Mateusz Demski: Last time you went to Jordan to visit friends. 250 kilometers from the bombed Gaza Strip, right?
Emilia Pluskota: Even closer. That's about 2 hours of driving.
Jordan connects Israel and Palestine over a 200-kilometre line. What is happening in Gaza must be felt strongly.
It is simply a subject that appears all day – at any time and all occasion. I've been in Jordan for 5 years, and I have my second life and friends there. They are not amazed by the attack of Hamas or what Israel is now doing in Gaza. This is the biggest difference between our European position and the position of people from the region. The arabian community in Jordan, but besides in another countries, including the 1 surviving in Europe, has been talking about how this will end since the first day of the war. All knew where Israel was going and how far it could go. They know that due to the fact that they've seen it before. This is not the first bombing Gases.
It is unfortunate that we in the West needed proof in the form of specified a massacre, over 24,000 killed civilians, to wake up and start listening to the voices of people who have been experiencing and observing this for 75 years. This is not a conflict that broke out last October 7.
What about Jordan’s relation with Israel and Palestine?
Jordan is closely linked to Palestine. Culturally, historically and genetically, they are very similar. This full region utilized to be called Transjordania. Both countries usage the Levantin dialect, and the queen of Jordan is Palestinian.
One 3rd of the Jordanian community are refugees and refugees from Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Yemen. The Palestinians arrived there for the first time in 1948, during the first Nakba, meaning the cleansing and resettlement of the Palestinian community erstwhile the State of Israel was formed. Jordan accepted thousands of refugees from that area. At first, they lived mostly in tents, now you can see full districts and cities that grew on the site of makeshift camps.
The city of Gaza before the war. Muath Humaid/Wikimedia CommonsHence, there is simply a deficiency of assurance on the part of Jordan in Israel, who tries to push out others from the West Bank and Gaza. They've seen this movie before – and it was a horror movie. Palestinians were murdered and forced to leave their homes. To this day Israel has not granted them the right to return—not only to the Israeli territory, but besides to the occupied area of Palestine, although it was promised to them.
The reason is simple: while the Palestinian community, which has been in exile since 1948, had at that time 700 000 people, we are now talking about subsequent generations, nearly 5 million people from Palestinian families. If they returned to the West Bank, this would mean a crucial change in the demography of the region. However, Israel cares about the increasing judaic settlements in Palestine due to the fact that it wants to yet occupy its full territory. The constant influx of judaic settlers into the West Bank area is 1 of the main business strategies. 1 of the Palestinian symbols is the key. It's the key to the home that the exiled people took distant from him, hoping they could come back.
Jordan presently supports judicial process (on suspicion of genocide) brought against Israel by South Africa before the global Court of Justice. His final consequence will stay unknown for a long time, but Netanjahu has already publically stated, “No 1 will halt us—not even the Hague.”
On January 26, the Court obliged Israel to halt the public dehumanisation of Palestinians and to take all steps to avoid acts of genocide and to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israel has a work to study its actions to the judges for the next month, after which it will be re-examined. Ben-Gevir, Minister of interior safety of Israel, commented the Court's ruling as an act of anti-Semitism.
Can we even talk about Jordan's engagement in the situation in Gaza?
Many years ago, Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel, although the Israeli government spoke publically many times about the plan of the “Great Land of Israel” which assumes taking over the territories of all Palestine, Sinai, Lebanon, parts of Syria and Iraq, and Jordan. Importantly, Israel officially declared war on Hamas, who, both in Jordan and in many another arabian countries, is besides considered a terrorist organization. Among another things, Jordan and respective another countries did not argue the war against Hamas. However, they argue genocide, violation of the laws of war, global rights, and forced displacement.
The attitude of Jordan was interesting erstwhile Israel bombed another infirmary in Gaza. Although the Israeli government blocked humanitarian supplies and the airspace was closed, the Jordanian authorities sent there 3 aircraft with medical assistance, saying that on board 1 of them is the Jordanian king himself. Most likely, it was a bluff, but Israel did not shoot down those planes – knowingly killing the king would be consistent with the declaration of war.
