Gigi Ibrahim
Families watch rockets fall over Gaza, Palestine in 2012.
A week after I flew out of Palestine on August 3, Gaza was under attack.
Just four days later, fourty-four deaths were reported by Palestinian health authorities, fifteen of which were children. More than 300 Palestinians were wounded during three days of the onslaught where, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces, 1,100 projectiles were fired from the Gaza strip. Homes were demolished, family businesses were destroyed, and sons and daughters perished. Yet, for the two weeks that I was in Palestine working with a human rights organization, according to Israeli law, it was me who was the terrorist.
In October 2021, the government of Israel labelled six Palestinian civil society organizations as terrorist operations. This designation enables the Israeli state to limit the function of these organizations by suffocating funding and charging staff with terrorist offenses. I worked with one of these organizations, Al-Haq, established in 1979 to “document violations of individual and collective rights of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories. . . to end such breaches by way of advocacy before national and international mechanisms.”
I volunteered with Al-Haq during my stay in the West Bank. I got a firsthand glimpse into the realities of Palestinian existence under occupation, the nuances of navigating such an uncertain context, and the frustration of operating under arbitrary legal and political systems.
Terrorism has become the ultimate greenlight for violent retaliation. It is invoked to almost unquestionably justify extreme measures under the guise of protecting civilians and the state.
On August 7, in the midst of the most recent attack on Gaza, 1,700 far-right Israeli settlers broke into the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under the protection of heavily armed Israeli military forces. But when I set foot in Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv I was detained for three hours for having a Muslim name and being born in a Muslim country.
Hospitals in Gaza are struggling to run generators due to fuel import restrictions imposed by Israel, limiting their ability to tend to wounded Palestinians. But I was committing an offense by working for an organization advocating for access to humanitarian supplies and for allowing critically ill patients to access treatments outside of the war zone.
Hours after the ceasefire was negotiated, Israeli occupation forces demolished the homes of two Palestinian prisoners as well as nine Bedouin community structures. But when I went to observe an Israeli quarry, mining Palestinian resources on annexed land in Salfit, I was ushered out of the Palestinian territory by armed Israeli military.
Because I was a “terrorist.”
Still, my two weeks in Palestine were a diluted version of what Palestinians face every day. I was afforded some level of respect due to my foreign passport and my being considered a terrorist only by association. Palestinian citizens live under constant villainization and occupation by Israel, which regularly takes extreme actions under the guise of national security.
Since former President George W. Bush’s notorious “War on Terror,” the label of terrorism has come to carry enormous weight. When invoked, it warrants all forms of intervention and international support. The core word—terror—is a loaded term that conveys panic, alarm, and horror to civilians. But it’s apparent that true acts of terror are not weighed equally in Israel and Palestine. Instead the label of terrorism is a political tool strategically deployed by those in power for their own ends.
Terrorism has become the ultimate greenlight for violent retaliation. It is invoked to almost unquestionably justify extreme measures under the guise of protecting civilians and the state. In this way “terrorism” has become a mechanism for state-sanctioned violence. When no specific crimes can be identified and prosecuted, the catch-all of terrorism allows national governments to freely antagonize who they wish. Under Bush, it was Muslims at-large. In Israel, it’s Palestinians.
When Palestinian children throw rocks at armored Israeli vehicles, this is deemed terrorism. When Israeli settlers form an armed militia group, this is considered “the obligation and right of a citizen” to self-defense.
It’s time we evaluate what actions actually qualify as terrorism and who is truly deserving of such a label.
According to the 2016 Counter-Terrorism Law that the Israeli government used to justify its designation of the six Palestinian civil society groups, a terrorist act includes a criminal offense, a nationalistic motive, and the intent to provoke fear, as well as cause serious harm.
Israel’s actions in Gaza over the past few weeks check all of the above in my book.
Editor’s Note: A version of this article originally appeared in The Palestine Chronicle.