What would you deem an appropriate resistance.
And before we go there, no I am absolutely not defending or condoning Hamas’s actions on 7/10. Far from it.
Under International Law, and the Geneva Convention, Palestinians have a right to resist an occupation, including armed resistance. Just like any other country does under a foreign occupation.
What would you have expected from the Palestinians:
Gaza:
Gaza has been living under an occupation for 76 years
Israel controls their land borders
Israel controls their air space
Israel controls their sea borders – to the point where their fishermen are restricted to an area no further than 6Km, dictated by Israel
Isreal controls what comes in and out of Gaza, be it food, medicine, or even basic materials
Israel controls who comes in and out of Gaza, to the point that foreign journalists are banned.
West Bank
Israel has stolen their land
750,000 Israelis now live in illegal settlements on Palestinian land
Israel daily bulldozes their homes
Violent settlers terrorize Palestinians with impunity, setting fire to their homes, their olive trees, attacking them with weapons, and all escorted and protected by the IDF and Israeli Police, with the full knowledge of the Israeli government.
If they complain, the Palestinian victim is arrested.
In 2023 alone in the West Bank, prior to Oct 7, over 500 Palestinians were shot by the IDF, including over 100 children
Almost 10,000 Palestinians are held in brutal detention centres under “administrative detention”, in other words without charge or trial, never mind a lawyer.
In the West Bank, while Israelis are ruled by civil law, Palestinians are ruled by military law. An apartheid system of one rule for Israelis, another for Palestinians.
Palestinians are subjected every day to walls and turnstiles restricting their movement. Only an Israeli can give them access.
Roads are designated Israeli only that Palestinians are not allowed to use.
Under the Oslo agreement of 1995, the West Bank is split into 3 areas:
Area A – administered by the Palestinian Authority – 18%
Area B – administered by the Palestinian Authority, joint Palestinian/Israeli security - 22%
Area C – full Israeli civil and security control - 60%
In other words, Palestinians are in full control of 18% of “their” land, and Israel 82%.
Members of the Knesset, most notably government ministers, routinely dehumanize Palestinians, to the point where the rape of a Palestinian detainee is condoned and defended, and the glorification of further settlements on Palestinian land is routine, and the funding of the illegal settlements is government policy.
And back to today, Israel is committing a Genocide (in the opinion of world-renowned Israeli genocide expert Amos Goldberg, former IDF soldier and historian Omer Bartov, respected Israeli historian Elan Pappe, prominent folks like Noam Chomsky and Bernie Sanders, human rights organizations in Israel like B’selem, Mistaclim and ICAHD – far too many to mention, never mind the multitude of doctors from the US, Britain and elsewhere, the tens of global aid organisations in Gaza), and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.
And as we all know, the current Netanyahu government has absolutely zero interest and forming any kind of peace, never mind a Palestinian state or any kind of self-determination.
Again, what response would you like to expect from the Palestinians?