Your Steadfastness is a Victory Our Respect for the People who Spread Hope and Know no Defeat

Almost two years ago of wanton destruction, merciless bloodshed, endless massacres, and the stench of rivers of blood and gunpowder. Twenty months of desperate attempts to enforce the illusion of dominance through brutal force, only for the scene to turn completely upside down. An occupation stuck deeper than ever before, and a world that sees, records, and judges.

Today, after all the hatred, killing, and starvation – all of you people of misery and barbarism stand exposed, naked before the world. Neither your propaganda nor your false statements can conceal a simple truth: killing and oppression have not, and will not, achieve victory over a resistant people. You have been exposed and everyone is witness to what you have always tried to conceal.

And despite all the fuss and propaganda, you failed to eliminate the resistance; instead, it has gained more acceptance and trust among its people. The so-called “security” you promised has never come; instead, the land has become more inflamed. You also failed to impose so-called “complete dominance”; instead, you discovered that your weapons are powerless before the will of a nation that refuses to relent.

Today, all the images of destruction, the shattered remnants of life, the bodies of martyrs, and the UN reports detailing war crimes, have shown the world that you are an entity guilty of the most dreadful oppression and most vile racial discrimination. Your propaganda and myths about being “The Only Democracy” have collapsed into a bad joke, exposed by camera lenses and testimonies of independent organizations. 

You are now consumed with political disputes, locked in fierce internal conflict, with mutual accusations among your criminal leaders. Even your army and security establishment are no longer unified. Disputes dominate the landscape, and the false foundations of your illegitimate project are collapsing from within.

Haven't two years of blood and destruction been enough for you to realize that occupation is a losing venture? Haven't thousands of lives been lost enough for you to be convinced that military solutions using iron and fire lead to nothing but more anger and hatred? Isn't it time for you to realize that the solution only comes through recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people of self-determination, and their right to freedom, sovereignty and national independence?

You have to realize that the continuation of this madness will only isolate you further on the global stage. It will only increase your political and moral losses.

As for our heroic people, they have proven in every inch of their land that they are a people who cannot be defeated. A people who rise from the rubble, who plant seeds of hope amidst destruction, who build their freedom anew every day. The occupation once wagered on time, claiming that the old Palestinians will die and the young will forget, but time is no longer on your side. With every day that passes, your failure multiplies, and the truth becomes even clearer. 

By Talal Abu-Ghazaleh