The chilling act of distancing in proximity within a live genocide; benumbing of human senses. A personal analytical narrative as a viewer Participant.
Distancing is a survival mechanism we all learn through experience, at times innately, the connotation of it being negative or positive is determined by context; learnt perceptions and responses to distancing from threat be it cultural or social; and it is both individual and group experience, often feeding on to one another is a circular fashion only to be broken when the stimuli or context evoking the act of distancing disappear or looses it strength to evoke a response.
Distancing often can be physical
or mental or combination of both, it is possible we as individuals may learn to
give preference for one over the other, this choice can be personal, cultural,
survival or all of these combined. For example, there is often a saying when
faced with threat the response could be either fight or flight, within this
example there is a common factor that is the act of distancing. When we decide
to flee, we acknowledge our fear or the threat and decide distance would bring
safety and security. When we decide to stay and fight, we are not immune to act
of distancing, for when we decide to fight, we have to distance ourselves from
fear, to be fit enough to fight.
While we opt for physical
proximity, we still do practice the act of distancing mentally, we do so when
we strategize, make the various plans, identify the resource and time needed,
check for vulnerabilities at every stage, makes change as per responses, and
deal with success or failure. The distancing when we fight is as much survival
as it in when we flee, the distancing when staying and fighting is mental, but
the threat is close and physical, we have a mental association to threat which may
be fleeting and short but the sense of threat is present, often it is integrated
within our minds and our senses adapt to it, thus when plans fail it is possible
for our senses to perceive a different option.
Interesting part of fleeing, even
as we flee, we carry our fear within us even when distant from the actual
physical source of fear, the mental image(s) of fear gets so close to
ourselves, or our inner self that fear loses it distinct or differentiating
image, fear totally merges with us. Our fear lays in slumber till one day
suddenly some experience, image, reaction gives it life and momentum, to
confront us once again. The extent to which we have dealt with our fear, been
aware of its existence and impact, may determine our response.
In case after flight, we let fear,
the object or instance of fear determine our identity especially without a goal
that can release us from our fear, without realising it we would have given
fear the upper hand and let fear overpower our identity and individuality. The
very basic individuality and identity which ensures diversity of human race and
its survival.
It is possible that we may
transfer our fear away from object of threat or subject of threat and we may transfer
or displace it to many other objects or subjects, the transference may be based
on similarity or differences, often the transference may be filtered with a sieve
of power separating what we can deal with and what is beyond us or have to be
tackled in a layered manner. When power and transference happen, it could lead
to our complete mergence with new version of threat of fear, and after
transference there may be acceptance of earlier object or subject of fear for
we perceive or acknowledge their power is pertinent to our survival.
At the same time the earlier fear
now being transferred to objects and subjects we claim to fear and yet we
acknowledge we have power over these objects or subjects that we fear, because of
force we possess, access and capacity to use weapons of destruction or mass destruction.
Now we have slowly journeyed to a spot in our life, where transferred fear is
part of our survival reality, our existence, our fear becomes our identity, not
just as individual or group but as a state or nation itself. This is
probably the reality that governs Israel today, military is not just about
security it is a way of life, it is part of social interaction, social
networking, communication, socialisation, education, occupation, religion,
culture, music, art, and all aspects of personal reality.
The question is can Israel be beyond fear, as it has ensured flight and then fight against fear, by nurturing fear in very aspects of individual, group and societal narrations, institutions both formal and informal, social networks, institutional network, within family and extended families, communities, institutions of justice at all levels, institutes for implementation of justice; to the extent that it has permeated into how Israeli society can address issues of dealing with dead bodies of Palestinians who are perceived of source of threat or can be imagined as sources of threat in future by their lives being inspiration for other Palestinians.
The fundamental question can Israel ever be secure or free? My answer,
No! For even in the most secure place, Israel would be holding on to Fear, for
that is the only security blanket it has learnt and integrated, the defence
both as prevention and attack strategy, that it is aware of. Hence, in my
understanding it will never know or experience freedom or security in the true
sense.
This article is not about Israel
but about Palestine that refused to flee and stayed. When it stayed it not only
went through distancing in the mind, it also took the entire world connected on
net through the journey, since October 2023. The acts of war crimes, acts of
inhumanity, and genocide are no longer alien to the viewers across the globe,
our brain have been imprinted upon over and over again with darkness humans are
capable of. This is a sad reality, for as we watched we became desensitized to
varying degree, we got beyond revulsion, enough to watch and experience the
shared pain of shame of being immobilised, being allowed to only suffer and not
respond, a state not unfamiliar to many civilian Palestinians, be it from any
walk of life or age group; all that we as viewers could do is to protest,
assert for human consciousness and the rights of alienated population in Gaza.
