Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!3.eu.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!newsfeed.CARNet.hr!Iskon!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: *skriptis Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis,rec.arts.tv,uk.comp.sys.mac,edm.general,sci.electronics.design Subject: Re: Do you condemn Hamas? Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2024 02:18:44 +0200 (GMT+02:00) Organization: news.ht.hr Lines: 242 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 93-140-191-243.adsl.net.t-com.hr Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_Part_0_249991111.1717719524667" X-Trace: sunce.iskon.hr 1717719520 16150 93.140.191.243 (7 Jun 2024 00:18:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@iskon.hr NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2024 00:18:40 +0000 (UTC) X-Newsreader: PiaoHong.Usenet.Client.Free:2.02 Bytes: 16777 ------=_Part_0_249991111.1717719524667 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sharx335 Wrote in message:r > On 2024-06-06 3:27 p.m., NefeshBarYochai wrote:> This question became see= mingly ubiquitous following October 7. As> Palestinians defied the imaginat= ion, breaking out of Gaza after over a> decade and a half of living under t= otal air, land, and sea blockade,> many found themselves having to face thi= s question.> > Whether it be from Zionists using the violence we witnessed = on that> day as a means of creating story after story of atrocity propagand= a =E2=80=94> to force well-meaning allies into a corner or even those who g= enuinely> considered themselves pro-Palestine who struggled with the realit= y of> decolonial violence =E2=80=94 the question of whether or not Palestin= ian armed> resistance factions deserved support or criticism became a major= point> of contention. It was easy for many to support the cause of> Palest= inian liberation when they viewed Palestinians as perfect> victims, but whe= n Palestinians fought back, suddenly the question of> solidarity became mud= dled.> > Months later, after tens of thousands of Palestinians have been> m= urdered by Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza amid an ongoing> genocide, and= after thousands in the West Bank have found themselves> imprisoned or unde= r regular attack, sympathy for those resisting their> own annihilation has = grown, with the conversation becoming more clear> than it was in the days p= roceeding October 7. As videos spread by> resistance factions across Gaza a= nd Lebanon find a regular and> enthusiastic audience and chants in support = of those putting their> lives on the line take root in protests nationwide,= it is clear many> have grown to accept the necessity of armed struggle in = the> Palestinian context, though a true consensus has yet to be achieved.> = > To that end, the answer to the question =E2=80=9CDo you condemn Hamas?,= =E2=80=9D> particularly for those of us on the Left as we analyze the histo= ry of> Palestine and why resistance occurs in a colonial context, should ha= ve> always been clear.> > A violent phenomenon> > As Frantz Fanon=E2=80=99s= oft-cited statement from Wretched of the Earth has> made clear, national l= iberation, national reawakening, restoration of> the nation to the Commonwe= alth, whatever the name used, whatever the> latest expression =E2=80=94 dec= olonization is always a violent event.> Palestine is not an exception to th= is reality.> > The colonization of Palestine by Zionists, like all colonial= ism> throughout history, brought with it widespread and constant violence> = levied in all forms against the Palestinian people. This was by> design, as= the very nature of settler colonialism is a necessarily> brutal one given = the end goal of the wholesale elimination of the> Indigenous population in = all forms but nostalgia. This violence does> not simply manifest itself thr= ough the military campaigns waged by> Zionist settlers and the Israeli occu= pation army, but through every> part of the colonial endeavor itself =E2=80= =94 an endeavor that can only be> sustained through the suffering, exploita= tion, repression, and death> of Palestinians and all else that the colony w= ishes to conquer.> > Palestinians, whether in Occupied Palestine, in refuge= e camps in> bordering nations, or in the diaspora around the world, are for= ced> every single day to wrestle with the reality of this settler colonial>= violence. The very existence of the Zionist project poses an> existential = threat to the lives of millions, who have in some cruel> twist of reality b= een deemed existential threats by the project for> the simple reason that t= heir existence undermines its legitimacy.