by Julia Chaitin
November 4, 2023
After reading the latest newsletter that you sent out, and thinking about how we can find a way out of this horrendous mess in which we find ourselves over the last few weeks, I offer a few ideas/thoughts below.
Civilian populations
Whether here in Israel or there in Gaza [or anywhere] —should never be considered a legitimate target for a group/society to attack in an effort to attain their own human rights. Human rights are for all, and cannot be achieved by one side trampling the rights of the other. Therefore, there needs to be 100% agreement among all people—and certainly among people engaged in peacebuilding, conflict resolution and human rights' work—that violence against innocents needs to be condemned, with no ifs, ands or buts. For reference, see the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the cases in which we — Israel — have harmed Palestinian citizens, we have violated their human rights. In the cases in which Hamas has harmed Israeli citizens, they have violated our human rights. We and they need to be held accountable for their crimes.
The Hamas Charter
The Hamas 2017 Charter (which was updated from the original charter of 1988) demonstrates that they continue to believe that there is no Jewish connection to this land, and hence no collective rights here. The current Charter states the following:
... “Hamas” is a Palestinian Islamic national liberation and resistance movement. Its goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project. Its frame of reference is Islam, which determines its principles, objectives and means.
Palestine, which extends from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west and from Ras al-Naqurah (Rosh Hanikra) in the north to Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) in the south, is an integral territorial unit. It is the land and the home of the Palestinian people. The expulsion [...] of the Palestinian people from their land and the establishment of the Zionist entity therein do not annul the right of the Palestinian people to their entire land and do not entrench any rights therein for the usurping Zionist entity.
That is all the territory in the Palestinian Authority, all of Israel within the Green Line and the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas Charter, all that belongs to Palestine. In other words, Israel has no right of existence here.
Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine. Its religious, historic and civilisational status is fundamental to the Arabs, Muslims and the world at large. Its Islamic and Christian holy places belong exclusively to the Palestinian people and to the Arab and Islamic Ummah. Not one stone of Jerusalem can be surrendered or relinquished. The measures undertaken by the occupiers in Jerusalem, such as Judaisation, settlement building, and establishing facts on the ground are fundamentally null and void.
Notice, there, that the Hamas Charter recognizes the Muslim and Christian attachment to Jerusalem, but does not recognize Jewish attachment. Jews = occupiers from the Hamas perspective.
The blessed al-Aqsa Mosque belongs exclusively to our people and our Ummah, and the occupation has no right to it whatsoever. The occupation’s plots, measures and attempts to judaize al-Aqsa and divide it are null, void and illegitimate.
In other words, Hamas asserts that Jews have no rights to what was once the Temple Mount. Our Jewish historical connection is null, void and illegitimate, according to the charter.
The Zionist project is a racist, aggressive, colonial and expansionist project based on seizing the properties of others; it is hostile to the Palestinian people and to their aspiration for freedom, liberation, return and self-determination. The Israeli entity is the plaything of the Zionist project and its base of aggression. The Zionist project [...] is the enemy of the Arab and Islamic Ummah posing a grave threat to its security and interests [and] is also hostile to the Ummah’s aspirations for unity, renaissance and liberation and has been the major source of its troubles. The Zionist project also poses a danger to international security and peace and to mankind and its interests and stability.
There are definitely aspects of aggressiveness and expansionism on the part of Israel and these need to be ended immediately. I disagree that Zionism is a colonialist project at its core, since it is based on Jews returning to their historic homeland after being expelled for 2000 years. To be clear, the aggression and violence against Palestinians need to be ended and all peoples of the region need and are entitled to equal rights.
There is no 'one' Zionism: it is an ideology with many streams - from religious, nationalistic to post-Zionist, liberal Zionism and more. Therefore, many people who hold Zionist beliefs — such as me — believe that the Jews need a homeland. But this does NOT include having a homeland at the expense of the Palestinian other. My brand of Zionism, along with many people that I know, believe that we and the Palestinians share the same homeland and, therefore, we need to share this land, as we both have deep, historic, religious, emotional, and cultural ties to it. It is unclear to me how, at its core, Jewish aspirations to live in their homeland (just as Palestinian aspirations to live in their homeland) poses a danger to international security and peace and mankind. It does not need to be either-or; it can be a homeland both for Jews and Palestinians. The Charter continues:
Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the Zionist project, not with the Jews because of their religion. Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish, but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine. Yet, it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity.
