When Israel claimed women were sexually assaulted on a mass scale on October 7, the world exploded. Almost the entirety of Israel’s genocidal war was based on these and other allegations, many unsubstantiated. We all remember the infamous’40 beheaded babies” story, do we not?

This article is not about Israeli allegations per se, neither will it only focus on violations against Palestinian women. This is about a world that is immediately up in arms when one side merely alleges atrocities while it turns a blind eye to actual documented violations against the “other”.

In Gaza, it is painfully clear that we indeed, are ‘the other’. How else can anyone explain the muted cries of women being stripped, raped, starved and murdered practically in real time, on our phone screens, documented in UN reports and described in horrific detail in eyewitness testimonies? There is no other explanation than that Palestinians are what Arundhati Roy calls “Children of a lesser God”. We are the victims of deep-rooted colonialism, one whose geographic demarcations may have vanished but whose insidious, dehumanizing mentality still prevails and manifests in the ugliest of manners.

For nearly six months, Palestinians have endured unspeakable atrocities at the hands of Israel’s occupying army. Today, the Gaza Strip has been reduced to an emaciated shell of what it once was. As Gaza is being systematically decimated and ethnically cleansed, the world, for the most part, looks on. Barring sympathetic supporters and a few well-intended but timid political actors, nothing has been done to stop the carnage. Palestinians once believed there was no way the world would allow Israel to erase Gaza off the map, no way it could see a live-streamed genocide and do nothing. But that is exactly what is happening.

Then, when we thought things could not get any worse, something unfathomable emerged from the deathtrap of Gaza. When this happened, we were certain it would be the turning point in this hellish nightmare. Well-documented reports, corroborated by the UN and eyewitnesses on the ground, told of harrowing stories of sexual assault against Palestinian women in Gaza.

We were paralysed with horror when we heard of women being raped by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, assaulted and stripped in front of their families. What’s worse, we all know that in times like these, the undocumented atrocities will far outnumber those documented. Who knows what horrors will unfold once the dust settles in Gaza; no doubt they will be so horrific, our entire nation will be traumatized for years to come.

The real question here is not how Israel’s soldiers perpetrated such gross violations. I think by now we can all agree that this depraved military establishment and its political echelon to boot, has dehumanized and vilified Palestinians so much and for so long, they will justify just about anything. No, the question is more about the moral compass of the rest of the world. While alliances and political interests are always part of the equation, even when the issue pertains to basic human rights, nothing can better explain the blatant hypocrisy, double standards and loss of collective humanity than the deafening silence today.

Our women have not only been killed, starved and displaced, they have been exposed to the very violations that sparked global outrage and a genocidal war against an entire population under occupation, unprecedented in modern history. This is not only unacceptable, it is an indelible stain on humanity. Sexual violence is a crime so heinous it is imperative to condemn and prevent, no matter the perpetrator or the victim. That must always be the baseline in any argument.

Palestinians will never get past this genocide; it is not something you can come back from. However, be assured, this is not only about the Palestinians. The world’s women, the majority of so-called feminists who have remained disgustingly silent, must know this: when you do not stand up for women, all women, no one will stand up for you in your time of need.

I once heard that anger is not a real emotion, but a cover for other feelings such as sadness, disappointment or fear. You need to peel back that outer layer to understand what is really going on inside.

Strange how this has lately resurfaced for me, but I think I know why. Lately, I and surely, millions of other Palestinians, have been filled with a blinding rage -- at Israel, at the United States, and at the world overall. This is a rage that is all-encompassing, the depth of which is palpable at the cellular level, permeating every molecule and every atom of our being. The genocide in the Gaza Strip has grated our emotions raw and we are left stinging and burning from our head to our toes.

Our anger is like a huge magnetosphere and we are all trapped inside, but its walls are translucent and we can see the source of our rage mocking us from beyond. We Palestinians are angry because we are so disappointed and we are angry because we are disillusioned and we are angry because we are drowning in sorrow.

