Palestine's struggle and its lessons for all of humanity

Israel's war in Gaza has shone a brighter spotlight on the historical and continuing Palestinian struggle than ever before. But it has also revealed the cruelty and banality of the system we live in

- By Francesca Albanese

In this moment, as the world witnesses the continuing attempt to erase an entire people in Palestine, from the fleeting ceasefire in shattered Gaza to the accelerated colonisation of the West Bank, history is pressing upon us.

This moment calls on all of us not to wash our hands of the hell into which Israel has plunged Palestine. Two years after the beginning of the genocide, and despite "the ceasefire", the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory remains nothing short of apocalyptic.

I use the term deliberately. Gaza is a wasteland of rubble, refuse and human remains, where survivors cling to life amid disease, deprivation and the relentless weight of violence unseen anywhere this century.

Over 240,000 killed or injured, and the numbers rise daily. Entire neighbourhoods obliterated. Families returning to ruins only to uncover bodies of loved ones beneath the rubble. City blocks lying in dust.

Clean water is scarce, food nearly nonexistent, medicine and electricity critically short. Prisoners tortured and raped; bodies mangled, desecrated and left in streets. Homes and memories destroyed. Intimate lives violated. Populations forcibly displaced time and time again across a territory rendered uninhabitable. With nowhere to flee and nothing to return to.

Excruciating suffering is widespread, systematic and by design. Even during the fragile ceasefire, it continues. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed since Israel committed to cease fire on 10 October.

For two years, Israel has waged a war on a civilian population while Palestinians have no army, no tanks and security forces that cannot protect them. And whereas in Gaza it had the excuse of "wanting to eradicate Hamas", this does not explain the escalation of violence and acceleration of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.