“There are no innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman declared last month as the death toll mounted from attacks by the Israeli army on Palestinian protesters. It is a shocking statement given the attacks are on mostly nonviolent protesters, and casualties in Gaza in the past six weeks include two journalists and many children, including eight-month-old baby Leila al-Ghandour.
However, such statements have become common among Israeli politicians and reflect a radical shift in the Israeli public attitude towards Palestinians. A survey of Jewish Israelis during the war on Gaza in 2014 showed that 92 per cent supported it, despite thousands of casualties and destruction of civil infrastructure. The Pew Research Centre also has found that half of the Israeli Jews polled want to see Palestinian citizens of Israel expelled. This attitude is reflected by the election of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.
This week Palestinians marked the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, their catastrophe. They do so as conquered but not defeated people still fighting for justice, freedom and their rights. Most live under brutal occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; more than a million live as second-class citizens in Israel; and 3.5 million still languish in refugee camps in neighbouring countries. This ongoing Nakba has seen Palestinians try everything they can to secure their freedom.
Read the article by Bassem Dally in The Weekend Australian.
[Bassam Dally is a Palestinian-Australian advocate and vice-president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.]