Gaza: Whispers of the Shattered Sky

How it Started The year 2023, marks seventy-four years of the Palestinian experience of dispossession and loss of their land. In 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs—about half of the prewar mandatory Palestinian Arabs—had to flee their homes or were expelled by force to leave their land and become refugees in different Neighboring States, such as Tiberias, Haifa, Safed, Jaffa, Acra, and Beersheba, Hundreds of other small towns and villages which had the palestinian population were either depopulated or expelled by Zionist forces. The British Mandate and the departure of the British forces were followed by the Israeli army taking over complete control of the land to create a Jewish state on that land during the 1948 Israel-Arab War. A partition plan for Palestine was defined. The expansion, dispossession, and displacement of Palestinian Society is known and written in history as the Nakba. What Caused Nakba There are different point of views about it, and also fundamental disagreement among historians about what was the actual cause. The Nakba, which means catastrophe in Arabic, refers to the massive displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Before the Nakba, Palestine was a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. In the 1930s, when Jewish immigration was increased and proceccustion was driven by Europe along with the Zionist movement aiming to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, conflict intensified between Arabs and Jews. In November 1947, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution partitioning Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with Jerusalem, the ancient holy city, under a UN administration. The Arab world rejected the plan and called it unfair. Whereas different Jewish right-wing groups also wanted the whole land for themselves. They forced most of the Arab population out of their territory. That's how, In 1948, the situation escalated into a full-blown war between Israel and Arabs. This event led to the establishment of the State of Israel. More than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and land this means seventy-six percent of the land was taken over. Twenty-two percent of the land which remained was divided into what are now the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip. Till January 1949, the fighting continued, then an agreement between Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria was forged. This was called The Armistice Line, which is also known as the Green Line. It is a general recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank. This Green Line is also referred to (Pre-1967 Borders). Meaning before Israel occupied the rest of Palestine in the June 1967 War. This conflict has continued to influence and shape the lives of generations of palestinian people. In simple words, the Nakba did not start or end in 1948. In the late 19th Century, the political ideology of Zionism became deep-rooted in Eastern Europe. The belief in the ideology was aimed at Jews being a nation, and they deserved to have their own state. As per Historians, from 1882 onwards, thousands of Russian Jews and Eastern European Jews began to settle in Palestine. Calls for establishing a Jewish state started to get stronger than ever. The concept was based on the Biblical Concept that the Holy Land was promised to Jews by God. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1517-1914), the British occupied the land of Palestine, and it became part of the secret Sykes Picot Treaty. In 1917, before the start of the British Mandate (1920-1947), the British issued the Balfour Declaration. Which promised to help the establishment of Palestine as a national home of the Jewish people. Every year on May 15th, Palestinians around the world mark the Nakba and refer to it as the ethnic cleaning of the Palestinian people in 1948. What is the Oslo Accords? The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreement between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which was signed in Washington, D.C. in 1993. The Oslo Accord II was signed in Taba, Egypt in 1995. The Oslo Accord played a pivotal role in maintaining peace between Israel and Palestine. The aim of it was the provision and expansion of Palestinian self-rule throughout the West Bank. On the surface, it seems like the conflict is about the land between Palestine and Israel, who rules what and has what. About control and authority, but in reality this conflict has very deep roots and many angles. It has a religious, political and geopolitical angle as well as about who owns all the resources, and also about independence and sovereignty. No doubt that in the Oslo Accord, Israel and Palestine both recognized each other and also both pledged to end the decades-long conflict. Although, sadly matters never got matured or sorted beyond the empty words and promises. Then Oslo II was signed in 1995. More detailed structures of talks and plans came into being but all in vain. Basically, the Oslo Accord was to form a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel. This would mean Israel, which took land of historic Palestine in 1948 during the event known as Nakba, had to accept the national sovereignty of Palestine. This included the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territory gradually as well as giving the whole authority of Palestine to the Palestinian people. Question remains: Can Israel ever accept this option? Decision was tough to make because if Palestine was given sovereign right, the siege of Gaza had to end completely. Israel's illegal settlements would be challenged too. Much was at stake for Israel, who always wanted full control of the remaining Palestinian land also. Therefore, no negotiation until now has been fruitful or could be accepted by all the parties involved. The