikes, including white phosphorus rounds, have already hit schools, a hospital, a mosque and many residential buildings extracting a heavy toll and killing entire families.
Irish neutrality comes from a position of anti-imperialism. It does not mean we do not take sides; it means we chart a foreign policy independent of the big imperialist blocks. The Irish population overwhelmingly supports neutrality and the cause of the Palestinian people and the shameful statement from our government and key EU figures do not represent this.
- We must name the problem and demand the government do likewise – it is occupation.
- We need to redouble our support for the campaign of Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS).
- We need to expel the Israeli Ambassador and pressure the EU to end all military, technological and diplomatic support for the apartheid Israeli state.
The Western powers all agree that Ukraine has a right to self-defence against an invading force, yet they deny this right to the occupied Palestinians. We must call out and end this double standard. There can be no real and lasting peace under apartheid and occupation.