> > This violence does not occur w= ithout resistance. Throughout history,> whether it be in Algeria, South Afr= ica, Ireland, or Palestine,> colonized people have risen up in the face of = brutal violence to free> themselves from the shackles of their own oppressi= on. This resistance> does not generally start as armed struggle, but throug= h civil> disobedience, protests, general strikes, and similar tactics. Yet = when> these tactics fail, as they often have, or when exceptional violence>= is waged against the people in response, armed struggle becomes a> necessi= ty.> > The colonial power, its legitimacy owed solely to the force it> unde= rtakes to maintain its existence, creates the conditions for the> resistanc= e that will rise against it. The more violence and repression> colonized pe= ople face, the more they resist. Violent resistance> becomes mainstream out= of sheer necessity given their material> conditions. This creates a cycle = of violence, one perpetuated first> and foremost by the violence of the col= onial entity itself.> > Even before the official foundation of the Zionist = project in 1948,> this cycle was well established. The Balfour Declaration = came into> existence in 1917, signifying Britain=E2=80=99s official endorse= ment of> Zionist aspirations. By 1929, a fifth of Palestinians found themse= lves> landless. By the 1930s, many Palestinians found themselves unemployed= > and economically destitute, as Zionist capital, backed by favorable> impe= rial British laws and treatment, began flowing ever more> intensively into = Palestine, according to Ghassan Kanafani=E2=80=99s seminal> work on the 193= 6 Great Palestinian Revolt.> > These factors spurred resistance of their ow= n variety, including the> Buraq Uprising of 1929, efforts by Palestinians t= o pool resources to> purchase land, sporadic violence, as well as Palestini= an notables> lobbying for better treatment from their British overlords. Th= is blend> of violent and non-violent efforts would all be suppressed or> ul= timately met with limited success.> > In 1936, when British forces murdered= Syrian revolutionary figure> Shaykh =E2=80=98Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Palesti= nian popular resentment turned> into a general strike, and ultimately into = popular revolt, which was> put down brutally by Zionist and British forces = by 1939. Only a few> years later, Zionists would ethnically cleanse more th= an 750,000> Palestinians from upwards of 530 cities, towns, and villages an= d kill> thousands more in what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or the> = =E2=80=9Ccatastrophe=E2=80=9D. These ethnic cleansing campaigns continue up= to the> modern day.> > Palestinians would rise up as a result of the subju= gation they faced,> again through a combination of violent and non-violent = struggle that> would be met with even more violent oppression. When Palesti= nians> waged cross-border raids into occupied territory, they were met with= a> Zionist invasion in Lebanon and massacres at Sabra and Shatila. When> P= alestinians rose up during the First and Second Intifadas, they were> met w= ith violent crackdowns, mass arrests, and widespread violence> that would l= ead to the intensification of their own violent resistance> efforts. When P= alestinians in Gaza took to marching to the wall that> surrounded them in t= he March of Great Return, hundreds were killed and> thousands more injured = by Israeli soldiers. The cycle of violence> continued and intensified.> > F= ast forwarding to today, Palestinians continue to live in bantustans> in th= e West Bank, and what could functionally be described as a> concentration c= amp in Gaza, with Palestinians in the 1948 and 1967> territories living und= er brutal apartheid management structures. They> have resisted every step o= f the way, each time seeing thousands> imprisoned, murdered, displaced, and= millions utterly subjugated and> exploited as the Zionist project continue= s toward the ultimate goal of> eliminating them in all forms but nostalgia.= > > When armed struggle becomes material necessity> > In the face of all of= this violence, armed resistance organizations> have risen up and establish= ed themselves amongst the people, whether> they be Fatah, the PFLP, the DFL= P, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas,> or others. These groups, and the viol= ence they employ, did not come to> exist in a vacuum. Rather, they are the = result of decades of brutal> colonial violence, and the culmination of Pale= stinian efforts to> liberate themselves from it.> > The tactics they employ= on the ground are the culmination of this same> struggle. These groups cho= se to undergo operations they determined may> advance their liberatory stru= ggle. Many outside of Palestine, and even> Palestinians themselves, may hav= e disagreements with these tactics, or> on a grander scale, disagreements w= ith the core principles and> ideologies of one or several of the groups dep= loying them. For those> of us in the Western Left, however, removed from th= e reality of> on-the-ground struggle, this cannot mean that we undermine th= e very> legitimacy of armed struggle itself.