I am not sorry for the language.
I am very tired of Israel and I proudly say, again and again: Fuck the Occupation.
I also know that since Hamas came to power by being democratically elected in 2006, the international community rejected democracy and refused to deal with them.
Then some Fatah leaders, these so-called ‘socialists’ and ‘seculars’, used this opportunity to limit Hamas’ power which created greater tension in our country, resulting in Hamas’ military factions expelling the PA/Fateh from Gaza.
And that’s the short version.
I love the people of Gaza. I love them more than Hamas and Fateh love them.
No human deserves to live like the people of Gaza.
I was forced to grow up in this political climate. It made it very difficult for us political activists to realize our potential to end the occupation and build a Palestinian state where we can live with freedom, justice, dignity and peace and without any affiliation with any of those parties.
Having to spend so much of our energy to struggle against these co-called ‘islamic’ or ‘secular’ parties, I am growing more tired of them everyday.
In Gaza, I had to watch behind my back when I talked, when I wrote articles, when I wrote posts on Facebook and Twitter, when I gave seminars or when I walked in the streets of Gaza.
Why?
Because Hamas jailed me for all of that. I have been jailed for calling for social justice, for protesting against the Israeli occupation, for criticizing Hamas on Facebook, for protesting for students’ rights, for demanding to travel out of the country to speak about the Gaza blockade in different countries with different solidarity groups and political organizations.
Hamas has used the last 10 years in Gaza to not only strengthen their presence but to drown out the voices of all those who spoke out against them. The leftists, the seculars or even just young activists beginning to be politically or artistically aware. Anyone who wasn’t sharing their so-called ‘islamic values’, who weren’t part of this sect/party, have to watch their back.
When I was in Gaza, I was kidnapped, imprisoned, interrogated and abused. I was prevented from traveling and was even prevented from writing online sometimes.
My family was so scared for me after I received death threats from so-called ‘islamists’ who are part of Hamas.
In those days, I said fuck Hamas many times. I said it, and I say it again, every time, my friends were jailed or whenever I heard about their brutality as I do now in the Jabalia Refugee Camp, where I’m from, where people simply asking them to solve the 12 year-long electricity problem were met with violence.
I am sorry for all these Hamas members who have to go through Islamic brainwashing making them forget that we have a bigger cause to fight alongside everyone. And by everyone, I mean everyone. The seculars, the leftists, the Jews, the Christians.. Anyone fighting for human rights and justice deserves our support. This struggle is a political one, one of justice and human rights.
Before I forget: Fuck Fateh.
The Pa/Fateh played a big role in creating mistrust, insecurity and fear. It is the PA’s corruption which was the main reason why Hamas won the elections in 2006 in the first place. Fateh, which refused to be transparent with the Palestinian people and which also violated their rights in the West Bank, isolated Gaza and has refused to reunite with Hamas after more than 10 years.
We need to come together and focus on finding a just peace soon to make the life of Gaza’s remaining children better. I just want peace.
Majed Abusalama was born and raised as a proud refugee from the Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza. He has been an independent journalist for several years and was a finalist at the International Mediterranean Journalist Award in 2010. He also received the Freedom of Expression Award in 2011 for his writing on different critical topics on human rights and social justice in Palestine.
Hummus For Thought 
“I also know that since Hamas came to power by being democratically elected in 2006, the international community rejected democracy and refused to deal with them.”
Elections don’t make a democracy; democratic values make a democracy. So if you put murderous fascists in power, then the world refusing to deal with them is just about the most moral thing it can do.
majed: okay if i post this on my Facebook page?…david levy, montreal
Thank you for this beautifully written article. You echo the sentiments of all those of us looking in (I’m from the UK). The world at large, the sane sensible ones of us at least want to see a free peaceful and self determining Palestinian state and it’s extremely frustrating to watch the terrible atrocities committed by so called Israel answered by actions equally as bad on the Palestinian side by the likes of Hamas. Two wrongs really never make a right. We the sane support every effort by people like you to find a peaceful solution to the horror you live in. We know we could not possibly understand or relate to the terrible conditions forced upon you by so called Israeli oppression, and can understand some people looking for extreme solutions but we have to believe there is a peaceful way out for all of you, it’s the only possible way to achieve the peaceful and prosperous country you dream of, after all violence only begets violence. We may not understand your plight but please know that we stand with you, you have our support and always will no matter what pro Israeli governments may say.
Fiat justitia, et pereat mundus. Let justice be done, though the world burn.
I understand Mr Abusalama’s despair. His experience at the hands of several different warring factions and organizations within Gaza, and his treatment at the hands of an Israeli state determined to protect its own people at all costs, at the particular expense, it would seem, of life and liberty for the people of Gaza, has left him with little hope for the future. He denounces those who deprive him and other Gazans of any kind of dignified existence, and yet he indulges in an apparent paradox by calling for everyone to come together:
”We need to come together and focus on finding a just peace soon to make the life of Gaza’s remaining children better. I just want peace.”
