Fast for Gaza Thursday and every Thursday + Analysis re Fear, by Mazin Qumsiyeh
Golda Meir (previous Prime Minister of Israel) was reputed to have said “we
would rather be feared than loved”. This is actually in short a sum of the
colonial Zionist mentality. They wanted the remaining indigenous people of
Palestine to fear them. That is why in April 1948 after committing the
massacre of Deir Yassin, the Zionist militias paraded some survivors and
used loudspeakers to announce to other villages that if you do not leave
your villages we will do the same to you. Panic set in and indeed many
people left (still 33 massacres were committed during that first phase of
the Nakba). Today 8 million Palestinians are refugees or displaced people.
If you really want to understand the ferocity of the genocide unfolding you
really need to understand this psychology of Zionists and their main
weakness. The erosion of the fear factor of the “invincible” army
(supported by the US) began to be shattered in that first real war in 1973
where Syrian and Egyptian armies actually fought back to reclaim their
stolen lands (Golan and Sinai). If it was not for an air bridge from the
US, Israel would have had to comply with international law and return both
unconditionally. The fear factor seemed temporarily restored and Egypt
signed the first shameful conditional and cold “peace” (1/3rd of the Sinai
is still technically occupied and not under Egyptian sovereignty). But that
also showed that no matter how much weapons the US supplied Israel, it
remained a dependent state.
That slippery slope led the PLO to also change direction and listen to the
likes of Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) that argued you cannot win against
Israel so you need to go for a diplomatic track. From the 10 point program
of 1974 to the “claration of a state of Palestine in exile (1988) to the
Oslo surrender agreements, those leaders succumbed to their fears. As the
world continues to ignore the plight of the Palestinian refugees and those
who live under Israeli prolonged occupation/colonization, new leaders arose
and so did new resistance movements that are more Islamic in their outlook
who showed no fear of the touted strength of the Israeli military. As
predicted by many analysts before (me included), as long as colonization
and oppression remain, resistance will grow.
The Israeli invasion and destruction of Lebanon in 1982 was intended to
restore the fear factor. Again the US came to Israel’s rescue but it was
too late then, the Islamic resistance forces in Lebanon forced both the US
and Israel out of Lebanon (Lebanon became Israel’s Vietnam for 18 years
till they were kicked out in 2000). In the past three decades, every
military adventure Israel engaged in resulted in defeat (not achieving what
Israel wanted at the beginning of the campaign). This is clear and
testified to by all expert military analysts. But in all these campaigns
the Israeli mentality of swing fear by killing large numbers of civilians
remained. In 2000-2005, 2006, 2008/9, 2021, and in 2023. This last campaign
was by far the most bloody: Israel committed over 1900 massacres killing
over 20,000 and injuring over 54,000 and leveling most of Gaza. But again
this was to sow fear which can prevent acts of resistance from an occupied
oppressed people. Fear was also used to silence those who advocate human
rights. Calling anybody who speaks against racism/Zionism an anti-SEmite
and criminalizing calls to Free Palestine. It has not worked and will not
work. Israel would have to kill all 15 million Palestinians to have
pacification. The fact is that the resistance grows rather than diminished.
Meanwhile the Israeli forces in Gaza are taking massive casualties despite
the advanced US supplies and significantly the empire of lies that helped
Israel get created on top of Palestine in 1948 is tumbling (see
palestineremembered.com and ongaza.org).
Reading history of other countries and even history of the last few
campaigns by Israel would show this. The reverse has happened: the fear
factor among the Israeli colonial settlers is growing. There is a growth in
boycotts campaigns for US and Israeli products (see bdsmovement.net). The
Israeli government actually feeds it by exaggerating what the resistance
does (claims of beheaded babies etc) and even what the resistance wants
(claims of wanting to simply kill all Jews). Right wing politicians love
this as it keeps them in power. But trying to sustain colonialism by
technical means and by massacres will eventually become more costly than
ending colonialism (see Algeria, Vietnam, South Africa etc). We will not
be intimidated or silenced.
Join us: Poets, writers, scholars, organizers, and others — including the
collective at ArabLit — are calling for a “Fast for Gaza” beginning
December 21, 2023, from sunrise to sunset, which will continue every
Thursday until a permanent ceasefire.
We remember the starving in Gaza
Israel’s latest weapon against Palestine is Egypt’s debt: Will Egypt agree
to take in the Palestinian population expelled from Gaza in exchange for
the cancellation of its external debt?
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/israel-latest-weapon-palestine-egypt-debt-gaza/
Stay Human and keep Palestine alive
Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home