November 14, 2024 — Panel, Kairos West Michigan, 3rd RCA in Holland, MI
How are you doing right now? What’s the mood in Bethlehem?
The mood in Bethlehem is one of depression and anger at the indiscriminate bombing in all parts of Gaza, and the thousands of innocent Palestinian lives lost. My family could be next. Violence by Israeli settlers and the Israeli military has also erupted against Palestinians in the West Bank. Nightly military raids take place in many cities in the West Bank. Israel has nearly killed 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7. People in the West Bank do not feel safe in their homes.
How am I doing? It’s a feeling oscillating between extreme outrage and extreme sadness.
Over this past year, there have been many quotes and statements said about Gaza that have haunted me. But one stands out above the rest. It is when the lawyer for the South African government at the International Court of Justice said: “The first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain hope that the world might do something.” And yet the world has done nothing.
Today, the death toll in Gaza passed 53,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry. We have seen malnutrition, famine, starvation, ethnic cleansing. And yet, the western media are told not to use the word “genocide” and reporters for the western media are told not to use the word “occupation.” People in academic institutions fear for their jobs if they say anything. Students on campus are being arrested and even deported.
What’s to come? What are the various scenarios that could play out over the next 1-5 years?
There are many talks about what various scenarios could play out, and some even pointed to 5 scenarios:
First Scenario: Hamas containment. This scenario has strong prospects because it is consistent with Israel’s traditional policy toward Hamas since it took control of the Strip in 2007, which is a policy of mowing the grass rather than eliminating it. Of course, this scenario could be realized if Israel failed to eliminate Hamas. This scenario will also find strong opposition from some Arab countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, which prefer Hamas to disappear from the scene and its integration into the Palestinian political system.
Second Scenario: Interim international, regional and local supervision of the Gaza Strip. The outcome of this path could be the realization of a two-state solution by establishing a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, which could enjoy certain aspects of sovereignty. The price for this would be to keep the status of Jerusalem and the West Bank suspended and separate from that of the Gaza Strip. Of course, land annexation, Judaization, and settlement will continue until Israel ends up swallowing the entire West Bank, including Jerusalem. This scenario is very much on the table, as Arab countries have announced their readiness to send troops to the Gaza Strip to contribute to its security. The realization of this scenario is mainly linked to Israel’s success in achieving all of its goals and effectively eliminating Hamas where it cannot resist.
Third Scenario: Returning the Palestinian Authority (PA) to the Gaza Strip. This scenario requires Israel to agree to enable the Palestinian National Authority to reorganize itself in the Gaza Strip, including security control over the Strip. The PA favors this scenario, as it has already prepared itself for it. The Israeli government announced earlier that it would not allow the PA state in the Gaza Strip, as this scenario would force Israel to go through a comprehensive political process that would eventually lead to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Fourth Scenario: Return of the Israeli civil administration to the Gaza Strip. This scenario assumes that the Israeli military will remain present—permanently or temporarily—in the Gaza Strip the day after the war. This option would make Israel the occupier of all Palestinian territories, a return to the pre-Oslo era, and would mean the end of the two-state solution. This scenario was rejected by the United States and Europe, which clearly demanded that Israel not remain in the Gaza Strip and that the Palestinian National Authority return to it.
Fifth Scenario: Restoring village ties with Israeli military rule. This scenario is based on the formation of a group of Palestinian local administrations made up of family, tribal, and community figures to manage the life affairs of Palestinian citizens in their areas of influence. This would be similar to the administrative formations established by Israel in 1978 to manage the Palestinian areas in the West Bank and create an alternative leadership to the PLO that is locally acceptable.
The scenarios have miserably ignored the core problem. These scenarios decontextualized October 7 and delegitimized the suffering of Palestinians. Decolonizing Israel is the key to any discussion of future peace in the area. In 2016, Haaretz published an Op-Ed titled “Israel Is A Settler Colonial State – and That Is Okay”, which criticized Israeli concerns regarding the growing awareness of Zionism as a settler colonial project. What the Op-Ed did is normalized Israeli colonialism. Many of my colleagues and friends are vocal on settler colonialism and decolonization of Israel. But many believe that Israel has the right to defend itself. Some even shared their views to decontextualize October 7. Others spoke of condemning the two sides and refused any association of violence with decolonization.
