Keys of hope

Gaza’s 2.2 million occupied, deprived, bombarded and shelled Palestinians are among the most steadfast people in the world. Seventy-one per cent are not native Gazans but refugees from nearby areas of Palestine conquered by Israel in 1948. More than 500,600 of Gaza’s refugees live in eight United Nations camps. Many of the refugees have settled in communities from their home areas and continue to hope-upon-hope that one day they will return to their cities, towns, and villages.

They cherish keys of the homes they were forced to flee as well as land deeds issued by the former Ottoman and British occupation administrations which occupied Gaza before Israel. It withdrew soldiers and settlers in 2005 but after Hamas took power in 2007 Israel maintained control by land, sea and air and blockaded the strip. Israel limited supplies of water, food and fuel and restricted Palestinian freedom of movement to and from Gaza. According to the UN, the “blockade and related restrictions contravene international humanitarian law as they target and impose hardship on the civilian population, effectively penalising them for acts they have not committed.”

The UN reports that 81.5 per cent of Gazans live in poverty and 63 per cent are food insecure and rely on international aid. The strip’s unemployment rate is 46.6 with 48.1 being the rate for refugees. Youth unemployment stands at over 60 per cent. Access to clean water and electricity is at crisis level. While water sustains life, electricity runs manufacturing plant and commercial premises which empower economic recovery and development.

Gazans have been subjected to previous devastating Israeli attacks in 2008-2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021, suffering more than 33,000 deaths and massive destruction. Israel’s attacks resulted in fatalities, woundings, and physical destruction and have fuelled resentment and anger and made unemployed youths turn to Hamas and Islamic Jihad as they offer an opportunity to strike back. The Hamas operation against Israelis in southern Gaza which killed 1,200 and left 250 captive was not unprovoked as it took place against the background of decades of violent Israeli provocations.

Since this attack, Israel has invaded and occupied 75 per cent of the narrow strip, killed 67,000 and wounded 170,000, 85 per cent women and children, destroyed 60 per cent of Gaza’s buildings and laid waste to its fragile infrastructure. Nearly 88 per cent of Gaza’s 564 schools have been destroyed or damaged and all colleges and universities have been levelled. More than 645,000 students and 90,000 university students have been deprived of education, which, for stateless Palestinians is the gateway to a decent life. Now children and youths take low paying jobs to make ends meet for their families as they have no other option during this period of warfare, dispossession, and deprivation.

Gazans are a people who have endured serial occupations. Between 1948 and Israel’s occupation Gaza was administered by Egypt which imposed a “soft occupation.” Gazans could enter and leave Gaza at will and goods and services were exported and imported freely. There was a train which ran from Rafah to Cairo. As there were no universities in the strip, Gazans seeking higher education went to Cairo, Alexandria and further afield to obtain degrees. Since many – notably in medicine and engineering – studied in Egypt, some joined the Muslim Brotherhood, the parent movement of Hamas. Palestinians were encouraged to become members of the Brotherhood because in 1945 it organised a general strike against Britain’s sponsorship of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and in 1948 Brotherhood fighters battled Israeli forces along with the Egyptian army which gained control of Gaza.

Israel’s tenures in Gaza have been “hard occupations” because Gaza became a key centre of resistance. On Oct.1, 1948, the Palestine National Council met in Gaza and issued a Declaration of Independence for all Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iraq recognised Palestine, despite opposition from Britain and the US. In the mid-1950s fedayeen began staging cross-border operations into Israel from Gaza, Syria, Egypt and Jordan, prompting Israel to collaborate with Britain and France in their attack on Egypt after President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal. US President Dwight Eisenhower condemned the Suez war and compelled Israel to withdraw from Gaza after four months. During this time, Israel carried out evictions from Palestinian refugee camps, destroyed the strip’s infrastructure and staged systematic massacres.

Hamas was established in Gaza in 1987 during the first intifada and has since challenged the ascendancy of Fatah which was founded in 1959 in the diaspora. Hamas initially called for a Palestinian state in the whole of Palestine but eventually agreed to a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem occupied by Israel in 1967. Israel has done its utmost to prevent this from happening by settling a million Israelis in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and clamped down on Gaza after its settlers evacuated in 2005.

The 2023-2025 Israeli onslaught on Gaza can only deepen the antagonism most Gazans feel toward Israel and its US sponsor. While the Trump plan may usher in a period of relative quiet, Israel can expect no peace from Gaza until the Palestinian state minus-Israeli settlers emerges on the international scene. Global actors who favour this state have not yet figured out how to secure this objective due to the rejection by Israel’s current rulers, especially Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his hard right coalition partners.

Photo: Reuters