October 7 was not the beginning, nor will Yahya Sinwar's martyrdom be the end."

October 7 was not the beginning, nor will Yahya Sinwar's martyrdom be the end."

 

We Are Living in a World with a Fading Memory

We are living in a world where people's memory has weakened, and they forget events that occurred just a few years ago.

Those whose memory has become weak need to refresh it. Let me remind you that the world did not start on October 7, 2023. Hamas's attack on Israel in 2023 was not an isolated incident. We need to view it within its broader context and background. It was a reaction to Israeli oppression, brutality, and occupation. To understand this reaction, it is crucial to comprehend the actions and events that led to it.

Gaza Before October 7, 2023..

 

Even before October 7, 2023, Gaza was described as the world’s largest open-air prison, where millions of people were imprisoned. On one side was the sea, and on the other three sides, Israel, which also blocked the border with Egypt. The children, youth, women, and elderly there were deprived of basic human rights, healthcare, and fundamental freedoms to live.

To understand the situation, it is essential to know that the water pipeline supplying Gaza came through Israel, and the electricity supply centers were under Israeli control, which were shut off immediately after the October 7 attacks. When your drinking water, medical supplies, educational facilities, internet, and electricity are all controlled by the occupying country, how can you live with dignity?

Life as Prisoners on Their Own Land

Who would want to live as prisoners on their own land, leading a life of slavery? Daily violence and humiliating treatment were commonplace for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. This didn’t just occur in Gaza and the West Bank but also within Israeli-occupied Palestine, where Palestinians in cities like Bethlehem and Jerusalem were being forcibly displaced from their homes.

Even the U.S. opposed these actions, but they continued. Settlers would come, forcibly evict people from their homes, throw their belongings outside, seize their homes, and leave Palestinians helpless under the open sky, crying for justice.

Journalists Facing Israeli Censorship..

 

It wasn’t only Palestinians who suffered. Journalists reporting on Israeli brutality and oppression also faced Israeli censorship, and many lost their lives. The killing of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces is just one example.

In a land where settlers from around the world have the right to settle, but the rightful owners of the land cannot live there, where apartheid conditions prevail, and people endure the humiliation of separate queues and hours of identity checks, where the occupying army can take away your children whenever they want and imprison them – living in such an open-air prison inevitably leads to rebellion.

The Right to Freedom and Resistance

The greatest of all human rights is the right to live freely on your own land, a right the occupying army had taken away. In such a situation, the greatest right is the right to resist your oppressor and occupier, a right recognized worldwide.

In such circumstances, when you are surrounded by oppression and occupation, a natural anger arises in your heart, and October 7, 2023, was the expression of that anger. To assume that the situation began on October 7, 2023, or that Hamas's attack on Israel was the start of everything is foolish and willfully ignorant.

Hamas's attack was a reaction. Until we understand the context and background, we cannot comprehend the actions that triggered this reaction.

Western Hypocrisy

The U.S. and the West have lost their right to claim to be champions of human rights because they are supporting an oppressor and occupier in this situation.

It’s laughable to hear the justifications of the U.S. and Western nations:

• Russian occupation of Ukraine is wrong.
• Israeli occupation of Palestine is right.

Ukraine has the right to fight those who occupy it, and the U.S. and the West will provide them with weapons. But in Palestine, the Palestinians do not have the right to defend themselves against the Israeli occupier. Here, the U.S. and Western countries are giving arms and weapons to the occupier and the oppressor. How will the U.S. and the West preach to the world now?

The Issue Will Not End with One Leader’s Death

Those who think that with the martyrdom of Yahya Sinwar, the issue will be resolved, ended, or buried are living in a fool’s paradise. This matter will not end in this way. Rights cannot be snatched away through oppression, brutality, fear, and cruelty.

Their land and soil cannot be forcibly taken from them, and they cannot be forced to live a life of subjugation. This issue will not be resolved this way.

By ABIDA LUBNA

EMAIL: ideas.innovate7661@gmail.com