A genocide by any other name

Nearly 600 Palestinians dead, 120,000 displaced, more than 100,000 Israeli reservists near Gaza -- this is the situation on the ground as Israel plans to unleash unprecedented violence on an area it has repeatedly violated over seven decades now. With Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announcing a “complete siege” of Gaza with no electricity no water, no food, no fuel, while also saying Israel is "fighting against human animals", it is hard to not call this genocidal language -- if not a lead-up to genocide itself. Palestinian voices and those progressive activists in the West who are still bravely calling out Israel have been quick to point out the sheer hypocrisy of not just Israel's response but also the way the whole issue has been framed by Western media and the global community.

As Israel counts it dead -- nearing 800 per Israeli figures -- the response by a regime that is facing tough questions also at home is feared to be worse than any brutality it has unleashed before on the Palestinian people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told Palestinians to “leave [Gaza] now”. The question Palestinians ask is: where? Gaza has been called the world's largest open-air prison for a reason; the two million people there live virtually in an enclosed cage. The blockade of the Gaza Strip started in 2007 and Israel has authority and control over both the airpace and waters of Gaza. It controls two of the borders, while Egypt controls the third. Where are Palestinians supposed to go when their land is occupied, and they are left to live on a tiny strip like caged prisoners? Amidst Western sanctimoniousness regarding Israel's famed 'right to defend itself', Palestinians on social media are asking why their right to defend themselves from mass murder and near-genocidal policies is never talked about. The US has as expected promised “rock-solid and unwavering” support to Israel while the European Union has paused aid payments to Palestine until further notice. This is further violence on a people who will most likely very soon be left to starve as Israel controls food supplies and water, electricity and amenities in the occupied territories. According to media reports, Qatar is negotiating a prisoner swap for Israeli women and children seized by Hamas and held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 36 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons. It must be noted that nearly 5,200 Palestinians are incarcerated in Israeli prisons; this includes women and children. According to a UN report, Israel has arrested about one million Palestinians since 1967.

The Palestinian case was put forward best by Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian leader not affiliated with Hamas, in an interview with CNN: "If we resist militarily, we’re called terrorists; if we struggle non-violently, we’re still called violent; if we resist with words, we’re labelled as provocateurs; if foreigners support us, they’re called anti-Semites; if Jews support Palestine, they’re called self-hating Jews.” When the stakes are so high for Palestinians, when their only option is to ride into the mouth of hell, the both-sidism by voices in the West reeks of plain cruelty. The language of the Palestinian cause has on the one hand been taken over by a pro-Israel West and on the other by rigid framing by the right wing in the Global South. The fact is that the Palestine cause is a cause for justice and the right to live as a free people. After decades of asking the world to help them, Palestinians have found the only people they can depend on is themselves. If that is not an indictment of the entire world order, what is?