Editor's Note: This article was first published in Oversight index on November 9, 2023. Since then, many of the author's predictions have been tragically confirmed, chief among them a civilian catastrophe in Gaza on a scale unprecedented since the end of World War II.
“Where are you, Muhammad?” I muttered to myself while scrolling through my Facebook page. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, as soon as I wake up in the morning, I have been scrolling through Facebook looking for reassuring signs that my Gazan friends are still alive. A week ago I noticed that for more than 24 hours there have been no new posts from Muhammad. I was very worried and immediately tried to click on his profile, only to find that his entire account had disappeared. I called him and fortunately found that he was alive.
“Where are you, Muhammad?” I asked, relieved.
“I want to become invisible,” he said, explaining that he had to deactivate his account after receiving death threats. He was told that “traitors” like him would be dealt with appropriately once hostilities ended. Mohammed told me that they had made it clear that they would not ask questions first and shoot later. They were about to shoot. they It was Hamas security forces.
Muhammad was a prominent poet among a new generation of talented poets in Gaza, an eloquent writer, and for many years a cautious critic of Hamas's rule in Gaza. But with the horror that began to unfold as a result of the Israeli response to the horrific attack launched by Hamas on October 7, he was no longer able to restrain himself. Suddenly his criticism of the Hamas leadership and its recent disastrous war policies became relentless. He mocked those who praised Hamas Tawafan Al-Aqsa practical, Hamas name for its attack on Israel, Pointing out that it was morally and politically harmful in general to the Palestinian people and particularly destructive to the lives and property of the citizens of Gaza.
Muhammad announced in one of his publications that Hamas does not represent him, his family, or people like him. He has clearly stated that if his wife and two-year-old daughter, or any other member of his extended family, are killed under Israeli bombing, he will hold Hamas as responsible as Israel.
Mohammed is the descendant of a refugee family. His grandparents fled to Gaza during the 1948 war. He himself was born in a refugee camp. Since 2007, when the Palestinian Authority was ousted from power in Gaza, Mohammed has lived under Hamas rule. Like many of his generation, especially the creative and liberal-minded, he advocated peaceful engagement with Israelis, whether through peaceful protests or peace negotiations, in the hope that life in Gaza would somehow become less difficult. but to no avail.
Opposition voices have grown louder in Gaza since 2007, especially after Hamas' various disastrous military clashes with Israel. But since October 7, given the scale of the ongoing disaster that resulted from that day, the patience of many people in Gaza has completely run out. They have come to believe that there can be no end to the tragic situation in Gaza, without the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups.
Hamas has never tolerated views critical of its leadership and policies. A report issued by Human Rights Watch in 2018 revealed that Hamas carried out dozens of arbitrary arrests due to its peaceful criticism, usually targeting supporters of the Palestinian Authority following the dispute between Fatah and Hamas. When there are protests, they are quickly crushed.
But critics, like Mohammed, are independent voices, not affiliated with the Palestinian Authority. They do not represent an alternative authority. In fact, they are sometimes as critical of the Palestinian Authority as they are of Hamas. To this end, Hamas has largely turned a blind eye. Hamas also wanted to appear before its “friends” in the West to show a degree of respect for freedom of expression. Now things have changed. With their entire fate at stake, they have accelerated efforts to eliminate any dissenting voices.
People in Gaza are praying for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, which they see as their only chance to survive. But for Mohammed, and opponents like him, leaving Gaza altogether may be the only way to escape the threat of Israeli bombing and Hamas prosecution. He hopes to escape to Egypt as quickly as possible and in any way possible.
'This is our second The Nakba (The disaster) he told me, the first of which was the 1948 war, which turned his grandfathers and their successors into refugees in Gaza. If he succeeds in escaping Gaza, he, his wife and his daughter will endure refugee life once again.
With people like Mohammed gone, there will be no one left in Gaza who can express their opinions freely except Hamas supporters whose extremist political views and visions are delusional. Some of these people believe that continued war must lead to the complete destruction of Israel. With people like Mohammed gone, there will be no one left in Gaza to challenge their ridiculous, self-destructive views.