“Today, Palestinians confront an organized campaign to decontextualize October 7, thereby delegitimizing the suffering of Palestinians.”
Habeeb Awad, INTernational student advisor, Hope college
Today, Palestinians confront an organized campaign to decontextualize October 7, thereby delegitimizing the suffering of Palestinians. By decontextualiz[ing] October 7, they have unveiled the deeply ingrained Eurocentric patterns of constructing knowledge about Palestine. Just as the Haaretz Op-Ed stated, labeling Israel as a settler-colonial state can be used to normalize colonial violence.
Today, Palestinians confront an organized campaign to decontextualize October 7, thereby delegitimizing the suffering of Palestinians. When the western media regurgitates Israeli propaganda that depict Palestinians as “human animals”, the Palestinians deaths are seen as essential for Israel’s defense. In the face of this reality, understanding the long history of violence and recognizing that no event can be isolated from the Israeli occupation context is the very minimum we can do. If we fail to do so now, our language of decolonization is just
meaningless.
What role does Christianity play in this conflict? What is the future forecast as you look at what’s happening in Western Christianity and how that will affect Israel/Palestine?
American evangelical support for Israel is so well established that it is commonplace today. Some churches actually celebrate Israel’s Independence Day (May 14) in their churches. Evangelicals cheered Trump’s move of the American embassy to Jerusalem as a righteous deed. Evangelicals believe that the creation of Israel is a sign from God that was given by God to the Jews as a sign of his coming.
I can prove it to you that Israel is not a sign from God for his coming: Jesus’ teachings often focused on the kingdom of God as a spiritual realm rather than a political or territorial entity. Luke 17: When Jesus “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There!” for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.’”
How does the election of Trump affect Israel/Palestine? (Habeeb – How will Palestinians be feeling today after this election?)
Palestinians say nothing will change under Trump’s presidency. Whether it’s Trump or another President, nothing will change for the Palestinians. It’s unclear how Trump will act.
Netanyahu banks on Donald Trump for four reasons:
- Netanyahu is ideologically akin to Trump. He is ideologically close to Trump because they both want to be tyrants. They both want to install semi- or quasi-authoritarian rule in their countries. So, in that respect—on the ideological level—they are in sync.
- Netanyahu thinks that Trump would not lean on him at all on the Palestinian issue, and he’s probably right. Trump is not invested in the Palestinian issue. Trump doesn’t care much at this point. Trump would certainly not push Netanyahu to engage in a political process with the Palestinians.
- The settler far right in the Israeli Coalition is very happy that Trump won. Before Trump won, there were calls that they wanted to apply sovereignty to annex the West Bank fully. This is an open agenda and an open platform by the government. Trump doesn’t know where the West Bank is. Show him a blank map and ask him where the West Bank is; he’s not going to know. He thinks the West Bank is a club in New Jersey.
- Trump assigned Mike Huckabee to serve as US ambassador to Israel. There will be ethnic cleansing campaigns in Palestine and Lebanon.
What would an alarmist say in this situation? What language should we use? Is genocide a proper word to use for what’s happening in Gaza?
Who is the alarmist? Is the alarmist a western zionist, a U.S. administration? German government? a Messianic Jew?
Dr. Amos Goldberg, Professor of Holocaust History at the Department of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“…if you look at the overall picture, you have all the elements of genocide. There is clear intent: the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, and many high-ranking military officers have expressed that very openly. We have seen countless incitements to turn Gaza into rubble, claiming that there are no innocent people there.”
Dr. Amos Goldberg is Professor of Holocaust History at the Department of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza are genocidal. Amos said, “…if you look at the overall picture, you have all the elements of genocide. There is clear intent: the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, and many high-ranking military officers have expressed that very openly. We have seen countless incitements to turn Gaza into rubble, claiming that there are no innocent people there.”
The outcome is as would be expected: tens of thousands of innocent children, women, and men killed or injured, the almost-total destruction of infrastructure, intentional starvation and the blocking of humanitarian aid, mass graves of which we still don’t know the full extent, mass displacement. There is also reliable testimony of summary executions, not to mention the numerous bombings of civilians in so-called “safe zones”. Gaza as we knew it does not exist anymore. Thus, the outcome fits perfectly with the intentions.
