To condemn or not to condemn |
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Daoud Kuttab
10.10.2023
As soon as the cameras were turned on, Western TV anchors began their interview with Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, with a demand. Will you condemn the actions of Hamas, they asked? He refused to be bullied by journalists parroting their government’s political line. Zumlot blasted the BBC anchor by replying to the question with a question: How many times has Israel committed war crimes, he asked, and do you ask Israeli spokespersons to condemn these acts? Zumlot, who is from Gaza and has family in the Gaza Strip, went on to answer his own question: You don’t. He then described the Gaza open prison where 2 million Palestinians are couped up.
While the public was able to follow this conversation on air, a similar conversation appears to be happening between Western officials and the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, with the same demand. President Mahmoud Abbas, who has in the past condemned acts of violence against civilians, didn’t say anything this time. For years, the Palestinian leader and his deputies have been warning that the status quo of occupation and subjugation as well as defiling religious issues can’t continue and will produce an explosion, but no one listened. His silence is a reply to their silence in not accepting his warnings and those of many that without a political horizon and with the rise of Israeli supremacy, the situation can’t continue forever.
Instead of apologizing to the Palestinian leader for having ignored his advice and warnings, some Western officials appear to have taken President Abbas’ silence as support for acts of violence against Israeli civilians and have decided to announce a punishment regime against the secular Palestinian leader, who has been the strongest advocate of peaceful negotiations and nonviolent protests. The attempts by the European Commission to "punish" the Palestinian leadership seem to have quickly backfired, as Spain announced that they had not supported this decision and the EU itself retracted, saying there was no funding in the pipeline to the Palestinian government anyway so there was no funding to be suspended until a review is made, as the original European Commission stated.
But regardless of the condemnation or lack thereof, the terrible situation in and around Gaza can’t be ignored nor denied. Palestinians under years of siege and humiliation resisted and broke out of their jail, and yes, they did act against civilians in a violent and unacceptable way. Those who believe in international law and human rights must condemn all acts of violence against civilians, including what happened on October 7. But the idea of Israeli or Western moral superiority is what Palestinian spokesmen and the president have meant by their rejection of the condemnation. Few Western officials and media anchors realize that they are part of a double standard in which Ukrainian occupation is rejected and Ukrainian resistance is supported while Palestinians are simply called terrorists no matter what they do. Israel has even created the term "diplomatic terrorism" to justify rejecting the nonviolent political activities of the Palestinian leadership.
As the Israeli war machine carries out unprecedented violence against Palestinians, no one in the Palestinian leadership feels they need to condemn just the Palestinian violence while the world has turned a blind eye to previous and ongoing Israeli war crimes. The attack on October 7 follows decades of the total absence of a political horizon, an escalation in attacks on religious symbols both Muslims and Christian, and acts of terror against Palestinian communities in the West Bank with the public approval of Israeli Cabinet ministers calling for the whipping of villages like Huwara and other Palestinian towns. Palestinian leaders say that US officials who are demanding condemnation are unable to hold Israel accountable for the killing of American Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and dozens of others, as well as for the incarceration of thousands of Palestinians without charge or trial. If the issue of human rights and terrorism needs to be addressed, it must be addressed equally to both sides, they argue.
The conflict in Palestine/Israel is a political one and needs to be resolved politically. This starts by recognizing Palestinians as human beings and accepting their right to live in freedom on their own land. For nearly 10 years, they argue Israel has not even bothered to meet or negotiate with Palestinians on ways to end the decades-old conflict. Ever since the Oslo Accords were signed under US sponsorship in the White House, Israel has tripled the number of illegal Israeli settlers and settlements — and all the United States has done is give lip service to the two-state solution. America, they argue, can’t even accept the humble Palestinian request to be recognized as a state under occupation.
Therefore, Palestinian officials say, the problem is not singling out the latest incidents — as grave as they were — while ignoring all other issues that were the root cause of the frustration, which Palestinian and Arab officials have repeatedly warned would lead to an explosion if not addressed. After Israelis and Palestinians bury their dead, the complacency of the world about the rights of Palestinians must be addressed — not whether or not Palestinian officials have condemned the latest violence by Hamas and others.