Our disappointment lies in the fact that the world has failed us in the worst possible way and has allowed the unspeakable to be committed against us. Genocide is the ‘mother of all crimes’ and, contrary to the promises, the conventions and the historical lessons the world was supposed to learn, it has been committed over and over again. The Palestinian genocide, however, is unique in at least one way: it is live-streamed, which means no one can claim ignorance and everyone has a responsibility in stopping it. Hence, our disappointment is not limited to countries, Arab or otherwise, or to international and human rights organizations. It has spread to everyone in our orbit; acquaintances and people we thought were friends, but whose silence towards our slaughter is a deafening betrayal. Our sense of disappointment has discolored every relationship it touches because every relationship for us is a dichotomy: you are either with or against genocide and either support Palestine in word and deed, or not.

Our anger is a thin veil concealing our disillusion with the international community and its institutions, supposedly established to protect people in situations precisely like ours. We have confirmed what we knew all along, that these organizations were constructed for some and not all, for colonial powers and not those who suffer beneath them. Even when the highest court in the land rules in our favor, the Global North ensures that its ruling will not be implemented to save us, the oppressed, indigenous brown people whose lives apparently do not matter.

And finally, our anger is a survival mechanism to shield us from our own grief. Our sorrow over the murdered men, women and children, defenseless, homeless, starving and shivering in the cold, is so deep, so immense, we ourselves cannot fathom it. If we dare peek behind this anger and truly feel a fraction of the aching in our hearts, it will paralyze us for sure, because no people can endure the magnitude and scale of such suffering and not lose their minds.

We Palestinians know we cannot let go and that a new day is near. We know we must hold on just a little bit longer, because Palestine depends on it. We are no strangers to oppression, suffering and sacrifice and we know the price of our freedom has and continues to be painfully high. Still, we also know that a life without shackles and the yoke of oppression around our weary necks is the only life worth living.

This may be the hardest article I’ve written so far, for obvious reasons. As the genocide in Gaza grinds on into its fourth month, with winter in full force, the situation is so dire it has been described as hell on earth. To date, some 27,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel, nearly 70% of them women and children. Another 70,000 have been wounded and at least 1.9 million people have been displaced. With only 2.3 million in the Gaza Strip to start with, this computes to 1% of its population being exterminated, and in less than four months.

However, in the midst of these horrific times, let us allow ourselves a sliver of hope. The ICJ ruling, announced on January 26, prompted mixed feelings among Palestinians who naturally, wanted to hear a clear and firm demand on Israel to stop its onslaught. However, even without the express demand for a ceasefire, the ICJ offered something to the Palestinians for which they have been demanding for many years: their suffering, their plight and the brutal oppression they live under, was finally acknowledged by the highest court in the world. More importantly, Israel is being called out for its crimes, displayed in real time for all to see. For this, we will be eternally grateful to South Africa and its exceptional legal team for bringing this case of genocide to the ICJ and forcing the world to look straight down the barrel of Israel’s cruel intentions.

Of course, for the Palestinians, we did not need an international court to tell us that Israel is committing a genocide, but it was cathartic to hear this acknowledged on a global platform. While we are aware that the actual charge of genocide perhaps needs years to prove, it only takes hearing the ruling and the case argued by South Africa to surmise that Israel is as good as convicted.

This is not insignificant, and we will cling to any shred of hope we can find in this unjust world. Having said that, this is no time to rest. If anything, it is time to push even harder because now, we have ICJ rulings in our favor and legal backing to claims we already knew were legitimate.

However, while this may have offered us some ray of light in the darkness in which we are all engulfed, the fact of the matter is that things continue to worsen on the ground in Gaza. This genocide is so heinous, not only in the brutality of the Israeli bombs and denial of basic aid to the people of Gaza, but in the fact that its people are suffering from multiple and simultaneous injustices. That is, those who are being starved are the same people who have been displaced and the same people who have been injured and cannot receive medical attention. They are the same people who have lost their homes and family members and the same people who are under the rubble. One atrocity does not cancel out another in Gaza and that is what makes this genocide so unimaginable.

We have reached a point where it is unnecessary to describe the horrors of life in Gaza because frankly, in the past four months, everyone has seen them. It is not a matter of the world not knowing. This may have been the case in other genocides and atrocities, but not this one. It really boils down to two things: The dehumanization of the Palestinians and Israel’s impunity for its crimes, the latter being a direct result of the former.

