Logo
Logo
Logo
Logo
Logo
Logo
Logo
Logo
Logo

OPINIONS

Sat 17 May 2025 3:10 pm - Jerusalem Time

Between ideology and pragmatism... it is time to save what remains of Palestine

Alaa Ashour


Amid the blood and rubble spilling across Gaza, and in the face of a merciless war machine, urgent questions arise that must be asked boldly and responsibly. Is it enough to confront Israeli aggression with slogans? Is it enough to continue unequal battles, knowing in advance that they will only lead to more martyrdom and destruction?

A rare leak of the late leader Gamal Abdel Nasser's remarks, in which he discusses the impossibility of military victory over Israel given its international superiority and unlimited support from the United States, brings us back to a pivotal point: Is it time to reevaluate our tools in the conflict? To subject our discourse and practice to the principle of political realism, rather than to ideology that ignores facts?

The genocide taking place in Gaza is a crime by all standards. There is no dispute that Israel is practicing organized state terrorism, seeking to erase Palestinian existence and establish an expansionist colonial reality. However, it is our duty to have the courage to ask: Does the path taken by movements like Hamas serve the Palestinian cause or burden it with more wounds? Do we have the luxury of taking risks when the price is the blood of children and the remains of families?

Political realism does not mean surrender, but rather understanding the balance of power and working within it intelligently and flexibly. It means protecting the human being before the slogan, the home before the platform, and life before ideology.


Gaza has become a harsh testing ground, not only for the imbalance of power, but for the imbalance of reason. When Palestine is reduced to a narrow ideological project, we do not champion the cause, but rather fail it. Defending Palestine is not achieved through recklessness, but through strategy. It is not achieved by raising the bar, but by building the solid foundation upon which any real resistance can stand.

The time for revolutionary rhetoric that ignores reality is over. The time has come for pragmatism that builds on the possible to achieve hope. It's time for wisdom to prevail over enthusiasm, and for the battle to shift from one of direct confrontation to one of awareness, planning, and thoughtful political, diplomatic, and popular accumulation.

Palestinian blood is not cheap, nor is it fodder for political or media consumption. It is time to overcome the division, protect those who remain, and give our cause a chance to survive... not to annihilate it in the name of "resistance" while it is slaughtered in vain.

Palestine needs the voice of reason more than ever, and a leadership that weighs matters with wisdom, not with the impulse of the moment.

The time has come for political pragmatism... for the sake of what remains of the homeland, and for Palestine to remain alive.


Tags

Share your opinion

Between ideology and pragmatism... it is time to save what remains of Palestine