by Susana Khalil, published on Socialist Action, January 3, 2024
Hamas is part of the political diversity of the native Palestinian people. Hamas is a Palestinian political party with an armed struggle stance against colonialism.
To say at this point (in the face of the extermination of the native Palestinian Semitic people) that Hamas is a “terrorist group” may be a naive statement, not to say ignorant, and if there is someone from the left wing who says so, it is an immature and demagogic attitude, falling into a criminal stance, being a stance that benefits imperial and colonial fascism.
To say at this point that Hamas is a “terrorist group” and to say that their military operations are not justified, that what it has done is regrettable, that violence should not be used, that violence is not the solution…. all of the above not only ignores the painful reality of the native Palestinian people and their methods of survival but also ignores the imperial fascist threat that runs through contemporary world history.
In general, there is a significant amount of intellectual demagogy, and it implies that even the left wing is not exempt from this phenomenon. To condemn Hamas may be a comfortable position for some, as it seems that there might be a nuanced fear that prevents complete honesty on the matter.
We must be more respectful in not imposing or dictating to others how they should fight.
The Palestinian cause was on its way to the slaughterhouse, as we have been witnessing its coffin from Oslo, where the peace agreements were flouted… till normalization, where some Arab petro tyrannies are openly in favor of Israeli colonialism, turning their backs on the brotherly Palestinian people. In addition, the native Palestinian Semitic people suffer the humiliating betrayal of the Palestinian Authority. Peaceful activism is likewise censored.
It is precisely this episode of the Palestinian cause that should serve as a revolutionary reflection and not the intellectual comfort of the status quo.
The status quo is the guillotine and the miserable and undignified death. If the native Semitic Palestinian people surrendered, they would be confined to their demise. If the native Palestinian Semitic people fight, they may be exterminated. But it must be made clear that it is better to be annihilated in struggle and not by surrendering through impostor humanist speeches.
The native Palestinian people are not only shedding their blood for the liberation of their people, but they are protecting all of humanity as they face the most powerful fascist movement of our time, Zionism. That’s why the Palestinian cause is so complex, that’s why there is so much cowardice disguised as strategy and just imposing the pseudo-peaceful struggle.
We were told that this is a difficult situation because it is complex, millenary, religious… No, this is all an alienating lie. It is difficult because it is a native people confronting the most powerful fascism of our historical time, Zionism. It is a struggle that directly confronts imperial power.
The difficult thing about the Palestinian cause is our elegant cowardice: a sophisticated, polished form of reluctance and fear in addressing the issues related to the Palestinian cause.
The spectrum of the left wing does not touch the root of the Palestinian cause, although many Palestinians and Arabs in general do not either. The left-wing follows the Western colonial pattern; it talks about that tricky proposal of two states (two states is a colonial modality). It does not assume it is a colonial regime, and while it condemns and curses it, at the same time, it maintains that “Israel” has the right to exist (no colonialism has the right to exist). The left-wing is part of that circle that organically does not affect Eurocentric Zionist fascism.
Israeli Occupation Forces Assassinate Hamas Deputy Saleh Al-Arouri
The armed struggle
If it is true that the armed struggle is not ideal, then, it is immoral to not make use of it in the face of the extermination perpetrated by Eurocentric Israeli colonialism.
Hamas is part of the political diversity of the native Palestinian people. Hamas is a Palestinian political party with an armed struggle stance against colonialism.
In the statutes of Hamas, it is absolutely forbidden to carry out any armed operation outside Palestine. This religious political group holds that it is a sin, an “act of terror” to carry out attacks outside the national land they seek to liberate; unlike the secular Palestinian political groups that did commit attacks outside Palestine, such as in Europe.
On the other hand, there is a repressive atmosphere aimed at undermining and curtailing any act of armed struggle. This repression is carried out, among others, by the forces of fascist domination, through the deceitful instrumentalization of human values, for example: no to violence, no to war, war is not the solution. Something like: you cannot be a Democrat or a feminist and support an armed struggle. The struggle must be peaceful, in the combat of ideas, in the strength of dialogue, in the dialectic of debate. It is how to say no to armed struggle even if such a refusal serves the extermination of the native Palestinian people!
The fall of “Israel’s” colonial anachronism would be the loss of the US imperial control throughout the Levant, the chronic decline of imperial bestiality, and a triumph of the sovereignty of the region’s peoples. It would be a contribution to the consolidation of a more multipolar world; a world that gives way to a more democratic and equitable international order.
I say this without any fear, yes, I believe in the liberation of the native, Arab-Semitic, Palestinian, Levantine, Canaanite people of Greater Syria. Yes, I believe in an end to Israeli Eurocentric colonialism. Now the population that carries the Israeli ethnonym would carry the native Palestinian ethnonym. I am opposed to their expulsion as this would be morally an attack on the mother Palestinian cause.
The historical and dignified role of the native peoples in the face of colonial barbarism is to fight them.
If such a vital element as the anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, and anti-colonial struggle does not prevail in the consciousness of the left wing, I do not believe it is a left wing that is committed to human justice.
It is understandable when the opportunistic American actress Angelina Jolie condemns the Hamas attacks. However, when figures from the left wing express similar views, it raises concerns. This doesn’t just imply demagogy, ignorance, and insensitivity, but positions them as unwitting supporters of imperial decay and inhumanity.
*Featured Image: Palestinian supporters of the Islamist group Hamas gather to celebrate the cease-fire with Israel in Hebron in the West Bank on May 21 (2021). (Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images)
(Al Mayadeen – English)
Susana Khalil, Founder of CANAAN Association
Susana Khalil received a BA in Political Science from Quebec University, Canada. She is an activist for Palestine and an independent researcher focusing on the ancient history of Palestine and on the Zionist movement as a form of European colonialism. She is the founder of the Succour Association for the Palestinian People, CANAAN, a human rights association in Venezuela. For the last five years, CANAAN has produced a national radio show – “Palestine: 11,000 years of history”, which Ms Khalil has hosted. The organization has also held on various occasions the International Festival: “Academic and cultural Event: Palestine: 11,000 years of history”. CANAAN practices cultural, academic, pedagogic, educational, social, and political activism, not only for Palestine but for the entire Arab homeland, with the hope of neutralizing all forms of prejudice and bias against Arab communities.
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