Introduction
In Palestine today we are seeing: innocent men, women and children killed, starved of food and water; denied basic sanitation or medical treatment; and their homes, communities and livelihoods destroyed. This is nothing short of genocide as ruled by the International Court of Justice (ICJ)[ICJ1]. By 19th June the Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) had recorded 37,396 deaths since 7th October, and in July 2024 the renowned British Medical Journal Lancet published a letter[Lancet1] which, based on the above GHM figure, estimates that the total number of deaths in Gaza due to all factors attributable to the conflict is around 186,000.
This web site is intended to provide a few answers for many people who wonder why people are protesting. To this end it includes a short introduction to the historic background of the current troubles in Palestine together with a range of background information. It also includes a small selection of personal stories written by PSC supporters which server to illustrate the diverse range backgrounds and lifelong paths that have formed convictions and brought them together each week to protest.
"If you think that the Palestine troubles started on October 7th 2023, then you have not been paying attention!" - as suggested by a speaker at a recent protest in Lancaster against the Genocide in Palestine. It would however seem reasonable to forgive anyone for this thinking as it has undoubtedly been the dominant message pumped out by much of the mainstream media in places such as Israeli, the UK and the US. Furthermore, this same media has done little to dispel the Israeli myth that the entire cause of the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict should be laid firmly at the door of the actions of Hamas on October 7th. (Please see the section The origins of Hamas which provides a little information about its background).
In reality this Israeli/Palestinian conflict extends well back into the last century with roots in many nations outside of Palestine. A basic grasp of the main points of this history is therefore essential in order to understand the causes and the major injustices that have been inflicted on indigenous Palestinians over the last few decades. It is the aim of this account to impart sufficient knowledge, hopefully at a level that will enable the reader to gain enough basic understanding of the current troubles in Palestine in order to form their own opinion.
Readers should note that from the very start, this conflict has been grossly unequal for the native Palestinians who already occupied the area and whose entire livelihoods depended on the land and their long standing communities. Through no fault of the native Palestinians (which included Jews, Christians and Muslims living amicably side by side as neighbors [Conversation1]), powers external to Palestine channelled many Jewish migrants into Palestine with no consultation with the people already living there. If that was not enough, they also assigned powers to the Jewish incomers over the native Palestinians which effectively made the Palestinians disempowered aliens in their own land. The Jewish migrants came with substantial outside support in the form of money and weapons and were able to set up a powerful army which was used against the native Palestinians in order to forcibly occupy their land and homes. Using brutal force, including maiming and killing, amounted to Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide, both of which are internationally recognised crimes against humanity.[Pappe1] The further displacements of thousands of Palestinians, driven from their homes through fear or through false promises of 'return once things settle' was a further ploy by the Israeli government to displace Palestinians and steal their property. In 1950, two years after the State of Israel was established, the Absentee Law was established. The 'Israeli Absentee Property Law 1950' is the main law in a series of laws that regulate the treatment of property belonging to Palestinians who left, were forced to flee, or were deported during the 1948 War.
"Israel is not a state of all its citizens... but rather, the nation-state of the Jewish people and only them." Israel's then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (message posted online in March 2019)
These Palestinian refugees left behind a great deal of property and the Absentee Property Law has served as the legal basis for transferring such property into the possession of the State of Israel. Furthermore, Israel's Law of Return (1950), gave Jews from anywhere in the world the right to automatically become an Israeli citizen, whilst conversely not allowing the thousands of displaced, indigenous Palestinians their citizenship or their right to return to their property. These atrocities continue to this day across Palestine; the most recent examples include Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem (2022). An entire street of Palestinian family homes were appropriated with the uprooted families made refugees on their own land.
"For more than 73 years, Israel has been forcibly displacing entire Palestinian communities. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians' homes have been demolished, causing terrible trauma & suffering. More than 6 million Palestinians remain refugees, the vast majority of whom live in refugee camps including outside of Israel/OPT. There are over 100,000 Palestinians in the OPT and another 68,000 inside of Israel at imminent risk of losing their homes, many for the second or third time." (Amnesty International, 2022)
Moreover, looking at the siege over Gaza and tight military control over the West Bank, it is evident that even before the events of October 7th, Palestinians lived as second-class non-citizens in an apartheid society controlled by Israel. A few brief examples of this apartheid structure include:
- modern new roads which can be used by Israelis but not Palestinians;
- limitations on travel and movement by Palestinians but not Israelis; restricted areas for Palestinians but not Israelis;
- higher costs of resources such as water for Palestinians;
- different judicial courts - civilian court for Israelis) versus military courts for Palestinians;
- the separation wall etc.
Even Arab Israelis (Palestinians who are now part of Israel after 1948), are treated as second class citizens and are not allowed to build on their land or travel without asking permission via several different permits. Permits that can be denied or revoked at the whim of Israeli officials.