The unrelenting Israeli bombardments, siege, and ground invasion of Gaza and the ever-increasing settler violence and military raids occurring in the West Bank in recent weeks cannot leave us either indifferent or silent. As we watch the news every day, it is evident how easily the profile of the Palestinian ‘terrorist’ has been created and manufactured, completely erasing the other side of the story.
The people of Palestine have been oppressed for the last 75 years by Israel, forcefully occupying their lands, stealing their homes, and killing innocent people. The patterns are clear, it is always the ruling powers of this world that wash their hands of such acts.
These patterns of the colonial playbook make it easy to draw connections, for example, to the local situation in Greece. This aggression will likely create a huge wave of displacement of the Palestinian people since they have no possibility to escape or travel otherwise. Palestinians have already used migration routes through Greece, and now, as more Palestinians have lost their homes, their jobs, and their families, they will continue to experience criminalization in the Greek and EU courts for escaping genocide. Criminalized at home and criminalized abroad, the only rhetoric given to their plight is that of dehumanization.
Instead of looking at the root of the problem, the majority of global populations, at least in Greece, have simply identified the Palestinian struggle with terrorism. But these people are hoping for their liberation from the Israeli occupation. A liberation that they have been waiting to experience for so many years. To be able to travel freely, to be able to walk the streets freely, to not have to be afraid to go to school, or to work, and to their families.
We have to stand with all of them, and we will, for a free Palestine!
