If you believe the Ukrainians have a right to resist occupation and the invasion of their land, and that their fighters are freedom fighters, then you should believe that the Palestinians have the same right. You should believe that Palestinian fighters are resistance fighters and that this latest resistance is exactly that — resistance and not terrorism. 

But as Dima Khatib, a senior Palestinian journalist in Doha articulated, “It turns out that resistance is allowed if you have blue eyes. It seems we are not ‘civilised’ enough and not ‘white’ enough and our eyes ‘are not blue’ enough. Of course, resistance to occupation is now legitimate and people going to the streets with guns is not only allowed but worthy of praise, punishing the attacker is now logical. Oh, if we were a different colour, we would have become heroes and not terrorists.”

Let’s start with the premise that resistance is allowed against an occupying power. Sharon Luzon, lecturer at the Hebrew Open University, in his expert opinion on the Palestinian resistance states that, “As long as the Israeli army stays in the West Bank, which it has controlled for 55 years, the land is occupied, and these soldiers are maintaining this occupation … The Palestinians are fighting them, so they are fighters; that is their definition, besides the term ‘freedom fighters’. Even settlers residing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, they exist for military purposes, which makes them legitimate targets for Palestinian militants, especially when they [the settlers] are armed adults.”

We can agree then that as long as Israel is occupying Palestinian lands, and all resistance movements inside Palestine are fighting against this belligerent occupation, Hamas and the others, such as the ANC in the past, are not terrorist organisations but liberation movements. 

Israelis, such as Luzon and parliamentarian Ofer Cassif believe that, “Any armed man has the right to harm an occupying military force, according to the internationally-recognised definitions and those of the United Nations. These definitions state that the occupied people have the right to use armed means against the occupation, so they cannot be called terrorists because real terrorism is the occupation itself.”

Let me state a well-known fact here. Gaza is still occupied, despite the Israeli claim that it has withdrawn. Israel controls all of Gaza’s land, sea and air space. 

No freedom of movement

When Hamas won the Palestinian elections in 2006, Israel and the US were not happy with this result because they wanted a puppet regime and not a government that would actually work for the liberation and freedom of Palestinians. They did not want a government that prioritised its own people; it had to serve the “masters”. Much like the modus operandi of colonial and imperial powers in Africa. 

In 2007, Israel and the US affected regime change and imposed a blockade on Gaza and Israel has, over the past 16 years, regularly bombed the Gazans, cut off their electricity and stolen their water. This is linked to its policy of “mowing the lawn”. All of Gaza’s borders — air, land and sea are controlled by the occupying apartheid regime. There is absolutely no freedom of movement in and out of Gaza and there have been no elections in Palestine since then. 

The Israeli government has been building illegal settlements all around Gaza and on other Palestinian land. According to a 2021 report by B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories; ‘The state takes over land openly, using official methods sanctioned by legal advisors and judges, while the settlers, who are also interested in taking over land to further their agenda, initiate violence against Palestinians for their own reasons. 

“Yet in truth, there is only one track: Settler violence against Palestinians serves as a major informal tool at the hands of the state to take over more and more West Bank land. The state fully supports and assists these acts of violence, and its agents sometimes participate in them directly. As such, settler violence is a form of government policy, aided and abetted by official state authorities with their active participation.”

South Africans who have been displaced and forcibly removed from their land and homes will know what this means. They are also familiar with how the law was used to sanction, justify and implement apartheid. 

Further, what is often not mentioned, is the fact that most of the adult settlers serve as reservists  and are armed and supported by the apartheid state in their unprovoked acts of violence against Palestinian citizens. This includes the burning of farmlands and olive groves and the destruction, violation and usurpation of homes and property. Those who choose to whitewash these crimes will seek diversions and distractions and focus on terms like “neutrality” or “Israeli retaliation”.

‘Terrorism is not limited to shooting or the use of weapons’

So, please, let’s not make the Palestinian resistance about Iran or Saudi Arabia — or even Hamas, for that matter.

In speaking about the intifada (2000 to 2005) and the guerrilla operations, Israeli playwright and TV presenter Yaron London said, “The hostile operations launched by the Palestinians against the Israelis deserve to be part of the national war of liberation, not terrorism.” The same reasoning can be applied to the revival of the resistance against the occupying power which began on Saturday 7 October 2023. 

According to professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University in occupied Jerusalem, Amiram Goldblum, “Terrorism is not limited to shooting or the use of weapons, but is also represented by the presence of settlers living in such homes built on Palestinian land … Israel practises state terrorism against the Palestinians, and anyone who does not protest against the terrorism of the Israeli state is a partner in one way or another.”

It will be telling to see what comes out in the South African media over the next few days and to note which voices are amplified and by whom. It will be interesting to see if the media focus is slanted to Israeli deaths, fleeing Israeli settlers and destruction of property in Israel instead of the compounded reality of the death, destruction, deprivation and dehumanisation that the Palestinians have been living for more than 75 years. A reality that has justified resistance.

Many media and Zionist propaganda entities draw sympathy for white victims, just as we saw in Ukraine in the response by the West to the issue of refugees from Ukraine. 

South African comedian Trevor Noah commented on his Daily Show: “I was shocked to see reporters around the world, by the way, seem to think it’s more of a tragedy when white people must flee their countries because, I guess, what? The darkies were built for it. The words and images do reflect a clear bias of the world community. We are told that Ukrainian victims are different because they are ‘civilised’.”

Peace works when there are no lies

Similar will be said about the “tragedy” of the fleeing settlers (who have stolen Palestinian homes and Palestinian land). The idea is to make people believe that these are docile, innocent victims of Palestinian “aggression”. All you need to do is read the Haaretz article, “Settlers Have a Very Effective System for Forcing Palestinians Out of Their Homes” written by Israeli Avishay Mohar. 

So, if we are to talk about ceasefires and mediation, let’s at least get the context straight. Peace works when there are no lies. Building bridges can only bring good if the foundation is solid. And justice can be served when we stop equating between the occupied and the occupier.

You see, Hamas, the Palestinian resistance, and the overarching majority of occupied Palestinian people, know that resistance and fighting back means that the occupying Israeli power will kill them, dehumanise them further and will punish them for resisting because it wants to eradicate the Palestinian presence. For them resistance is dignity. They will not kneel. 

Dr Quraysha Ismail Sooliman is a National Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria.

This article first appeared in the Mail & Guardian on 9 October 2023.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Pretoria.