Armed resistance in the West Bank now: Wrong timing... Wrong means..

Written by Khaled Al-Haroub:

Opinion comes before the courage of the brave, as the wise Arabs have repeatedly said. For the courage of the young men of Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Jenin, Balata, and every Palestinian camp, village, and city, we all stand in awe and respect, and bow before and after that in shame before every martyr who ascends, and whose name is written in an immortal register that is crowded day after day. However, the general scene, almost all of its indicators, say that the current circumstances and their complexities do not allow the continuation of the resistance of these brave men at the present time and with the adopted means. Many conditions have been reversed after October 7 (2023), and after the war of extermination that is approaching the completion of its first year, and we must all contemplate these conditions and read them carefully, and re-evaluate many things, including how to resist, when, and by what means. Let us read some of these radical transformations first, then delve into the conclusion of what these lines conclude, and all of this from the square of absolute faith in our people's right to resist length and breadth, as long as this criminal occupation is lurking over us. The timing of speech and criticism is important, especially when there is space, even if small, for the possibility of opinion and public opinion influencing the direction of those who have the decision to do this or that.

First, in the general scene, in the past years I was theorizing to my students at the university in courses related to the Middle East and Palestine, saying that the Nakba occurred while the world was unaware, as there was no intensive media following and transmitting the events directly, and there was no human rights awareness that rejects the crime of stealing a country and expelling half of its people. I continued and said that today's world and direct media outlets cover the news around the clock, and turn the sun and light on any collective crime, which reduces its size and shortens its time. The Israeli war of extermination on Gaza revealed how wrong and naive I was (and perhaps many others), after we witnessed (and continue to witness) the unimaginable Israeli fascist criminality in full view, hearing, observation, and disinterest of the entire world, and even the support of the major powers for the criminal himself. Israel itself was surprised by the extent of the world's indifference and its inability to do anything serious and real to stop its extermination in the Gaza Strip. It discovered that it could exterminate the Palestinians and inflict a second catastrophe on them while the entire world watched. The so-called "axis of resistance" has complex and hesitant calculations, and its priorities are determined by the interests of its most important state, Iran, and not the interests of Palestine. Verbal decisions from the Security Council that have no action to stop the massacre. Condemnations from the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court that Israel tramples on. Verbal statements and denunciations that have no beginning or end, that have neither advanced nor delayed nor mitigated the extent of the extermination. Million-man demonstrations swept through many capitals and cities around the world, raising the name of Palestine and its cause to the heavens, but they did not change anything on earth. What did Israel do and is doing in the face of this astonishing discovery, that is, the world's inability to stop the daily Palestinian massacre? ... It did not stop at its direct military plans aimed at destroying the Gaza Strip, its people, and the resistance therein, but, exploiting the sudden global inability, it summoned old and new plans that were shelved on the shelf of strategic goals, waiting for the right moment, at the forefront of which was the destruction of the Palestinian human presence in Palestine, forced or voluntary displacement, and the destruction of any form of any Palestinian entity, no matter how fragile and helpless. All of these goals work to atomize the Palestinian people and transform them from a "people" into "individuals", and into population groups isolated from each other, drained by individual salvation, with no national goal uniting them.

The genocide in Gaza and the world's silence about it, including the failure of those closest to Palestine and the Palestinians from Arab and Islamic regimes, tempted (and tempts) Israel to exploit the historical moment that may not be repeated, and copy what it did in the Gaza Strip to the West Bank; the destruction of people and the collective Palestinian existence, created a repellent environment that pushes voluntary migration, and things may develop into actual forced displacement, partially or gradually, and more plundering of land and deepening settlement, changing the geographical and demographic borders of the West Bank, and destroying any form of collective Palestinian nationalism. Israel finds in individual and group armed resistance the necessary pretext to accelerate the implementation of what it dreams of. It is true that Israel has never needed pretexts to implement its brutal, aggressive and settlement policies. And it is true that whether the Palestinians resist or compromise, it will try to continue implementing what it wants. But the situation at this time, characterized by an unprecedented Israeli right-wing fascist frenzy, is that not providing the Palestinians with pretexts creates a margin, however small, for political action, for focusing global popular support for Palestine, and for providing spaces in which this support can operate. These margins, which can be expanded, are feared to be lost in the dust of the resistance’s bullets (despite its heroism and cleanliness) and the resulting Israeli wars and invasions.

Secondly, in terms of timing and means, here we can say that what the West Bank could have done in terms of timing and means practically missed the boat. It was possible (albeit without certain results) for the West Bank to rise up and revolt at the beginning of the war in support of Gaza, which would have confused and complicated Israeli calculations, provided that this supposed uprising and intifada was popular in nature and unarmed, similar to the first intifada. Perhaps that window of time was the most important in terms of timing, and the most effective form of resistance in terms of means, capable of finding an influential support pattern in the equation of the war on Gaza. But that opportunity passed and the temporary window closed, and the desired support in terms of the form of resistance did not occur. The current bravery of the young men of the military cells does not affect the larger equation, nor the balance of power, in terms of timing or method, offering many martyrs, but it provides more pretexts for an enemy that has discovered absolute freedom to commit the most he can of crimes.

Thirdly, in the Palestinian scene, which is still captive to the context of division that controls us in terms of policy, leadership, and fragmented action. This context has contributed to facilitating the Israeli crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip and prolonging its duration, and has provided Israel with spaces and gaps in which it has operated and worked to expand. We cannot confront Israel on another front, this time in the West Bank, which is incomparably weaker militarily than the Gaza Strip, while we are shackled in a destructive divisional context. National and leadership unity is the bitter and easy lesson, but the deep and difficult to implement lesson that we must all absorb and absorb.

Since the years of British colonialism, the Palestinian division (between the Husseinis and the Nashashibis, for example) has been the fifth column serving the enemy. Whatever one Palestinian party achieves, even if limited, is destroyed by the other party in the mud of blind political competition, and the beneficiary in all cases is the enemy. Evidence of this is innumerable in the years of modern division that we have seen since 2007. What is strange and surprising about the issue of unity awareness is that everyone is convinced of it theoretically, and its centrality is rooted in the collective conscience and individual conviction. There is a deep culture, history, and long experience based on reverence for the stubbornness of sticks that refuse to break if they come together, but when applied, everyone is paralyzed, and the enemy crushes them individually. The bottom line is that any resistance in the West Bank will not achieve what it wants, and what we want, without being based on the square of unity, and led by an agreed-upon leadership compass. In more than one written or dialogued approach over the past years, I have argued that in a situation where the balance of power is so heavily tilted against us, “survival is resistance.” This survival is the goal now, and we must start from this goal in everything we can do. The hasty armed resistance, led by good intentions and unique courage, but lacking the broader strategy, which places “survival” and steadfastness in the eye of the enemy’s intended goal.