Our protest across the world in person and words met with resistance from
Government in power, for most countries have some dealings with Israel be it
for trade or military purposes.
This analytical piece is to
understand the complex reality of Palestinians as a viewer and a person who
asserts the basic right of Statehood of Palestine, a Statehood which could have
prevented the present reality of Genocide. A statehood would have given a
conceptual and real space for identity and sovereignty not just in case of
military or security, but in case of financial management of resources,
governance, sustainability and focusing on human development outside the
clutches of fear and criminal surveillance 24X7. The basic fundamental
sovereign right of Palestinians was denied in the name of Security for Israel
based on its fears historically transferred, myth of historical right over land
beyond international laws and human rights of Palestinians; as a result
invasion of Palestine by Israel was ignored by the West, that could identify
more with Jews than Muslims and Islamic way of life.
Palestine existed and exists
whether UN acknowledged it or not or US decided to use its military to
facilitate invasion and genocide. According to US Code the presence of Israeli
soldiers who are double citizens and hence US citizens as well, their presence
in Palestine is an enough indication that invasion has happened. It is through
Tech based Military colonialism that Israel managed to an open-ended criminal
occupation time line with scope for criminal surveillance of Palestinians.
In this narrative I am taking one
case and would like to indicate how it plays out and how it could be impacting
our minds in way we have not focused on.
Amina, a child was killed as a
result of direct hit from a drone and the entire incident was caught on camera
and published on line. According to her
father Ashraf al Mufti, Amina went to collect a gallon of water as he was
unwell and he had no one else to depend on to get water for the family. His
son, Mohammed who suffered from head injury was under medical care in a
hospital. He was in a critical condition, injured by a quadcopter that dropped
a bomb on him. His daughter realising there is no water said she would fetch
water, Ashraf al Muti says he was so ill, he could hardly speak and so could
not prevent his daughter from going out to fetch water.
According to him, his daughter’s
attack was a direct hit with a missile and when he heard the sound of attack he
did wonder whether daughter was killed. Then when Amina did not return home,
Amina’s mother got worried and she went and checked with hospital reception,
whether any injured girl had been brought for care, a girl carrying a jug of
water. The hospital staff said they did not receive any patient with that
description. They further clarified; A girl was brought in but she was dead.
Amina went to check the deceased person and realized her daughter had been
killed, under shock she kept screaming.
The Father says, he was angry and
upset, what did his daughter do to get killed in such cold blood? “She was
bringing water for me to drink; she was so tried she could barely carry the
gallon of water”. He then asked others help to bury her body, some kind peopled
buried her body in a destroyed home near Kamal Adwan Hospital, so we did not
have to risk going far as it is dangerous. She had a temporary grave. Then the
Palestinians were forced to go to West Gaza, after waiting for around two
months, when there was a temporary ceasefire so the father went back to his
daughter’s temporary grave. He dug her out, took her bodily remains to the
cemetery for burial. “She was the light of this family, they took her away, as
they did take away other children before her”. He says he was international
protection from such tyrants.
a) Psychological level of terrorising
and the act of distancing:
Ever prior to October 2023,
Palestine has been facing the might of Israel on a daily basis almost 24X7,
more so when the dared move out of their allocated space with entrance and exit
managed by Israelis. The humiliation, the sense of helplessness, the necessity
to beg for the gates to be open so that medical needs of loved ones can be
attended too, losing a loved one because of delay at check point, watching
helplessly or having one’s screams of protest ignored or silenced as soldiers
pick up one’s child for question with no papers provided or rights adhered too,
waiting to receive the deceased loved ones’ bodies, continuing to hope in spite
of decades passing by, living on rationed food and water, knowing very well
that both are monitored to ensure that they the Palestinians are aware the
threshold of tolerance to provide bare minimum can change for the worse at the
drop of a hat.
Palestinian lived this difficult
situation only because of their capacity to distance themselves from the acts
of cruelty by Israel and focus on self-empowerment, supporting community
feeling and identity, and continuing to build resilience to ensure that
statehood of Palestine wouldn’t remain a dream. It is within this reality of
trying to maintain a distance from the all-powerful Israel or the fear
associated with Israel, that Israel threw psychological bombs of terror, along
with actual missile, bombs, shrapnel, sniper shots, bull dozer attack and
notices announcing orders for displacement.