See the Hamas clips that they made with their phones/cameras from their terror attack on Oct 7th and listen to their audio recordings where they rejoice in the war crimes they committed, including beheading Jews. They speak of Jews, not 'Zionists.' See, for example, this clip from NPR, and another from NBC News. See also, the U.N. definition of war crimes.
See also the U.N. definition of war crimes.
...Hamas is of the view that the Jewish problem, anti-Semitism and the persecution of the Jews are [...] linked to European history and not to the history of the Arabs and the Musli] The Zionist movement [...] is the most dangerous form of settlement occupation ...
Again, the Charter reaffirms that Jews have no relation to the land. This is a complete denial of our history. We are presented as the most dangerous settlers in the world. The Charter continues:
The establishment of “Israel” is entirely illegal and contravenes the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and goes against their will and the will of the Ummah; it is also in violation of human rights that are guaranteed by international conventions, foremost among them is the right to self-determination.
Here, again, the Charter asserts that Israel is inherently illegal and Jews have no right to self-determination, though this is a human right for all peoples, not just Palestinians. The Charter goes on to say:
There shall be no recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity. Whatever has befallen the land of Palestine in terms of occupation, settlement building, judaisation or changes to its features or falsification of facts is illegitimate. Rights never lapse.
I agree that rights never lapse. Jews are also entitled to live in their homeland, even if they/we were expelled 2000 years ago. "Human rights for all" means all — Palestinians and Israelis. Continuing from the Charter....
[...] Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. However, without compromising its rejection of the Zionist entity and without relinquishing any Palestinian rights, Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus.
This is the only place in the charter where the June 4th 1967 borders are mentioned. However, the clause also states that the return of the refugees and the displaced to the homes from which they were expelled (since 1948-49 in Israel, proper) is a condition for a political agreement. It appears to me that Hamas does not hold to these borders, given all the other statements in the charter that reiterate the borders they see as belonging to the Palestinians, with all Jewish rights null and void.
Resistance and jihad for the liberation of Palestine will remain a legitimate right, a duty and an honour for all the sons and daughters of our people and our Ummah. Resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and by international norms and laws. At the heart of these lies armed resistance [...] Hamas rejects any attempt to undermine the resistance and its arms. It also affirms the right of our people to develop the means and mechanisms of resistance. [...] as an integral part of the process of managing the conflict and should not be at the expense of the principle of resistance.
Does legitimate resistance include torture, murdering, beheading, raping, burning alive and taking civilians hostage - including babies and grandmothers? Are such actions "a duty and an honour..." ? The Hamas Charter goes on:
[...] Supporting and backing this [Palestinian] cause is a humanitarian and civilisational task that is required by the prerequisites of truth, justice and common humanitarian values. From a legal and humanitarian perspective, the liberation of Palestine is a legitimate activity, it is an act of self-defence, and it is the expression of the natural right of all peoples to self-determination. [...] Hamas believes in the values of cooperation, justice, freedom and respect of the will of the people.
Hamas [...] salutes the free peoples of the world who support the Palestinian cause. [...] it denounces the support granted by any party to the Zionist entity or the attempts to cover up its crimes and aggression against the Palestinians and calls for the prosecution of Zionist war criminals. [...] Hamas also condemns all forms of colonialism, occupation, discrimination, oppression and aggression in the world.
So when do the war crimes constitute "cooperation, justice, freedom and respect of the will of the people"? How do they reflect "condemnation of all forms of aggression"?
In sum, Hamas does not recognize any Jewish connection or rights to this region [from the river to the sea, from the north to the south], and affirms and reaffirms its right for armed resistance to achieve its goals. From Hamas's actions of Oct 7th and before (e.g., thousands and thousands of rockets fired onto Israeli civilian populations since April 2001), Hamas is engaged in a war against Israeli citizens and Jews. This is not the case of the Hamas army fighting the Israeli army, but rather of an organization that views terrorizing and engaging in extreme violence against Israeli citizens as a legitimate path to self-determination. It is apparent from their words, as quoted above, that Hamas is a terror organization that has engaged in war crimes. They must be eradicated and cannot be allowed to dictate our lives —Palestinians and Israelis — any longer.
