“Occupied Palestinian Territory: Israeli operations continue to have dire consequences”, UN News 7 maart 2025 (https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/03/1160926).

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“The demolitions are occurring in the context of the so-called Israeli Security Forces operation “Iron Wall” ongoing since 21 January in the northern West Bank – the single-longest and most destructive operation since the second intifada. The operation has resulted in the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since the 1967 war, with some 40,000 people forced from their homes. ” UNRWA Newsroom, Official Statement 06 March 2025, “THE WEST BANK: LARGE SCALE HOUSE DEMOLITIONS BY ONGOING ISRAELI FORCES OPERATION ARE HAVING UNPRECEDENTED IMPACT ON PALESTINE REFUGEES” (https://www.unrwa.org/…/west-bank-large-scale-house…).

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Zie de “ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of israel in thye Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem” (186-20240719-adv-01-00-en), 19 juli 2024 (https://www.icj-cij.org/…/186-20240719-adv-01-00-en.pdf).

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Voor een fragment uit het betoog van Paul S. Reichler voor de VN Palestinian Rights Committee d.d. 26 juni 2024 waarin hij uiteenzet om welke redenen de Israelische bezetting van de Palestijnse gebieden moet worden beschouwd als “illegaal”, zie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1ahDUkRqg4.

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De Israelische historicus Ilan Pappé noemde het proces waarin deze operatie van ethnische zuivering wordt uitgevoerd jaren geleden reeds “incremental genocide”. Zie voor enkele van zijn beschrijvingen van dit proces al dan niet met expliciet gebruik van de term, Ilan Pappé, The Biggest Prison on Earth. A History of the Occupied Territories, 2017; id. Ten Myths About Israel, 2017, 113, 130 (met verw. naar zijn boek samen met Chomsky); Ilan Pappé, “Genocide in Gaza”, The Electronic Intifada, 2 september 2006 (https://electronicintifada.net/content/genocide-gaza/6397); Ilan Pappé, “Israel’s incremental genocide in the Gaza ghetto”, The Electronic Intifada, 13 Juli 2014.
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PS. Intussen gaat ook in Gaza de genocide gewoon door:

“No food deliveries to Gaza as border closures continue”, UN News 14 maart 2025 (https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/03/1161146); Hamza Yusuf, “Israel is continuing the genocide – but the UK media will not tell you”, Middle East Eye (https://www.middleeasteye.net/…/israel-starving-gaza-uk…).

Geciteerd in het zojuist, op 13 maart 2025, verschenen VN Human Rights Council conference room paper getiteld «“More than a human can bear”: Israel’s systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender based violence since 7 October 2023», A/HRC/58/CRP.6, Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, UN Human Rights Council

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Nog wat citaten uit het rapport:

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“The result of the Israeli method of warfare of intentionally destroying and causing suffering to the civilian population has been an increased impact on women and children” (op. cit. pp. 8-9).

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“The Commission verified cases of deliberate targeting and killing of civilian women and girls by members of the ISF in Gaza” (p. 9, met uitwerking).

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“«You sons of bitches, we came here to fuck you, you and your mothers, you bitches. You ugly Arab we will burn you alive you dogs.» Writings left by members of the ISF in a women’s shelter in Gaza” (p. 20).

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“Female detainees were also subjected to sexual assault and harassment in military and Israel Prison Service facilities, as well as threats to their lives. The sexual assault and harassment included kicking the women’s genitals, touching their breasts, attempting to kiss them, and threats of rape. One female detainee interviewed by the Commission said that a soldier threatened to gang rape her, kill her and burn her children. The soldier asked her: “How do you want us to rape you? one by one or all together?” The victim was also denied access to her lawyer once she had informed him of the rape threat. ” (p. 28).

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Om toch nog maar even aan te geven waarom het NIET misplaatst was van pro-Palestina demonstranten om te protesteren tegen het Israelische geweld op de Dam op Internationale Vrouwendag van afgelopen 8 maart. En om te demonstreren hoe het lot van internationaal recht op dergelijke gelegenheden ALTIJD pertinent is.

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Maar goed, de Israelische criminelen verkrachten en martelen ook mannen van alle leeftijden. “The Commission documented cases of rape and sexual assault of male detainees, including the use of an electrical probe to cause burns to the anus, and the insertion of objects, such as fingers, sticks, broomsticks and vegetables, into the anus and rectum.” (p. 27, met veel meer voorbeelden).

