Real time
As the destruction of Gaza unfolds in real time, one Palestinian’s words offers insight into the difficult realities faced by those living through the consequences.
A couple of years ago, I found myself speaking with a Palestinian who had suffered immense personal loss after October 7, and whose family were trapped in Gaza.
He told me he hated the Israeli regime because they are occupying Palestine, and torturing and subjugating his people.
But he also said he felt deep anger towards Hamas because he believed they had embarked on a course of action that would bring catastrophic suffering upon Palestinians at the hands of Israel, as we can all see in real time.
His answer does not denigrate the wider context of occupation.
Or the right of a people to resist their own occupation as is their right under International law.
Nor is it a definitive answer.
I love your posts and writings but not so much in this case because I think it lacks information. What was this guy referring to? The fact is that Hamas is doomed to be a terrorist organisation no matter what its actions, like any other group, organisation, military, country, whoever opposes or resists Israel demands, actions, rules (or lack of them). My tiny an really pacific country was threatened by Israel to be labelled “extremist” if it decided to support the EU proposal to cut commercial ties with Israel in the aftermath of the abduction and torture of the flotilla humanitarian activists in international waters.
In my view Israel, off course, but specifically the US and the international community have not left Hamas with much options. And in any case, I must refer again that we know NOTHING about the 7th of October and from what we know it was Israel that transformed the operation into what it was, with so many civilian casualties. Hamas is totally entitled by international law to attack Israeli military outposts and it’s totally entitled morally to take live hostages to trade by their own hostages, many, if not the most, also innocent civilians abducted from their homes, streets, lands.
So I understand the despair of this man thinking that maybe Hamas is making things even worse… but it’s the same… Israel would always find a way to keep its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and keep expanding its territory. They use all kinds of non-ethical resources: false flag attacks, propaganda full of lies, buying all the media outlets, film studios, social media platforms, lobbying politicians and companies… you name it, they do it all!
Some existential suffering places the individual or group in an "impossible" situation or indeed a relentless succession of such. Those of us sitting in comfy philosophical armchairs can have no real understanding of this overwhelming intellectual & emotional hell. For hell is what it is; it is not an abstract concept.