> > Hamas is a key example of t= his. Like them or not, the efforts they> have waged and continue to wage ha= ve made more of a material impact> toward the liberation of Palestine than = anything any of us in the West> will ever make. They are taking on the brut= al violence of colonial> power and waging a campaign of armed struggle that= has, at the current> moment, with coordination with other resistance facti= ons, made the> Zionist colony more of a pariah than it has ever been on a g= lobal> stage and shattered the image of military invincibility and overall>= stability it has spent decades cultivating. Countless years of> struggle h= ave culminated in this flashpoint.> > The path forward, as history has repe= atedly shown, will be largely> forged through the armed struggle of resista= nce factions on the> ground. Their very survival depends on it, and it cont= inues to> challenge and erode the power of the Zionist entity itself.> > Pa= lestinian armed resistance has forced the Zionist project to wage an> incre= asingly violent campaign that is sharpening contradictions in> such a way a= s to lead to its continued unraveling. As the masses in> the imperial core,= specifically those of the United States, come to> realize that their inter= ests are at odds with the interests of the> Zionist project and their gover= nment leaders who are sustaining the> project=E2=80=99s ongoing genocide, t= he traditional support base the project> relies on has eroded. In its place= is an ever-increasing mass standing> in firm support of Palestinians, rath= er than their colonizers.> > In Palestine, the Palestinian struggle for lib= eration has developed> what can be called a =E2=80=9CPopular Cradle=E2=80= =9D of resistance =E2=80=94 a state of unity> and cohesion that has develop= ed between the Palestinian armed> resistance and broader Palestinian societ= y. That =E2=80=9Cpopular cradle,=E2=80=9D as> the Palestinian Youth Movemen= t has so aptly described it, has worked> as an organ of the liberation stru= ggle by conceptualizing resistance> as both a normal and necessary state of= being. This has led to a> reality where the resistance is sustained by the= masses themselves,> who support them and readily accept the consequences o= f their> continued fight for liberation.> > That armed struggle, a material= necessity, is reaping material> results, even in spite of mass violence, c= rackdowns, and a campaign of> outright genocide. In Gaza specifically, that= very struggle in no> small part led to the withdrawal of Zionist settlers = from the> territory which forced Zionist planners to rework how they went a= bout> their occupation of Gaza. The struggle has kept Israeli Occupation> F= orces from entering Jenin and other refugee camps across historic> Palestin= e without serious consequence. In many ways, the resistance> struggle has b= een a key element of continued Palestinian survival.> > Moving past the que= stion> > The question of whether we condemn Hamas is more than just a quest= ion> of condemnation. At its core, we are being asked to disavow decolonial= > violence altogether =E2=80=94 to support Palestinians only when they are>= perfect victims or only when the groups waging liberatory struggle> align = with the values of our ideologies and fraternal parties. It is a> question = that acts as a trap and misses the point entirely.> > We cannot make the mi= stake of engaging seriously with such an> obfuscation. It is on us, especia= lly those of us on the Left, to> understand that the core driver of the vio= lence we are seeing is and> always has been Zionist settler colonialism. Th= is cycle of violence is> perpetuated not by the colonized, as they seek to = liberate themselves> from the state of total subjugation and brutal reality= of genocidal> liquidation, but by the Zionist project and those advancing = its> interests.> > The question we have to ask ourselves, and indeed answer= , is not> whether we condemn Hamas, but whether we condemn a settler coloni= al> regime that makes armed struggle necessary for survival.> > https://mon= doweiss.net/2024/06/do-you-condemn-hamas/> > > But when "armed struggle" de= volves into the widespread raping of women and hostages, the assault and mu= rder of infants, and on and on and on...it's impossible to have any sympath= y for the usually masked bunch of non-uniformed thugs doing it. These same = thugs have send thousands and thousands of rockets onto Israeli soil, not t= o mention causing dozens of suicide bombers to blow up buses usually full o= f non-combatants such as women and children. So, now that Israel had said, = in effect, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, I fully support Israel's ongoing Gaza initiati= ========== REMAINDER OF ARTICLE TRUNCATED ==========