What options do the Palestinians have? Submit? Fight? Leave? Subservience?
We are not submitting. We are not leaving. We are not going to be subservient. We have shown our steadfastness for 75 years. We exist, and our existence presents an existential affront.
Israel is an extremely aggressive state that conquered Palestine in 1948. The Israeli flag has two blue stripes. One of the blue stripes is the Nile River and the other stripe is the Euphrates River. Israel claims everything between the Nile and Euphrates, that is half of Egypt, and a third of Iraq and all of Syria. Does this mean there is a war coming? Did Israel build that into their flag and let us know that there will be a war?
Israeli supporters believe that the Arabs, in the Arab world and in Palestine, who lived there for centuries and millennia are somehow in Israel’s way for establishing a greater Israel and must be dispensed with. And the real heirs of that land are the people that were brought in from Europe and other places are the true heirs.
Habeeb – [Tell us some] stories of families in Gaza. How do we make this personal?
I stand before you tonight to make the case for Gaza. And as I do, a number of names and faces flash through my mind. People who are counting on me and on you to speak for them tonight. To give them a voice with your votes. I’ve got three stories [to convince you] why you should listen to me.
Mohammad Abu Al-Qumsan:
On Tuesday, August 10 Abu Al-Qumsan left his apartment in Gaza City to register the births of his son, Asser (أسير), and daughter, Aysal (آيسل), leaving them at home with his wife, Jumana, 28, and her mother, Arafa. The certificates were in his hand, freshly laminated, when he got the phone call from a neighbor, telling him the apartment had been hit in an Israeli strike. His family was gone.
Yusof Abu Mousa:
Yusof and his two older siblings—sister Jury (جوري) [who is a] 13-year old, and 9-year-old brother Hamed (حميد)—were watching their favorite cartoons on TV. They were settling down in front of the television on 15 October when their home was hit by an Israeli air strike. Jury and Hamed survived, but Yusof was killed when the roof of their house collapsed. Their mother Rawan entered the hospital screaming in search of her youngest son, Yusof. She had been able to find Hamed in a hospital bed, while rescue teams helped pull his sister out of the rubble. His sister had suffered head injuries. Rawan, the mother, asked, “Did you see my handsome and curly-haired son?” She would later find her son’s body in the hospital morgue. He was nine years old.
Nour Yousef al-Kharma:
Nour (الخرمة ), a 17 year-old student, was killed on October 11 when an Israeli air strike hit her family home in the town of Deir al-Balah in Gaza. Israel killed Nour alongside her nephew Yazan (يزان). They had been playing in the living room. Her older sisters, Ola (عُلة), and Huda (هدا), who had been preparing breakfast with their mother, Jamalat, survived. Nour was in her last year of high school and always wanted to be a doctor. Her family pulled her school bag from under the rubble. It contained books and a diary, and in one of the pages she had written, “I want to make my family proud of me and I will get high grades by the will of Allah.”
So, every Israeli gun that is fired, every Israeli airplane that dropped bombs, every Israeli tank that flattens homes, is a thief of those who hunger, and are not fed. Is a thief of those who thirst, and are not given water. Is a thief of those who feel cold, and are not clothed. It is for this purpose that we cannot—we MUST not—allow injustice to be normalized. We need accountability not normality.
A Palestinian poet from Gaza, Mosab Abu Toha ( مُصعب أبو توهة ) wrote:
If we stay in our houses, they bomb us
If we shelter in school, they bomb us
If we run into a hospital, they bomb us
If we move into a tent, they bomb us
If we go to a toilet, they bomb us
If we run from an airstrike, they bomb us
If we do not do any of this, they still bomb us
If we stay like a tree, or temporary leaf….like a leaf in the fall, they bomb us
But spring will come and they…those who bomb us, will find no bombs among the flowers
Let me finish by saying this: people are of two types—they are either your brothers and sisters in faith, or your equals in humanity. Now is the time to be the change that you wish to see in the world. Ladies and gentleman, if not now, when? If not us, who?
