Will Peace Come to Palestine?

You know Milan Kundera's legendary masterpiece, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (Nesnesitelna Lehkost Byti). Even if you haven't had time to read it, you've surely heard of it. This important work was even made into a movie in 1988 with the same title (The Unbearable Lightness of Being). The book is full of inferences and deductions. Both the book and the movie, which was translated almost verbatim, are a system of propositions that are interconnected. That is, it is intertwined with moving from one proposition to another through thought. You don't even know when you move from one to another. When you think about it, you might say "where am I?". But after reading the book with underlining and watching the movie carefully, you gradually find yourself in another world. 

The fiction in the book describes how the idea of eternal return is transformed by living under Soviet oppression. Let's philosophize a bit about this legendary masterpiece. The thesis under discussion is that if what happened once can be considered as never having happened, then life, which is said to have happened once, is not/will not be (real) at all. Like the famous German saying "Einmal ist keinmal", since there is no opportunity for comparison, there is no way to test which decision is better. 

Why am I trying to put this forward, dear readers? Because we have had a one-week peace process in Palestine, which has no clear name. Some called it a "ceasefire", others called it a "pause". As if peace had never happened, did the war start from where it left off? And what a resumption, with all sorts of tricks and prohibitions. This time the Israeli army started deliberately killing Gazan civilians with automatically generated targets. And it is the oppressor, not the oppressed, Israeli army that is doing the cheating and imposing the ban. This is why I am trying to talk about the "unbearable, unbearable, unbearable" bitterness of "not being" but "not existing" in Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank. 

On the whole, the world is already a war zone that is not really a very beautiful place. I don't think there is anyone who would object to this proposition. You know, "existence and extinction" are intertwined with anxiety, almost like brothers and sisters. Now I ask you, someone explain this to me. You leave the "Ofer Prison" and return to the hell of the Gaza Strip, kissing the earth. What kind of a thing is this? Can you see where the national consciousness has reached? The world we already live in is a place with many real challenges. Can you say that in order to survive in such a world, let alone things like living in a planned way and being careful in every situation, you can just give up at this point? Yes, it is happening.  

There is no need to investigate in detail, the "Palestine Question" is a "National Issue" in Turkey, just like the "Cyprus Cause" and the "Crete Cause" in the late Ottoman period. However, the "Palestine Question" has not become a "National Cause" of the Islamic Ummah, of the Arabs. However, the "Palestinian Question" is not only an "Arab Question" but also an "Islamic Question" regardless of clan, tribe, race and sect. This has been understood this way in Turkey as a historical evolution.  The "Palestine Question" is a "National Cause" of the Republic of Turkey, the successor of the Ottoman Empire. Let us not be surprised, let us not look at one or two parameters for show, believe me, this is the case. Let me be more precise, the Palestine Question has been and is seen as a problem that concerns Turkey since the reign of Abdul Hamid II. 

From a broader perspective, the narrative of Abdul Hamid II is intertwined with the narratives of Zionism and Freemasonry. Indeed, where there is Aleppo, there is here. Look at today's Right-Wing Conservative-Islamist thinkers, the answer to the question is there. They read history through Abdul Hamid II's thwarting of Jewish plans to claim land in the Ottoman Empire. It is even seen that they want to reinforce the narrative of Abdul Hamid II with the narrative of Zionism. The reconstructed historical developments of the Abdülhamid II period try to melt both narratives into one. For example, it is seen that Abdülhamit II, who did not want to give Palestine to the Jews, was deposed by the Jews in Salonika, and therefore, a historical fiction is created that the Palestine issue has been closely related to the Turks ever since. (2) 

For this reason, Thessaloniki, an heirloom of the ancestors, went away shouting and could not become a National Issue like Crete or Cyprus. It was as if they wanted to get rid of the city of Thessaloniki. And it is still seen as such. The educational institutions and organizations established by the immigrants from Thessaloniki, more precisely, when the name Thessaloniki is mentioned, the Zionist concept comes to mind, and to put it mildly, it evokes Freemasonry. If you want, ask around and you will see that minds are imprisoned in this way. However, although Abdul Hamid II seems to have adopted the ideology of Pan-Islamism with the claim of being the protector of Muslims around the world as the Caliph, he was aware of the limits of his power as a ruler. Abdul Hamid II tried to stand against the colonialist policies of the Western states with an anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist understanding of the caliphate. The ideology of Pan-Islamism was a defensive policy that claimed to serve this purpose. (2) 

This, dear readers, is why the "Palestine Issue" is a "National Cause" of the Republic of Turkey, which is the continuation of the Ottoman Empire. Despite all kinds of difficult times, almost every process of the "Palestinian Question" is followed with great care and almost every aspect is tried to be understood.  The "Declaration of Principles for the Arrangement of Provisional Self-Government" agreement, also known as Oslo or Oslo I, was signed on September 13, 1993 in Washington, the capital of the United States, between then Israeli Prime Minister Izak Rabin and then Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat, following the talks held in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The agreement aimed to end the years-long conflict between the parties and to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace through the establishment of an interim Palestinian Authority and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State in 1999.

