Israel’s conflict on Gaza has not ended with the pullback of its tanks or the falling silent of its warplanes. Tens of hundreds have been killed, tons of of hundreds of properties lowered to rubble, and a few two million individuals pushed from their properties. But the best hazard should still lie forward, for Israel intends to proceed the conflict in one other kind, one which now not requires its military.
Within the vacuum left by Israel’s destruction, a grim new actuality is unfolding. Armed militias are rising, exploiting the collapse of social order and the deepening struggling of the individuals. These teams, which as soon as claimed the mantle of “resistance” to the occupier, are more and more turning their weapons inward. Reasonably than working to assist the defence of the homeland, they’re in search of to impose management by way of violence, turning Palestinian ache right into a foreign money for factional and political achieve. Gaza, lengthy beneath siege, as soon as lived in suffocating isolation but remained largely secure inside its personal partitions. Folks feared Israeli air assaults, not legal gangs or the gun of a neighbour. At present, concern has multiplied, from the occupation and from inside.
The killing of journalist Saleh Aljafarawi in Gaza Metropolis’s Sabra neighbourhood stands as one of the vital ominous indicators of this new part. The 28-year-old reporter, who had lengthy documented Israel’s atrocities in Gaza and confronted repeated dying threats for his work, was shot lifeless days after the ceasefire, not by Israeli troopers or drones however by Palestinian gunmen. His homicide uncovered the conflict’s continuation by different means: Israel has turned Palestinians towards one another, spurring a cycle of concern and bloodshed that serves its occupation even within the absence of its troopers.
Israel’s logic right here is obvious. It has lengthy relied on an previous colonial technique: Divide and rule. A society consumed by inner violence can not stand united towards its occupier. By cynically fostering the rise of militias, Israel achieves two goals: Weakening Palestinian unity and lowering the burden by itself military. It avoids direct prices and worldwide scrutiny, whereas Gaza continues to bleed from inside.
The armed gangs now spreading concern in Gaza aren’t defenders of the homeland however Israel’s collaborators, serving its occupation beneath a special title. They had been empowered through the conflict to behave the place Israel couldn’t at all times act brazenly. But Israel’s historical past with Palestinians who serve its pursuits is obvious: It makes use of them, then discards them. As soon as their goal is fulfilled, collaborators are solid apart, disarmed or destroyed, left with neither honour nor safety. He who turns his gun on his personal individuals might imagine himself highly effective, however his destiny is at all times the identical: Rejection by his individuals, by historical past and even by the occupier who as soon as used him.
For Palestinians, the results are nothing wanting catastrophic. Liberation can’t be constructed on concern. When resistance loses its ethical readability, when it turns into indistinguishable from oppression, it collapses in legitimacy. The Palestinian trigger has by no means been solely about survival; it has at all times been about dignity, justice and freedom. These values can not endure in a society the place residents concern not solely Israeli plane but additionally armed locals who now terrorise their streets, serving each their very own pursuits and the occupier’s. The area’s historical past bears witness: From Lebanon to Iraq, exterior powers have repeatedly exploited militias to fragment societies. As soon as unleashed, these forces not often serve their individuals; their loyalties drift as an alternative in direction of factional energy, private achieve or international patrons.
The duty earlier than Palestinians is each pressing and existential: To forestall Gaza from sliding right into a land dominated by militias slightly than united beneath the banner of liberation. This requires a powerful civilian will that refuses to legitimise such teams, political management that locations nationwide unity above factional curiosity, and worldwide consciousness that occupation destroys not solely by way of bombs and siege, but additionally by tearing aside the social material and turning society right into a battlefield of inner battle.
The individuals of Gaza have already proven extraordinary braveness and resilience. They’ve endured siege, relentless bombardment and mass displacement. They need to not now be requested to endure the humiliation of being dominated by armed gangs who serve their very own pursuits whereas claiming to behave for his or her individuals. The energy of the Palestinian wrestle has at all times rested on its ethical readability, a individuals demanding freedom towards all odds. That readability should not be surrendered to those that substitute solidarity with concern and justice with domination.
Israel could hope to wage its conflict by proxy, imagining a Gaza the place its individuals battle one another as an alternative of resisting occupation. But Palestinians nonetheless have a selection. They’ll reject the trail of militias and affirm that their trigger is larger than any faction and stronger than those that place energy above precept. The true hazard in the present day is just not solely Israeli air assaults however the erosion of the very essence of Palestinian nationalism: The conviction that liberation should belong to everybody and must not ever come at the price of freedom or human dignity.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
