The international community is responsible

The recent escalation in violence has drawn immense outrage from the international community, quickly moving to condemn Palestinian “terror” and reassuring Israel’s “right to defend itself.” 

For decades, Western governments attempted to “manage the conflict”; they sat idly as Israel systematically destroyed the two-state solution and continued to violently oppress the Palestinian people. Now more than ever, it is evident that empty statements of condemnation and “concern” did not and will not stop Israeli war crimes.

This Western-led international community has shown us that it can indeed protect the global rule of law when standing up to Russia in Ukraine. It suddenly found the political will and mustered the courage to stand up for international law, rapidly mobilizing collectively with various political and economic sanctions.

They are calling this an “unprovoked” attack while the real provocation is 75 years of ethnic cleansing, settler-colonialism, apartheid, displacement & replacement. 56 years of brutal military occupation and both de jure and de facto annexation. 16 years of suffocating siege on Gaza. On a daily basis, Palestinians are being expelled from their land, their homes and schools are being demolished, and state-sanctioned settlers are terrorizing us.

All of this was not enough to grab enough attention and mobilize the international community. The status quo was convenient as long as only the Palestinians were suffering. 

Two million people, most of whom were forcefully expelled from their homes in 1948, are living in the largest open-air prison under land, air, and sea blockade. Every Gazan under the age of 18, almost half of the population there, has known nothing but life under siege and has lived through frequent Israeli aggressions.

For years, we were told by diplomats that we need to reach out to the “Israeli peace camp,” the same voices who are now calling for Gaza to be leveled. We were asked to be the perfect victim in order to deserve mere sympathy. We’ve had to convince them that we deserve to live.

Palestinians resorted to every form of non-violent resistance to attain their most basic rights to no avail. When we went to international courts, it was called “legal terrorism,” and the very states that claim to respect international law have blocked the investigation by the International Criminal Court. Our activity at the United Nations was condemned as “diplomatic terrorism” and blocked by Western powers at the Security Council. Legislations were introduced to counter the boycott of Israel, calling it “economic terrorism.” The international community proved to the Palestinian people that nothing but violence works, and they are now appalled by the inevitable result. 

For 75 years, Israel was never held accountable by the international community. Instead of putting an end to Palestinian suffering and Israeli impunity, the international community has constantly rewarded Israel with more political, economic, and technological cooperation. It is also now giving Israel the green light to commit more massacres under the guise of self-defense. 

75 years ago the world failed us, and it continues to today. Now, it has the chance to walk the talk and uphold international law and human rights like you claim to do. There is a massacre unfolding right before your eyes, with Israeli officials publicly and shamelessly declaring it. 

Israel was allowed to step over international law and the global rules-based order and crossed every red line set by the international community, and the latter simply turned a blind eye.

So when the U.S. and the EU say that they stand with Israel, no one here is surprised, no one had a single doubt.