A POPULAR view by academics and politicians alike is that Hamas’s recent action of Oct 7 not only instigated Israel to exact the biggest ever death toll of Palestinians, even more than the Intifadas, but also undermined the peace process. However, this act did not take place in a vacuum. It was an act of resistance to the systematic state terrorism that Israel has been committing for decades against the Palestinian people.

For seven decades, Israel has used brutal force to suppress the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, guaranteed by UN Resolution No 181 of 1947, which had decided to partition Palestine into two states: one Arab, the other Jewish. On Oct 7, 1947, when the General Assembly of the newly formed United Nations was discussing the draft resolution, Pakistan’s representative, Sir Zafarullah Khan, built a strong case for the right of Palestinians to form an independent modern state on the lands on which they had lived for millennia.

At the centre of the debate was the British government’s Balfour Declaration, which, on Nov 2, 1917, had announced its intent to establish “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine and asserted that “… nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine… .” This commitment was never honoured. To date, the Palestinians, like the Kashmiris, have been fighting for the right to live on their own lands with honour and dignity, a right that most people get easily.

Palestine’s Israel conundrum can be understood from three dimensions: territorial, ideological, and geopolitical.

Since its inception, Israel has used brute force against the Palestinians.

Territorially, the Arab Palestinians believe that they have lived in this land for millennia, including the times when Palestine was called Canaan, or when King David and, before him, the patriarch Jacob, later named Israel, lived in these territories. In recent history, the land has remained under the suzerainty of, among others, the Romans, Arabs, the Ottomans and then the British. It was the Zionist movement (those Jews who strove for an independent homeland), which brought Jews from Europe to occupy the Arab lands, pushing 700,000 native Palestinians out of their homes in an event remembered as the Nakba, the catastrophe that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948.

Ideologically, this land has religious significance for the Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Muslims revere the Al-Aqsa Mosque, while for the Jews this land was home to their traditional ancestors and Hebrew patriarch.

Geopolitically, it was Britain that initiated the idea of creating a Jewish state in Palestine, pulling in Jews from Europe and displacing the local population. Over the past 70 years, the US and Britain have treated Israel as the pivot of their Middle East policy.

Given the above territorial, ideological, and geopolitical factors, peace continues to elude the land of Palestine. Neither the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, 1967 and 1973, nor the Palestinians’ indigenous resistance to Israel, which peaked twice as the first Intifada (1987-1992) and then the second Intifada (2000-2005), have helped resolve the conflict. Disunity amongst Palestinian ranks, ie, between Fatah and Hamas, has also undermined their cause.

The peace option was tried but did not result in earnest implementation of the two-state solution. Egypt recognised Israel in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. The Oslo Accords of the 1990s could secure only a little more autonomy for Palestinians. Most recently, the Abraham Accords saw the UAE, Bah­rain and Morocco establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. There are reports that Saudi Arabia was negotiating a peace settlement with the US, which wou­ld have ensured the right of the Palestinians to live in a state of their own. As is evident, the recent attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct 7 has halted Arab-Israel normalisation.

With protests breaking out in all Muslim lands, Europe, and even the US, it appears Israel’s disproportionate reaction to the Hamas attack and the indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world — yet, this is not enough. The United Nations Security Council met, where Russia, China and others tried to secure a ceasefire and a humanitarian corridor to Gaza. The US veto blocked practically any action by the UN.

The unequivocal support that Israel has received from the US has emboldened it to disregard all human rights. Keeping Gaza under siege for weeks with no food, water, fuel or medicine, killing innocent civilians, including children, bombing hospitals and places of worship, and blocking humanitarian aid to besieged Gazans is tantamount to war crimes. For Palestinians, resistance has become a duty.

The writer is a former foreign secretary and founder chairman of Sanober Institute.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2023