By: Hossein Omidi
TEHRAN, (MNA) – Algeria’s liberation struggle from French colonization from 1830 until 1870 provides valuable lessons for the Palestinian national liberation struggle.
It has not been too long since the world witnessed another colonialist occupier, France, did to Algerians what the Zionist Israeli colonialist occupier has been doing to Palestine! The patterns in both struggles for liberation and the end of brutal injustice are very similar in both human tragedies. The steps of engagement and humanistic ideals are limited by the enormous violence facing the resistance.
The important lesson from the French colonization of Algeria is that the resistance did not give in to the subtle reformists approach advocated by the French colonizers. The aim of these reformist tactics by the French were attempts to divide the Algerian masses and their political autonomy. These efforts were in response to the many Algerian uprisings against the occupation. French voices offered meaningless and limited rights to those Algerians that could be convinced to accept them, therefore dividing their solidarity. Their reformist approach was seen as limited to those Algerians that they deemed were “civilizable.” Again, the colonialist concept was that they, the Algerians, were inferior and somehow needed to be civilized, to uphold the occupying regime.
By 1870, the situation in Algeria was the same as in Occupied Palestine. French civilian settlers were doing exactly what the Zionist settlers are doing today: taking over control of Algerian lands, homes, and livestock, stripping Algerians of all protections enjoyed by the European colonialists. The identical settler-colonialist ambition has been ongoing since 1948 in Palestine and has increased due to the Gaza genocide. The resistance was not only physical, but mental as well. They needed to be fully aware of the sinister tactics of the French occupier to fully resist them even as it provoked further aggression and killings by the French. The lesson here is that the resistance is always greater than the occupiers. As long as the resistance does not lose sight of the ultimate goal: liberation and the demise of the occupation, resulting in regaining their lands and resources. The Palestinian resistance faces the same alternative today, after 75 years of Zionist occupation.
Decades of forced displacement, incarceration, land and home theft, economic subjugation and brutalization of Palestinians has forced the resistance to continue defying the fragmentation by rising to the significance of unity. Palestinians have been subjected to a deliberate process of fragmentations: geographically into ghettos, refugee camps and Bantustans; but also, socially and politically. Starting with the Sheikh Jarrah, they mobilized as never before challenging the fragmentation to the surprise of the Zionist regime and the Palestinian leadership alike. The resistance met their objectives despite Trump declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the normalization agreements taking place between Israel and Arab states, and greater acceleration of Zionist settler-colonial actions, expanding the settlements and expulsions in the west Bank.
The Palestinian resistance has devised creative forms of resistance against their subjugation. They have revitalized grassroots campaigns to prevent the destruction and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Their engagement in the globalization of their demand for freedom and justice have reached all nations in the world. The results of which can be seen today as the world of humanity rises for the end of the genocide in Gaza and the liberation of Palestine from the Zionist occupation. The resistance has succeeded in disrupting the Judaization of Jerusalem which was on the main goals of the Zionists. The various campaigns popularized by social media have gained momentum, attracting massive local and international attention and support. Palestine is today the subject of every citizen of the world. Once again and for the last time, the Palestinian cause will be resolved permanently. The eyes of the world of humanity are on Palestine and stand against the Zionist entity. The occupiers are facing their own demise as they attempt to destroy Gaza and rid the land of Palestinians by committing genocide before the lens of the whole world. Their apparatuses are crumbling! They will never succeed in returning to their inglorious security for the illegal ‘state’ called “Israel.” It simply does not deserve to exist, anywhere in the world!
The Zionist regime suffered the most monumental defeat on October 7, 2023, as Hamas breached their fences and displayed to the world the weakness of the Zionist entity. It represents the beginning of the end for ‘Israel.’ Its demise will be forever engraved in the annals of history as the destruction of a corrupt western apparatus, and a display of moral, ethical, and political corruption never to rise again. As the Nazis were defeated in World War II, so the Zionist entity with fall. Today, the Zionist entity is known in the world as the New Nazis.
Algerian colonization resonates with key points in Palestinian history: the mass expulsions in 1948 Nakba, 1967 war of humiliation, First Intifada, Gaza withdrawal, and the Unity Uprising.
As in the Zionist narrative that claims that “Palestine does not exist,” that “Palestine was a land without a people,” the French also made the same claims of Algeria and Algerians. A November 1956 issue of the Atlantic read: “Now it is true that Algeria and less the Algerian nation has no historical existence. If we are perhaps witnessing the painful and bloody birth of a nation, it is one which is being brought forth from the dire clash between three forces which once seemed to be converging, but which are now clearly tugging in different directions. First is the “native” mass of the country, 9 million Moslems, an amorphous mass that for a long time had nothing to hold it together but a general allegiance to Islam. It has a very high birth rate, and more than 55 percent of these 9 million Moslems are under twenty years of age. Then there is the European colony, over one million “Algerian Frenchmen from France” who have lived in North Africa for several generations and have sunk deep roots there, intermingled with immigrants from other European countries and with Algerian Jews. Like every dominant minority, it lives in daily fear of being submerged by the native mass, and has always opposed the policy of total assimilation, of educating and emancipating the Moslem majority. And finally, between t these two, stands metropolitan France, whose authority alone could have imposed on both Algerian communities, and above all on the European, the liberal policies proclaimed in Paris.”
The colonialist fear of the native populations resulted in the French progressives in 1936 to put forth the ‘Blum-Viollette Bill’ which would grant rights to a minority of Algerians. As usual, not a single Algerian was seated at the negotiating table. This is true of all of the negotiations involving Palestinians. The Oslo Accords were also criticized by Palestinian leaders and the Palestinian people. Meant to give Israel a kinder face of humanity, Oslo was enacted to humanize the occupation but also to validate Israel’s position and a display of fake political goodwill of select Palestinians. Today they are seen for what they were. A means to create division among Palestinians and a tool to force greater acceptance of the Zionist occupation, and diminish the resistance and unity of the Palestinian people.
