▲지난 24일 호주 시드니에서 교사와 학생, 지지자들이 팔레스타인 지지 시위를 벌이고 있다.
EPA/연합뉴스
현재까지 팔레스타인인 1만 2천 명이 살해당했으며 누구도 이 대량학살을 막을 수 없다. 가자지구는 현재 마실 수 있는 물도 없고, 음식과 연료에 접근할 수 없다. 병원에 남은 게 무엇이 되었든 이러한 규모의 비극을 감당할 수 없다. 이것은 가자전쟁이 아니다. 이것은 인류애(humanity)에 대한 전쟁이다. 우리는, 그리고 세계는 매일 팔레스타인 어린이들을 실망시키고 있다.
민간인 살해가 아니더라도 대학, 학교, 병원, 주택이 파괴되고 수백만 명이 이주하는 가자지구의 현재 상황은 괴멸 그 이상이다. 지금 우리는 휴전을 촉구하지만 이 대량학살을 목격한 이후 이 세상에서 어떻게 지낼 것이며, 또 앞으로 팔레스타인 어린이 세대들에게 무엇을 전달할 것인가? 이 대량학살의 생존자들은 어디로 갈 것이며, 어디에서 살 것인가?
내가 이 글을 쓰는 이유는 이스라엘이 가자지구 남부에 있는 팔레스타인인들에게 이동할 것을 주문하는 전단지를 뿌리는 와중에 우리 가족이 가자지구 북부에서 남부 칸유니스로 이동했기 때문이다. 당신은 그들이 어디로 가기를 바라는가? 그리고 세상은 우리가 어디로 가기를 바라는가? (역자말 : 이스라엘은 당초 가자시티가 있는 가자지구 북부를 작전지역으로 한정한다는 입장이었으나, 실제로는 가자지구 전체를 작전지역으로 생각한다는 강력한 근거이다. 칸유니스를 포함한 가자지구 남부마저도 전장이 되면 가자 주민들이 대피할 곳은 없다.)
언젠가 휴전이 되면 우리에게 남은 것은 다친 사람들을 돕고 잔해 아래에서 시체들을 찾는 일이다. 지난 40일간 가자 주민들이 살면서 겪은 고통과 트라우마는 이루 헤아릴 수가 없다. 나는 가자지구의 아이들에게 인류애를 믿게 하려면 무엇이 필요할지 확신이 서지 않는다. 그들이 지금 겪고 있는 고통과 앞으로 올 세대들이 겪을 고통을 덜어주기 위해 무엇을 해야 하는지 확신이 서지 않는다.
팔레스타인 사람들은 자신들의 땅에, 우리 조상들의 흙에, 올리브 나무에, 귤나무에, 물에 뿌리를 내리고 있다. <뉴아랍> 란다 압델 파타(Randa Abdel Fattah) 기자는 칼럼에서 전 지구적인 대규모 시위에 대해 "서구의 위선에 맞서, 사람들은 가자지구 편에 서 있다"라고 표현했다.
전 세계의 원주민들(Indigenous people)이 팔레스타인 편에 서서 팔레스타인인들을 지지하고 있다. 우리의 투쟁은 자유를 위한 전 세계의 모든 투쟁과 연결되어 있다. 일명 호주라고 불리는 애보리진과 토레스 해협 제도에서부터, 미국이라고 불리는 거북섬과 서파푸아, 서사하라, 카슈미르, 그리고 오키나와에 이르기까지.
강에서부터 바다까지 팔레스타인은 자유로울 것이다!
아래의 팔레스타인 작가들을 읽고, 참여하고, 팔레스타인 현장 단체와 언론인들을 팔로우하세요.
Susan Abulhawa, Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani, Edward Said, Adania Shibli, Sahar Khalifeh, Mourid Barghouti, Mohammed El-Kurd
[영어원문]
At the time of writing this article the death toll in Gaza continues to rise. Since the 7th of October 2023, more than 12,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army. Nearly half of those are children. 103 UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) staff have been killed, along with 198 health workers and 51 journalists. Since the 7th of October 2023 Israeli forces have already used white phosphorus in military operations on civilians in Gaza and in the south of Lebanon. Since 7th of October 2023, 1.6 million people have been internally displaced within Gaza. Nearly 200 people killed in the West Bank since the 7th of October 2023, even though there is no presence of Hamas in the West Bank.
Every morning we wake up to more killings, bombings of hospitals, bombings of residential areas and bombings of refugee camps.
The world is watching, the international community is watching. Mainstream media coverage about the war on Gaza has been heavily criticised around the world for its bias against Palestinian lives. The reality is that Palestinian lives are not valued, anti-Arab and Islamophobic racism is rife in media circles and among our politicians. The Israeli state have made this task easy by dehumanising Palestinians. Israeli Defence Minister stated, "We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly." Only a few days after that the Israeli Defence Force have stated that "You either stand with Israel or you stand with terrorism" replicating the 9/11 trope of the horrific war on terror led by the United States and its allies in the last two decades.
7th of October, the beginning?
