Israel-Palestine Mega Fact Check!

Such a claim requires overlooking the fact that Israel has had Gaza in a virtual stranglehold for nearly two decades. How would you feel if you lived in a tiny enclave where you:

• … weren’t allowed to leave Gaza for school, work, business, or family reasons, because the air, sea, and land borders were all virtually closed by Israel?
• … couldn’t farm your land within 1km of the border (where a major portion of Gaza’s farmland resides) because the IDF regularly sprayed it with pesticides and shot at farmers?
• … couldn’t run a business because Israel didn’t allow you to import the goods you needed, goods which have nothing to do with weapons or military use?
• … weren’t allowed to sell your goods outside of Gaza, because Israel blocked most exports in order to severely limit the economy?
• … couldn’t fish for days at a time due to the IDF closing the coast as collective punishment, even though fishing was your main source of food?
• … had to go hungry because Israel periodically limited the entry of humanitarian food aid?
• … couldn’t form a state, because political activists and leaders were regularly harassed or jailed by Israel?
• … couldn’t protest without getting shot at by snipers, such as during the 2018 Great March of Return?
• … had to endure periodic military incursions by the IDF, who bombed your homes, schools, and other infrastructure, even before Oct 7^th 2023?

As Harvard scholar Sara Roy noted, in November 2008 “Israeli officials have confirmed on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge.” More specifically, they aim to keep it “functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis.” The Israeli officials have kept their promise, and the situation in Gaza has significantly deteriorated since then.

If all of this is not enough to provoke a reaction, what is? The lens through which I see October 7^th is this: if someone had their hands around my neck, choking me—though not quite hard enough to kill me—for decades, should it be a surprise to anyone if I at some point chose to hit them back as hard as I could? While it is very difficult to condone what Hamas militants have done on October 7^th, it is not impossible to understand it.

As Gaza researcher Sara Roy presciently wrote in 2011, “The situation in Gaza and the West Bank is wholly unsustainable. If Palestinians continue to be denied what we demand for ourselves—an ordinary life, dignity, livelihood, protection, and a home (in short, freedom)—then violence, division, and decline will intensify. At stake is an entire generation of Palestinians. If they are lost, we shall all bear the cost.”

Source: Hamas and Civil Society: Engaging the Islamist Social Sector (2011) by Sara Roy)