only thing which happened was, a temporary arrangement for Palestine through the Oslo Accords made possible. According to which, Palestine was divided into territories as Areas A, b, C, determining how much control the Palestinian Authority (PA) had in each territory. In the actual sense, the role of the administration of (PA) was very limited just to two areas, Gaza and the West Bank. A final treaty was to be signed after five years of the Oslo Accords- but that never happened... The situation on the ground currently is that illegal settlers of Israel don't want to give back the land they have occupied and do not wish to give any rights to Palestinians. They give no importance to any of the agreement or accords. PLO, as per their notion, is no more than a terrorist organization. They want to have full control in every sense of the occupied land and its people. In short, the very idea of a sovereign Palestinian state alongside with Israel is not at all acceptable to the far-right group of Israel and this is the reason why peace never saw light in Gaza or the West Bank. Palestinian Refugees and Camps There are close to six million registered Palestinian refugees who are living in almost 59 camps which are located throughout Palestine and its neighboring countries. UNRWA (UN relief and work agency) for Palestine refugees provides aid, and operates hundreds of schools and health facilities for 1.5 million refugees in Gaza and around 870,000 refugees in the occupied West Bank. UNRWA also provides assistance and operates schools and health facilities for about 2.3 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, 570,000 refugees in Syria and 480,000 refugees in Lebanon. The largest camp in Gaza is Jabalia, and Jenin is the largest camp in the occupied West Bank. Other large camps are, Baqa'a in Jordan, Yarmouk in Syria, Eand in El Hilweh in Lebanon. By these numbers, you can assess that 70 percent of Gaza's residence are refugees. About 1.5 million refugees live in eight refugee camps around the Gaza Strip. This plight of Palestinian refugees is considered as the longest unresolved refugee problem in the world. According to international law, these refugees have the right to return to their homeland and property which was once taken away from them when the conflict is resolved. Will it happen or not is unclear.... but Palestinians hope and aim high to return to what's right fully theirs. The Evaporation of Basic Survival After October 7, 2023, the basic survival capacity has also been taken away from Palestinians. Since then, until the present moment, Palestinians have seen nothing but death and endless suffering. The majority of the world is calling this the second Nakba. Many scholars, leaders, political and war experts, journalists, human right watch groups from around the world are mostly calling what's happening in Gaza now after October 7 g******e. People of the world are protesting, demanding justice and demanding a complete cease-fire in Gaza. U.N. experts, WHO, and human rights NGOs similarly expressed their concerns. Sane voices are giving warnings that Palestinians are at great risk of g******e in Gaza. On social media, the huge majority of people are supporting Palestine, and want to see the end of this war and bloodshed. Although the mainstream media is controlled, and anything which is said in favor or in support of Palestine is quoted by many as antisemitic, still voices are multiplying in favor of Palestine. In fact, people are fed up with seeing one after another war in the world. Since Covid Pandemic hit the world, we all seem to be moving backwards instead of forward. Ukraine-Russia war, and now Isreal-Hamas conflict. It seems the pain, grief and endless loss of lives of the people of Gaza, deaths of children and women in huge numbers have become unbearable for the world to watch as spectators only. In the time of social media, when news reaches us at light-speed, the suffering and collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza is melting the hearts of every race, gender and the majority of all nations across the globe. | The view among scholars is also divided upon whether the current conflict and what's happening in Gaza should be classified as g******e yet or not. Some think tanks and historians say history is repeating itself in its worst form and what happened in 1948 to the Palestinian people is happening again. What most of us perceive from all of these mixed thoughts is, Israeli soldiers have been given a free hand to kill anyone anywhere without any accountability since the conflict started. It is not just self-defense, it is killing all formula applied without any discrimination. The ground operation is going on inside Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Though Israeli forces say their operation is against Hamas, and what they want is all hostages taken by Hamas to be freed, but is that actually the case? Or it's tust tip of the destructive iceberg. If we assume the reason in reality is only about getting back the hostages and eliminating Hamas as Israel says.... Then why did more than 7,000 children lost their lives till present, and numbers are still going up? Why are hospitals, schools, mosques and homes of common people being bombarded? Why release a few Palestinian prisoners and again arrest Palestinians in massive numbers? Why has Gaza been reduced to rubble completely? Why the world is calling Gaza the Graveyard of Children? Why are doctors, nurses, teachers, journalists, civil defense, rescue and relief personnel reporting casualties of their colleagues and families every day? Why are countless civilians dying and getting injured every day? These are necessary basic questions and we cannot overlook these questions. Children are the future of any generation and human race. Children are innocent, they are not part of any militant group. If they are not safe, and