[Editorial note: This article was originally published on 28 October 2023. It is so poignant, and even more relevant today – we are honoured to republish it.]

Why do some people resist and fight on despite being encircled, outnumbered and outweighed by weapons… despite facing intolerable circumstances? What is life worth living for? What is it that some people are willing to die for? And what is it that some people consider “sacred”?

How is it that some people can smile and find any hope at all in a devastated home? How is it that some people can celebrate a child’s birthday – amidst a sea of ruins?

How is it that some people can persevere with their resistance, even when their own children have been murdered and torn asunder before their eyes?

In the Western world, where rapacious capitalism, neoliberalism and materialism have taken over and determine the belief system, the value system, the culture, and the daily routines of most people there, there are no answers to such questions, and thus this struggle cannot be understood by the Western silent majority.

The particular heinous and savage circumstances that have affected the Palestinians over decades – the constant subjugation, persecution and ethnic cleansing – have made these people keenly aware of what the true priorities are in life and what meaning can be found in a collective united struggle… things that cannot be understood by a people engrossed in their individual selves, in their consumerism and in their constant demand for more of everything.

Younes Arar, a human rights activist involved in the founding and activities of the “Dismantle the Ghetto, Take Settlers Out of Hebron” campaign, and the Director of Al-Khalil (Hebron) section of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, tried to describe the spirit of his people:

“We are very much like our olive trees – while their branches reach out to the sky, storms may bend them but will not uproot them, because their roots are firmly established in the depths of our land, which we love and which we belong to…”

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As many already know, the Zionist entity, known as the “State of Israel”, was created as an immensely opportune Western “outpost” for the British Empire whose power was beginning to wane in the early 20th century, as the “Arab World” (stretching across the Maghreb to the Levant) was not only unified by a common language and shared several cultural aspects, but also incorporated key strategic nodes: the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, the Eastern Mediterranean – the British saw it as a looming threat to its Empire. Moreover, they had their eye on the vast and rich resources in this region.

The colonial powers came up with an idea: the implantation of a “foreign entity” in a geographic space that would separate the Arab Maghreb from the Arab Levant, a “foreign entity” that would be loyal to the British imperialist powers and the West, a “foreign entity” that would, through its presence, permanently guarantee an imbalance in the region and that would continually sow disorder with the aim of creating perpetual instability to prevent the rise of any “pan-Arab” power.

Theodor Herzl’s Zionist project for “a Jewish state” (which had already considered Argentina, Cyprus, Mesopotamia, Mozambique, and the Sinai Peninsula as potential Jewish homelands) presented itself as a “godsend” and fit the bill perfectly, and the Balfour Declaration of 1917 sealed the deal. (The two bonusses in the package were that the West would have easier access to the coveted resources in the region while reducing their own Jewish populations, of which they were not particularly fond.) Joining Britain in this grand design were also France and the United States… who clearly saw their own colonialist advantages.

Biden has inadvertently exposed this colonialist “agenda” numerous times when he famously said back in 1986: “Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel.”… And on 28 October 2022: “If there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one.”… and again on July 18, 2023, and again on 19 October 2023: “I have long said: If Israel didn’t exist, we would have to invent it.”

The West has always justified its support for “Israel” by bringing up the Holocaust. And it often justifies its discriminatory views toward Palestine by bringing up the controversial “infamous” Grand Mufti in Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini whose antizionist fervour led him to seek some form of alliance with Hitler [despite the fact that Hitler spoke of the Arabs as “lacquered half-apes” in a speech in 1939]. Many believed that the Nazis even inspired and financed the Arab Revolt… but according to Philip Mattar, there exists no reliable evidence to support such a claim. Indeed, despite their hostilities toward Great Britain, Hitler’s Englandpolitik precluded any genuine support for Arab leaders; English colonial initiatives (such as the promotion of Zionist immigration), shared common ground with Nazi ambitions to drive Jews out of Europe.