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Een aparte sectie (VII; doch zie ook sectie X.E) rapporteert over seksueel geweld dat gepleegd is (of waarmee gedreigd is) door kolonisten al dan niet in combinatie met legerpersoneel (hetgeen is Israel overigens een betekenisloos onderscheid is).

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De bespreking van gerapporteerde gevallen gaat vele pagina’s door, tot we bij de conclusie komen. Daarin wordt een duidelijk verband gelegd met het complex aan eigenschappen dat in samengestelde vorm neerkomt op GENOCIDE. Lees bijvoorbeeld deze conclusie: “The Commission’s findings demonstrate a clear pattern of members of the ISF and settlers committing sexual and gender-based crimes aimed at instilling fear [=TERRORISME] with the underlying intention to perpetuate Palestinian subordination and remove Palestinians from their land. [=ETHNIC CLEANSING] The Commission therefore concludes that sexual and gender-based violence was intended not only to humiliate, punish and intimidate the individual Palestinians but the civilian population as a whole, with the objective to subordinate, destroy [=GENOCIDE] and expel the Palestinian community.” (p. 47).

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Duidelijk zo?

“Resistance is not just an act of defiance; it is an act of survival. It is a refusal to be erased, to be forgotten.”

(Haunani-Kay Trask, “From A Native Daughter”, een bundel met essays uit 1993; dit essay voor het eerst gepubliceerd in Martin Calvin, ed., “The American Indian and the problem of history”, 1987, non vidi: https://archive.org/details/americanindianpr00martrich)

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Dit is een quote uit 1993 van Haunani-Kay Trask (1949-2021), een vooraanstaande activiste, geleerde (Professor of Hawai’ian Studies at the University of Hawai’i) en dichteres, die zich heeft ingespannen voor het zelfbeschikkingsrecht van de inheemse bevolking van Hawai’i (de Kanaka Maioli) en, uiteraard, de dekolonisatie van de Hawaiaanse samenleving.

Een recensent over deze uitspraak in context: “This quote … beautifully captures the essence of resistance, not only as an act of defiance, but as an act of survival. It signifies the unwavering strength and determination of marginalized communities to assert their existence and reclaim their voice in the face of systematic erasure and historic injustices. In refusing to be forgotten or silenced, resistance becomes a powerful means of preserving cultural heritage, ensuring that the stories and identities of oppressed peoples are acknowledged and remembered. It serves as a resolute affirmation of the inherent worth and value of every individual, defying attempts to erase their narratives and affirming their rightful place in history. Through resistance, we not only challenge the oppressive systems that seek to diminish us, but we also embrace our own resilience and commit to shaping a future that upholds justice and equality for all.” (https://www.bookey.app/quote-book/from-a-native-daughter)

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Eindnoot. Voor biografische informatie over Haunani-Kay Trask, zie algemeen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunani-Kay_Trask.

Voor de onderkenning van haar visie op het onderscheid tussen de belangen van de “lokale bevolking” met inbegrip van de kolonisten en die van de inheemse bevolking, in de context van het verdringingkskoloniale beleid van de “bloedgehaltes” (e.g. ‘halfbloed’, ‘kwartbloed’ etc.), zie J. Kêhaulani Kauanui, Hawaiian Blood. Colonialism and the Politics of Soverignty and Indigeneity, Duke University Press 2008, p. 30.

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Voor het belang van de verhalenvertelling voor de versterking en het behoud van de collectieve identiteit in weerwil van koloniale uitwissing: “For us,” verklaarde Trask in een interview in 2004, “resistance at the overthrow [van het legitieme koninkrijk door Euro-immigranten in 1893] was part of the «mo‘olelo», the long story of resistance from contact [vanaf 1778], including the ongoing resistance today. We join each other in resistance through speaking about it, even though we’re not talking about ourselves but about our parents and our grandparents. For Hawaiians, that’s important, because the behavior of the older generations confirms and supports our resistance today.” (Cynthia Franklin & Laura E. Lyons,”Land, Leadership and Nation / Haunani-Kay Trask on the Testimonial Uses of Life Writing in Hawai’i”, Biography 27.1 (Winter 2004), Center for Biographical Research, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.)

