Is there a more precious blessing than freedom? While variations of the slogans related to freedom to pursue a dignified “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” appear in several of the most significant documents in various parts of the world, from the French Revolution to the US Constitution, it seems to be elusive for people of the Middle East. For almost a century, organised colonial terrorism has deprived millions of Palestinians from some of basic human rights, most significantly the right to live with dignity on their own homeland.
While many in the international community are pushing the narrative of normalisation between Arab nations and Israel, the occupation force in Palestine, I would argue that there are three reasons that make normalisation a loss for all present and future generations, and a failure of justice and of upholding international humanitarian laws.
Normalisation of demonisation
Controlling perceptions about other people’s own stories and narratives is an evil act of character assassination. Millions of innocents, children, women, and men are branded as anti-Semites and terrorists for voicing their views against Israel’s state sponsored terrorism. Jewish critics of Israel are cancelled as self-hating Jews, Christians critical of Israel as are branded as anti-Semites, and Muslims and other called terrorists and terrorist sympathisers.
Normalisation of toxic supremacy
While Israel is promoted as the Middle East’s only democracy, it wreaked havoc and used assassinations and systematic rape and killing since its foundation by armed gangs in 1948. For forty years, no nation in the Arab world that has signed any type of treaty is socio-economically better off. Neither Egypt, nor Jordan enjoyed any advantages being neighbors with Israel nor any other nations that signed any other form of treaty. The most dangerous thought that Israel exported to the region is that Israelis are religiously and racially superior to others hence others should accept being subjugated by Israel.
Normalisation of senseless violence
Post-World War II in 1945, the world said never again, to genocide and ethnic cleansing. In reality, standing on the fence instead of making a moral stand supporting oppressed groups such as Palestinians is still common. Thirteen million Palestinians face physical imprisonment in their ancestral homes and as intergenerational refugees all over the world.
Gaza is a prison, forty-two kilometers of basic homes with 24/7 surveillance, humiliation and deprivation of pursuing proper health, education, and movement. Imprisoning more than two million human beings to subjugate them to a superior race is the ultimate insult to our legacy as human beings all over the world.
The day will come when our children and grandchildren will wonder why we feared speaking up and lending our voice to the hundreds of thousands of dead Palestinian children buried under the rubble of bombs made by the same people who said never again.
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