Thus, frankly, if there was any question of justice for the West, if the West ever had any sincere feelings for the sufferings of the Jewish people during and following WWII, they would have provided for Jewish homelands in Germany and fascist regions of other European countries that had conspired with the Nazis… in the very countries where so many Jews had lived for centuries!

And – as foreseen – along came the Nakba in 1948, during which 78% of Mandatory Palestine was declared as “Israel” and involved: the expulsion and plight of 700,000 Palestinians; the depopulation and destruction of over 500 Palestinian villages by “Israeli” armed forces; terrorist attacks executed by members of paramilitary terrorist organisations against the civilian population and subsequent geographical erasure; the denial of the Palestinian right of return; the creation of permanent Palestinian refugees; and the “shattering of Palestinian society”… Ethnic cleaning on a grand scale, a practice that continues to this day.

The creation of “Israel” by Western powers can be seen as the planting of a metastasising tumour in – ultimately – the non-Western world as a whole – for all the pernicious global instabilities it has given rise to and the destruction it has wrought.

Some people might connect such a remark with Hitler’s description of Jews as “a dangerous bacillus” in Mein Kampf… But we are not speaking here about “Jews” or any other human beings but about a racist colonialist ideology called Zionism.

The term “anti-semitic” is used as a bludgeon to condemn and prevent any criticism of the Israeli entity. It is, in fact, a ridiculous misnomer created intentionally to obfuscate the differences between the terms “Judaism”, “Zionism”, “Israel” – so that one can be denounced as being a “Nazi” for simply raising one’s voice against the Zionist imperialist expansion. In fact… the creation of the “State of Israel” is itself against all people who qualify as “Semites”: various ancient and modern peoples originating in southwestern Asia, including the Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, and Hebrews.

Truth be told, that very “state” has ultimately become a curse for Jewish people all over the world… as people of the Jewish faith are often automatically associated with the Zionist nightmare. Another fateful gift from the British Empire…

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For 75 years, the Palestinians have had to endure extermination, barbaric ethnic cleansing, relentless apartheid, displacement, humiliation, torture, killings, the repeated use of white phosphorus… and now massive carpet bombing strikes, compounded by the total cut-off of supplies of water, food, medicine, electricity, gas, oil and…

The Siege of Gaza turned the “Gaza Strip” – measuring 8 x 40 km, populated by over 2.3 million people – into the world’s largest open-air concentration camp in history.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced “Israel’s” siege of the Gaza Strip as “unacceptable,” comparing it to the Nazi blockade of Leningrad during World War II. The chief difference between the two being the duration: the Blockade of Leningrad lasted almost two and a half years; the Siege of Gaza has been going on, so far, for almost 57 years (when in 1967 it came under “Israeli” rule during the Six-Day War).

And, now, for well over two weeks, Gaza has been suffering one massacre of its inhabitants after another through the relentless massive carpet bombings by the Zionist terror regime, which has culminated – so far – in the Bloodbath at the al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital. The US-funded fanatic Zionist entity is obviously seeking to implement its own “Endlösung” for the Palestinian population.

And yet, in spite of – or rather precisely because of – all the barbaric massacres, the intifada only grows.

The Palestinians of Gaza (“gaza” means “fierce”, “strong” in Semitic languages – which is not only includes “Hebrew” but also Arabic, Amharic and numerous other ancient and modern languages), remain steadfast in their struggle and will pursue their resistance for as long as it takes.

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For as long as it takes. No matter what.

An extraordinary, staggering steadfastness – similar to that of the Leningraders during their agonising Blockade – a steadfastness which allowed them to survive against all odds… similar to that of the of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong who succeeded in defeating “the world’s best equipped army” and driving out the USA. And like the Leningraders on January 27, 1944, and like the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975, the Palestinians will also triumph in the end, because they possess a force that imperialists will never fathom.

