As a human being, it itches me inside to embark on a journey to find the truth, or at least to get closer to it. As an Arab citizen who seeks peace in this world, I don’t have a choice but to pick sides when it comes to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Every human being has the right to live and “everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state,” article 13 of the United Nations declaration of Human Rights says. However, this statement is critical and might be the first cause of sorrow in this world, or at least in Gaza.
Our duty as human beings is to restore peace in humanity. That’s the truth, that’s the way life should unfold, that’s exactly the only way to show respect to every human being around the globe, and that’s why I hated Hamas before. Hamas uses citizens from all genders and ages as shields. Hamas buys illegal weapons that made many powerful countries such as U.S., Canada, and EU members designate it as a terrorist organization. Because of Hamas, many UN resolutions went against Palestinians’ basic human rights, like having a Gaza airport ( Or rebuilding the one Israel destroyed few years ago). Similarly to Israel and to other leading countries, Hamas is the main responsible of Gaza’s death toll and the lack of peace in the region. Indeed, that’s a historical fact, but it’s not the reality. What people find challenging to understand, is to make distinction between the whims of reality and the realms of truth.
Philosophically speaking, the majority believes that the democratic truth is the practical equality between all people, and that everyone should be respected no matter who they are or where they come from. But what is reality? In almost every national and international speech I made, I clearly stated that there is no unity without diversity. We breath the same air, drink the same water, and maybe if we start seeing what we have in common instead of what differentiate us, we’ll find peace. Well, that’s the best way to imagine the truth, or at least plato’s idea of an ideal society. Unfortunately, that’s far away from the realms of reality. What’s politicians are missing is that we aren’t in a position to find the truth, we are actually in a position to deal with the reality.
In order to strike the truth so that it looks real, we have to deal with the reality in its grassroots and understand it. People are dying already, and Israel is not willing to stop because they have a goal. They want to eliminate Palestine, they want to control Palestinian lands, and their minds will not be changed no matter what the majority believes. Hence, we have no choice but to take a position, either with Palestine or Israel. The way I see reality in this conflict makes me in favor of Hamas. Even though Hamas made many diplomatic mistakes. To my eyes, they still fight for something that is noble, which is freedom. Calling the spade a spade, the problem is that Israel wants to eliminate Palestinians step by step, inch by inch, while the government of Palestine is ready to sign anything that will secure the west bank and its infrastructure, even though Israel will be controlling all Palestine’s natural resources, resources that belong to Palestinians not to Israelis.
To illustrate to the reader the reality of the issue, we’ll consider the conflict as a coin that we’ll flip. Israel is the head, and Palestine is the tail.Whether the coin lands as a tail or head, Palestinians are losing. They are losing their human rights, culture, future, and mostly freedom. Hamas are aware of the coin, that’s why they are doing everything possible to make the coin never lands. Hamas is fighting with every possible way to strength Palestine. You can believe that Hamas’s way of working is inspired by Machiavelli’s theorem “the end justifies the mean’’. But for me, I rather see it this way; there are good ways to lose and bad ways to win. Hamas could have used the same Fatah philosophy by accepting all Israeli terms when a war starts and “look like a hero” to the west. Well, history revealed everything (look at the west bank today). Hamas favors the philosophy of bad ways to win, and they are winning. When I see that Hamas is not surrendering, but actually they are imposing their terms on Israel, I feel that there is some hope to free Palestine. Let’s face it, Hamas is the only organization and political party that is resisting the Israeli genocide. If there was no Hamas today, our children won’t probably hear of Palestine tomorrow.
Anas Chihab.
