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What will the future hold for the Palestinians?

Viktor Mikhin, January 31, 2025

The killing and destruction have only led to the disgrace and collapse of Israel: its prime minister is wanted for war crimes, and the country itself is facing charges of genocide in the world’s highest court.The Future of the Palestinians

Gaza is a narrow strip of land inhabited by approximately 2.4 million people, 70% of whom are refugees. The very existence of this place serves as a constant reminder of the tragedy that befell the Palestinian people.
Only Israel’s sincere repentance can lead to peace and tranquility finally reigning in this long-suffering land

Israel and the West continue to deny their right to justice, self-determination, and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine.

A Bit of History

Eight refugee camps in Gaza have been completely destroyed by Israel in the past 15 months. More than 90% of the population in the strip have become refugees as a result of the brutal war unleashed by Israel. The humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip will persist for many years to come.

Israel is violating fundamental human rights and international law in Gaza, which will haunt it and its inhabitants forever.

Before the rise of Hamas to power in 2007, Gaza was a security nightmare for Israeli leaders and the military, particularly in the overcrowded and impoverished refugee camps. In 1992, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin cynically stated, “I wish I could wake up one day and find that Gaza has sunk into the sea.”

The first intifada began in 1987 in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, quickly spreading to the rest of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It was the first popular uprising against the Israeli occupation since 1967.

Between 1987 and 1991, Israel killed at least 1,087 Palestinians, 240 of whom were children, according to official figures. The intifada laid the political foundation for the convening of the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991 and the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

According to the latest agreement, Israel agreed to withdraw its troops from Gaza as a first step towards ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories. In July 1994, Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, returned to Gaza, marking the historic return of the Palestinian leader, who himself was a refugee from Gaza, to the Self-Governing Territory. Israel dismantled its settlements in Gaza and withdrew its troops in 2005.

The policy of Hamas in the Gaza Strip

However, Gaza and its refugee camps also became the birthplace of Hamas, which emerged during the First Intifada and vowed to use armed resistance to liberate all of Palestine. Curiously, at that time, the Israeli and world media claimed that it was the Israeli government that contributed to the creation of Hamas as a counterweight to the Fatah organization.

After a coup against the Palestinian Authority in 2007, Hamas gained full control of Gaza. The year before, it had won the majority of seats in the Palestinian legislature. President Mahmoud Abbas was forced to ask Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, to form a short-lived government.

The Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip led to Israel imposing a blockade on the strip, which provoked many bloody clashes between the two sides. These included rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes, as well as limited ground incursions. Thousands of Gazans died in these battles.

But nothing compares to Israel’s reaction to the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The results of the Israeli massacre in Gaza

The Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist administration, has been perpetrating a genocide in Gaza since October 8, 2023. The death toll has reached over 47,000, with the majority of victims being women and children. This number is likely to rise as thousands remain trapped under the rubble and are unaccounted for.

While Israel, under Netanyahu’s leadership, was engaged in a genocidal campaign, Gaza became a nightmare for every Israeli citizen, a threat that would not simply disappear. After 470 days of relentless and indiscriminate bombing of one of the most densely populated areas on the planet, which destroyed over 90% of civilian infrastructure, Netanyahu was forced to accept the ceasefire proposal put forward by the newly elected US President, Donald Trump.

Netanyahu’s unfulfilled objectives for a bloodbath

When Netanyahu launched his war on Gaza, he set three primary objectives for himself, which he claimed would lead to a complete victory. These objectives were to annihilate Hamas, secure the release of all Israeli captives, and establish full Israeli control over Gaza. Although the second and third phases of the agreement require further negotiations, few in Israel believe that Netanyahu has achieved any of these goals.

While a disgraced Netanyahu declared that Israel would resume its attacks on Gaza at any moment, the reality is that the civilized world will not allow the resumption of the bloodshed. The Gaza Strip will be open to foreign journalists — Israel has barred them from entering since the start of the war — and they will expose the horrors and tragedies experienced by the Palestinian people of Gaza to the rest of the world.

While the future of Gaza — including the question of who will govern it and how it will return to normalcy — remains uncertain, the truth is that Israel, no matter how much it desires it, has failed to destroy the inhabitants of the Strip or drive them into the desert. The wounded, traumatized, starving, and freezing Gazans have thwarted Israel’s plans. People are returning to the devastated north, the Israeli army is retreating, aid is arriving, and the Jewish settlers are not colonizing the region. And to top it all off, Hamas, although weakened, has not been eliminated.

The future of Gaza

The first prisoner exchange, in which elite Hamas fighters appeared in a fine military uniform and with a gun in their hands, sent a sobering message to Netanyahu and his extremists.

But now both sides need to do internal work on mistakes and keep their cool. The Palestinians have paid a heavy price — the highest since the Nakba — for a war they did not start. The conflict with the Palestinians has been going on since the founding of the State of Israel.

Israel should also try to learn from its mistake in Gaza. He has stained himself, and these stains are indelible. Israel cannot claim victory or moral superiority when the horrors of what happened in Gaza will continue for generations to come. The brutal policy of the Israelis has made it absolutely clear that neither Israel, nor its leadership, nor its inhabitants will ever agree to the creation of an independent State of Palestine, as stipulated by the relevant UN resolution. And what can the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank do in this case?

Gaza has become Israel’s Achilles heel, a traumatic event that now haunts it and tarnishes its existence. Far-right forces in the country have destroyed the romantic, often false, story that Israel supported. Today, his legacy is genocide, the killing of infants, war crimes, rape, torture, and land grabbing.

If there is one good thing that has come out of this war, it is that the Palestinians have survived, will continue to survive, and will seek justice and responsibility. Only Israel’s sincere repentance can lead to peace and tranquility finally reigning in this long-suffering land.

 

Viktor Mikhin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, expert on the Arab world

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