Israel's Role in the Current Situation
Israel has occupied the Palestinian people since 1967, in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. It has sealed off Gaza (our border with Gaza, from the sea and from the air, except for the part that Egypt shares with Gaza. Over the years, the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces have usurped Palestinian lands, seriously abused their human rights, turned a blind eye when Jewish-Israeli terrorists (extremist settlers) terrorize, maim and kill innocent Palestinian citizens. These actions must be stopped immediately and those who committed the crimes need to be held accountable for their crimes. Collective punishments of all kinds need to ended immediately.
So, What Can/Should Israel Do Now?
We are now in the forth week of war — with no end in sight. Hamas is deeply embedded in the Gazan population. It built its huge mega-underground city ('the metro') in the Gaza Strip. This 'metro' runs under hospitals, schools, mosques, residences. It stores its weapons and fires them from within the civilian population. This population has been held hostage by the Hamas since the 2006 elections. Therefore, the possibility of ridding Gaza of Hamas (and Islamic Jihad) without harming civilians appears to be an impossibility. But, there are some things that possibly can be done to get Israeli hostages back and not harm, or harm as few as possible Gazan citizens in the future (thousands have already been horribly harmed/killed).
1. First - get the Israeli hostages out - and bring them all back to Israel. This might be via a prison exchange deal, in which they are Palestinian inmates are freed from Israeli jails. They can be sent to places outside of Israel and the Gaza Strip (to countries that will be willing to take them - Iran, Qatar... or?) Israel will not and cannot end the war as long as the 241 hostages (the latest estimate) are being held in Gaza.
2. When the hostage deal happens — hopefully tomorrow in the next few says — then there could be a total ceasefire. Massive humanitarian aid would be provided to the Gazan citizens, overseen by the International Red Cross, UN, and other internationals, to ensure that the Hamas/Jihad do not put their hands on the aid. It is estimated that Hamas has half a million liters of fuel in their metro. They should release what is needed for hospitals and humanitarian needs of their civilian population
3. Gazan citizens who want to leave Gaza should be able to leave for an Egyptian refugee camp until the war is over.
4. The war can continue between the IDF and the Hamas/Jihad. The Israeli security forces can also capture Hamas terrorists/leaders who planned and carried out the atrocities over time and are living in different countries (as it did with Eichmann in 1961).
5. Peoples and countries of the world need to come to understand that for Israelis, the Palestinians are not the enemy. The terrorist organizations are. This is a war between those who value life and those who disregard and mutilate life.
6. When all is over— and Hamas no longer possesses the power to rule, to terrorize, it's mechanisms are destroyed and can no longer wreck havoc on this part of the world, and other parts of the world— Gaza needs to be rebuilt. Billions of dollars need to be donated by international entities to build/create the Gaza Strip so that it is sustainable, thriving, growing in every sense - politically, economically, health-wise (physically and psychologically), educationally, culturally, employment-wise. This must be a disarmed entity. In other words, it must be developed as a region that cherishes human life and makes life there really worth living. It needs to be a place where people want to be, have families, and build their lives. A place that offers a true future.
Political leadership needs to come from the young people there who have shown/expressed a desire to lead their people in a sustainable way that is completely freed from terrorism. The "leadership" of the PA— in my opinion — is not the answer. They are corrupt, and are not supported by the Palestinians in Gaza. Their hold on the West Bank is very fragile— and rightly so, since they, too, have let their own people down. New leadership is needed and can be found among young Gazans. This needs to be an international and local Gazan project.
7. Maybe, one day, down the road, Israel can have relations with the Gaza Strip. But that is for the future.
This may sound like a pipe dream, totally unrealistic. But, this war is going to develop — and no one knows how. So, maybe, we should think of a desired way to end it with as few civilian casualties from here on out both here and there [Israel and Gaza]. And Israel must, must, must desist from its aggression and occupation in the West Bank. Enough is enough ther .
If you made it to here - כל הכבו - deepest respect.
Yours from a war-torn, bleeding region
Julia
