Opinion |
My Palestinian Sisters and Brothers, We Need a New Version of the Palestinian Resistance
The time has come to admit that Hamas has no political horizon beyond deepening the Palestinian losses and leveraging them to continue its existence and rule in Gaza
I regret having to say that the dominant Palestinian discourse silences any internal political criticism of Hamas. It argues that "now is not the time" for criticizing the movement that stands alone at the front of the struggle against the occupation.
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10
Lot of correctly stated complains about the Hamas
21:14
But no actual solution given or another option laid on the table.
9
Roger
16:02
But as long as Israel is screaming " we have a right to defend!!" when they actually have no right to defend land which , as the ICJ ruled ,they're occupying illegally, Hamas will continue to assert their right under the Geneva Convention to resist illegal Israeli occupation
8
ML
15:49
Thanks Rajaa Natour for saying what needs to be said, and thanks to all at Haaretz for publishing.
7
Nick
00:36
"But I do dispute the definition, meaning and methods that Hamas has forced on the Palestinian national narrative and the generations that have followed it blindly."
Amen! If more Palestinians would say the same thing we might actually have peace. It would also force the hand of the hard right on the Israeli side.
6
JoelB
23:02
I think we need democratic nations around the world to stand up to the bullies, like Israel and the US. The rich are all invested in weapon manufacturing so they have to keep the world at war for their bottom line and we are just the commodity they can leave or take. Zionist motto: "Without sentiment or morals." Is that really the world we want to live in?
5
CV
22:44
If I read correctly the biography of the author, she is a Dutch-Israeli woman, residing in the Netherlands.
That she, speaking from the comfort and safety, dares to berate people who are currently bombed, starved, oppressed and subjugated, about how they should react it non-violently is laughable.
Reply to comment
Nick
00:37CV
Where do you live. I guess if it's not in Israel you shouldn't make any judgments either.
Joelle
04:11CV
@CV - You should read this article again. The author is not berating those "who are currently bombed, starved, oppressed and subjugated", but pointing out to them (who are secular) that Hamas is purposefully sacrificing them in their bid to maintain and expand their theocratic power. They have also imposed the method of their struggle as the sole way to liberate Palestine, and so the author points out that Palestinians should not be fooled and define their own goals and methods of resistance. It's a very fair point. That Hamas should want to liberate Gaza by sacrificing its inhabitants and all its structures and in order to keep oppressing them is indeed paradoxical. All the more tragic because Israelis are only too happy to oblige and to conflate Hamas with all Palestinians. Hamas and Israel's government are peas in a pod. If (bif IF) Israel were to withdraw from Gaza, would Hamas be predisposed to let people choose how and by whom they are governed? I doubt it.
JoelB
07:37CV
Hello Joelle, I agree with most of what you say but when I see images or read stories of black people in America being treated the way they were, mine and I'm sure most people's heart breaks, so why not for the way Israel has been treating Palestinians for almost 80 years. Hammas may be wrong but it does not make the invasion of Palestine right.
Joelle
21:17CV
@JoelB - Agreed. The scandalous international neglect of the Palestinian cause for so long will remain the darkest stain on humanity's soul forever. Sadly Hamas does seem to be the only group willing to do something about it, but ambiguously it is fighting for itself towards a free Palestine harshly controlled by them, not free Palestinians. Neither type of occupiers wants to stop until they achieve their goal, regardless of deaths, suffering and destruction. Hamas did manage to expose Israel internationally for what it is, but by imposing an enormous sacrifice on a population that had not agreed to it. They are not the final solution. It is necessary to be aware of Hamas's double-edged sword, rather than blindly praising them unquestioningly for being THE liberation movement. I think, perhaps wrongly, that it is what the author was pointing out. More shockingly, the international community is still doing nothing concrete to help ending this dire situation.
4
Gutmensch
21:55 10.11.2024
An interesting point of view, Ms Natour, but when we look at events in the West Bank -- never mind Gaza -- we see what happens with the peaceful/cooperative approach.
That is the fatal flaw in your thesis.
3
Godfrey Lipton
18:43 10.11.2024
Peter, your rant brings to mind an article (in think in the Atlantic) pointing out that Latinos and Blacks, who voted for Trump, are not obsessed with systemic racism and other woke topics.
Here in the article someone from the Arab world is saying something important, yet you are not listening.
Reply to comment
Peter Cohen
18:49 10.11.2024Godfrey Lipton
@Godfrey Lipton. Are you talking to me?
Godfrey Lipton
20:53 10.11.2024Godfrey Lipton
Yes. It turns out that many ultra-woke academics were speaking for blacks and Latinos explaining to them how systemic racism was hurting them. They were disconnected to the extent those Hispanics and blacks voted for Trump. I see your post below as similar. A Palestinian is explaining how she sees the world and all you can talk about is Israel-hate.
Peter Cohen
22:43Godfrey Lipton
@ Godfrey Lipton. You say about me:"all you can talk about is Israel-hate". I am only speaking for Palestinian liberation from colonial conquest and rule. Very many native peoples have had to initiate and maintain such struggles against European style colonial rule. "Israel" is a colonial occupation , and has seen-and will see- increasing levels of resistance against it. It is not at all an exception in that respect.My point of view is that we should support anti colonial LIBERATION movements.You reformat this opinion as "Israel hate',thereby morphing it into a hollow and meaningless slogan.
Godfrey Lipton
19:07Godfrey Lipton
Got it. So you up to persist with the vacant and false narrative that Israel is a colonial state and that the Jews have no right to a state or of self determination. Good luck with tha. Definitely confirmed that my comparison with the white US elitists trying to speak for blacks, and Latinos was right.
2
New Palestinian resistance
18:40 10.11.2024
Thank you Rajaa for your brave truth telling acknowledging the need to also resist the theology of involuntary martyrdom even if it succeeds in the politics of portraying Israel as a pariah nation due increased collateral damage We should also note the recent fatwa from Dr Dayan, a Gazan religious scholar discrediting Hamas theology
1
Peter Cohen
17:56 10.11.2024
quote: Hamas has made Palestinians' bodies a tool to carry out its political views and the only tool in the struggle for national liberation.unquote. I see the opposite.The zionist state could have used the violent attack on the Gaza Envelope as a sign that its violent NO FUTURE politics would continue the causes of for ever deepening violence. And opened up instead a diplomatic strategy of compromise.But it has chosen to use the Hamas attack as another 'opportunity' to further classic zionist strategy: cleansing, murdering and imprisoning the native population in order to replace it.Hamas can not struggle alone, it should be assisted to the max by outside forces, any outside forces. The Christian West sees the cleansing of Palestine as its religeous duty and will continue supporting it. Palestinian liberation is, like Algerian or Indonesian liberation, a desperate, horrible and bloody struggle ENFORCED ON IT BY COLONIALISM. Not by Hamas.
