Free Palestine – and then?

You can’t escape the term “Free Palestine” at the moment. It is literally everywhere, on walls, flyers, on Social Media and on the streets. And basically, there’s nothing wrong with it. A free Palestine and dignified Palestinans are necessary and morally obligatory.

But especially in the Western sphere you cannot not recognize the dramatically huge gap between the demand of a free Palestine and ideas, of what such a free Palestine actually would look like. “We can not fight for our rights and our history as well as future until we are armed with weapons of criticism and dedicated consciousness” Edward Said once wrote. But it seems, that these weapons are exclusively aimed at Israel and the entire west where they also should be directed at the Palestinian territories as well.

Currently, the British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie stated in an interview that a current free State of Palestine would be a state of Hamas and so, radical Islamism. Not to get Rushdie wrong, he’s a long time supporter of Palestine, but he lacks the optimism, a lot of (self-proclaimed) activists currently display.

To point at it a bit polemically, Palestine in a western activist sphere appears to be a queer, climate friendly and leftist paradise, and, according to Postcolonial studies, morally integer due to its colonial influence. As said, these are polemically transported statements, but this is the impression left, especially when scrolling through Instagram and TikTok. Of course, “Free Palestine” is a slogan quickly said, summing up a political stand and also, a world view. But what comes next? Usually, the sharepics that are played into my feed are full of accusations towards Israel, info slides about historical and current tragedies, but overall it’s dramatically lacking a future vision of what Palestine should actually be. And thus, it turns a blind eye on the domestic issues in these territories. The same applies for Palestinians in other neighboring countries, especially Syria, Egypt and Lebanon, where Palestinians are stripped off of basic human and civil rights and suffer from a two-class society structure. Nevertheless, critique aimed at these countries is rare or even non-existent.

The current focus on Gaza, besides all the horrors and violence of war, usually points at Israel and, in part, for a good reason. The legal review of this war is going to take an eternity and the Netanyahu cabinet definitely must face legal prosecution due to observable war crimes. But on the other hand, while Gaza is portrayed as more or less innocent victim of an incomparably greater war machine and Hamas and Islamic Jihad militias as “resistance fighters”, it misses the bitter and cynical logic of the Hamas regime: on the one hand, the three leaders of Hamas, Haniyeh, Mashal and Abu Marzuk alone hold a wealth of around 11 Billion US-Dollars. Further, Hamas receives financial aid from Iran, annually around a 100 Million USD, plus 33% of the Palestinian Authorities tax income and arbitrary taxes on the Gaza population, estimating up to 450 Million USD a year. In addition, several donations are flowing in as well. At the same time, the Hamas has a military budget of around 350 Million USD annually while 53% of Gazans live in poverty, 39% of men and 74% of the youth are unemployed, the annual GDP is just 1.257 USD. It should be obvious, that the Hamas regime is primarily a fortune generator for its own executives and has no substantial interest in the well being of the population in Gaza.

On the other hand, it should be obvious for years already, that Gaza turned into an Iranian branch, focused on regional influence and proximity to Israel (same for the Houthis in Yemen, which caused one the most devastating famines in an Arabic country besides Sudan). All statements of solidarity and support are more or less shallow statements to deceive the strategic exploitation of the strip. Serving this purpose, Hamas installed a regime of strict law enforcement, including abductions, torture and death penalties. Further, journalists are censored and independent activism is surpressed dramatically.

The almost same applies for the West Bank and its control by the Palestinian Authority. There’s practically no independent opposition outside the PLO, journalists cannot report critically on the PA’s issues and corruption is a widespread problem. To put it in one sentence: The Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank are stuck between a rock and a hard place. This applies in particular for LGBTQ activists in the West Bank and Gaza. According to the monitor organization “Equaldex”, Palestine has an overall rating of 22 out of 100 equality points, putting it on place 146 of 196. Concerning LGBTQ+ rights, there’s still much work to do, but when it comes to criticizing Palestinian queer policy, it turns deafeningly silent.

But according to the core critique of this piece, an immediate free Palestine, dismantled from Israeli settlements and violent settlers (which is necessary anyway) and Israeli law enforcement and surveillance would open the doors perfectly wide for the already ongoing nepotism, extremism, corruption and an arbitrary law enforcement. Militarization, terrorism and anti-liberal movements are also factors, that put extra pressure on the Palestinian society and do not allow a constructive independent movement to thrive. The current situation of corruption and nepotism is way too valuable for the few, to the disadvantage of the many.

“On the one hand, people are to be given the impression that their personal interests are best served if they join the large, corrupt, bureaucratic and repressive apparatus of the authorities; on the other hand, they are intimidated and condemned to apathetic silence. The countless assaults, torture, newspaper closures and mass arrests have created an atmosphere of fear and indifference: Everyone only cares about themselves” wrote the already quoted Edward Said in 2000. 24 years later, little has changed for the sake of the Palestinian civil lives, not in the West Bank and definitely not in Gaza. But it needs to be mentioned, that the Israeli pressure took its toll as well. The rock and the hard place in full performance.

So, in order to demand a “Free Palestine”, one must demand a Palestinian liberation from its own corrupted structures and the cynical resistance logic of its militant groups, as they rather aim to destabilize than create a prospering Palestinian society. And according to matters of gender, climate and Postcolonialism, as these struggles are constantly connected to the Palestinian struggle, at least one critical eye should be directed at the current state of these matters in Palestine. We definitely should listen, what Palestinians have to say and they should also count on our support, but not for the sake of their own oppression under a regime, that might be free from Israel, but not from its own corrupted structures.

For the sake of humanitarian issues, for a stable and prospering Palestinian society and a stable Middle East, critique and in-depth research is mandatory, at least for the westerners claiming to demonstrate for Palestine. The issue is complex, horrifying and tough, and Israels involvement is definitely a matter of critique. But it should be reminded, that there are only a few Palestinians who would benefit from a “free” Palestine under these current regime and structures.