The Narrative

Or lack thereof?

I was always confused by the word "catastrophe." It rendered the perpetrator anonymous, and it exempted the Palestinians from bearing any weight of their oppression. Like many Palestinians of my generation, we grew up everywhere besides Palestine: physically, spiritually, and emotionally disconnected from where we know we belonged. 

Photo by Jakob Rubner

I did not grasp the true meaning of the word until I went back to Palestine this past summer. In the alleys and passageways, on the cobblestone path soaked in ashes of burning villages, I discovered Catastrophe. Hundreds of people found themselves setting up temporary housing, but temporary became permanent, and people found themselves setting up a nation built on memories and hope. They are waiting in suspended time, refusing to accept that the world will not recognize their tragedy. 

Palestine's systematic oppression is an institutionalized regime, so it does not help that Palestinians have been denied the right to narrate our own story.  It seems that the parameters of Palestinian voices are confined to footage of the dead accompanying crying voices. However, when it comes to telling our opinions of peace plans, sharing our narrative on the political conflict, or even asking for as much air time as pro-Israel voices, we are often met with silence or complete rejection. 

Disparities between Palestinian voices and others in media are abundantly clear.

On CNN, media coverage by Israeli officials outnumbers Palestinian voices more than five-to-one.

Beyond silencing Palestinian activists and leaders, there is the challenge of shifting misleading discourse that surrounds the language in which Palestine is reported. 

In western media, the Israeli narrative is widely adopted, framing the lasting "conflict" as military actions between Hamas and Israel, making the entire Palestinian civilian population invisible - even though they are experiencing human rights violations. By shaping Hamas' narrative, Palestinians are removed from any discussions about how this "conflict" has impacted their lives, their families, and their communities. What the media fails to mention is that Hamas was not formed until 1987, almost 40 years after Israeli occupation had made millions of refugees and decimated hundreds of bloodlines.

When the war between Russia and Ukraine started, it became clear how “extremism” is also used in the case of Palestinians resisting their occupation but absent in describing Ukrainian resistance to their short-lived occupation. Stark images showed Ukrainians making Molotov cocktails, encouraged by their President, and International Law, to resist their occupation – by "any means necessary" as the Geneva Conventions pronounce. This right to resist, and by definition the right to exist, is enshrined to Palestinians, yet it is denied and violated by Israel and willfully overlooked by the rest of the world. The Fourth Geneva Conventions give Palestinians a legal right to armed resistance, this is fact, so the labeling of Palestinians resistance as “extremism” is not only a lie, but an attempt to excuse “Israel” of their crimes. If Palestinians were shown making Molotov cocktails, the headlines would instead read "Hamas Militants prepare for terrorist attacks," with no discussion about Palestinian civilians defending their homes, communities, and lives. 

Palestinians can't exist, even within humanitarian spaces. Across the world, people have rallied for the rights of Ukrainians to protest their oppressors; greater than this, the world recognizes that their human rights have been violated - here, it seems that occupation is a simple discussion of power dynamics where one side holds domination over the other. According to Article 42 of the Hague Regulations, "a territory is occupied when it is placed under the authority of a hostile army"; yet, when it comes to Palestine, this simple discussion of oppression suddenly becomes too "complex" to understand. But what is complex about our occupation? The world was quick to call the Russian-Ukrainian war a "genocide" after bombing a children's hospital in Mariupol. This begs the question; can genocide only be applied to people who have the world's sympathy? Why is it that the world was silent when Gaza was sieged with 122 bombs in 25 minutes, but this number is boggling to the world when it happens to Ukraine over two weeks? Why were Palestinians labeled “Extremist” when they resisted the illegal blockade and occupation placed upon them? Why is it okay that thousands of new settlements are currently being built to house Ukrainian Jews, all the while displacing and creating thousands of new Palestinian refugees?

Therein lies a large issue - it has never been a "conflict" but a mass Ethnic Genocide, Apartheid, and Military Occupation against the Palestinians.

In reality, the narrative starts with the fact that before Zionism, before “Israel”, there was a people there. If the media started with that fact, then it would no longer be able to push forward with the idea of “Israeli Defense”, for the truth of this fact automatically makes them aggressors, invaders, and settlers in every sense of the words.

The legality of occupation under the U.N. charter makes no distinction on whether it is approved by the Security Council or labeled "invasion" or "occupation," human rights law, and humanitarian jurisprudence is based solely on the facts on the ground for its application. So, even when the facts of Palestinian occupation are perfectly clear, it seems that our lives, and our resistance, are viewed differently. The issue is greater than the apparent racism that exists in covering violence when it happens to Arabs or Muslims; it is about the blatant rejection of Palestinian existence and willingness to erase us from the minds of history, even when our rights are all but nonexistent. If a Palestinian picks up a gun to defend their home from demolition, their child from being tortured, or their city from being burned by settlers they are labeled a “terrorist”, even though they have every legal right and moral right to confront the real terrorist – “Israeli” colonialism.

Since 1947, over 500 villages have been demolished, millions made refugees, thousands murdered, and even more children placed in illegal military prisons for no other reason than being Palestinian. This is not hard to see; simply type "Palestine Map" on Google, and you will see how Palestine is slowly being wiped from existence. But we are not going anywhere. It was not always clear that Palestinians would remember ourselves, but we must be given the platform to discuss our oppression. 

A large part of this platform involves having the chance to challenge our oppressors without facing criticism or gaslighting of being labeled Antisemitic. While antisemitism is a present and growing threat, heightened by the Trump Administration, Palestinian criticism of Israel is not Antisemitic. It is our right in the movement for freedom, dignity, and liberation.   

Palestine is the world's largest refugee crisis. We are treated as an inferior race and denied every basic human right. Yet, I see no corporate or social sanctions on the Apartheid Regime. I see the absence of the robust language used to describe Israel's crimes against humanity but quick application to Putin. Palestinians see that our dignity, freedom, and heritage are being erased without discussing our existence. We are here. 

If you’ve made it to the end, thank you for reading! Please share your thoughts with me, share this article with your friends, and stay tuned for the next take on “State of Siege”.