No one can understand what is happening in the land of Palestine, not even those who have followed the sanguinary vicissitudes of the peoples who have lived down there for so long. They face each other with hatred and suspicion, not just men and women, children and old people, but the very dust of the roads and the mud that covers them on rainy days, the asphyxiating heat and the stench of the sultriness.
The ‘official’ terms of the controversy are well known. The Israelis chased the Palestinians off their land, but this happened so long ago that some of the people born in huts in the camps are now fifty years old. Ridiculous arguments between States have resulted in pieces of land being returned to the people who were driven away, but it is impossible to live in them. In Israel if you don’t work you go hungry. The colons of the second Zionist wave got rich through the exploitation of a cheap Palestinian work force and the free use of fields in territories that should now constitute the new State of Palestine. But not only does all that fail to grasp the essence of the problem, it does not even begin to describe it. Perhaps it made sense at the time of the first popular insurrection of the people of the ‘territories’, that of the stones. Now things are moving towards an increasingly ferocious ‘Lebanisation’.
Neither party wants to retreat as this would lead to internal conflict, a destructive civil war that would almost certainly give the adversary victory on a military level.
And so they continue to attack each other in a never-ending cycle. Each side uses the weapons they have at their disposal: the Palestinians blow themselves up with their own bombs; the Israelis bomb houses in the territories from planes. There are the pacification maps, the internal agreements, the UN guarantees and Bush’s empty ‘sorrow’.
The problem is developing at its own pace, one that can only be grasped by someone who has familiarity with such situations, and it is becoming chronic. Hatred becomes acute when one lives in conditions such as those of the Palestinians, with prospects like theirs, i.e., none at all. There is no hope for their children or for the future of the place where they were born. And it is not true that this hatred, so ferocious and incomprehensible to us, is nourished by integralist extremism. How is it that most of the young people who blow themselves up with their own bombs have completed their studies, have a degree or diploma — sometimes obtained abroad — are family people, have children. What they don’t have is hope. They realize that there is nothing for them but a prospect of hatred of an enemy that imprisons, bombs and tortures. On the other side everyone lives in fear of being blown up as they go to work, dance in a disco, lie asleep in their beds. Here again, blind hatred that sees no alternative is pushing people to demand that the government use more force in the repression. Even the most illuminated of the Israeli labour party formed in Mapai in 1968, (one of the Zionist forces to support the first settlements) have kept quiet for fear of losing their electoral base. Many see the Likud (right wing party which means literally ‘consolidation’) as the only force capable of leading the country against the Palestinians.
To speak of peace under such conditions is just another way to wriggle out of things with clean hands and a dirty conscience.
Organised massacres of Palestinians such as those by the Christian-Maronites at Sabra and Chatila in September 1982, or (Black) September 1970 organised by King Hussein of Jordan which lasted until April 1971 resulting in 4,600 dead and 10,000 wounded, are still possible. However, if carried out by Israel or one of its armed intermedieries they would lead to a complete destabilisation of the area. As I write, Israel has attacked some presumed Palestinian posting in Syria; the present time is one of the worst.
There is no prospect of peace in sight. The ideal solution, at least as far as all those who have the freedom of peoples at heart can see, would be generalised insurrection. In other words, an intifada starting from the Israeli people that is capable of destroying the institutions that govern them and of proposing peace based on collaboration and mutual respect to the Palestinian people directly, without intermedieries. But for the time being this perspective is only a dream. We must prepare for the worst.
Alfredo M. Bonanno
Over the past few months [1989] another subtle form of destruction has been discovered. Mysterious phosphorus devices in the form of chocolate bars or toys have been left lying around in the occupied areas by Israeli soldiers and colons in order to wound children. As soon as they are picked up the objects explode. There were five such cases of wounding in Nablus in the month of December alone.
I've looked for independent verification of this story, and it seems to be hearsay. I'd like to be proven wrong. What the anecdote gets right is settlers and the IDF's complete lack of accountability when they kill and animus towards Palestinian children. I've collected the research I've done here. Content Warning: violence against children.
CW: Violence against children
Israeli forces kill 15-year-old Palestinian boy, injure brother near Nablus
Mohammad Qasem Mohammad Abu Zer, 15, was shot in the chest by Israeli forces around 7 p.m. on October 22 in the Palestinian village of Zawata, northwest of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Mohammad, alongside other young Palestinians, were throwing stones at Israeli military vehicles after Israeli special forces entered Zawata and surrounded a Palestinian resident’s house. Mohammad was shot by an Israeli sniper stationed inside a Palestinian resident’s house from a distance of 40 to 50 meters (131 to 164 feet). Mohammad’s 18-year-old brother, Jamil, approached him to offer aid, but Israeli forces shot him as well. A third young Palestinian approached Mohammad and Jamil and the same Israeli sniper shot him. An ambulance transported Mohammad to An-Najah University Hospital in Nablus, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
West Bank: Spike in Israeli Killings of Palestinian Children - HRW
Last year, 2022, was the deadliest year for Palestinian children in the West Bank in 15 years, and 2023 is on track to meet or exceed 2022 levels. Israeli forces had killed at least 34 Palestinian children in the West Bank as of August 22. Human Rights Watch investigated four fatal shootings of Palestinian children by Israeli forces between November 2022 and March 2023.
‘He’s not dead!’ Palestinian mourns her son slain by Israeli forces
Nablus, occupied West Bank – Dunya Ghanem stood over her son’s body in disbelief.
“Come on, Jihad, my love. Get up. Let’s go home,” she coaxed him in the morgue on Monday morning, caressing her slain son’s face.
She put her hand on his heart. “Jihad’s alive. His heart is beating,” she insisted to the dozens of family and friends who had come to console her.
“Just be patient for God’s sake,” she told them. “Jihad is just asleep.”
Palestinians under attack as Israeli settler violence surges in the West Bank
Abed Wadi on his rooftop in Qusra. "We wanted hope for our children, but it has gone," he said.
Israeli forces shoot, kill 13-year-old Palestinian boy near Nablus
Amir Rafat Mahmoud Mlaitat, 13, was shot and killed on October 13 by Israeli forces firing intensively and indiscriminately toward Palestinans demonstrating near Beit Furik, east of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Amir was with a group of Palesitnians marching in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza when he was struck in the head by a bullet fired by Israeli forces from about 150 meters (492 feet). Amir was transferred to a local health center in a private car, then an ambulance brought him to Rafidia Governmental Hospital in Nablus, where doctors pronounced him dead around 3 p.m.
“Israeli forces and settlers know no bounds and are empowered to shoot to kill Palestinians, including children, seemingly whenever they feel like it,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “We are witnessing attacks against Palestinians throughout the occupied Palestinian territory as Israeli forces and settlers are emboldened by systemic impunity and international solidarity to commit war crimes on a whim.”
Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present. However, investigations and evidence collected by DCIP regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial or wilful killings.
Israeli settlers seen celebrating and handing out sweets after deadly Nablus raid
A group of Israeli settlers danced and distributed sweets at the Zatara intersection leading to the settlement Kfar Tapuach near Nablus to celebrate the killing of 11 Palestinians by the Israeli army during a raid on the occupied West Bank city on Wednesday.
At least 11 Palestinians, including a child and two elderly people, were killed by Israeli forces and more than 100 others injured during a military raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.