Mainstream media coverage of the events since 7th of October wants you to believe that the conflict between Israel and Palestinian people have started on the 7th of October 2023. That, unprovoked, on October 7th Hamas killed 1,400 people and took 200 hostages. They want you to believe that the events that took place on the 7th of October happened without the following crucial context:
That Gaza is part of the Palestinian Occupied Territories, occupied and controlled by the state of Israel,
Since 2007, Gaza has been an open-air prison, with Israeli land and sea blockade,
Since 2007, and before 2023, Israel have launched four major military operations on Gaza in 2008/9 (with about 1,400 Palestinians killed), in 2012 (273 Palestinian killed), in 2014 (2,251 Palestinian killed) and in 2021 (313 Palestinians killed),
The context that 4 in 10 Palestinians spend time in Israeli jails, and 1,264 Palestinian are currently administrative detainees, under indefinite detention in Israeli jails are numbers that the media is not interested in to contextualise the current conflict.
The context that Israel's military industrial complex has been using the occupied Palestinian territories as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that they export around the world.
Furthermore, the media and the international community want us to believe that what Israel is doing since the 7th of October 2023 is self-defence. However the concept of self-defence in international law does not apply here, as Hamas and Gaza are not a state entity of their own. Gaza is under Israeli occupation and therefore Israel as an occupying state does not have the right of self-defence against the people it is occupying.
Any criticism of the Israeli state is an attack on Jewish people
The Israeli state wants you to believe that if you criticise the state of Israel, you are criticising all Jewish people, and therefore you are antisemitic. This political tool has been used by the state of Israel and its allies to police public debate and to quell protests. To be clear, antisemitism should never be tolerated, like any other forms of racism should be fought and denounced. However, criticising the state of Israel is by no means antisemitic. No nation-state should ever be beyond criticism for its actions, and it is very important to note that the Israeli state does not represent all Jewish people. First because the Israeli's support for their government is at all times low, and second is because Jewish activist communities have been staging protests and calling for a ceasefire all over the world. Our Jewish friends and colleagues are horrified by the genocide that is being done in their name by the state of Israel. Assuming that all Jewish people support the Israeli state and its project of occupation is racist in itself.
The United States alone donates 3.8 billion US dollars in aid annually to Israel. The aid is provided to Israel as the Occupied Palestinian Territory's GDP is 3% or so that of Israelis GDP. Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of United States foreign assistance since World War II. The United States has supported Israel by vetoing at least 53 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions critical of Israel since 1972. The United States today still stands unequivocally in support of the state of Israel as Israel's strongest military and political ally.
12,000 Palestinians killed so far and nobody can stop this genocide. Gaza currently has no drinkable water, no access to food and no access to fuel. Whatever is left of the hospitals cannot cope with the size of this tragedy.This is not a war on Gaza, this is a war on humanity. we, and the world are failing Palestinian children everyday.
Where to from now
Beyond the killing, the destruction of universities, schools, hospitals, homes and the displacement of millions of people in Gaza the current situation is beyond devastating. As we call for a cease fire now, how will we be in this world after witnessing this genocide, what will we tell Palestinian children for generations to come? Where are the survivors of this genocide going, where will they live? As I write this, our family in Gaza have been displaced from the North of Gaza to Khan Younis in the south, while Israel for the last few days have been dropping leaflets asking Palestinians in the south of Gaza to move. Where do you want them to go? Where does the world want us to go?
As the fire ceases as it must one day, what is left for us to do is to help the wounded, and find the bodies under the rubbles. The pain and trauma that Gazans have lived through the last 40 days is unfathomable. I am not sure what we will need to convince the children of Gaza of humanity... what to do to help alleviate the pain they are now living and that they will be living for generations to come.
Palestinian people are rooted to their land, to the soil to the olive trees to the citrus trees, to the waters of our ancestors. As my friend and colleague Randa Abdel Fattah described the massive protests around the globe in her article, "in the face of western hypocrisy, the people stand with Gaza."
Indigenous people around the world are standing by Palestine and supporting Palestinians. Our struggle is connected to every struggle for freedom around the world, from Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander lands in so called Australia, to Turtle Island in so called United States, West Papua, Western Sahara to Kashmir and Okinawa.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
Please Read and Engage with Palestinian Writers, and follow Palestinian organizations and journalists on the ground:
Susan Abulhawa
Mahmoud Darwish
Ghassan Kanafani
Edward Said
Adania Shibli
Sahar Khalifeh
Mourid Barghouti
Mohammed El-Kurd
글 : 라니아 마즈훌라
레바논-팔레스타인 출신의 활동가이자 학자입니다. 관심 분야는 종교, 인종, 문화, 시위, 사회운동 및 난민입니다.
감수 및 번역 : 강원구
한국외국어대학교 중동연구소 학술연구교수로 재직하고 있습니다. 중동 정치와 문화, 아랍어 등을 가르치면서 학생들이 중동에 대한 오해를 풀고 이해의 폭을 넓히는 데 초점을 맞추고 있습니다.)