Israel’s psychological terror was
aimed at breaking the resilience of Palestinians, which meant making distancing
from source of threat an impossible reality. When Israelis ensured they dropped
leaflets that at times seem riddles about possible safe spots and secure
routes, it was not just administrative attempt to pretend to care but a cold
calculated efforts to create chaos within Palestinian strategies for survival
and resilience.
A different kind of Russian
Roullet that is what Israel enforced on Palestinians, they were given safe
passages that were not safe, but the choice to an extent was theirs whether
they stayed, moved or stayed on the way. But time made it clear, all choices
could be unsafe, it could happen to a group, a family, an individual, child and
even an infant cradled in loved one’s arms.
No matter what western media and
western government may say Israel and Israeli society is in a very dark place
to think through such darkness and act upon it. Israel seems shocked at the
number suicide among Israeli soldiers and thousands suffering from mental
health issues, but actually I am surprised at how can the numbers be so low. To
what extent have the Israeli soldiers desensitised themselves to feelings of
humanity that after either facing or carrying out war crimes of such heinous
nature for last almost two years they are able to still deal with life in a
normal manner. It raises the question, what is normality?
Palestinians still kept mentally distancing
themselves from Israel power to destroy, they did it because of community
identity, their faith and their love for their homeland. They distanced
themselves from Israel even when deciding to make choices not in terms of time
of death, but how they would die. Even when Israelis kept bombing Palestinians
as they slept, Palestinians continue to cuddle together and sleep, thinking if
they die let it be together. Some of
them tried to preserve their identity by writing their names or that of
children on their limbs so that their corpse would have an identity and receive
a proper burial. Some other Palestinians separated their children and sent them
to relatives in other spots with the hope that one of them would survive,
Israel’s onslaught. This is not a onetime occurrence but continues for almost
two years, imagine being a live mark on the streets each time one has to move
with one’s family. Each individual on the streets, be it by foot or in some
vehicle all knew anyone at anytime could be mark for either human Israeli
soldier or their killing machine, the quadcopters or drones. Yet, Palestinians
continued to be resilient, continued to hope and held on to their faith, they
believe Allah will show them a way to be in dignity whether alive or dead. With
no weapons but only hope in their heart and faith in their soul the defied
Israeli threat and refused cow down before Israel and US might. They believed
in Allah and in humanity and right to exist. Israel with its military might
believed in right over darkness and to play within it. US President saw it as a
good deal to test the military equipment in live genocide; in fact, they did
make changes in the fighter jet based on manoeuvring capacity within Gaza. The
military industry knows the raw data from Gaza is a gold mine for further
simulation testing of other military equipment.
It is not Israeli soldiers who
were participating in the onslaught, so were UK pilots facilitating
surveillance or American be on the ground, sea or air, besides being part of
planning or strategizing, all knew and accepted that rules when Palestinians are
the enemy would different if the opposition were or Jews. They all shared one
feeling, it is fine there are no red lines, in case public protests there is
only need to assert the myth of Israel’s security and their vulnerability. All
these individuals learnt and imprinted on their mind the ways in which genocide
can be carried out, they accepted it and continued their normal lives when away
from Gaza.
Palestinians who bore the brunt
of Genocide, knew every second, their lives had limited value in the eyes of
the Israeli soldiers or their supporters in the west. They learnt out of fear
or accords the neighbouring Muslim countries did nothing other than makes
statements on and off. Yet, Palestinians continued to assert their right to be
against the might of Tech based military of Israel and US.
Asserting the right to be while
being terrorised, mutilated and made in valid, that is the context within which
Amina’s goes to fetch water. For a father, to accept his helpless and admit he
has to depend on his child for basic need of water is a tough situation,
especially he knows whoever ventures out may not return. Amina’s Parents had to
distance themselves from be a provider, caregiver, from the cultural
expectation and accept they were dependent on their child getting water. There
is probably aspect that played, they assumed a child going to collect a gallon
of water would never been seen as a source of threat. They feel for the lies
Israel keeps repeating Israeli soldiers shoot when they see threat, wrong for
then there would be no genocide. The decision to shoot and kill is not linked
to Israel’s security but to destroy the will of Palestinian people, to make
them feel so helpless that they would accept being displaced and understand the
meaninglessness of wanting a Palestine state. Israel judges Palestine by their
understanding, for Israelis fled and stayed only when they had the support of
US and Europe.
