For Israel, the Problem Isn’t How We Resist, But That We Resist at All
On March 30th, 2018, more than 30,000 Palestinians protested in Gaza. Israel’s soldiers shot and killed Palestinian teen Abdul Fattah Abdul Nabi. Abdul Nabi was running away from the border fence between Gaza and Israel to help another Palestinian teen who was also also running away from the fence (soldiers had shot round after round at this teen while he was crawling on the ground). That day, soldiers also shot 27-year-old Palestinian farmer Amr Samour as he harvested parsley. He was shot with a tank shell because he “looked suspicious.” A week later, protesters marched in large numbers again. Since the Great March of Return protests began, Israel’s soldiers have killed 31 Palestinians and injured more than 2, 700, including five Palestinian journalists. Palestinian journalist Yasser Murtaja, who wore a vest clearly identifying him as press, was shot April 6th and died as a result of his injuries early April 7th.
Why would Israel’s soldiers be instructed to shoot to kill teens running away from the fence, Palestinian journalists, farmers, and unarmed protesters? Surely one of the most militarized states in west Asia is not scared of a march? In fact they are. Colonial governments are at their weakest when they use naked violence against indigenous people. When the colonizers are in control, they can maintain the pretense of a “democratic state” (though they are anything but). Right…