It is worth noting that the first resolution on the humanitarian pause, which was discussed by the UN, was proposed by Jordan. And then she didn't help. In time, we see that the UN is powerless against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which shows arabian communities how selectively human rights are applied by the West.
After the Hamas attack, the Western planet supported Israel. Now the communicative is changing, Israel is losing global support for the bombing of civilians in Gaza. It's the most bloody armed run in terms of civilian casualties in fresh years.
At first, the voices of those solidaritying with Palestine were considered unbelievable. erstwhile the first news came that Israel had bombed the infirmary in Gaza, the West could not believe – they were looking for evidence. It's been a while, and we know that Israel bombed almost all the hospitals there. We could not believe that he murdered journalists and journalists – meanwhile, he killed more than a 100 of them. We could not believe that anyone would deprive more than 2 million civilians (of which half are children) of access to water and food – Israel did so on the first day of the war, so the Palestinians die not only torn by bombs, but besides from starvation.
Thousands of pictures and videos of dead children, limbless people, people trapped under rubble are sent to social media all day. At the same time, president Biden publically questioned the number of civilian casualties in Gaza, suggesting that Hamas data could not be reliable. The wellness strategy has been under the control of Hamas and the West Bank authorities for years, but even The UN never questioned the integrity data on civilian victims in Gaza.
The list of victims from Gaza, as so far, contains the full name of the deceased person, age, sex and place of residence. It is recognised by the global community, but it does not recognise the president of the United States, who has a immense influence on public opinion.
It is the summit of dehumanization that Palestinians must print on Instagram pictures of their dead children so that the West believes in their suffering. Meanwhile, Biden and Israeli media talking about photographs of judaic children deprived of their heads after the Hamas attack not only lied, but no 1 asked them for evidence. Eventually, the Israeli government officially withdrew from these reports – precisely due to the fact that it had no evidence in the form of photographs.
It is frightening that, even looking at evidence of Israeli violence, so many people in Europe say, "Well, that's war, there are always accidental civilian casualties." In modern wars, the percent of children among civilian victims is not more than 8 percent. In Gaza, children account for 42 percent of the victims. There are no accidents here. And the message that Jordanians, Palestinians and all arabian communities hear is, “It is simply the lives of white people that are worth more than yours.” And as a white European, it is simply a shame.
I think conflicts in the mediate East are usually seen this way. They are happening somewhere very far away, beyond our reach, not within our cultural circle.
I lived in Jordan erstwhile the war in Ukraine broke out. My mom called me, very scared, told me not to come back. I was very excited about it, telling my Jordanian friends about Russia and Putin as the worst evil in the world. And they got a bad taste. They said they didn't support Putin, but that Even more evil is America to them. For Jordanians, alongside whom there is always war (Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen), the top harm in the arabian planet in modern times was done by the United States. They asked: “Putin attacked Ukraine and the planet stopped and what about Palestine?”
In fact, both Russia and America are “the bad ones”. Depending on the geographical location and where we grew up, we have a different perspective. The war in Gaza shows it to us again, but it besides brings to light our racism, prejudice and fact about Western politics, which is inactive colonial. By the way, it shows how much our media doesn't check information at sources and dehumanize Palestinians.
However, there is simply a clear change. The first origin of information became social media, in which it besides happens Information War.
I am very pleased that Instagram, from where food photos were published, has besides become a space for activism. Israel's erstwhile attacks on Gaza or the West Bank had a different response. Now another generation witness this aggression, armed with an net phone. If TVN says 1 thing, and the BBC shows us another, then we have hundreds of Instagram photos that can verify it. We get reports from people who are there. It's not so easy to fool us anymore, hence this abrupt change in narratives.
Israel itself is amazed by this. Propaganda, which worked for so many years, abruptly fell to pieces. The Israeli government spoke to TikTok demanding that he halt promoting pro-Palestinian content. TikTok replied: we don't advance anything, the young are simply clearly propalestine. Israel besides insists on Instagram to block this content, as can be seen in the number of account deletions. But activists and activists are inactive fighting. The European young generation, which stands the strongest in defending Palestinians, are those who have been fed all their education with cognition of the Holocaust. That's why they know genocide so well erstwhile they see it.