Following the first one, the occupied West Bank was divided into zones A, B and C within the framework of the "Second Oslo Accords" signed on September 28, 1995. The administration and security of "Area A", which covers 18 percent of the West Bank, was transferred to Palestine, while the administration and security of "Area B", which covers 21 percent of the West Bank, was transferred to Palestine and security to Israel, and the administration and security of "Area C", which covers 61 percent of the West Bank, was transferred to Israel. (2) This situation should be analyzed carefully. Only one fifth of the West Bank is under full Palestinian control. 

Thirty years after the First Oslo Accords, it is regrettable to say that the Israeli occupation of Palestine has further escalated into an "apartheid regime" where Jews and non-Jews are separated. (1) The "Aqsa Flood" of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of HAMAS The primary purpose of the operation has been described as breaking out of this stranglehold and preventing a major Israeli offensive. Is this attack, which surprised the best and most experienced intelligence service of HAMAS in the world and disqualified the most powerful security system in the Middle East, the right approach? Yes, I think it is the right approach and a proper initiative.  This is the approach of an honorable nation saying "enough is enough". However, Israel's unquenchable "Great Rage" like the "Great Catastrophe" (Shoah) has accelerated the process leading to crimes against humanity and war crimes at the level of genocide. 

Currently, the genocidal war and aggressive deportation plans against the Palestinian people are in full swing. In this context, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reminded that these brutal attacks on the Gaza Strip have resulted in more than 60,000 deaths, injuries and casualties, most of them children and women, and that more than 1,700,000 people have been forcibly displaced and made homeless. (3) There is no need for any discussion, Palestinian President Abbas said: "We will not surrender to fait accompli, we will not kneel down, we will not allow a repeat of the Nakba of 1948, no matter what happens, no matter what the cost," but this is clearly the Second Nakba. 

After a month and a half of outrage and a "humanitarian pause" following the first bombardment, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza has risen to 193. In this situation, how can lasting peace be achieved? How will Israel's "Great Rage" evolve into peace?  Is it so difficult for the "Zionazi Authority" led by Netenyahu with the support of the US to evolve to the path of peace? Yes, it is difficult. The oppressed Palestinian people are "Victims of the Victims of the Second World War" (Victims' Victim). 

In the historical background, has Israel never been on the path of peace since its establishment? Undoubtedly, there have been those on the Israeli side who have tried to make peace. One of those who attempted peace was the pacifist Izak Rabin, who came from the war. But he paid with his life. History has shown us that the Zionists do not like peace, even those who attempt peace. The murderers of peace did not and cannot love even those who attempt to make peace. Not only did they not like Izak Rabin, who both gave land and attempted peace, but they also murdered him. He was murdered by a right-wing Jewish extremist on November 4, 1995, 37 days after the signing of the Second Oslo Accords, for giving land in exchange for peace. (4) 

Today is his 28th anniversary. Shall we shout today, "Woe to you if you try to make peace in Israel against his wishes? On September 28th, 1995 in Washington DC, Izak Rabin, one of the creators of peace, was laid to rest not by a Palestinian or an Arab, but by an Israeli peace killer. Who can forget his speech, which truly reeked of peace:

"O Palestinians, it is our destiny to live together in the same land and country. We, the soldiers who returned from the war covered in blood, we who witnessed friends and relatives in front of our eyes, we who attended their funerals and could not look into the eyes of their families and orphaned children, we who came from the same country where parents and children saw you, we who fought against you, today we cry out with a loud and clear voice. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH OF ALL THIS BLOOD AND TEARS. 

O Netenyahu, did all this blood and tears not appease your anger, when you took exception to a clause in the Oslo process and made 90 percent of the occupied territories critical for Israel's security? The world community and your Holocaust-stricken people are saying the same words. Enough, enough, YETERYAHU enough!

Footnotes

(1) Mücahit Aydemir "30th anniversary of the Oslo Accords: Israel destroyed the ideal of a two-state solution" Anadolu Agency, 14.09.2023; https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/oslo-anlasmasinin-30-yili-israil-iki-devletli-cozum-idealini-yok-etti/2992058/Erişim Date 03.12.2023/ 

(2) Pınar Özden Cankara, "Türkiye'de Sağ Muhafazakâr İslamcılık Akımının Palestine Sorununa Yaklaşımı", PhD Thesis, Istanbul University Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Istanbul, September 2013, p. 54.  

(3) Mohammed Majed, Gülşen Topçu, "The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza after Israel's "humanitarian break" rose to 193", Anadolu Agency, 02.12.2023; https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/israilin-insani-aranin-ardindan-gazzede-oldurdugu-filistinlilerin-sayisi-193e-yukseldi/3071413/ Access Date 03.12.2023/

(4) Hilary Rodham Clinton, trans. Rasim Baykaldı, "Yaşayan Tarih", Arkadaş Publishing House, Ankara, May 2004, p. 333