Since the international community has sought to define the word “terrorism”, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been at the heart of the disagreement. No side wants to be given this label. States have, particularly because of this context, never managed to define terrorism among themselves in a consensual manner. Since October 7, we can still see the power of this vague word. In the media coverage, in public opinion, in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks, there was no nuance. There was Hamas on one side: the “terrorists”. And there was Israel on the other: the victim state, attacked by “terrorists”. In recent days, we have heard more about Palestinian civilians. It remains that the calls for an end to hostilities and then for a true and definitive peace between Palestine and Israel are too few and that the voices urging Israel to respect international humanitarian law are like a whisper.
Palestine has been under belligerent occupation since 1967. This means that, even in the absence of active hostilities, international humanitarian law — the law of war — applies there. Every year, parts of Palestinian territory are eaten away by Israeli colonization, in violation of humanitarian law. Every year, several hundred Palestinian civilians die at the hands of Israeli armed forces, to almost total international indifference. Israel built a wall around Gaza, in violation of Gazans’ human rights and humanitarian law, and has had a blockade imposed on it since 2007.
On October 7, Hamas, an armed group, considered by several states to be a terrorist group, which also constitutes the official political power in Gaza, carried out attacks against Israel. Israel responded by bombing Gaza and imposing a complete blockade on water, food, gas and electricity. Since October 12, the sixth day of hostilities, the number of civilians killed on the Palestinian side has exceeded that on the Israeli side. There will be no going back. Gaza is undergoing a real massacre, which dangerously borders on attempted extermination – many speak of a genocide -, the collective punishment of Gazan civilians and reprisals against a population, in response to Israeli civilian deaths. This is not the logic of humanitarian law; it even explicitly and firmly prohibits all of this conduct.
In the heart of a war, it is useless to try to find out who is wrong, who is right, who started it, who has done worse. In times of war, everyone must respect humanitarian law. This means, in particular, not directly attacking or executing civilians and not using famine as a measure of war against the population. Both sides have violated this right for two weeks. But humanitarian law also does not give the right to violate the rules that the other has violated. Otherwise, they would never be respected, they would be of no use.
It is one thing for the international community to denounce Hamas attacks and to recognize the suffering of the Israeli people in the face of them. It’s another to give unwavering support to an army that imposes a complete siege and bombs civilians trapped on a small strip of land from which they could not escape even if they wanted to. Let us imagine a place without water, without electricity, without food, without gas for cars or generators, without an option of escape or refuge to shelter our children, our sick, our parents; Gaza, right now, is hell on Earth. In this context, the position of Western countries is troubling.
Even though Hamas was incredibly well prepared for its campaign of “surprise” attacks, the balance of power between Israel and the walled territory of Gaza is extremely and irremediably unequal. Palestinians, unlike Israelis, do not have a refuge to shelter in the event of attacks. They don’t have anti-missile shields. They can’t escape. They have little access to humanitarian aid. They have little international support and sympathy. This is not trivial, Palestine does not even appear in the name given to this war: the war between Israel and Hamas.
Putting all this in perspective does not excuse Hamas; That doesn’t make him any less culpable for attacks on Israeli civilians. It also does not justify the anti-Semitic comments and gestures observed all over the world in recent days, any more than the Islamophobic comments and gestures, for that matter. But right now, the word “terrorism,” loaded with anger and pain as it is, provides nothing more than a powerful rhetorical tool to justify measures taken by Israel — many of which are illegal. Please put away the anti-terrorist arsenal, put away the word “terrorism”. What we urgently need is not the annihilation of those we call terrorists with heavy bombs. It’s peace. The one with a capital P. And this is what the international community, Israel and its allies, the Arab countries and, to a certain extent, all of us should be working towards at this time.