they are targeted every day without thinking, how can anyone justify all this? Why is it happening in Gaza? A question pops in my head: taking so many lives in the name of self-defence, is it collective revenge in the name of self-defense or is it g******e? Palestinians are being deliberately deprived of food, water, shelter, health care, all necessities of life. Nowhere is safe for them. Bombing and airstrikes are indiscriminately killing and wounding Palestinians. The situation is terrifying as death is sparing no one. For g******e to happen, two main factors are in play. One is making possible the material capability to ethnically cleanse the area, and second is destroying every infrastructure and facility. Gaza is seeing both these reasons and living them. I leave it to you to ask yourself keeping these two factors in mind, whether what is happening in Gaza after October 7, 2023, is g******e or not!! We can't deny that facts are often concealed in such situations, voices are bought, truth is silenced, media, social media, and cultural cushions are chocked to form opinions in favor. Narratives are built, people are bought, these sorts of practices we see on and off. But not to forget, times are changing, awareness and empathy is rising. The wisdom of people in present times is unleashing truth, asking tough questions, and want to know the real stories. People have risen against fabrication of reality. This shows our civilization is alive and evolving. People don't follow whatever is said and shown to them blindly. People of today use their voices, platforms, forums to seek and speak the truth. In present times, people of the world listen and understand both sides and then form opinions. At least the majority of us do this...don't we? So it won't be wrong to say that this is the time of people. The opinions of us common people matters, we matter. Our moral responsibility, common humanity, collective wisdom matters. The suffering of all people matters. In the same way, the suffering of Palestinian people matters, the suffering of Jewish people matters. Hate should be plucked out. Those who are fostering hate should be kicked out of the system. The prevalence of peace must be promoted. Oppression of all kinds must end. No honor can be achieved by injustice or oppression or through absorbing the rights of others. Live and let live, create common grounds, give and have respect are the new corridors for humanity to liberate itself. People don't live by the concept of might is right no more. That is why freedom of speech and freedom of thought has gained immense popularity in present times. Since October 7, 2023, the global community's attention has been firmly focused on Gaza, as more than nine weeks of war have been witnessed by Gaza. Gaza at Present Life in Gaza has become a difficult, harsh, and cruel choice between death and displacement. Now Gaza is being described as abandoned ruins. Death and destruction is to be seen everywhere. No place is safe anymore. Israeli forces are laying siege to the entire Gaza Strip. The entire infrastructure of Gaza has been reduced to rubble. Very limited aid is allowed to enter, which is by no means sufficient to meet the needs of the suffocated and stifled population. Lives, dreams, and memories are no longer left for countless people. The entire enclaves, which were full of life once, are leveled. The majority of people, after the continuous airstrikes, have nowhere left to go but to be trapped in the southern part of Gaza. Some people have squeezed themselves towards the Rafah border with Egypt. All kinds of basic facilities, such as medical, food, shops, playgrounds, schools, colleges, universities, and libraries, which were once the pride of Gaza, no longer exists. Air and land invasion is sparing nothing. Children and women have been affected tremendously by this war, or it may be stated that the hardest blow of the war became the fate of children, infants, women, and the injured in Gaza. The Recent Conflict It all started on October 7th, 2023. When the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas led a surprise attack against Israel, from the Gaza Strip by land, sea, and air. This conflict between Israel and Hamas became intense. A brief introduction of how the conflict originated is that Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, which opened kind of a civil war between Hamas and Fatah. In 2007, Hamas gained control over the Gaza Strip. However, Israel had overall control over Gaza and without its permission not a sparrow could enter the Gaza Strip. Since 2006, Israel and Hamas have fought five wars. After Hamas took over control of Gaza, Israel imposed an extensive blockade of the Gaza Strip. This devastated the economy and social lives of the Palestinians. Countless voices were raised by the international right groups that the blockade of Gaza by Israel is a collective punishment to the Palestinians, but no prior action was taken. Israel's stance since then is, that this step was necessary for their sovereignty, to prevent weapons and drugs from entering Gaza's territory and to get rid of Hamas completely. The geopolitical, strategic, and religious importance of the territory From other regional points of view, this conflict also brings to light a power struggle between geopolitical powers, new emerging superpowers of the world also Israel itself. As all have their own interests and stakes in the region. The geopolitical, strategic, and religious importance of this entire territory surpasses that of any other region in the world. It's evident in the recent conflict. The ongoing debate centers on the fate of Gaza. When will this war conclude, and what lies ahead for Gaza's future? The outlook for the resilient, brave, courageous, generous, and beautiful Palestinian people remain uncertain after this conflict so far. Sadly, for now, everything hangs out of balance.