The Palestinians and Jordanians themselves noticed this. In Jordan, I saw them give each another phones and watch what protests were held in Brussels, London, Rome. They're happy with these signals. They give them quite a few hope and support, but besides a real sense of perpetuity due to the fact that the force goes from below. In 2 months, public opinion has radically changed course. Already in the Israeli media itself, which are full of propaganda, the most is said that Netanyahu should leave. The information war Israel has already lost.
However, the chaos of information makes it hard to discern the situation. On the 1 hand, people hear about Israel's genocide policy, and on the another hand, about the barbaric terrorism of Hamas, which – even worse – is identified with the full Palestinian community. Let us effort briefly to explain to what degree possible the current political situation in both Israel and Palestine is.
You'd gotta start with this. Why Hamas is in power at all in Gaza. Prior to 2006, president Mahmud Abbas and his Fatah organization had managed the full area of the Palestinian Authority – the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 2006, there were elections during which Israel itself wanted Hamas' victory. How do we know that? It is due to the fact that Israel has prohibited the most favorable of Fatah districts (among another things, all of East Jerusalem). And much of Palestine had no right to vote. And that's something in the Western media that's not even mentioned.
Fatah lost a immense condition in this way, if not a majority vote. Hamas won the election and after the armed struggles in Gaza (Fatah refused to hand over power and tried to fight Hamas) formed a separate Palestinian government. Fatah yet withdrew, but retained the right to manage the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. It is worth remembering this context.
And why did any Palestinians vote for Hamas in Gaza?
These are the people who trusted Hamas as the only political organization to promise revolution and freedom from occupation. Fatahu's governments have not dealt with it at all, the organization is considered a puppet in Israel's hands. That's why this totally desperate, hopeless community voted for Hamas. Sometimes I wonder who I would vote for if the generation of my grandparents, my parents and my own for over half a century had lived in a cage.
So why did Israel let Hamas to take power in Gaza?
Because it's much easier to own a territory that's managed by a terrorist organization than by a world-renowned government. To make it more interesting, after the 2006 elections, Israel supported Hamas backing – in December wrote about this “New York Times” – through Qatar, who in 10 years donated $5 billion to Hamas in Gaza and allowed Netanjah himself to do so. That's the money Hamas got armed with.
Now this is Israel's main argument: Hamas are terrorists, they are animals, they cannot be negotiated with. The disadvantage of this communicative is the fact that any of the accounts of the first released hostages indicated that brigade fighters Al-Qassam treated them with respect: they ate what the militants ate, had medical care and assistance from women who helped them bathe. They besides appeared online films, where you can see how the released Israeli hostages give each another a high-five to say goodbye. It's a storming image of Hamas as ruthless animals. It is crucial to remember, however, that the reactions of hostages and hostages may be mostly dependent on the emotional state and trauma they have undergone. And Hamas' effort to keep a affirmative image is 1 of Israel's strategy to wipe his nose.
Moreover, the evidence of Israeli witnesses who were present at the attack on October 7 indicates that many Israeli civilians were killed by the Israeli army. That doesn't mean Hamas didn't do anything wrong. It only proves that the Israeli version of events cannot be uncritically relied on. Just like erstwhile Tel Aviv claimed Hamas' armed forces were hiding under the hospital, and showed us the Arabic calendar on the wall as evidence of their presence. erstwhile he shared images of Palestinians holding arms—which Israeli soldiers put in their hands under threat of death, to take propaganda photos. They did not think that the full situation was filmed and made available on Instagram.
This shows how unpunished the government of Israel feels – and this should origin us to distrust everything we have heard about this conflict so far.
Israel's tactics are not precisely a mystery. Just perceive to Netanjah's statements a twelve days ago, erstwhile he announced a “long war”, conducted with full force, until there would be no place for half-measures.
One of IDF's strategies is to flood Hamas tunnels with seawater and bomb house. The Israeli government knows that is where the hostages are. The presumption that they would drown Hamas militants is clear from the fact that they would besides drown kidnapped Israeli civilians. A twelve days ago, the Israeli armed forces shot 3 Israeli hostages in Gaza, confusing them with the “danger”. The hostages ran out to them half-naked, cried for help, waving a white flag. 2 of them were killed at the scene, 1 shot and struck after a while. This tells a lot about how so many victims in Gaza – soldiers did not consider them a threat, they considered them Palestinian civilians they wanted to kill. They just made a mistake.