Shame on the world for accepting Israel’s vile propaganda, hook, line and sinker. Shame on the “western world” in particular, who we will never forgive. Shame on them all for aiding and abetting the slaughter of our people, their displacement, starvation and annihilation. This will not go unnoticed in the annals of history, which will paint each and every accomplice in the criminal light it deserves.

But these despicable powers do not know the lion-hearts of the Palestinians and their fierce loyalty to Palestine. They will never be able to kill us all and my hope is that this thought haunts them day and night.

A sign held up in one of the many protests around the world reads: “Killing the flowers will not delay spring”. Our Spring is coming, without a doubt.

“Palestine from Nakba to State” was the politicized title of the international football championship that took place in Palestine from May 15 to May 24. A friendly tournament hosted by Palestine, the championship was attended by 10 national teams from Asia and Africa: Mauritania, Tunisia, Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Jordan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and of course Palestine. In the opening match, Palestine beat Vietnam in front of 10,000 fans and the trend continued as Palestine won the final against Tunisia, attended by 15,000 people.

President Mahmoud Abbas praised the success of the event and congratulated the winning Palestinian team. As he greeted all the guest teams and journalists, he stressed the importance of their visit. He emphasized that sports has managed to do what politics couldn’t – unite people. The participation of the other teams showed real support to the Palestinian people.

The victory, however, must have been bittersweet for the Palestinian national team. Even though the championship was visited by people, teams and journalists from all over the world, and had thousands of people attending the matches and even more following them on TV, someone was absent from the exciting games and the joyous celebration at the end.

Three years ago Mahmoud Sarsak was arrested at a checkpoint as he was leaving the Gaza Strip on his way to join his teammates in the Palestinian National Football team in the West Bank. Since that day, the 22nd of July 2009, the now 25-year old football player has been held in an Israeli prison without charge and without trial. His family and friends have not been permitted to see him. Imprisoned under the Israeli “illegal combatant” law, Sarsak’s detention has been continuously renewed every six months, without any reason given to him or his lawyer. On the 19th of March Mahmoud Sarsak began a hunger strike that has been going on for 74 consecutive days. All he asks for is fair and just treatment.

In football, any team not playing a fair game, using dirty tricks to get ahead, is condemned by the football community; they might even get penalized. Israel, however, is not playing football. The stakes in their “game” are much higher. They keep breaking international laws and conventions; they even break the deals they make themselves, as the one made with the hunger striking prisoners only weeks ago. The Geneva Convention clearly states that the transfer of occupied people to the territory of the occupier is illegal, yet Israel continues to do so with Palestinians they arrest and place in Israeli jails, where they are kept, sometimes without any charge or trial - like Sarsak; yet another breach of international laws and human rights. Israel however, is rarely penalized or reprimanded for their constant breach of international law. In fact, they are being awarded by getting to host the 2013 UEFA Under-21 Football Championship. One can only wonder if Israel will promote fair play at this event while they keep Palestinians who are not even given the chance of a fair trial, locked up in its prisons.

As Sarsak left Gaza that day three years ago, what was on his mind was playing football, the game, according to his family, with which he was obsessed. Now he is a player in a much larger game, a game that is not played for fun and is definitely not a friendly match. Still, Sarsak is fighting hard, as he used to when he played football, only this time he is fighting for his life. The rules he is used to in football – fair play being the most valued one of all –no longer apply. But still he, as many other Palestinians, keep on fighting, as they have no other choice.

President Mahmoud Abbas was right when he said that sports unites people. But Israel’s use of cheap tricks and its continuous breaking of the rules prevents Palestinians from uniting, in this case an ardent football player with his family and beloved team. It is about time the international community stops letting Israel play dirty.

Julie Holm is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.

It’s five o’clock in the morning and I can’t sleep. I go out to my rooftop terrace and watch Ramallah come to life. I realize that I have fallen in love with this place that is utterly incredible and devastatingly unbearable all at once. When I came here nine months ago I had no idea I would fall in love this fast, this deep and forever. I sometimes feel embarrassed, trying to explain why I love Palestine; how can you love living in a place were human rights are violated every day and where no one is free? The answer is simple: I am in love with the Palestinian people. I have never met anyone as friendly, kind and welcoming as the Palestinians. Ironically, I have never met anyone as unwelcoming as the Israelis.