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Eindnoot 2. Cynthia G. Franklin

Overigens lees ik op de profielpagina van een van deze interviewers, Cynthia G. Franklin, de flaptekst van een mogelijk erg interessant boek van haar over de inzet van levensverhalen voor de ontzenuwing van dehumanisaties, hetgeen immers zo belangrijk is voor actuele decolonisatieprocessen: “Through chapters focused on Hurricane Katrina; Black Lives Matter; the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement; and the Native Hawaiian movement to protect Mauna a Wākea, Franklin reveals how life writing can be mobilized to do more than perpetuate dominant forms of dehumanization that underwrite violence.” (Cynthia G. Franklin, “Narrating Humanity. Life Writing and Movement Politics From Palestine to Mauna Kea”, Fordham Press, 2023, non vidi). In een interview gepubliceerd op 20 mei 2023 met Jadaliya naar aanleiding van haar boek ging Cynthia Franklin in op het verband met Palestina –– Jadaliya is de “ezine” van het Arab Studies Institute in Washington DC en Beirut Libanon.

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“Although thematically central only to the fourth chapter, on Steven Salaita and the BDS movement, Palestine is the heart of this book, and is woven into each of its chapters. In the Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2, it serves as a moral compass, one that registers failures in narrative humanity’s formulations of the human and demonstrates how memoirs can break from movements with which they are aligned. For example, in Chapter 2, Ta-nehisi Coates’ relationship to Palestine evidences how his memoir departs from BLM. At the same time, attention to Oscar Grant’s story (in Chapter 2) and Cullors’ relationship to Palestine (in Chapter 3) provides a way to trace BLM’s commitments to international solidarity. As the book progresses—in Chapter 5 (on the Native Hawaiian-led movement to protect Mauna Kea) and in the postscript—Palestine becomes a greater focus as I consider the power and importance of stories that build solidarity from Hawai‘i to Palestine. Palestine is vital to the story this book tells of how, in the face of crushing violence, humans continue to rise, together, and breathe into being old and new stories of human and more-than-human becoming and belonging.” https://www.jadaliyya.com/…/Cynthia-G-Franklin…

Over “intersectionaliteit” in activisme gesproken! Goed zo.

“Germany is the only country in modern times which has proceeded with the killing of innocent citizens in occupied territory for the purpose of maintaining peace and order . . . in a manner contrary to the most elementary conceptions of humanity and justice.”
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Trial of Hans Albin Rauter. Netherlands Special Court in ‘s-Gravenhage (The Hague) (Judgement Delivered on 4th May, 1948) and Netherlands Special Court of Cassation (Judgment Delivered on 12th January, 1949) (https://www.worldcourts.com/…/1948.05.04_Netherlands_v…) op p. 130.

“Wij onderhandelen hier bij u, over u en zonder u.” (“Nous traiterons sur vous, chez vous, sans vous”)

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Aldus Melchior de Polignac, gezant van de Franse koning, die de Nederlandse diplomaten in 1712 in Utrecht met deze woorden hun plaats zette tijdens de onderhandelingen over de beëindiging van de Spaanse Successieoorlog die zouden leiden tot de zogenaamde Vrede van Utrecht.
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(Met welk accoord, overigens, de Catalanen, die door de Nederlandse Republiek waren bijgestaan, hun soevereiniteit “definitief” verloren; en de Britten Gibraltar wonnen)

Trumpiaanse RealPolitik avant-la-lêttre.

Diplomacy? As in Vietnam? Iraq? Afghanistan? El Salvador? Panama? Grenada? Cuba? East-Timor? As in stealing Hawai’i? Alaska? Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philipines and other former colonies of Spain? Mexico/Texas? As in assisting the Zionists in their conquest of Palestine? As in stealing the land from indigenous peoples, eliminating them, expelling them, defrauding them, and abusing them even further in dictating treaties with them first and then breaking them all? As in demanding the purchase of Greenland? As in abusing the instrument of “sanctioning” to promote their own interests (Venezuela, Iran)? As in frustrating the promise of international law by dominating the Security Council with their veto? As in propping up right-wing dictatorial regimes in South and Central America, in the MENA Region, in South-East Asia, as well as in Europe (e.g. Francoist Spain), either in secret or with the purported excuse of “promoting democracy”? As in operating 128+ military bases outside their own territory across the world?