[News] Dear world: This is what Palestinian unity looks like

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Dear world: This is what Palestinian unity looks like
By Ramzy Baroud <https://english.palinfo.com/?p=250012>

Wednesday 29-January-2025 -
https://english.palinfo.com/opinion_articles/dear-world-this-is-what-palestinian-unity-looks-like/

Even those of us who have long emphasized the importance of the Palestinian
people’s voice, experience and collective action in Palestinian history
must have been shocked by the cultural revolution resulting from the
Israeli war against the people in Gaza. By cultural revolution, I mean the
defiant and rebellious narrative evolving in Gaza, where people see
themselves as active participants in the popular resistance, not just mere
victims of the Israeli war machine.

When the ceasefire was announced on the 471st day of the Israeli genocide,
the Palestinians in Gaza rushed onto the streets in celebration. Media
outlets reported that they were celebrating the ceasefire, but judging by
their chants, songs and symbolisms they were celebrating their collective
victory, steadfastness (sumud) and resilience against the powerful Israeli
army, which has been and remains supported by the US and other Western
countries.

Using basic tools, they hurried to clean their streets, clearing debris to
allow the displaced to search for homes. Although their homes were probably
destroyed by Israel – 90 per cent of Gaza’s housing units were, according
to the United Nations – they were still happy, even if they could only sit
on the rubble. Some prayed atop concrete slabs, some sang in large, growing
crowds, and others cried but insisted that no power could ever uproot them
from Palestine again.

Social media was flooded with Palestinians expressing a mix of emotions,
although they were mostly defiant, expressing their resolve not just in
political terms, but also in other ways, including humor.

Of course, the bodybuilders returned to their gyms to find them also mostly
destroyed. Rather than lament their losses, though, they salvaged machines
and resumed training amid collapsed walls and ceilings punctured by Israeli
missiles.

There was also a father and son who composed a song in the ahazej style, a
traditional Levantine vocalization.

The son, overjoyed to find his father alive, was reassured by him that they
would never abandon their homeland.

As for the children – 14,500 of whom were killed by Israel, according to UN
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) – they resumed their
childhood. They laid claim to destroyed Israeli tanks in Rafah, Beit Hanoun
and elsewhere as their new playground equipment.

One teenager pretended to be a scrap metal salesman and yelled, “An Israeli
Merkava tank for sale,” as his friends filmed him and laughed. “Make sure
you send this video to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” he
added before moving on, unfazed.

This does not mean that Gaza is free of unimaginable pain, which is
difficult for the rest of the world to fully comprehend. The emotional and
psychological scars of the war will last a lifetime, and many will never
recover fully from the trauma. But Palestinians in Gaza know that they
cannot afford to grieve in the usual way. So, they emphasize their
identity, unity and defiance as ways to overcome grief.

In parallel with its military assault on Gaza since 7 October, 2023, Israel
has invested heavily in dividing the Palestinian people and trying to
shatter their spirit. In Gaza, it dropped millions of flyers from warplanes
on starving refugees, urging them to rebel against Palestinian factions by
providing Israel with names of “troublemakers”. The Israeli army offered
large rewards for such information, but little was achieved.

These flyers also called for tribal leaders to take control of their areas
in exchange for food and protection. To punish those who resisted, Israel
systematically killed clan representatives and councilors who tried to
distribute aid throughout Gaza, especially in the north where famine was
devastating.

Against overwhelming odds, though, Palestinians remained united.

When the ceasefire was declared, they celebrated as one nation. With Gaza
destroyed, Israel’s actions obliterated Gaza’s class, regional, ideological
and political divisions. Everyone in Gaza became a refugee: the rich, poor,
Muslim, Christian, city dwellers and refugee camp residents; all were
affected equally.

The unity that remains in Gaza, after one of the most horrific genocides in
modern history, should serve as a wake-up call. The narrative that
Palestinians are divided and need to “find common ground” has proven false.

With the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank aiding Israel’s war on
Jenin and other refugee camps, the old notion of political unity through a
merger of the PA and various Palestinian factions is no longer viable. The
reality is that the fragmentation of the Palestinian political landscape
cannot be solved through mere political agreements or negotiations between
factions.

A different kind of unity has already taken root in Gaza and, by extension,
across Palestinian communities in occupied Palestine and the rest of the
world. This unity is visible in the millions of Palestinians who have
demonstrated against the war, chanted for Gaza, cried for Gaza, and
developed a new political discourse around it.

This unity does not rely on talking heads on Arabic satellite channels or
secret meetings in expensive hotels. It needs no diplomatic talks. Years of
endless discussions, “unity documents” and fiery speeches only led to
disappointment.

The true unity has already been achieved, felt in the voices of ordinary
people who no longer identify as members of factions. They are Gazzawiyya.
Palestinians from Gaza, and nothing else.

This is the true unity that must now form the foundation of a new discourse.

*-Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of the Palestine Chronicle.
He is the author of five books. His latest is ‘These Chains Will Be Broken:
Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons’. Baroud is
a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global
Affairs (CIGA) and also at the Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC).*
<https://english.palinfo.com/opinion_articles/dear-world-this-is-what-palestinian-unity-looks-like/#>
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