Killing of Amina, like other
Palestinian children is not a mistake, it is direct hit by a drone with total
understanding that it is a child that is the target. This is not to say the
machine understands the act, but even human being involved in creating the
drone and ensuring it can target children (height and weight different from
adults) understood and accepted it as a way of life, every data analyst who
such parameters understood and accepted it was fine to shoot children. It is
not just soldiers but other tech and military industry persons got exposed this
reality and accept, as did all of us as we viewed these acts online, even while
we protested the acts of war crimes, anti-humanity and genocide have already
left imprints on our mind and soul.
In case of Amina, a child
realised that her role had shift to that of taking responsibility, as other
children in Gaza, she had to grow up fast and in very turbulent and dangerous
reality. She had to get beyond fear to get water but she like her parents may
have thought a child would not be seen as a source of threat.
Killing of children like Amina is
not a mistake, or result of misconception that Hamas is around the corner, it a
conscious act by Israeli military to instil fear, communicate no one is safe
and death is around the corner, Israel hopes through frequent association with
all simple acts of survival Palestinian will leave or be willing to be
ethnically cleansed for US President Donald Trump who see business opportunity
even in a genocide, the President stated his desire to see a French Rivera in
Gaza. Strange no American lawmaker so the inhumanity in the statement of US
President, a country supposed to represent Democratic governance.
The most striking picture of live
genocide, was that of Amina’s father watching his daughter being killed by a
drone attack, as she is struggling to carry a gallon of water for the family.
The inhumanity of Israel is written on every second since October 2023.
Israel and US Act of Justice, while the World is Silent?
The West tries to justify everything as retaliation and retribution, no that is a lie, for Palestine is not the Criminal State, Israel is the Genocidal criminal state. Israel has no right for retaliation or retribution but Palestine has that moral right. Israel is aware of it that is why the systematic starvation of an entire Population. Its message is clear:
1. West is under our thumb other
than words they will do nothing; they have not done anything for so long.
2. US is our Funder and US
President the moral motivator who calls out for Israel and says ‘let Netanyahu
finish his job’. That is US Democracy
for all to see. SOCTUS is incapable of questioning the US President either on
local governance or on US breaking international law and US constitution.
3. The aid trucks are kept
outside the border to make it clear to Palestinians and entire world that UN,
UN Security Council and every other agency at the international level are
puppets in the hands of Israel, for it can break any law and those dare to question
Israel will be sanctioned by US. For US believes Israel has the right to commit
war crimes and genocide.
4. The countries in the region
instead of blocking trade to and from Israel just kept bowing to US and Israeli
pressure, even when Israel and US went around dropping bombs as through middle
east is their back yard where they can do what they will and leaders of any
country will never dare question them.
Agreed may be leaders of
countries will move to hold Israel accountable in very slow and restricted
manner. But ordinary people are not tied by politics and nor will they forget
or forgive Israel that has been enjoying the genocide they carry out on Palestinians.
We have been watching you Israel
for almost two years, your smiling lips, your joyful faces, the pride in
destroying Palestine, killing, mocking, maiming Palestinians young and old. We
will remember this forever, Israel you have been screaming antisemitism when
there were only simple taunts against you. Now, it would be an act of
anti-humanity if we ordinary people let you go through genocide unscathed.
Israel you will be on this
Planet, won’t you. We will not rape or murder but we will ensure through words
and deeds make you understand you as Israelis not only destroyed Palestine but
also destroyed any chance for Israel to know peace and security.
Israel, and US through your great
President Donald Trump you taught all ordinary persons across the globe that as
long one has economic, political, military power along with UN Veto power even
a genocide can be carried out with pride as an act of justice. US Code will be
made meaningless as would the international law, human rights law or any treaty
all can be made irrelevant documents and sanctions can be enforced against any
institute or individuals who stand up for justice and rule of law.
Israel and US when we watched
your genocide, you corrupted our minds in more ways than one, you exposed us to
darkness and made us complicit to your genocide for we were immobilised. But
Israel as you will continue to exist in this world, from now on we will wait
for any chance to teach you there is no need for physical wall for an apartheid
system, it can be purely mental, you will know it, feel it and live through it.
When Jews said “never again”
maybe they never realised from within them there would emerge groups that will
convert “never again” to a reality where there is scope across the world there
is the risk of “for always, forever, once again”.
Molly Charles
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