The Dead Did Not Win in Gaza
Al-Arab, London, January 25
“We escaped being killed.” This is the unspoken sentiment echoed by the people of Gaza, consistently overlooked by the Arab media, afraid of accusations of siding with Israel and its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet, this sentiment repeatedly surfaces, even in the mundane neglect.
Last Sunday, as the ceasefire was announced, Hamas militants emerged from their tunnels, celebrating in the streets and proclaiming victory. Curiously, no one in Gaza bothers to ask them, “Where were you? And who exactly did you defeat?” It’s not just because the answers are known, but also because the people recognize that their survival is irrelevant to these victors.
The people of Gaza, ironically, celebrated a victory, which, in truth, belongs to others over them. Both warring factions have triumphed at Gaza’s expense. Contrary to claims, Hamas did not destroy Israel, whose reality on the ground reveals complete fulfillment of its destructive intentions against its adversaries. Similarly, Hamas remains undefeated, evidenced by pervasive Arab media focus on released female prisoners, overshadowing the grievous cost of 50,000 dead, 100,000 injured and disabled, 10,000 missing beneath the rubble, and cities destroyed with monumental reconstruction needs, of which a minimal portion benefits Gaza.
Within the culture of Arab defeat, we recognize two architects of loss who reacted differently. On one side is Gamal Abdel Nasser, and on the other is Saddam Hussein. When Egypt faced defeat in 1967, Abdel Nasser addressed Egyptians and Arabs, acknowledging his responsibility. However, when Iraq suffered a setback in the 1991 Kuwait Liberation War, Saddam declared, “How wonderful is victory with the help of God.” Iraq then grandiosely named the conflict “the mother of all battles,” suppressing any reference to “the Second Gulf War” among Iraqis.
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Abdel Nasser’s legacy lies in not equating survival with victory, while Saddam regarded enduring despite causing the deaths of over a quarter of a million Iraqi soldiers as victorious. If Hassan Nasrallah were alive today, the Lebanese could not claim triumph over his looming specter, notwithstanding Lebanon’s steep toll in material ruin and human loss. Pragmatically, the Iraqi people, past and present, endure the cost of a man’s defeat, who ironically triumphed over international will.
This irony has left Iraq in a fractured and marginalized state, scarce in citizenship and confidence in its continuity. This parallel extends to the people of Gaza, severed from Palestine for nearly two decades, with Hamas’ gambit cementing their spiritual defeat. Their survival holds little worth, merely underscoring a false victory for Hamas, whose members wield only personal arms as their language with a society from which tens of thousands have departed to the afterlife.
Hamas is unlikely to discern the devastated community within its midst, where awaiting a ceasefire equated to anticipating victory—an eventuality Netanyahu feared, acting immaturely, mirroring the reckless impulsiveness that characterizes the opposing side’s conduct.
Any candid discourse on Gaza’s victory seeks to mask Israel’s atrocity, which is indefensible. Israel has inflicted systemic genocide in Gaza, rendering any semblance of triumph among its people unacceptable. The deceased, the incapacitated, and the missing, entombed under their own homes, did not prevail; they perished, knowing full well that their assassin understood their innocence.
Israel’s misdeed cannot be glorified with illusory victories’ hymns. Meanwhile, the living Gazans have long wished for death’s release from the indignities, deprivation, anxiety, and displacement they endure.
The prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel ought not to be perceived as a reward for initiating war, masquerading its end goal. It is unjust for Gaza to face a ruinous Israeli assault over a year, three months, and 14 days merely to release a few hundred Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Had these prisoners been offered the choice between extended imprisonment or Gaza’s annihilation and economic devastation, they would have chosen captivity. Today, there’s a pitiable bid to market the notion of victory by spotlighting the stories of released Palestinian female prisoners, aimed squarely at concluding the original narrative, which necessitates assigning accountability for the transpired actions and potentially arraigning those at fault, should Palestinian courts exist for such a purpose. —Farouk Youssef (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)