Netanjahu himself late said he was arrogant that he never allowed the legitimacy of the Palestinian state. All peace offerings were sabotaged by him – although most frequently it is heard that Palestine rejected them. Of course, she rejected, as no of these proposals provided for a definitive end to the occupation, no guaranteed Palestinians safety or the right to return. Netanjah never cared for peaceOnly to manage fear. The only reason that power persists is due to the fact that it constantly repeats, “I am the only leader who will defend you from the Arabs.”
Meanwhile, 1 year before the Hamas attack of October 7, Netanjahu was warned of the terrorist group's plans, but underestimated the threat. To this day, there is speculation in Israel as to why he did not prevent the massacre. This is 1 of the reasons why Israeli civilians request Netanjah's departure from power. This 1 responds to all charges at his address: “The time for settlement will come only after the war.”
Recently, David Azoulai, head of the Council of Metulla, a local government in northern Israel, stated in 1 of the interviewsthat all should be disembarked from the Gaza Strip, moved to Lebanon, and the area itself should be empty “as the Auschwitz Museum”. The Hamas attack called the “second Holocaust”. Israel hides specified comparisons, and criticism of its actions calls it an expression of anti-Semitism.
The argument of anti-Semitism was utilized for a long time due to the fact that it worked. Europe has large guilt after what happened to Jews in modern Western history. That is why Israel is the creation that Europe invented and sponsored by the United States. The thought of Zionism has found many supporters among judaic communities around the world, for it promised the safety that this community was deprived of—in a state "to people without land, on earth without people." Palestine was considered land without the people, although, of course, this is an presumption highly false. Europe has, indeed, considered Palestinians to be a "people", but the inferior one, to whom rights do not belong. That's why you could get free of it to make area for settlers. Like in colonized Africa, where local communities were dehumanized by Western invaders, allowing them to legitimize the force they had experienced over the years.
Israel's founding allowed Europe to get free of the "problem" from its own yard. It was in Europe that anti-Semitism was born – and it is worth noting that Semites are not only Jews, but a group of people who talk Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic. Being anti-Semitic means being anti-Israeli, anti-Jordan, anti-Palestinian, etc.
It is dangerous to confuse anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism. president Biden late recalled his message from 35 years ago and said that it was not essential to be judaic to be Zionist. He added that he was a Zionist himself. His thesis explains very well the difference between 1 and the another – anti-Semitism is straight linked to discrimination against Jews, in turn anti-Zionism is simply a dissension on the thought which in modern past is simply a justification for colonial practices and apartheid. Zionists do not represent all Jews, nor vice versa.
The problem is besides that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is simply a conflict of 2 sides that produced their own myths, based on a loose explanation of history. Israel reaches to Bible sources, to the time of Moses, who received God’s tablets with the Decalogue.
I don't want to get into the communicative 2 1000 years ago. I don't want anyone's descendants from a fewer centuries ago to come to my home and say they deserve it. This is not the planet that any of us want to live in. Besides, what is the level of political and humanitarian dialog erstwhile represented at UN meetings Israel says, “But it is written in the Bible that God has intended this land for us.” Imagine a Muslim saying something akin – that the Quran allowed him. I mean, he'd be declared a terrorist right away.
It is simply unacceptable to block religion on specified crucial issues concerning the demography of the resettlement region and possible genocide. How is it different that force against Palestinians is justified due to the fact that Israel is simply a judaic state, and so says the Bible, than muslim jihad utilizing the Quran to accomplish its political goals? If we are fighting muslim terrorism, we should besides be fighting terrorism based on Zionist ideas. And respect the right to life of all civilian people around the planet – not just those whom we consider to be believers in good things or professing our close religions.
The question inactive remains how to solve this situation. Talks have not yet affected the situation in Gaza, where fighting does not weaken. The King of Jordan claims that peace will not be possible without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The Palestinian Ambassador to Poland reiterates that the only real solution is the two-state solution, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian occupied lands in 1967 and the return to the United Nations resolution.
