West Asia is seemingly experiencing the most brutal and bloody war in its history. The ongoing armed conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas Movement has claimed thousands of lives since October 7, 2023. Majority of the deceased or injured people are civilians, including women and children, and most of them are Palestinians. Perhaps, Hamas had a clear understanding of the destructive power of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) (which is much greater than Hamas’). If one assumes that the Palestinian outfit triggered the war after weighing the risks, as well as benefits; then it must also be assumed that Hamas calculated the deaths of innocent civilians in Gaza in advance.

For the Israeli Armed Forces, deaths of common Palestinian people are just collateral damage. It seems that this loss is collateral damage to Hamas as well, as it is essential for the outfit to reach their goal! The death toll increases, with Israeli bombs hitting hospitals, schools, refugee camps and other civilian targets in the Gaza Strip. With this, there is also a surge in Anti-semitism among the Palestinian people. Ultimately, it strengthens the roots of Hamas’ existence.

The hatred is no less on the part of Israel. The Jewish nation’s long-standing anger, mistrust and hatred towards the Arab countries, especially the Palestinians, are an open secret. This time, the hatred is reflected in Gaza, one of the Palestinian settlements. The history of Palestine has progressed through various ups and downs, and Hamas has been in charge of Administration in Gaza since 2007. However, Israel still has control over Gaza in many respects. The Jewish rulers do not consider the Palestinians living in Gaza human beings, and also view Hamas with particular suspicion. Hence, Israel has blockaded the Gaza Strip since 2007 (when Hamas came to power) in an attempt to stop the Palestinian Movement from receiving arms illegally. It is difficult to say how much the blockade has prevented access to weapons, but the bare minimum items required for survival, like food, garments, medicines, normal economic exchange with the outside world, etc., are severely lacking in Gaza. Furthermore, factories have closed in Gaza, while unemployment has reached 45% (according to the World Bank), and the proportion of poor people has touched 50%. In response, Hamas fighters have repeatedly fired rockets at Israel, kidnapped and killed common Israeli people. As a result, mutual hatred and mistrust have increased constantly.

One should admit the fact that Hamas is not the only one to blame. Although the global community has recognised the Right to Self-determination of the Palestinians and their own State, Israel is yet to allow it to be implemented for various reasons. As the Jews continue to increase their presence in the West Bank, the space for Palestinians in the region is gradually shrinking. Most importantly, Israel is solely responsible for putting two million people in Gaza into indescribable misery. Hence, it becomes crucial to protest against Israeli atrocities. At the same time, it is difficult to back Hamas because of the way it is operating.

Innocent lives are being lost on both sides due to the ongoing war triggered by Hamas on October 7. It is not morally acceptable. Kidnapping and killing helpless citizens are a heinous crime. Strategically, the ongoing war is unlikely to be fruitful for Hamas because Israel is unquestionably superior as far as its military strength is concerned. Moreover, the US and its Western allies are supporting the Zionist Regime. Also, it is unlikely that the entire Arab World shall unite and stand by Hamas. Such an armed conflict only increases the popularity of the leaders on both sides. From that point of view, the leaders of Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu shall gain a lot from this war. One should keep in her/his mind that Israel shall hold General Elections in the next couple of years, and Prime Minister Netanyahu shall try to stay in power with the help of a victory in the battlefield. Unfortunately, the common Israeli and Palestinian people shall have to bear the cost of this collateral damage.

Time has come for the oppressed Gazans to think about different strategies in order to enjoy their Right to Self-determination. The fight against discrimination (on the basis of Race or Religion) is an age-old phenomenon. Decades ago, the coloured people of South Africa fought against unprecedented hostility to end apartheid. It is not that their struggle was entirely non-violent. However, the main driving force of the struggle against apartheid was non-violent economic non-cooperation. While the Apartheid State’s main strength was its military power, its great weakness was the reliance on coloured workers. Interestingly, protesters did not challenge the hegemony of the oppressive Apartheid State, but successfully hit the weak spot through non-cooperation movements, and finally won the battle.

A similar thing happened during the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Until the 1960s, racial discrimination was there in the US, especially in the southern part of the country. The Whites used to enjoy privileges in hotels, restaurants, public transport systems, prisons, military, state-run schools, etc. Most importantly, the coloured people were not allowed to cast their votes for various reasons until the late 1960s. They had to clear a literacy test in order to enjoy their Voting Rights. And, they often failed to clear the test. Even, they had to pay Poll Tax in order to get their names included in the Voter List. The coloured people, too, often resorted to violence while fighting against all those injustices. However, the character of the mainstream Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King Jr was peaceful and non-violent in nature.

Palestinians can learn from these chapters of history as their fight, too, is against discrimination.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das