Palestinians emerged from this conflict stronger than they have ever been, here's why

 By John Wight

No people on earth, and perhaps no people in history, have endured as much for as long as the Palestinians. This being said, it would be both wrong and irresponsible for anyone to try and romanticize their suffering and struggle, especially those living in the West, such as this writer.

A responsible rendering and analysis of what they have just endured over 11 days and nights of pure savagery is even more important given that 68 children were among the 248 Palestinians killed, with 1,900 injured. Furthermore, according to the UN, 52,000 people have been displaced in Gaza as a result of Israel’s indiscriminate and relentless bombing, which destroyed or seriously damaged 450 buildings.

In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, 26 Palestinians were killed and over 500 injured in the conflict, which by way of a reminder erupted as a direct result of the outrageous and criminal provocation of the apartheid state in its move to evict nine Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, where Palestinians were subjected to violence in their homes by settlers as the Israeli police looked on, followed by the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.

This desecration, in the form of the violent incursion into the mosque by Israeli security forces, compelled the Palestinian resistance in Gaza to intervene, despite understanding full well that there would be a significant and indiscriminately violent backlash. This fact alone underscores the fidelity of the Palestinian resistance, which remains strong and unbowed despite the joint Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the Strip that’s now been in place almost 15 years.

There were not two sides in this battle. There were the resources of the strongest military power (at least on paper) in the region and one of the strongest and most advanced of any in the world, financed and supported to the hilt by Washington and its allies, against the resistance of an occupied, oppressed, immiserated and proud people, supported to the hilt by untold millions of people around the world who, despite the huge efforts of the Israel lobby around the world, stand with the Palestinians on the side of justice.

Despite the inordinate difference in casualties, despite the huge imbalance in military power, there is no doubt that the Palestinian resistance and people have emerged stronger from this conflict than their oppressor.

First and foremost, Israel has yet again been exposed as a military giant with feet of clay. The fact that thousands of Israeli civilians were forced to seek shelter night after night not only in those towns in southern Israel close to Gaza, but also in major cities such as Tel Aviv, makes clear that Israel is more vulnerable now than it has ever been - and this to power of a resistance movement which lacks an airforce, navy, tanks and the technologically-advanced weaponry of a modern state.

The conflict also succeeded in uniting Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, across all political factions, in a way they haven’t been united in decades, up to and including Palestinians living in Israel, referred to erroneously as Israeli-Arabs. The UK Morning Star newspaper reported how ‘Workers across Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Israel and even refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan withheld their labor in a show of unity and defiance against Israel’s long-held policy of fragmenting the Palestinian people.’

Internationally, as previously touched upon, solidarity with the Palestinian people has never been more widespread. In London the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration there has ever been in Britain saw over 100,000 people take to the streets. This is not counting the sizable demonstrations that were held across the rest of the UK throughout the conflict. Huge pro-Palestinian demonstrations were likewise held in Paris, Montreal, Chicago, New York, across North Africa and elsewhere.

It confirms that if not in the eyes of Western governments, Israel is considered a pariah state in the eyes of millions living under those governments. Unprecedented in particular is the traction of pro-Palestinian sentiment in America, which has now found its way into the US Congress in the ranks of the Democratic Party. This support emerged in defiance Joe Biden’s disgraceful defense of Israel’s military assault. In this respect, Biden represents the past while pro-Palestinian Democrat voices such as Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib are the future.

Significant when analyzing this conflict is not only what ensued, but also what did not. And when it comes to what did not, the absence of a ground assault by the Israelis cannot be overstated in importance.

During the last military assault on Gaza in 2014 Israel lost 67 soldiers, with a further 469 wounded, in such a ground operation, confirming that the ability and capability of the resistance in Gaza when compared to the 2008-09 conflict had vastly improved. For the Israelis such a high rate of military casualties in battle is unconscionable, especially against the resistance of an occupied and besieged people.

Much of the credit for the potency of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza today belongs to Iran, which for some years now has been training Palestinian fighters in weapons and tactics, and has aided them in amassing a vast arsenal of missiles. That they have succeeded in doing so despite the veritable ring of steel with which the Israelis, in conjunction with the Egyptians and EU monitors, have surrounded the Strip, is a feat of ingenuity in and of itself.

In the last analysis, this 11-day conflict has only confirmed that for Israel there is no military solution to this issue. The Palestinian people have endured so much that their determination and tenacity has never been stronger, and they will not be broken.

The axiom that in any conflict the forces of colonialism and occupation lose by not winning, while the forces of resistance win by not losing, applies. It is why, albeit at a heavy cost in blood, the Palestinian resistance and people have a justifiable claim to victory.

It is to be hoped that they don’t have to continue to win such victories, that instead Washington and its allies in the West finally wake up to and act upon the monumental injustice being suffered by a people whose only crime in the eyes of the apartheid State of Israel, is that they exist.

John Wight is an author and political commentator based in Scotland.