Debunking the misconceptions surrounding Palestine
As I am writing this, the people of Gaza are suffering. Following the events of Oct. 7, 2023, the Gaza Strip has been a target of relentless bombings and airstrikes that have led to the loss of more than 10,000 Palestinian lives as a result of orders from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The bombings do not discriminate in their strike locations, leveling hospitals, houses, offices, and more to rubble. To make things even worse, those in Palestine have had their electricity/fuel supply cut off and their access to food, water, and first aid resources limited. Yet, when asked about the chances of a Gaza ceasefire, President Biden recently quipped to a reporter, “None. No possibility.”
Since the recent escalation of this conflict there have been vast numbers of Americans displaying solidarity for Palestine, serving as concrete evidence that President Biden's views do not mirror the wishes of many Americans nationwide. But many still hold some misconceptions surrounding the state of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Below, I take a deeper look at these ideas and address four of the most common and damaging misconceptions in the media that I have come across.
1) Palestinian people elected Hamas.
Hamas is often wrongly conflated with the Palestinian people, suggesting that Palestinians elected Hamas. Consider this: The median age in the Gaza Strip is 15, meaning that most are ineligible to vote. Moreover, there have not been elections in Gaza in over a decade due to it serving as a pseudo-no-man's-land which renders this notion of them having elected Hamas as completely invalid. Not to mention that, if anything, Hamas is making conditions worse for the civilians residing inside the Gaza Strip.
2) The Israel Defense Forces are just acting in retaliation
Before proceeding further to discuss this, I want to make it abundantly clear that I strongly condemn the events that occurred Oct. 7. Violence, no matter who partakes in it, is never justifiable. Israel has every right to retaliate, but their method of retaliation has been collective punishment that transcends mere retaliation and constitutes a form of genocide. Collective punishment—explicitly condemned as a crime by the United Nations post-World-War-II—contravenes the Common Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which explicitly states that collective penalties are prohibited and that no protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. This means that what's happening cannot be legally defined as a form of retaliation— it's full-blown genocide.
3) Palestinians should just move to a safe place to avoid all this
Many suggest that Palestinian civilians should just relocate to a safer area. It's crucial to understand that Gaza is not a territory out in the open land—it is a besieged strip. Colloquially described as the world's largest open-air prison, all movement in and out is under the control of the Israeli Defense Forces. Also, it is downright nonsensical to expect more than two million people to leave their lands and homes, or to expect that they have the means or ability to.
4) Believing that whatever Western media reports is accurate
In times like these, people rely heavily on the media to get their news. Mainstream media channels, however, have unfortunately propagated false narratives. One glaring example is when CNN reporter Sara Sidner falsely claimed that Hamas ordered 40 infant beheadings, which she eventually retracted with an apology (but not until after IDF were instigated to take action). For a more balanced understanding of the situation from a Palestinian perspective, you should check out journalists like Yara Hawari, Mariam Barghouti and Hind Khoudary.
Israel's purported aim appears to be the eradication of Hamas. Here, it is worth pointing out that there is no Hamas in the West Bank. Here’s some food for thought: if the objective is indeed the removal of Hamas, why not employ targeted special forces, akin to the United States’ approach in eliminating Osama bin Laden, rather than resorting to carpet-bombing the whole country?
As concerned American civilians, all we can do is to voice our opposition and hope that a ceasefire is reached sooner than later, and that it puts a full stop to this ongoing genocide of Palestinians.
Thumbnail Photo courtesy of Lamron Photo Editor FP Zatlukal