Writing about Palestine and trying to communicate what is happening here to the world, we tend to use statistics and facts as a hard-hitting way of making people fathom the extend of injustice the Palestinians have endured every day for the past 64 years: Just last week, 46 Palestinian civilians, including three journalists and four children were wounded in peaceful protests and demonstrations. In the same week, Israeli forces conducted at least 41 military incursions into Palestinian communities and homes in the West Bank. During these incursions, 13 Palestinian civilians were arrested, including two children. In at least five incidents during that week, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and their property. They uprooted trees and grape saplings belonging to the Palestinian farmers and “confiscated” six dunums of land south of Bethlehem. With the help of Israeli forces, one Palestinian farmer was attacked and beaten by settlers who also destroyed his vehicles and farming equipment.

Using numbers and facts, it is not hard to prove that nothing is as it should be in Palestine. The number of checkpoints, illegal Israeli settlements and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails speak for themselves. However, to me, it is not all these hard-hitting facts that have the most effect. What moves me much deeper is the Palestinian mothers, hunger striking in solidarity with their sons and daughters in Israeli jails; it is these prisoners who would rather starve to death than give up their right to live in freedom; it is all the Palestinians who day after day, week after week, continue fighting for what they believe in because they have no other choice.

Last week, I went with some friends to Nablus. On the ride back, the car was filled with joy and laughter. Their six-year-old daughter and I were having a blast in the backseat. But when we approached a roadblock, manned by Israeli soldiers, the laughter disappeared and she sat straight up in her seat. As we drove away and the games started again my heart was aching because she knew how to react in that situation, because she had to know how to react. This is why I love Palestine; not because of all the times you have to be quiet and sit up straight while you go through inhuman violations and humiliation, but because that in spite of all of this, there is still so much beauty, love and joy to be found. And now, as I say goodbye to my newfound love, I know we will not be separated forever. This terrible, beautiful place is part of me now.

Julie Holm is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.

Yesterday Palestinians all over the world marked Nakba-day, which commemorates the forced exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin after the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948. It is a day when Palestinians remember the fatal events 64 years ago and remind each other that they will not give up until Palestine is free.

Together with thousands of people I took to the streets of Ramallah, joined by a group of amazing women and their children. Even my colleague and friend who is very pregnant and passed her due date defied the sun and the crowds of people to be part of this day. The children had only half a day of school which was reflected in the crowd where children, dressed in school uniforms, carrying Palestinian flags looked like they had done this a hundred times before. A little girl walked by me wearing a hair band with a piece of yellow cardboard attached that had “We will return” written on it in Arabic.

Palestinian children grow up in a very politicized reality; they are affected by the occupation even before they are born. They grow up in a world of checkpoints and walls, a world where every family has had a family member who is or was in prison and where the only tool these prisoners have to get fair treatment is their empty stomachs. They experience their land being stolen from underneath them and from a very early age have to deal with realities that no one should have to go through. Sometimes children themselves are arrested by the Israeli military, accused of throwing stones at heavily armed soldiers who are put there to prevent the children and their families from taking back the land that is rightfully theirs. The stories Palestinian children hear from their grandparents are often memories of the villages they used to live in; villages they can no longer even visit, if they are there at all.

All of this creates an environment where children are introduced to the politics of occupation at a very early age. Even the games the children play are affected by the situation they live in. While European children play “cops and robbers”, Palestinian children play “Arabs and Jews” where the Jews try to catch, control and contain the Arabs who of course do what they can to show their disobedience and escape.

A couple of decades ago, last Palestinian President Yasser Arafat encouraged Palestinians to have as many children as possible to outnumber the Israelis. “They can beat us at the borders but not in the bedrooms” was a saying. Now, it is more about the quality than the quantity. Being a parent might be the most important task in Palestine today, as they are teaching their children about the past and raising them to be the future. A good friend of mine – a mother –once told me that it is all about finding a balance: you have to talk to your children and tell them why you have to go through checkpoints every day, but at the same time you cannot teach them to hate, not even the Israelis. The children should be educated about the reality they live in and be taught the history that led to this situation but it should be done in a way that equips them for a peaceful future.

