By Holly Lennon

Editor’s note: The Scoop has received and asked for several different perspectives on the conflict between the State of Israel and Hamas. We do not prescribe an attitude and over the next few weeks different perspectives on the conflict will be published. Our aim is not to sensationalise a still ongoing conflict which has a still increasing death count, but to provide a space for students to have a conversation. As such the editorial approach has been light and the conflicting accounts make fact checking very difficult at this stage. For a more official and factual account check the news section for any updates. The opinions noted in these articles are not the official stance of The Scoop or Queen’s Radio

In 2019, I got that golden notification from my bank to alert me that my student loan had arrived. It ignited a discussion between classmates as we pondered the best laptops to invest in for our studies. The suggestion of specific laptops arose, but I was reluctant to support the choice. I shared my concerns about how certain brands endorse and profit from Israel’s occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid policies against Palestinians. I did not expect my classmates to be immediately swayed into supporting these causes as I struggled to adequately summarise the history of oppression. After all, it does date back to the late nineteenth century. However, the response of one student caught me off guard:

“Is this some mad conspiracy you’ve watched on YouTube?”

Four years later, and due to various factors, particularly that of the media in the West, some people are still none the wiser about the history of Gaza. This article has one aim above all others, to refute the dehistoricisation of the conflict. Hopefully, it will shed light on the fact that current affairs result from decades of disempowerment of Palestinian people rather than a spontaneous and random outbreak.

Of course, all of the deaths in Israel and Palestine are devastating, but it is clear that large media organisations such as The Economist have framed a partial depiction of the tragedies, evidenced by the front-page headline of their 14 October issue, “Israel’s Agony”. There has been a fictitious dynamic of a binary, one state is “the only democracy in the Middle East” whilst the other is a breeding ground of terrorism. The media should strive to clearly distinguish between the innocent Palestinian civilians and Hamas, the militant organisation that horrifically attacked Israel on 7 October, killing 1,400 people, including children. According to the BBC, 199 people were seized during the attack and are currently held captive in Gaza. Writer for The Times, Tim Shipman, posits that former spies who spent their careers in the Middle East are currently involved in efforts to recover the hostage victims.

One reporter from the BBC News discussed the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s visit to a Jewish school in London, during which he expressed his support for the community. The reporter stated, “The visit followed several demonstrations across Britain, during which people voiced their backing for Hamas, which many countries, including the UK and US consider a terrorist organisation”.

The BBC has received backlash for tarring all pro-Palestinian protesters as supporters of Hamas. A representative of the BBC later apologised for the incident, stating, “We accept that this was poorly phrased and was a misleading description of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations”.

Yet, people continue to equate the innocent Palestinian people with the perpetrators of those atrocities. The stereotyping functions to dehumanise the Palestinian people, rendering them deserving of the state violence imposed on the densely populated Gaza. Journalist Alice Speri quotes Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as stating, “We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly”. Meanwhile, rather than opposing the targeting of civilian homes, specific figures from the international communities are actively encouraging it.

A similar sweeping generalisation has been applied to those who stand in solidarity with Palestine. Support with Palestine is often conflated with glorifying terrorism and condoning anti-semitism. For these reasons, humanitarians are fearful to express their support of Palestine. People Before Profit organised an event called All That’s Left, which took place on 13-14 October, at Queen’s University Belfast. A panel discussion on Palestine gathered a crowd of over 150 people. Those in attendance expressed camaraderie, respect and empowerment to the Palestinians, but there was underlying solemnity due to the nature of the situation. The speakers on the panel urge people to be unapologetically pro-Palestinian and condemn the criminalisation of pro-Palestinian activism. Sue Pentel, a Jewish Voice for Just-Peace Ireland member, addressed this issue at the event. From the onset of her speech, Pentel stated, “Opposition to Zionism is not anti-Semitism”, before urging that we reassert our common humanity and call our government to account.

Before the latest incidents that have been largely portrayed on both legacy and social media, Israel imposed an illegal sixteen-year blockage on Gaza, isolating the region from the rest of the world, even its food supply. A founding committee member of the BDS campaign, Omar Barghouti, appeared at the seminar via webcam. He explained that the blockage is the causative factor for the collapsed health care system and polluted water, and the food restrictions have resulted in sixty per cent of the children suffering from anaemia. Many children also experienced stunted growth due to malnutrition. Not to mention the irreversible psychological impact on the citizens, who have experienced continuous bombings. Barghouti reiterated that these conditions existed “before the latest bloodbath”.

Also present at the conference was politician Gerry Carroll, a familiar face and passionate voice at the rallies for Palestine. In a recent interview with Stephen Nolan, Carroll discusses the unjust treatment towards the Palestinian people and highlights that “for decades we’ve seen ethnic cleansing, we’ve seen an apartheid state, we’ve seen oppression on a mass scale”. Carroll informs listeners that in 2018, Palestinians peacefully gathered in the Great March of Return and marched to the border with flags and banners. Carroll asserts that the Israel state met the peaceful protesters "with cold blood", shooting 200 of them. Following these protests, according to statistics provided by OCHA, 195 Palestinians were killed and 29,000 injured as of March 2019. Yet these attacks have been largely overlooked.

Whilst discussing the current escalation of violence, Barghouti provided heartbreaking insight into the destruction of schools, ambulances, houses of prayer and entire residential neighbourhoods. He stated, “Already, within just a week, Israel’s US-supplied bombs have killed over 2000 Palestinians, over 600 of whom were children”.

Speaker Leila Shomali stated, “Hospital rooms, they’re full of dead bodies. […] Now they’re using ice cream refrigerators to keep the dead Palestinians in”.

In a recent interview, Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, states “Those who say the status quo is sustainable have been tested, and they will continue to be tested. So there has to be a political solution. A military solution is not possible. It is an impossibility in our situation”. And so, on 15 October, activists amalgamated at Writer’s Square, Belfast. They marched to the City Hall, representing their anti-apartheid stance through pro-Palestine emblems, hand-drawn posters and chants. There was a sea of red, green, white and black—the tide of signs undulated with the wind and the rhythmic marching of the crowd. Several protesters were stationed on an eye-catching yellow van, all contributing to the unified exclamations of “Free Palestine”. Two men were perched on a nearby pillar, scanning the crowd. One was reminiscent of a superhero, a Palestinian scarf operating as his cape, waving in the wind. I directed my camera towards the man and his friend, who aptly responded with a peace gesture and a smile.

Edited by: David Williamson

Gaza Under Attack: Belfast in Protest