‘I just want peace.’ Who could possibly argue with that? But Mr Abusalama doesn’t want just any peace. He wants a ‘just peace,’ as if peace without justice would be worse, or at the very least just as bad, as life without hope and liberty in Gaza. Personally speaking, I don’t think an unjust peace should be rejected if the chance to choose it should ever arise in that benighted part of the world. I live in Ireland, where peace was secured in the north of our island by depriving thousands of innocent civilians who’d lost relatives in ‘the Troubles’ of any kind of justice at all. An unjust peace, it was said, was better than a just war. Meetings were brokered, agreements were reached, a ceasefire was called, the bloodshed stopped. Power would be shared between the most violent factions, murderers would be released from prison, terrorists would forgiven, weapons would be ‘decommissioned’ and the ensuing peace would allow life to return to some kind of normality after thirty years of killing and savagery.
Since those shameful days of dishonorable deal-making ordinary people in Northern Ireland have been able to move on, in a manner of speaking. They are the most traumatized people in the United Kingdom, and among the most emotionally and psychologically troubled in Europe. Yet they have rebuilt their communities and now enjoy all of the things – material, spiritual and political – that together make up what most would regard as a ‘normal’ life. It is not a life free of daunting challenges, and the possibility of a fresh eruption of sectarian violence is ever-present. Since the fighting ceased in the late 1990s real advances have been made, yet despite these advances there remain some in Northern Ireland who would, if they could, resume their respective ‘struggles’ tomorrow. Progress strikes these people as a betrayal, as an intolerable insult to the heroic, martyred dead. The sight of ordinary people living the kind of normal existence Mr Abusalama craves for both himself and his countrymen horrifies would-be freedom fighters in Northern Ireland. To ‘purists’ and ‘moralists’ like them, a person forfeits their right to life when they accept an unjust peace. I suspect Mr Abusalama knows exactly the kind of person I’m talking about. For that reason I would ask him to consider accepting an unjust peace if one should ever come his way. Because normality will never resume in Gaza until the gunmen there are disarmed.
What price peace? The answer to that question is ‘Justice.’ The bereaved must be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and forego their right to justice if peace is to reign in Gaza again.
Fiat justitia, et pereat mundus. Let justice be done, though the world burn.
I understand Mr Abusalama’s despair. His experience at the hands of several different warring factions and organizations within Gaza, and his treatment at the hands of an Israeli state determined to protect its own people at all costs, at the particular expense, it would seem, of life and liberty for the people of Gaza, has left him with little hope for the future. He denounces those who deprive him and other Gazans of any kind of dignified existence, and yet he indulges in an apparent paradox by calling for everyone to come together:
”We need to come together and focus on finding a just peace soon to make the life of Gaza’s remaining children better. I just want peace.”
‘I just want peace.’ Who could possibly argue with that? But Mr Abusalama doesn’t want just any peace. He wants a ‘just peace,’ as if peace without justice would be worse, or at the very least just as bad, as life without hope and liberty in Gaza. Personally speaking, I don’t think an unjust peace should be rejected if the chance to choose it should ever arise in that benighted part of the world. I live in Ireland, where peace was secured in the north of our island by depriving thousands of innocent civilians who’d lost relatives in ‘the Troubles’ of any kind of justice at all. An unjust peace, it was said, was better than a just war. Meetings were brokered, agreements were reached, a ceasefire was called, the bloodshed stopped. Power would be shared between the most violent factions, murderers would be released from prison, terrorists would forgiven, weapons would be ‘decommissioned’ and the ensuing peace would allow life to return to some kind of normality after thirty years of killing and savagery.
Since those shameful days of dishonorable deal-making ordinary people in Northern Ireland have been able to move on, in a manner of speaking. They are the most traumatized people in the United Kingdom, and among the most emotionally and psychologically troubled in Europe. Yet they have rebuilt their communities and now enjoy all of the things – material, spiritual and political – that together make up what most would regard as a ‘normal’ life. It is not a life free of daunting challenges, and the possibility of a fresh eruption of sectarian violence is ever-present. Since the fighting ceased in the late 1990s real advances have been made, yet despite these advances there remain some in Northern Ireland who would, if they could, resume their respective ‘struggles’ tomorrow. Progress strikes these people as a betrayal, as an intolerable insult to the heroic, martyred dead. The sight of ordinary people living the kind of normal existence Mr Abusalama craves for both himself and his countrymen horrifies would-be freedom fighters in Northern Ireland. To ‘purists’ and ‘moralists’ like them, a person forfeits their right to life when they accept an unjust peace. I suspect Mr Abusalama knows exactly the kind of person I’m talking about. For that reason I would ask him to consider accepting an unjust peace if one should ever come his way. Because normality will never resume in Gaza until the gunmen there are disarmed.
What price peace? The answer to that question is ‘Justice.’ The bereaved must be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and forego their right to justice if peace is to reign in Gaza again.