Image by Annie Spratt.

Over the last fifty years, the Palestinian struggle against Israel’s occupation has been described in various ways by friend and foe alike. The descriptions coming from the latter are usually echoes of Israel’s perception of the situation. In other words, they tell us that Israel has a right to exist and the Palestinian rejection of its occupation is an extension (on some level) of the centuries-long persecution of the Jewish people. This interpretation intentionally ignores or dismisses the fact that the Palestinian people, who continue to be displaced by the Zionists, lived on the lands in question for thousands of years. It also demands that the rest of the world accept the religious myth perpetrated by certain Israelis that their god gave them that particular land many centuries ago. Without getting into the various interpretations of this supposed promise, it seems reasonable to say that the use of this myth by the Israeli government and its propagandists requires a dismissal by reasonable humans no matter what their beliefs. Instead, it seems that anyone who dismisses this fairy tale justification is instantly labeled as being anti-Semitic, which at one time meant that one hated Jews just because they were Jewish, but now is supposed to mean anyone who opposes Israel’s occupation and the slaughter its military is executing. Of course, we know that the latter definition is self-serving and should be rejected for several reasons.

As for those who oppose the occupation, their opposition typically takes on different emphases. Many in the global north tend to focus on the victimization of the Palestinians by the Israeli military and the Western war machine supporting it, while downplaying the armed nature of the resistance. It is not my intention to criticize........

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