Palestinian Loneliness

It is so hard to turn the radio off and forget about the developments on the ground, especially since I was there years ago, and I now find myself struggling to imagine the level of destruction. Each hour, each event counts in the tragedy of Gaza. Each piece of writing in Western and Arab platforms deserves a look at, with the hope of detecting an interlude of silence in the skies, or of a ceasefire on the ground. There is none, though.

The only news I cannot read any longer are those in my own language, as most of them are simple translations of someone else’s investigative work, many others are dispatches of the Israeli authorities, and very few pieces attempt to qualify things for what they are. My country, once in love with the Palestinian people, has become a sounding board for empty slogans celebrating the saga of the new Crusaders, the heralds of God’s revenge against the brutal terrorism that threatens all of us. My country is populated by opinion-makers, journalists and politicians who have never put their feet in any Palestinian enclave, and despite that, they pretend to know everything. They are ghosts speaking about ghosts. In a parade disguising anti-Arab and Islamophobic sentiments, they hail the war.

Loneliness, Palestinian loneliness- I could not name it differently- will eventually mutate into something else when the war ends, and it will end, probably when the casualties reach a 30:1 ratio or when all buildings are razed to the ground. Loneliness then will bear the significance of a removal, dislodgement, a feeling of a nuisance for the rest of the world.

Palestinian loneliness in Italy manifests best in the absence of its flags; they say it is not appropriate to flaunt flags of a nation guilty of terror acts. No national flags, no keffiyehs, even at the political rallies of progressive parties such as the Partito Democratico (the Democratic Party). Peace flags, that's all there is. Only peace flags. Peace as defined by the West: We from above and you from down below, like the  West Bank’s Palestinian villages located at the lowest bottom of narrow valleys, and overlooked by Israeli settlements on hilltops. Our peace, we from above and you from down below. And woe to those who dare defy us.

Loneliness in the West, loneliness in the Middle East, among Arab monarchs and heads of state who condemn Israeli war crimes but are unable to stop the war or enforce a ceasefire, powerless eunuchs, illegitimate representatives of their nations, authoritarian oppressors, or self-declared Prophet’s envoys on earth. They are privileged riffraff in Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia who repress their own people's dissent and freedom of thought but are powerless when it comes to the Palestinian cause and the stateless Palestinian people. Those kings and presidents have already embraced the new ideology which advocates that all forms of resistance are acts of terrorism, which serves their interests and purposes quite well.

Egyptian writer and activist Mahmoud Hadhoud writes: “Nowadays, any form of resistance, especially within the frame of national struggles for liberation, constitutes an act of ‘terrorism’. That is the charge imposed by the new international order to justify the crushing of resistance movements. If that said order claims to base its legitimacy on international law and human rights, then ‘terrorism’ would be  the appropriate accusation to brand its opponents as violators of international law and human rights.”

Loneliness is all around, in the West, in Arab neighboring countries, and in Israel itself, where Jews who reject fascism and struggle for decolonization and Palestinian self-determination are demonized. Their voices are powerful but continue to be isolated and silenced by their government, which uses arrests to vanquish domestic dissent over Gaza's war. The loneliness of the righteous so denounced by Haaretz newspaper.

We, however, can still find solace among those who protest publically in the streets, defying unilateral criticism and dodging police batons. Protestors demanding an end to this war have the sympathy of many people in the secrecy of their hearts, but not that of the ones in power. Unfortunately, this is how it is when you are alone, with no support from the government, mainstream media, or other powerful entities. You might be perceived as suspicious, a collaborator with “terrorists.” Oh, terrorism, as if it were a candid and innocent methodology of classification of nations and entities. Italian champion of Mediterranean dialogue and Istituto per il Mediterraneo (IMED) Founder Andrea Amato writes, “After October 7, the public and the media seem to have unanimously recognized the terrorist nature of Hamas’ aggression mainly because of the heinousness and cruelty of the crimes they committed. But from an ethical and humanitarian point of view, what is the difference between the children slaughtered by Hamas and those who died, often burned alive, due to Israel’s military aggression and bombardment? We have arrived at the paradox that, in the collective consciousness, war crimes and crimes against humanity are less serious than those of terrorism.”

Loneliness, because you, Palestinians, will not be given the opportunity to repair; you are not fit for democracy, nor for stability, nor for a state. You represent all that which is unfit for the modern West.

However, the ‘inadequacy’ you are burdened with is perhaps your salvation. Your imperfection is our salvation. Your demonization is our dehumanization. Your daily death is our inescapable grave. You are alone, we are lost. Lost in ethnocentrism, selfishness, and blindness. Lost in translation, Lost in humanity.

It is so hard to feel helpless, unable to do anything meaningful to stop this war, not even to talk about it with our own fellow citizens because they do not understand. They only see Eastern terror and Western supremacy, whereas I feel misjudged when I take out my keffiyeh from the closet and walk the road, observed by secret eyes, and pointed at by our opinion-makers.

You are dying in hospitals hit by our weapons while we are losing our souls in gibberish discourses void of truthfulness. You are threatened by the rolling out of a new Nakba, a new massive displacement, while we are kindly inviting your occupiers to humiliate you gently.

Palestinian loneliness, indeed. But rest assured that loneliness does not necessarily mean defeat, because you, the loneliest, still hold the keys to redemption. Only the oppressed can liberate his oppressor from guilt and ostracism. Only reconciliation based on the recognition of the Palestinian suffering can deliver peace to Israeli society. There is no greater victory than the bereaved's power to deliver the truth and restore compassion in communities traversed by hatred and resentment.

Others are those who will remain unredeemed: those around, like us Europeans, distant and distracted spectators of this war, of this long-lasting struggle during which you have been stripped of everything, but your souls. Alone with our houses of cards, here are we instead, instructing our Arab neighbors on what they are entitled to, and what they are not. Immoral moralists and masters of double standards. 

We are lost. Lost in translation, Lost in humanity, unless we raise our voices against the war, violence and impunity of Israel today and that of others tomorrow.

Loneliness is not an incurable disease. This is what Palestinians are teaching us.