Officially, the United States itself tends to resolve a two-state solution, and that is the largest bone of disagreement between them and Israel. Netanyahu has 3 goals since the beginning of the war: to destruct Hamas, take over all hostages, destruct rocket launchers. Then she'll wonder what's next. no of these objectives have yet been achieved, showing that Israel has no strategy. Netanjahu initially mentioned that after the war Gaza would not be managed by either Hamas or Fatah. late Officially rejected a two-state solution and stated that it would not let the legitimacy of the State of Palestine and intends to strengthen military control in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Israeli improvement companies are already publishing plans to build beach houses in Gaza. And the U.S. continues to supply Israel with weapons and thus support military actions aimed mainly at the civilian population.
Al-Shif infirmary in Gaza City. Effects of Israeli Bombing, 11 October 2023. Photo: Atia Darwish/Wikimedia CommonsIn fact, a two-state solution is at the minute the only 1 that has the possible to guarantee the safety of both sides – which will, of course, be hard and is complex social engineering. What to do with judaic settlers who live in the West Bank on settlements erected by the occupier? Many of them have been given home after a displaced Palestinian household demanding the right to return. judaic settlement in the Palestinian territories was a conscious (and illegal) procedure that was to make the two-state solution hard from the start.
Consider, too, how many Hamasites Israel has killed over 100 days and how many he created. In the Hamas brigades of al-Qassam, a crucial proportion of members are persons who were orphaned during Israeli bombings in Gaza. It was mostly young men who lost everything that frequently pulled their families out of the rubble. They have nothing to lose and want revenge on their torturers.
Terrorism doesn't come from the air. Hamas grew stronger not due to the fact that he promised death in the name of Allah, but due to the fact that he promised freedom and taking matters into his own hands. In Gaza, there are fighting people who, after 75 years of the business of Palestine, see that they cannot trust on global law and that Israel never bears any consequences—even if these laws break. It's not the arabian mentality, most people would feel the same way about it.
The so-far repeated attacks on the civilian population in Gaza, which have lasted for many years, and the expanding force in the West Bank have brought Israel absolutely nothing good. The Hamas leaders who sit in elegant suits at a hotel in Qatar, a fewer kilometres from the U.S. military base, eating caviar, are gaining on them. They are the ones who get transfers from sympathizers from all over the world, due to the fact that their organization built on the victims of the business grows stronger.
Disarm Hamas is worth it and it could be done the same way as it dealt with al-Qaeda – starting with Osama bin Laden, that is, from the head. Americans know how to do it. Israel seemingly also, due to the fact that on the 88th day of the war, he directed a surgically precise attack on 1 of the Hamas leaders who resided in Beirut, Saleh al-Arouri. You can, you just gotta want.
The bombing of civilians and the years of occupation, racism and apartheid only results in more militants coming alone. If there's oppression, there'll be resistance.
So you think you gotta fight for a two-state solution?
Yes, although it will be a hard and likely long process. But since the West has succeeded in creating the State of Israel, he should be equally actively active in the peace process that will guarantee the safety of both him and Palestine. It is actual that no 1 in the West has settled for colonialism – it is advanced time this happened.
As for who should manage Palestine: it is worth asking the Palestinians themselves. due to the fact that they should be the ones who have an impact on the future of their country. And Netanjahu must go.
**
Emilia Pluskota – a documentaryist and cultural investigator rooted in global education. manager and executive maker of the documentary movie Jina, telling the communicative of Iranian women participating in the revolution against the muslim Republic of Iran under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom”, maker of the documentary Stolen Fish on the exploitation of the west coast of Africa by Chinese fishmeal factories. In his work, he uses cultural anthropology tools and focuses on migration and exile.
Mateusz Demski – writer and movie critic. It publishes, among another things, in the pages of the “Cross”, “Review”, and in the portals Time of Culture, NOIZZ.pl and newonce.net. He has many conversations and interviews with world-winning artists and movie makers, including Bong Joon-ho, Gaspar Noé, Laura Poitras, Ari Aster and Béla Tarrem. He conducts the author's broadcast on OFF Radio Kraków.
