We must beware of blaming the murderers. Who are we to reproach them for hating us? Colonists who transform into a Jewish homeland the territory they have lived in for generations - Moshe Dayan, Israeli military leader and politician, April 1956.
Since the dispossession of their homeland over 60 years ago it has been an uphill battle for the Palestinians seeking to obtain justice and support against considerable distortions and bias in the Western World. Many people only took serious notice of the plight of the Palestinian people and began to investigate the real facts of the Palestinian problem after the first Intifada (uprising). This has led to more people changing their ideas and attitudes substantially on this issue over the past decade or so and recognizing the legitimate rights and justness of the Palestinian cause. Many people who were once confused or knew little about the situation have come to clearly distinguish between who is the oppressed and oppressor in the case of Palestine. This has brought the Palestinians the empathy and solidarity they deserve.
These days
the false and deceptive information promoted by Israel since 1948 is being
vigorously challenged and Israel has had to make an effort to defend its past
sordid history and actions. This has resulted in a shift of emphasis and a
concerted campaign by Israel and its supporter’s abroad to focus on the subject
of Palestinian “terrorism”. While all warfare and its consequences are
horrifying, any assessment of the conflict will show that Israel’s record on
terror and carnage is more methodical and on a greater scale than anything
Palestinians have resorted to. And Palestinians have the legal and moral right
the same as any other occupied people to use any means at their disposal to
resist the invaders of their country.
Israel and
its supporters are now trying desperately to convince people that various
tactics used by some Palestinian factions make their struggle illegitimate and
beyond backing. This notion that the Palestinian resistance is an exception is
ridiculous. The Palestinians are not unique in the methods of armed struggle
they use. In fact, the Palestinian forces use exactly the same methods utilised by
various indigenous and subjugated peoples for centuries, including the American
Indians, Aboriginals, Algerian, South African, Kurdish, Latin American,
Vietnamese among others that have fought anti-colonial wars and national
liberation struggles as well as the anti-fascist forces in Europe and Asia
during the 1940s. The Palestinians also share the same common aims as other
oppressed peoples struggling for independence and freedom around the world
today and are worthy of the same solidarity and support. The Palestinian
Resistance’s actions against the Israeli occupation are indisputably
legitimate.
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