A Saga of Hypocrisy-Part II: Israel, Palestine, and the US

A Saga of Hypocrisy-Part II: From a Palestinian Perspective

The Israel-Palestine conflict has stretched on for more than 70 years as of today, seemingly with no end in sight. Almost all attempts at achieving peace have failed, which have costed both nations far too many innocent lives. In this series of articles, I shall analyse this conflict from different perspectives, and offer my personal views on how the involved parties can possibly sort out their differences.

In this article, I shall underline what the conflict looks like on the ground through a Palestinian's eyes.

1. Human Rights and International Law

In the international forum, perhaps no other country is as vocal as the United States when it comes to human rights in a war-zone or in an autocratic nation. The US has frequently voiced its concerns about the violations of human rights in the Syrian conflict, in North Korea, and in areas plagued by the ISIL and al-Qaeda.

This is ironic, because the US itself is complicit in a shocking number of human rights violations itself, as I have mentioned in my previous article. It is responsible for a large chunk of the civilian casualties in the Syrian conflict, and US troops all over the world have committed atrocities. It is also responsible for war crimes in the conduct of troops on foreign soil, and in the treatment of POWs and captured terrorists. (Human Rights Watch)

However, the US is also responsible for fostering and supporting a state that has blatantly and openly committed horrendous atrocities, and for giving it the means to do so. The said state is the State of Israel. Israel can be held responsible for almost every war crime and crime against humanity in the book. It is responsible for genocide, displacement of populations, changing of demographics, illegal annexation and settlement, illegal detention, torture, racism, and even piracy, to name just a few. (Chomsky and Pappe, 2010)

In 1948, the Jewish population that emigrated to Israel began to forcefully displace the local Arab populace and settle in the occupied land. Estimates by the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine(UNSCOP) put the number of Arabs in the region encompassing Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip as 68% of the total population, while the Jews constituted around 32% of the total population (UNSCOP Report 1947). Today, according to local authorities, Jews constitute 75.6% of the total population, while Arabs constitute 20.9% of the total population in the region including both Israel and the Palestinian territories (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2008). The ratio of around 2:1 Arabs to Israelis has now fallen to approximately 1:4 Arabs to Israelis.

These numbers are a direct result of the massacres, forced displacement, and deportation of indigenous Palestinians by Israel. And we must not mistake these actions to be those of a nationalistic, fascist government, because these atrocities included popular participation by Jewish civilians themselves. The 1948 Arab-Israeli War included, along with warfare against the belligerent Arab states, warfare against the local populace and the systematic destruction of Palestinian towns and villages.

This program of demographic drift continues even today, but not in Israeli territory anymore, but in the West Bank. However, in the face of strong opposition in the Gaza Strip, the program of demographic change has been replaced by one of extermination. In the book 'Gaza in Crisis', American scholar and analyst Noam Chomsky, while criticizing Israeli policy, quotes an article of the 'Jerusalem Post': "There is absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military operation in Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings." He goes on to quote the Chief Rabbi of Safed, "If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand, and if they do not stop after 1,000, then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop, we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop."

This is just the tip of the iceberg. In order to be able to highlight the actual extent of the situation, I would have to write a whole book, which, to be honest, is beyond my humble capabilities as of now.

2. 'The right to self-determination' and 'the right to self-defence'

The right to self determination and the right to self-defence are two of the most abused rights in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict. There are two ways in which these are abused. Firstly, in order to justify almost every atrocity committed by it, Israel quotes these two rights. "Why is Israel bombing civilians in Gaza?" The answer? "Right to self-defence" "Why is Israel occupying the West Bank?" "The right to self-determination of the Israeli nation" These arguments, after so many decades, seem to be child-like perceptions of memorized answers in an examination. By giving such arguments, Israel gives the appearance of a state with monopoly over these rights. This is clearly an abuse of these rights and their fundamental nature of being available to all in an equal manner. 

The second method of abuse of these rights is their denial to the Palestinian people by Israel. The right to self defence of Palestine is denied by delegitmizing their attempts of self-defence and characterizing them as 'acts of terrorism'. And the denial of the right to self determination is quite evident from the occupation of the West Bank, the displacements, and the denial of independence and sovereignty by Israel. 

Now, while the Israeli hypocrisy is quite evident, so is the American one. The justification of the USA's support for Syrian rebels, Kurdish militias, and Chechen terrorists is the safeguarding and enforcement of the right to self-determination. It goes so far as to defend its little brother Israel with the same argument. However, in the process, the right to self determination of the Palestinian people is conveniently forgotten. Again, this proves the fickleness of American ideals, how easily they are dropped in favor of opportunism and convenience. The USA, which proudly proclaims its commitment to democracy and freedom, supports a state which so openly abuses these very ideals, and gives it the means to do so. In 2006, 'free and fair' elections took place in the Gaza Strip, which were conducted by the US and Israel, in the hope that the relatively weak PLO(Palestinian Liberation Organization) would triumph over the extremist Hamas. On Hamas defeating the PLO in the elections, Israel immediately began a military operation against the population, in order to 'punish' the local population for voting the wrong way', as Noam Chomsky sarcastically writes. This operation included the bombing of clearly 'non-military targets, with civilian infrastructure and administrative institutions being destroyed, along with residential areas, leading to large loss of civilian life. Israel had American support all the way, from political to financial to military. Interesting fact: Israel receives $3 billion in aid annually from the US.


Zionism is a beautiful ideology that was a necessary result of centuries of oppression of the Jewish people. Its founder, Theodore Hertzl, in his various works (among them Der Judenstaat 'The Jewish State') propagated the idea of a homeland for all Jews, a secular and tolerant homeland open to people of all faiths. The present-day Israeli right-wing follows a gross manipulation of what Zionism is meant to be, and has turned Israel into exactly what caused the need for its existence--a modern day Third Reich.

Stay tuned for my article on this conflict from an Israeli perspective (and many more)!