On the other end of the spectrum: As the West looks on in silence and indifference – with Western governments facilitating massacres, ethnic cleansing and genocide in various parts of the world it – together with its cherished Frankenstein creation and protectorate: the Zionist entity – is immersed in rot and sinking spinelessly ever deeper into an abyss. On their way down, war and destruction are the sole means by which the now desperate Western powers believe they can secure their domination of the world.

To put it bluntly: When it comes down to it all, the Zionist entity – alongside of its own rapacious plans to snatch all the remaining territory of Palestine and much more beyond – is dutifully carrying out this dirty war for the Western powers – as was the plan all along.

As Pepe Escobar recently and so aptly put it:

The war against Russia in Ukraine and the Israeli ‘war on terror’ in Gaza are just parallel fronts of a single, horrifyingly evolving, global war.

This global war is a battle against Humanity as a whole.

At the core and the forefront of this battle stands Gaza – the world’s most concentrated aggregate of courageous resistance against the forces of oppression, colonialism, racism, fascism, Zionism, Nazism, whose objectives, in these days, appear to be reaching their pinnacle.

In the meantime, the peoples of the “Global Majority” seem to have finally had enough of hegemony, of unipolarity, of western supremacy, of imperialism. They are slowly waking up from a long and stony sleep.

However, this auspicious awakening is late and not enough. Most still remain groggy and bleary. Where is the sense of conscience and responsibility for those who are already fighting their fight? The peoples of the “Global Majority” (as well as a small minority of the West) are taking to the streets to demonstrate against the heinous crimes they are witnessing directly each and every day in Gaza… But where is the outrage and outcry from their governments?? Stuck in their “formalities” and their “diplomacy”, they arrange grand meetings, board their planes and sit in air-conditioned, catered conferences to discuss these matters on the side-lines.

Only a few statesmen besides President Putin have spoken out in no uncertain terms about these crimes. Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, denounced the genocide committed by Israeli occupation forces against the people of Gaza, called for a United Nations special session, and ordered the Israeli ambassador to leave the country. Former Bolivian President Evo Morales called for “Israel” to be declared a terrorist state and that diplomatic relations with it be severed due to its acts of genocide against civilians. He also called Western countries supporting the Zionist State accomplices of genocide. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa termed “Israel’s” ground invasion in North Gaza as genocide and described the occupying entity as “oppressive and apartheid’. Ione Belarra, Spain’s Social Rights Minister and leader of Podemos, has also asked the government to suspend diplomatic ties with “Israel” due to its “planned genocide.”

But for what concerns the UN Security Council, one could almost assume that it has legitimated the ongoing war crimes and genocide carried out against Gaza – as it has refused to condemn the occupation and aggression. (The entire UN is a mockery of justice and should be dismantled immediately.)

We can rejoice in the fact that the governments representing the “Global Majority” no longer want to be dictated to by the Hegemony: they want to bypass the dollar, they plan to build New Silk Roads, they are forging new mutually beneficial partnerships with others for trade and collaborative projects regarding technological innovations, energy and logistics. These steps and the new geopolitical alliances are all promising developments for a fairer, more balanced multipolar world. But changes in economic, banking and technological spheres are not enough. There is little examination of the global current state of Humanity as a whole. We cannot really change things in our world without getting to the root of oppression, racism, colonialism, and hegemony. Where are the international conferences on history, education, on culture, on ethics?

This is a global Civilisational War that could easily lead to our end. It is time for a new consciousness to emerge. It is time to face decisions regarding our collective survival with a collective human conscience.

The ULTIMATUM has already arrived.

Gaza is the burning light of Humanity in the darkness of inaction and indifference, from which the “Global Majority” is only slowly rousing itself. Gaza is the naked consciousness of the current global state of our humanity. Gaza embodies the profound belief in something greater than anything material or mortal: empathy toward one’s fellow man and a resolute collective struggle against injustice that transcends one’s own death.

Gaza is the Paradigm.

(Nora Hoppe is an independent filmmaker, screenplay writer; essayist; translator. Courtesy: Al Mayadeen, an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel based in the Lebanese capital Beirut.)