“Every word is monitored”
However, if Muhammad had been born in what after 1948 became the State of Israel, and thus became a Palestinian citizen of Israel, he would have had no other choice but to remain silent, even in the absence of death threats. After all, it is not only anti-war voices in Gaza that are being silenced. While searching for posts by my friends in Gaza, I noticed that Palestinian-Israeli friends were suspiciously quiet as well.
I knew them to be typically outspoken in their criticism of both the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership – in the West Bank and Gaza – so I was surprised to see no posts from them, nor any comments on posts related to the Hamas attack and Gaza. Subsequent Israeli reprisals. I wrote sarcastically, wondering aloud whether Israeli Palestinians were staying silent out of fear of Hamas rockets. The next day, I received a private message containing one simple question: “Have you not heard about what happened to Dalal Abu Amna?”
Dalal Abu Amna is a famous and influential Palestinian singer and doctor from Nazareth. She was interrogated by Israeli authorities and soon learned, via an Instagram post, that consisted of just one Qur’anic verse, the meaning of which was that there is no victor but God. For some reason, the Israeli police suspected that using such a verse was an expression of solidarity with Hamas, so she spent two days in detention.
Then I received news that activists from Stand Together, one of the largest Israeli-Palestinian grassroots groups working for peace, had been arrested in Jerusalem for hanging posters with the following message: “Jews and Arabs, we will get through this together.” .
Posted by the Stand Together movement. Photo: Oren Rosen / Source: Wikimedia Commons
Moreover, the Israeli public debate was not immune to the decline of rationality. Some far-right politicians and news commentators even argue that destroying Gaza in the same way cities like Dresden and Hiroshima were destroyed during World War II is the best possible way to end the threat posed by Hamas.
Israel is considered the only democratic country in the Middle East, yet its Palestinian citizens are afraid to protest against such calls for the mass killing of civilians in Gaza. Hoping to find out the source of this fear, a few days after the war began, I contacted Noha, a Palestinian friend from Haifa. Noha is a teacher and writer and is usually talkative and frank in expressing her opinions, but this time she seemed isolated and reserved.
She answered briefly: “We cannot write anything about the current situation.”
I asked whether Palestinians in Israel are afraid because they experience a general feeling of intimidation or whether there are already state laws preventing them from expressing their opinions freely. Again her response was quick: “Every word is being watched.”
“Who watches your every word?” I wished to hear her explanation, but she remained silent in a way that suggested that our private conversation itself was being watched. I almost jokingly told her she was just being paranoid; But after what happened to Dalal Abu Amna, two days ago, I can't blame her, even if she was just being paranoid.
The Israeli government pledged to continue its attack until Hamas is eliminated. Those of us with first-hand knowledge of the politics and history of Palestine and Israel know with certainty that such a goal can only be achieved if Gaza is completely destroyed. In other words, in order to achieve its goal, the Israeli government would have to follow the advice of those who were calling for Gaza to do what happened in Dresden or Hiroshima.
In a later conversation with Mohammed, he told me that many ordinary people in Gaza believe that Hamas will win in the end. “But how can that be when it is clear that Hamas is fighting for its life?” I protested. “Or is her mere survival considered a victory?”
“The people of Gaza have been living under siege for more than 16 years,” Mohammed said, adding that things were getting hopelessly worse. “Isolation and despair made people resort to political fantasies and fantasies,” he explained.
Muhammad told me that when the news broke, on the morning of October 7, hundreds of civilians in Gaza crossed the border into Israel, literally following in the footsteps of Hamas attackers. The goal of some of these civilians was to plunder the homes and property of wealthy Israelis. But others thought they were going home, back, To the land their ancestors had fled during the 1948 war. They believed that Israel had been invaded and the Israeli population was leaving, and the civilians wanted to make sure they got in before anyone else so they could occupy it. Best vacant properties.
Political delusions and ridiculous views, such as those expressed by extremists on both sides, would not be harmful if those who espouse them were not in power, or were not armed. But this is not the case in Gaza and Israel. With the voices of reason silenced, such crazy opinions can easily attract the attention of officials. The result will be a disaster on a scale not seen since World War II.