This summarizes the first phase of similarities between Zionist colonization of Palestinian and the French colonization of Algeria.
The second phase: war! As Israel has dropped over 25,000 tons of explosives on the densely populated Gaza Strip in the past month is like France dropping 41 tons of explosives on insurgent areas in Algeria in less than a decade. Israel’s brutality has surpassed the events in Algeria. Both Gaza and Algeria suffered the collective trauma afflicted upon innocents. This reinforced the conviction for Algerian nationalists that the only way forward was national independence from France which would be self-liberation by any means necessary. As today, the narrative was dictated by France. In addressing “massacres” the media referred to the occasional death of French civilian settlers. When mentioning “Repression,” it was to address the systematic killing of more than 10,000 Algerian civilians by the French army and settler militias. The same hold true for the “casualties” in Gaza by Israeli bombs as the “right to self-defense” while Israelis are seen as “victims of terrorism.”
Phase three: Humanistic Colonialism! One of the post-war essays was titled: “It is Justice That Will Save Algeria from Hatred.” But how to coexist? The justice presented was an undertaking of a “second conquest” escorted by diplomatic avenues reflecting certain niceties by France. This was the only option to full decolonization of Algeria and France was willing to undergo whatever was necessary to avoid the alternative, Algerian national independence. The push was for both communities to coexist and accept the political disparities. In an infamous speech by Camus in 1958 said: “On this soil there are a million Frenchmen who have been here for a century, millions of Moslems, either Arabs or Berbers, who have been here for centuries, and several vigorous religious communities. Those men must live together at the crossroads where history put them. They can do so if they will take a few steps toward each other in an open confrontation.”
But for this to take place, the occupier, France would have to abide to equal political rights, both in Paris and in Algiers. If it failed to bring about this level of equality, France would reap the hatred of all those who were incapable of moving forward. The Algerian resistance, the National Liberation Front (FLN) continued to grow despite civilian losses, torture and humiliation at the hands of the colonizers.
Today, Palestinians are experiencing the worst genocide and expulsion from their lands since the Nakba of 1948. The Zionist colonizer is using its intelligence defeat on October 7 to continue the genocide and complete extension of all Palestinians. Besieging Gaza and the West Bank, East Jerusalem and all the occupied Palestinian territories. It attempts to draw attention away from its military intelligence weaknesses and chooses a show of greatness by killing thousands of innocent children, women and civilian men in Gaza. It has exploited its military advantage against the besieged Gaza Strip to divert attention from its failures. Zionist crimes have awakened the long ignored Palestinian occupation and amassed a world of humanity against the occupation and its genocidal policies. There is not going back to the status quo which has crumbled under the scrutiny of human rights organizations, social media with a lens on its corruption and illegality. Israel has no right to exist or defend itself under international law. Yet it finds itself free to continue its flagrant violations with impunity due to the support of the U.S. and western colonialist nations. However, the government in the United States and around the world are losing the grip on their populations. The people righteously stand on the side of the oppressed Palestinians. All of humanity has witnessed the true colors of the Zionist occupation and its lack of respect for the life of Palestinians. The Zionist epoch has ended as far as humanity is concerned. The false narrative and propaganda of the Zionist and western regimes are exposed for the lies they are. A new world has developed. An awakened would of humanity who will no longer support their governments’ political dialogue. A new generation of young people in every nation of the world stand ready to fight for justice and freedom to Palestine! Who can stop the mass consciousness taking place? No one, for it is Allah’s will that humanity be saved from the corrupt, criminal unjust powers ruling on Earth. Earth and its people belong to Allah alone and they will be freed forever! The path to liberation is now defined. The resistance includes not just Palestine and suppressed peoples of East Asia but all of humanity in the world. There is no political power that can turn back the tide of global resistance.
The fourth phase: Liberation! For Algeria, the slaughter of civilians continued for another six years, until France “granted” the country its independence. Proving that decolonization only happens by force and not by “consent.” Real freedom is always taken, never granted.
As in Palestine and the current Gaza democide, the Zionist occupiers can only continue until they realize they have no further cause to fight for. Their illegal occupation and terror regime has been exposed to the world. No sane human on Earth believes Israel has a right to exist. Their apparatus of propaganda and false narratives has been dismantled. The regime has been exposed for what it is, a criminal organization of terrorists and thieves. Their state-sponsored settler terrorists have been exposed as criminal psychopaths who do not have a right to the Palestinian lands and homes. They are seen for the cancer they truly are in the region. The Arab governments/nations that choose normalization with the Zionist entity have lost all respect and validity in the global arena. They are seen for the horrible cowards and greedy bastards they are. The United States and its bastard Zionist puppets are hated by every young American and many more in the country and the world. Youth of the nations are the future of the world. A world that will have no place for the corruption that exists in the world powers today. The masses have awakened, thanks to the display of evil and cruelty by the Zionist entity. Awakened humanity is prime for the appearance/return of Imam Muḥammad Ibn al-Hassan Al-Mahdi (pbuh) and the implementation of Allah’s eternal will on Earth and mankind. Liberation’s greatest version will soon be displayed to the righteous and unrighteous! Allah’s people on earth are taking a stand on the side of justice and righteousness now. For those who hesitate due to political, personal and advantageous gains, there will be no turning back. Now is the time to take a stand! We stand united for Palestine and all the peoples of the world suffering under corrupt powers on Earth. We stand for liberation, justice and peace! Insha’Allah we will see the culmination of His work on Earth soon. Amin!
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