Gaza is a test of human morality

Gaza is not only the largest open-air prison, but it is also an experimental laboratory. It is not only a ground where Israeli weapons and technology are frequently revealed and used in the last years but also a testing ground for morality, hypocrisy, and privilege. It is a lab to test our human values. 

One cannot but open by relating to the bloodshed and the killings of all, but especially the killing of the innocents, being Palestinian, Israeli, or others. They must not be targeted, and if they are, this is an immoral act and a crime. This is an important moral statement as well as a clear statement against any accusation or misinterpretation of my comments below. A statement that is also part of the pre-conditions for subaltern voices to be somehow legitimized and heard. 

We all would like to think of ourselves, of our people, and of those who we support as moral, yet we rarely face a true test of morality. Usually, we try to find excuses and justifications or choose to close our eyes on actions that contradict our political beliefs. At times, too, we theorize about morality while losing sight of the privileges that allow us to do so, just like writing this piece. Those in action contemplate morality differently and make it tangible through actions or by linking it directly with a real price that they are paying or willing to pay.  

Nearly 70% of the Gaza Strip’s residents are Palestinian refugees. They lost homes and homelands not 2,000 years ago but 75 years ago. Living a few miles away, they grew up watching their original homes be taken. In a eulogy of an Israeli who was killed in Kibbutz Nahal Oz near Gaza in 1956, Moshe Dayan, then the Israeli chief of staff, gave one reason for Palestinian anger and hate:

“Why should we declare their burning hatred for us? For eight years they have been sitting in the refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we have been transforming the lands and the villages, where they and their fathers dwelt, into our estate. It is not among the Arabs in Gaza, but in our own midst that we must seek Roi’s blood.”

It is the colonial project and the continuing Nakba that are the merits of the ongoing violence. Palestinian refugees were denied the chance to rebuild a new life. This state of despair deteriorated after 2006, when Israel imposed a siege over Gaza to the level of determining the type and number of calories that Gazans can consume, alongside their ability to move, to work, or to dream.  

This was the situation on the eve of October 7. It was not a peaceful situation that Hamas breached. It might seem like a more or less peaceful situation from the Israeli side, not so from Gaza. It is a one-sided war most of the time. October 7 was an unfamiliar situation because it was Hamas who crossed the border, killed soldiers and civilians, controlled Israeli houses and settlements, and imposed siege, and spread terror among Israelis for one day. Not to undermine this legitimate fear or to compete over victimhood, but no one knows this sense of fear better than Gazan Palestinians.

Assuming that the same Palestinian fighters are in their twenties, they were five to ten years old when the Israeli siege began and survived four major wars on Gaza (2008, 2012, 2014, 2021), witnessing massive destruction and killings of thousands. I don’t think we can even imagine such a life and the conditions that it creates, including perceptions of morality. Can we think of the next Palestinian generation who is experiencing this current war and destruction in Gaza? What kind of choices will they have?

Palestinians in Israel do get a different perspective on all of this, as we speak Hebrew and Arabic and know both Israeli and Palestinian culture, politics, and mentality. We get to watch and read Israeli, Palestinian-Arab, and international media. We can see the almost Israeli consensus calling to destroy Hamas and Gaza, to level Gaza to the ground, and calling Gazans Nazis, human animals, and beasts. Mainstream international media adopted the Israeli narrative of ISIS-style terrorism, beheading of children, later to state that it was a lie. We are able to see tens of videos where Palestinian fighters were assuring the hostages no harm, and refusing to kill women or children, elderly and handicapped. That does not mean that no women or children were killed by Palestinian fighters. But that definitely shows a more complex moral and fighting picture than the prevailing image in Israeli media or Biden’s words of them as bloodthirsty who want to annihilate the Jews. Israeli channels, for example, interviewed an Israeli woman who stated that she was taken by Hamas, and after crossing the border towards Gaza she was released with two kids. Another Israeli woman stated that a Palestinian fighter who occupied her home for a few hours asked if he may take a banana from the fruit bowl in her kitchen. 

The Palestinians rightly view the American and Western European states’ bias and responsibility for their tragedy. Time and again, they failed the Palestinians under the Israeli occupation and its associated regime of violence and dispossession, with an empty promise for a two-state solution to be reached via negotiations. What are Palestinians expected to do? Should they submit to the Israeli political will or resist it? Should they accept the humiliation and constant dispossession and watch the Israeli encroachment of their lands, homes, and lives? No human being can sit without taking an action. The question would then become about the nature of the actions, being moral, justified, or legal. On many different levels, Palestinian resistance has been peaceful, non-violent, or a popular one. The PLO adopted a non-violent popular resistance agenda and has been asking the international community to force Israel to the negotiation table. Meanwhile, Israel is actively expanding its settlements and grip over Palestinian land and people. 

What incentives would a Palestinian—whether a fighter or protestor—have if they have to choose between being deemed terrorists or left to their own sub-human life? Do Palestinians have the right to be free of Israeli occupation, to self-determination, or to dignified life? The answer should depend on each one’s own beliefs and values and not be conditioned on the actions of others. You may disagree or condemn some Palestinian actions but you may not claim respect for human rights and values, but failing to criticize Israeli actions and the merits of the violence, while being aware that such political support results in Palestinian life loss. 

This week, Israeli and international leaders repeatedly stated that Hamas has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity and that the attack was in violation of international law. Indeed, the deliberate targeting of civilians is a grave breach of international law and tantamount to a war crime. Shouldn’t this legal standard apply to all parties involved in the conflict? The UN Goldstone Commission found, when investigating the 2008-2009 war on Gaza, strong evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity and called for the end of impunity. However, both the UN and the International Criminal Court failed to protect Palestinians or to meet Palestinian political aspirations. UN resolutions on founding a Palestinian state in 1947, or on the right of return in 1948, or on the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Palestinian territory remained unfulfilled. How can these institutions thus be considered a place for the amelioration of Palestinian plight? And have the calls for the application of international law become outside the boundaries of “legitimate speech” or antisemitic? We have witnessed in the last week how the support of Palestinians or a call to free Palestinians from occupation might result in accusations of antisemitism and even result in prosecution.  

Over 1,400 Israelis (most of whom are civilians) and over 2,700 Palestinians (over 1,000 of whom are children) are dead. Israel cut off electricity and water supplies for most Palestinians in Gaza. Another Nakba is taking place. This time, it is televised. If you care about human lives, especially the innocent, you will see the root causes of the conflict—the Israeli occupation and oppression—and take action to uproot it. You will act to break the cycle of violence and give hope and a reason for life. Do Hamas’s actions turn the 2.3 million Palestinians into a legitimate military target? The answer is a clear no, and doing so is a crime and inhumane. Our stance on Gaza is a test for our values, privilege, and racial or moral supremacy.