Gaza: Symbolizing the Quest for Justice : Analysis

Title: Gaza as a Symbol of Oppression and Resistance

A conference on International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism was held in Cork, Ireland from March 31-April 2, 2017. I wrote a paper titled “Gaza as a Metaphor and the Right to be Human” for this conference, although I couldn’t attend in person due to health issues. Instead, my husband read the paper on my behalf.

According to feedback I received, my paper generated strong emotions and, as expected, I was accused of being anti-Semitic and a Holocaust denier by one Christian attendee. Additionally, Israeli websites labeled me as a “jihadist” in an attempt to discredit Jewish individuals critical of Israel.

Being accused of Holocaust denial is extremely offensive to me. My mother’s father was killed in Treblinka, one of the most horrific Nazi extermination camps in Poland, and my mother herself was the sole survivor of her family.

Only today, I decided to revisit the text of my paper from 2017, which mostly focused on the 2014 assault on Gaza. Rereading it was an eerie experience, as it reminded me of the current escalating horrors happening in Gaza. Here is the original text of my 2017 paper:

In my paper, I acknowledge that Gaza is not merely a metaphor but a harsh reality deliberately created and perpetuated by Israel. However, metaphors can provide useful ways of understanding complex situations and mobilizing protests. I argue that Israel’s violent attacks on Gaza in recent years have been a crucial political moment, referred to as “the Gaza moment,” which has sparked movements such as student occupations and the call for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel.

By viewing Gaza as a metaphor, it can be understood as a prison, ghetto, refugee camp, and a state of exception akin to Giorgio Agamben’s concept. It is also a testing ground for total control, surveillance, futuristic warfare, and the arms trade. These attacks on Gaza present an apocalyptic vision of disaster capitalism, where America’s “war on terror,” carried out through its proxy Israel, can be seen as a war against the world, targeting “feral, failed cities” in the Third World. Gaza, therefore, serves as a symbol for the global fortress created by the security sector.

Gaza as a metaphor reveals the clash between the civilized West and the perceived dark and barbaric forces of “terrorists” and marginalized groups in the post-9/11 world. It transcends the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and resonates with various struggles for justice worldwide. It allows different marginalized communities to see their own resistance movements mirrored in Gaza, fostering connections and solidarity. For example, the protests in Ferguson against police brutality and racism appropriating Gaza’s symbolism into their struggle.

The metaphor also highlights the limitations and exclusion of indigenous and subjugated people within the discourse of universal human rights, as argued by Paul Gilroy. Gaza represents an extreme attempt to dehumanize an entire group, echoing the Nazi’s use of the term “untermenschen” (sub-humans).

Israeli Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer’s absurd claim that the Israeli Defense Forces should receive the Nobel Peace Prize attempts to whitewash Israel’s crimes against humanity in Gaza. In contrast, Dr. Mads Gilbert, who volunteered at al-Shifa Hospital during the attacks, spoke truthfully about Israel’s cruelty and was subsequently banned from entering Gaza until his death.

The ban is ironic considering the Hebrew slang expression “go to Gaza” is equivalent to “go to hell.” Israel deliberately created this hell. Noam Chomsky referred to Israel’s approach as “calculated sadism,” and Talal Asad described it as “deliberate cruelty” in creating a defense doctrine.

The Dahiya doctrine, an example of this deliberate cruelty, was employed to enhance Israel’s deterrence capacity and rehabilitate its image after the 2006 defeat in Lebanon. This doctrine promoted the disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza.

Gaza also acts as a testing ground for Israel and the US’s high-tech arms trade industry. The Israeli arms industry thrives on the cycle of attacks every two years, using them as showcases for new weapons. This deliberate cruelty is amplified by grassroots racism among the Israeli public and the toxic environment of social media, where virulent racism towards Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims is rampant.

The dehumanization of Palestinians and exclusion from academic/scholarly discussions perpetuate the erasure of their suffering. Edward Said’s influential work Orientalism has been celebrated but his focus on the Middle East, including Palestine/Israel, has been overlooked by many postcolonial scholars. Similarly, historian Nur Masalha explains how the derogatory connotations of the term “Philistine” have survived to this day.

In France, politicians attending dinners hosted by the Representative Council of Jews of France (CRIF) reinforces the perception of Jews as insiders while Arabs Muslims and Black people are treated as outsiders. The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict leads Arab Muslims to identify with the Palestinian plight, relating their experiences of injustice faced in Europe

Source: Aljazeera news: Gaza as a global metaphor for reclaiming justice