One day, when historians discuss the history of Palestine under Zionist occupation, two dates will be remembered as important indicators. The first is the massacre and total destruction of the village of Deir Yassin, which was committed by Zionist militias on April 9, 1948. The second is a statement given almost exactly seventy years later by Israel’s defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman, in response to Israeli soldiers murdering innocent civilians in Gaza, said “There are no innocent people in Gaza.”
As the state of Israel prepares to celebrate seventy years of independence, and Palestinians mourn seventy years of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, it is abundantly clear that in the eyes of Zionist Israel all Palestinians are guilty and deserve to die. As it was in Deir Yassin in April 1948, so it was in Gaza in April 2018. In both cases unarmed civilians were butchered because they dared to exist. After the Deir Yassin massacre mainstream Zionist leaders tried to distance themselves from the killing, but they could not resist rejoicing because as they admitted, it brought about the “blessing” of massive Arab flight. In 2018 no such hypocrisy was shown, and the minister of defense congratulated the killers and reaffirmed that there was no such thing as innocent Palestinians.
On the night of April 8, 1948 Zionist forces took the “The Kastel” crusader castle. Palestinian leader Abdel Qader El-Husseini was killed in this battle and the Zionist forces emptied the Kastel village of its people. This gave the Zionist forces control from the Mediterranean coastal city of Yafa all the way to Jerusalem. The village of Deir Yassin sat on a hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem and was the obvious next target in securing Zionist control over all strategic areas along the way to Jerusalem. In Deir Yassin there was no battle, the villagers were not armed or engaged in confrontation. The Zionist forces attacked, destroyed the village and massacred men, women and children. It was cold blooded and calculated. It was not the only massacre executed by Zionist forces yet it set the tone for what Palestinians were to expect once the Zionists takeover of Palestine was complete.
In the radio interview he gave on April 8, 2018 though he spoke of events that took place in the Gaza Strip, Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman summed up Israel’s strategy regarding Palestinians in general. He was justifying the cold-blooded murder of Palestinians who were protesting in the Gaza strip by saying that there are no innocent Palestinians in Gaza. He was prosecutor, judge and executioner of a people whose crime is that they continue to exist. The reason they must die is that their continued existence points to the fact that Israel has no legitimacy.
The Gaza Strip is a stretch of land that was set aside and fenced off in order to imprison refugees from the southern part of Palestine. Though Israel claims that the Gaza Strip is an international border, it is no more than a fence surrounding a concentration camp. This stretch of land that can only be described as a concentration camp was created in a way that would ensure that the refugees within it cannot leave and will not be able return their homes and their land. However, with their declared intent to march back to their homes and their land they remind a world that has tried to forget them, a world that for seventy years has allowed them to live in poverty and squalor, that they are here and they demand what is rightfully theirs.
It was because of massacres like the one that took place in Deir Yassin, and forced expulsion in towns and villages all over Palestine that the Zionist forces were able to empty Palestine of so many of its people. Those who somehow survived this holocaust were driven to camps within the Gaza Strip and elsewhere, locked up and left to die or to live on United Nations rations.
“They are all paid by Hamas, they are all connected to Hamas.” Lieberman claimed in this infamous radio interview, as though it matters to what organization if any, people belong. One might think that if it wasn’t for Hamas Palestinians would not know that they are refugees and that their homes are just beyond the walls that imprison them.It was because of massacres like the one that took place in Deir Yassin, and forced expulsion in towns and villages all over Palestine that the Zionist forces were able to empty Palestine of so many of its people. Those who somehow survived this holocaust were driven to camps within the Gaza Strip and elsewhere, locked up and left to die or to live on United Nations rations.
“The activists trying to breach the wall are all members of the Hamas military wing” he continued, but if this was true, if Palestinians had the ability to challenge the Israeli army, why were they unarmed? Needless to say, none of this is true. Soldiers under Lieberman’s command were happily and indiscriminately shooting into a crowd of unarmed people and he wants to give them medals of honor for a job well done.
Israel has come up with a public relations formula that works every time they kill Palestinians. This formula is simple, in fact it is so simple it is almost hard to believe that it works. Israeli military bombs or shoots civilians and then claims they were terrorists. Even though Palestinians have never had as much as a tank, not to say a war plane or a regular military force, they are blamed for their own death at the hands of Israel. Neither Hamas or any other Palestinian organization has ever been the problem. Palestinian resistance organizations are the response to the problem. Palestinians resistance organizations were established to resist Israeli occupation, oppression, genocide, ethnic cleansing and racist laws to which Palestinians are subjected. Defense minister Avigdor Lieberman with his heavy Moldovan/Russian accent is trying to cover up the crimes of the state of Israel and its massive war machine with lies.
As Israel celebrates achievements in technology, science and other areas and prides itself at being a free modern society, the reality in Gaza paints a picture that is entirely different. It demonstrates that Israel is a backward, racist and violent state. One claim that Lieberman made in his interview was true: Among Israelis there is wall to wall support of the army’s actions. It is not only the state of Israel but Israeli society that is racist and violent and one wonders how long it will take before the rest of the world wakes up and takes action against the racism and violence to which Israelis subjects Palestinians. Another questions historian will surely ponder one day is the willingness with which the West was complicit with the crimes committed against Palestinians.
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