I, along with every Palestinian parent, am looking forward for the day when Palestinian children can celebrate their independence instead of commemorating the catastrophe that created this reality 64 years ago. They are raised in a situation that demands that they are aware of the grave realities of their country from a very early age, but they are also raised with the hope and determination to change this situation. They are the future of Palestine.

Julie Holm is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.

Boycott of Israel is a very controversial subject in Europe, especially when it comes to academic and cultural boycott. You cannot propose the issue publicly without being accused of anti-Semitism or worse. Boycott is regarded as something very personal and at the same time it is highly politicized. The decisions of companies and supermarkets to boycott Israel are met with vast criticism. When a Norwegian cosmetics chain announced that it was going to stop selling Israeli products from the Dead Sea, a boycott of the chain was suggested as a counter move. Further, the idea of excluding Israel from cultural events like the Eurovision Song Contest (disregarding the oddity of Israel participating in the first place) is unthinkable to many, their argument being that we should maintain interaction and communication with Israel through this kind of events.

This in mind, I was very surprised last week when the headlines in European newspapers were filled with the word ‘boycott’. They were, of course, not concerning boycotts of Israel but rather about European leaders boycotting the Euro 2012 soccer championship and cultural events leading up to it in Ukraine. The reason for this boycott is the ill-treatment of former prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in October on charges she denied and which European Union leaders view as politically motivated. Protesting ill-treatment inside prison and alleged beatings by prison guards, Tymoshenko went on a hunger strike on April 20. After pictures of her, bruised and visibly affected by the hunger strike reached the press, European leaders reacted strongly and threatened to boycott events in Ukraine, which is co-hosting the Euro 2012 with Poland.

Reading this I could not help but compare it to what is going on in Palestine these days. It is, no doubt a very different situation politically and the diplomatic relations between European governments and Palestine and Israel are also very different, which is highly significant in such cases. Taking it down to a people-level however, it is hard to see why a cultural boycott of Ukraine is carried out while a boycott of Israel is almost unthinkable.

As we know, right now about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are on hunger strikes, some of them for more than 70 days, protesting against the ill-treatment they receive in prison. Using their bodies and their lives in the protest is a last resort to resist and try to communicate to the world the horrible and unjust treatment they experience in Israeli jails. However, the unjust treatment of Palestinians does not stop at the prison walls, not by a longshot. The Palestinians have been systematically displaced, oppressed and occupied for more than 60 years and the way they are treated by Israel is increasingly becoming more violent and atrocious. The Israeli state is occupying Palestinian land and denying the Palestinian people their basic human rights. Israel is refusing to adhere to UN resolutions and international law and have so far managed to stay clear of international sanctions.

An end to the occupation is essential to the future of the Palestinians as well as the Israelis. As history has shown, this will not happen without pressure from the rest of the world. Furthermore, Palestinian and Israeli scientists, students, artists and culture workers who are openly resisting the occupation need international support. Boycott is a very strong weapon and if used correctly, sends a very clear political message; we do not accept the systematic oppression of the Palestinians by the Israeli state. Cultural and academic boycott is a political tool and does not mean ending all dialogue with Israelis in these fields. On the contrary, it is an unambiguous way of letting them know that the Israeli occupation and apartheid policies towards the Palestinian people must come to an end.

Controversial as it is, one could ask whether mixing culture and politics is right, but for the people who are really affected by this, everything is political. People in Ukraine are complaining that they are not getting the support they expected for the sports event of the decade and the Israelis complain when a band cancels a concert in Israel for political reasons or when students at a European university do not wish to collaborate with Israeli academic institutions. For Israel, it is very political even when the subject at hand is cultural or academic.

Right now, I don’t think cultural exchange and dialogue is a top priority of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. Sometimes, there are more important issues, such as an end to over half a century of occupation and unjust treatment of an entire people. However, Palestinians, and prisoners included, understand the significance of boycotting Israel. So, let us hope that the next time a European boycott is in the headlines, the object of the action is Israel and its occupation of Palestine.

Julie Holm is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.