An Offering from Sara Saleh #

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The people of Gaza insist on living.

We must remember and bear witness to this insistence. We must refuse the inevitability of their death and destruction. And fight like it.

May we never tame or temper our righteous anger, but heed what it is teaching us in this moment.

May we have the will to question and unlearn our longstanding beliefs that have led to self-betrayal, that have limited us to see only what we believe.
Beliefs that have given us permission to so callously denigrate other human beings despite our shared humanity.

May we have the humility and wisdom to surrender to the rupture of truth, to change our mind when presented with new information.

Allow us mental, physical and spiritual fortitude to keep struggling as long as necessary.
To educate and organise and boycott and take solidarity actions even when inconvenient and uncomfortable.

Humble us so we may seek help and support if we have doubts of our capacity or our safety.
Our pain is valid in the face of colonial violence.
Our fear is valid in the face of violent retribution.
Out silence, our indifference, is not.

May we be emboldened knowing we are not alone.

[…]

May we believe the obstacles are surmountable. Our power is not. May we have the unwavering resolve to keep going.

[…]

As we fight for our place in the world, may we find places in each other. May we honour our connections and communities.

Keep saying her name, keep saying Palestine.
A prayer. A recitation. A refusal. A defiance. A revolution. An insistence on life.

Keep saying Palestine.

Al Thawabet (‫ثَوابِت‬) #

From Al Thawabet, a community-run body working to expose the zionist enemy’s lies, propaganda, and heinous crimes against indigenous Palestinians:

Derived from the Arabic word ‘ثابِت’ Al Thawabet (‫ثَوابِت‬) means both ‘constant’ and ‘principles’. It signifies our firm and steady commitment to the honourable principles upon which the Palestinian Liberation Movement has long stood strong on. Where liberal western personalities attempt to hog the narrative and zionist propaganda machines work overtime to infiltrate the Liberation Movement with traitors and normalizers, we stand to refuse and reject all forms of treachery and uphold the principles upon which our Palestinian heroes (both of the past and present) have sacrificed their lives for.

The principles we stand strong on are clear, concise and simple.

  1. No to normalization.
  2. Yes to armed resistance.
  3. Refuse liberal western narratives and whatsoever it attempts to bring to the table.
  4. Uplift Palestinian voices.
  5. Support and echo Palestinian demands.

Basil Al-Araj’s eight rules of the resistance #

Since there is talk of a ground operation, several points must be considered:

  1. The Palestinian resistance consists of guerrilla formations whose strategies follow the logic of guerrilla warfare or hybrid warfare, which Arabs and Muslims have become masters through their experiences in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza. War is never based on the logic of conventional wars and the defense of fixed points and borders; on the contrary, you draw the enemy into an ambush. You do not stick to a fixed position to defend it; instead, you perform maneuvers, movement, withdrawal, and attack from the flanks and the rear. So, never measure it against conventional wars.

  2. The enemy will spread photos and videos of their invasion into Gaza, occupation of residential buildings, or presence in public areas and well-known landmarks. This is part of the psychological warfare in guerrilla wars; you allow your enemy to move as they wish so that they fall into your trap and you strike them. You determine the location and timing of the battle. So, you may see photos from Al-Katiba Square, Al-Saraya, Al-Rimal, or Omar Al-Mukhtar Street, but do not let this weaken your resolve. The battle is judged by its overall results, and this is merely a show.

  3. Never spread the occupation’s propaganda, and do not contribute to instilling a sense of defeat. This must be focused on, for soon, we will start talking about a massive invasion in Beit Lahia and Al-Nuseirat, for example. Never spread panic; be supportive of the resistance and do not spread any news broadcast by the occupation. (Forget about the ethics and impartiality of journalism; just as the Zionist journalist is a fighter, so are you.)

  4. The enemy may broadcast images of prisoners, most likely civilians, but the goal is to suggest the rapid collapse of the resistance. Do not believe them.

  5. The enemy will carry out tactical, qualitative operations to assassinate some symbols [of resistance], and all of this is part of psychological warfare. Those who have died and those who will die will never affect the resistance’s system and cohesion because the structure and formations of the resistance are not centralized but horizontal and widespread. Their goal is to influence the resistance’s support base and the families of the resistance fighters, as they are the only ones who can affect the men of the resistance.

  6. Our direct human and material losses will be much greater than the enemy’s, which is natural in guerrilla wars that rely on willpower, the human element, and the extent of patience and endurance. We are far more capable of bearing the costs, so there is no need to compare or be alarmed by the magnitude of the numbers.

  7. Today’s wars are no longer just wars and clashes between armies but rather are struggles between societies. Let us be like a solid structure and play a game of biting fingers with the enemy, our society against their society.

Finally, every Palestinian (in the broad sense, meaning anyone who sees Palestine as a part of their struggle, regardless of their secondary identities), every Palestinian is on the front lines of the battle for Palestine, so be careful not to fail in your duty.

Source: Basil Al-Araj, Palestinian martyr: ‘Today’s wars are struggles between societies’