Could a ‘Free Palestine’ truly be free? - opinion

The streets of the West, their college campuses, their public squares and halls of gathering and convening, and their museums and art galleries – all have been resounding regularly recently with the cries, chants and echoes of “Free! Free, Palestine!”

Drums are banged. Streets are clogged. Tents occupy quads. Keffiyehs are waved about. Flags held high. All for the cause of Palestine.

Posters display the words that Nelson Mandela spoke in Pretoria, South Africa, on December 4, 1997, when he said, “our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” And they are echoed and repeated in a cadence that has the protesters, at times, jumping about ecstatically.

Palestine wouldn't be the liberal haven they imagine

Jewish anti-Zionists, including IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, promote an additional slogan, that “Jews won’t be free until Palestinians are free,” creating a symbiotic relationship of supreme intersectionality.

The unfortunate truth for them, however, is that if an Arab Palestine will ever be free, no one in that state will be free.

It is true that the cause of a Free Palestine has grabbed the imagination and enthusiasm of every possible liberal and progressive group and organization. At times, however, some contradictions remain in the campaign that could present, at the minimum, a bit of awkwardness.

For example, how does one demand a ceasefire while shouting “Intifada! Revolution!” at the same time? Then again, pro-Palestine propaganda has rarely been concerned about the rationality of its assertions, not to mention their factual truth.

Do these protesters ever inquire as to the freedoms that will exist in this so-called “Free Palestine”? Have they reviewed its history? Its societal behavior? The ideology of the movements that champion its cause?

According to a May 2 news item in The New York Times, “most of the more than 100 people arrested in the sweep of Hamilton Hall and campus... were women.” As Phyllis Chesler asked in her recent piece in the American Spectator, “why are women in America cheering for Hamas?”

TO HIGHLIGHT the cluelessness that exists, one also could note the photograph snapped at Columbia University by Caitlin Ochs of Reuters. It displays a young woman, keffiyeh-headed, standing among a group of students blocking Butler Library. She is attired in a strapless crop top that bared not only her shoulders and upper chest but her midriff as well. One can only wonder how such fashion would go over not only in Gaza but Ramallah as well.

Western feminism is not a freedom that would flourish in an Arab Palestine; neither is queerism. Regarding whether that’s true, one should have been able to ask Ahmad Abu Marhia, who lived in Tel Aviv until 2022 after escaping from Judea because he was gay and suffering discrimination. But that’s no longer possible, since his beheaded body was located near Hebron that October. 

It was reported at the time that some 90 other Arabs from the Palestinian Authority who identify as LGBT were then living as asylum seekers in Israel. In Israel, to repeat.

Another group calling for a free Arab Palestine are those wishing that their university divest from investments in Israel. Have they any idea what a blow that would be to the health, science and industry advancement that they themselves benefit from?

One of the spokespeople for UCLA protesters added another aspect: “Given that the University of California is founded on colonialism, it’s inherently a violent institution” and therefore is a system linked to both foreign wars.

Is she aware that Arab Palestine itself is a result of an imperialist colonialism? After all, Arabs who came out of Arabia in the 7th century invaded, conquered, occupied and subjugated the Jewish and Christian communities that existed in Byzantine-occupied Judea. They even set about a process of Islamization, too. Is that a basis for freedom?

At New York’s New School, a banner reading “Death to Israel! Death to America! Glory to Palestine!” would seem to be a bit too free with Marxist rhetoric, but is nevertheless indicative of the extreme disconnect-with-reality approach, as well as danger, of those promoting a Free Palestine.

Nerdeen Kiswani of the Within Our Lifetime pro-Palestine group retweeted this message: “We either divest from imperialism or we get fascism. The ruling class is eagerly ushering in fascism at home to defend their fascism abroad.” She doesn’t want to admit that a “Free Palestine” means a very un-free world.

PHILOSOPHICALLY, an Arab Palestine will not be free because it is based on the principle of excluding Jewish national identity and sentiment. It is predicated on a negativism, an outlook of denial. It recalls its historical conquest and occupation and seeks to continue its unjustness, keeping the Jews as an oppressed minority as Jews have been and still are all across the Middle East, with very few exceptions.

Politically, an Arab Palestine will not be free. Neither Fatah nor Hamas are democratic – certainly not the Iranian proxy group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has not held legislative council elections since January 2006 and was himself last elected on January 9, 2005.

The results in any case were rigged and Hamas altered the situation in Gaza by conducting a coup. With Hamas the more powerful force, the first bloodbath to happen in a Free Palestine will be one of an internal civil war.

Socially, the current framework of the Palestinian National Council is one of human rights violations and repression against its own residents. Economically and financially it is an unsustainable polity. Its policies direct all possible funds to terror activities. Reports of embezzlement abound.

Morally, it is based on the false narrative that Jews do not possess any national identity. As a result, Palestinianism is an eliminationist movement that denies Jews any rights other than being a religious group of humans. It engages in genocidal operations, has continuously violated agreements, truces and ceasefires, and will continue to do so.

Can a free Palestine ever be truly free? The answer should be obvious.

The writer is a researcher, analyst, and opinion commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.