Fight for liberation

In the last few years, Israel has further cemented its grip on Palestine. The list of Palestinian losses is depressing: the marked movement towards international recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, official annexation of Palestinian land, an increase in the number of settlers and the development of settlements on Palestinian lands, the horrific besiegement of Gaza and the world’s participation in the siege, the ‘de-development’ of the Palestinian economy, uninhibited killing and maiming of Palestinians, suffocating restrictions on movement, gender-based violence in prisons and at checkpoints, continued demolitions of Palestinian homes, the stifling of Palestinian activism and speech for Palestinian rights in Western Europe and North America, and the rising tide of diplomatic normalcy between Israel and Arab states.

Add to the mix common social issues like patriarchal oppression, interpersonal conflict, crime, socioeconomic inequality, family feuds, and political corruption, combined with a lacklustre and largely handcuffed leadership, and you begin to get a picture of how remarkable Palestinian resistance really is.

That Palestinians do not give up is precisely what is so historic and inspiring about their resistance. For more than 100 years, the Palestinian people have been resisting and fighting for Palestine, holding on to what they have left of it, clinging on to the hope of one day reclaiming what they have lost.

Attention is often given to the armed resistance, but far more numerous, diverse, and long-standing is the unarmed Palestinian resistance. Labour strikes, boycotts, legal actions, political and community organising, demonstrations, marches, hunger strikes, passing the keys of demolished homes from one generation to the next, the formation of Palestinian societies and cultural groups in exile and refugee camps, lobbying politicians across the world, building creative local and sustainable economies, and everyday acts of resistance are all peppered throughout the history of the struggle.

Resistance also comes in the form of cultural productions that narrate and communicate the suffering of Palestinians; intellectual and academic studies that illuminate the history and lived realities of Palestinians; the development of political manifestoes and ideologies that pave a path forward towards freedom and liberation.

It is impossible to count the number of people who have given, and continue to give, their time, efforts, livelihood, and their lives in the fight for Palestine. The problem is not that these lives are never reported or (re)presented in the international discourse. The problem is that the core and underlying essence of Palestinian actions remains unregistered and unaccounted for, it is buried and prevented from being released into the mainstream discourse.

The Emirati and Bahraini political elites, for example, never register these lives when they proclaim their so-called peace deals with Israel. Many Palestinians, as well as common Bahrainis and Emiratis, have rightly labelled these agreements a betrayal of the Palestinian people.

Excerpted from:‘Fighting for Palestine’

Aljazeera.com