An impartial report from the occupied Palestinian territories

The author, Francesca Albanese, a researcher, international lawyer, and United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, modestly states that she aimed to introduce «a little bit of order and help take a position that is not just a flag to rise.» For the non-expert but concerned public, this is exactly what we need. The unspeakable horrors that Palestinians in Gaza have been suffering day after day while the whole world is idly watching shows that the human race has lost the last traits of humanity. Albanese, on the contrary, proves there is still hope. Patiently and with scientific rigour, she outlines the logic behind the seemingly unreasonable, provides the words for the unspeakable, and emphasises that for what appears to be chaotic and unjust, there are laws that not only define the crimes perpetrated and the perpetrators but can also lead to a solution. She also exposes the mechanisms by which the perpetrators avoid being held responsible.

Extermination continues

In Exterminate All the Brutes (2021), his epic documentary series about the roots of European colonialism, Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck claimed that Hitler had been just a latecomer’s attempt at what the European colonial states successfully performed in Africa, Australia, Latin America and North America centuries before. For those of us who grew up with the idea that Shoah was an absolute and incomparable crime, this sounded almost blasphemous. In Albanese’s book, we can read that it was actually the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an intergovernmental organisation of 35 states (almost all European, plus Israel, USA, Australia, and Argentina) that in 2016 introduced a new definition of antisemitism, adopted globally by now (by EU but not UN, p. 162) that relativized this in the first place.

A convenient excuse

As the philosopher Roberta De Monticelli explains in her afterword, the memory of Shoah was a barrier against antisemitism, and opposing antisemitism was an absolute obligation. However, the definition introduced by IHRA relativized this, as it made antisemitism equal to the criticism of political Zionism, an ideology that justifies the discrimination of non-Jewish occupants in Israel and occupied territories (p.160). Albanese, herself a victim of the accusations of antisemitism, shows how the IHRA definition even limits academic liberties (p.106). There is no doubt that accusations of antisemitism are a convenient way to silence the critics of the state of Israel and its politics. In an ironic turn of history, these accusations became a tool of the most recent instance of settler colonialism, performed ruthlessly by Israel in the occupied territories: the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem ever since 1967.

There is no doubt that accusations of antisemitism are a convenient way to silence the critics of the state of Israel and its politics.

The occupied territory

The attacks of Hamas on 7 October, 2023, indeed «did not happen in a vacuum,» as Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres stated on October 24, 2023, in front of the Security Council. In 1967, the Israeli army occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, the entire land that, according to the United Nations plan from 1947, should be the future territory of the Palestinian State. Despite the protests of the international community, Israel kept the Palestinians under military occupation, deprived them of their most basic rights, confiscated their land, segregated the population, and destroyed their houses, schools, and other civil infrastructure (p. 57). To justify the extremely violent retaliation against the Palestinian people in Gaza in their response to Hamas’ attack, Israel invoked their right to self-defence. Yet, explains Francesca Albanese, Israel cannot invoke its right to self-defence in response to attacks by groups emanating from the occupied territory. This does not mean that it doesn’t have the right to protect its citizens and respond to Hamas’ crimes, but not with war (p.80). The regulatory framework remains that of international humanitarian law, and the responsibility of Israel as an occupying power is to restore respect for law and public order. Besides, warns Albanese, the attacks by Hamas also need to be viewed in the context of the arbitrary occupation, considered illegal under international law. This occupation «constitutes an aggression, as well as a violation of the right to self-determination. Faced with an occupation that seems to have no end, it is clear that the occupied people invoke the right to resist oppression, as established by international law» (p. 80). Israel has no right to use its military power against forms of resistance, however illegal, generated by an illegal occupation. Its response is, therefore, considered excessive and disproportionate by definition and brings with it a series of very serious crimes (p. 81-82).

Israel cannot invoke its right to self-defence in response to attacks by groups emanating from the occupied territory.

Settler colonialism

Francesca Albanese is the 8th Special Rapporteur of the UN on the occupied Palestinian territories and the first woman in this role which has existed since 1993. She was nominated in 2022 and presented three reports before publishing this tiny but precious book. It is worth reading from the first to the last word, but what I find particularly important is her acknowledgement of the context of racism. The reality in Palestine, she claims, is no different from the historical examples of settler colonialism, such as in Australia, Canada, and the US, where Indigenous populations were subjugated, marginalised, and repressed (p. 83). They were robbed of their land and natural resources, but first of all, they were robbed of their dignity and perceived as inferior. «One cannot resort to self-defence when occupying another people when attacking them» (p. 84), claims Albanese. But Israel has done exactly this for decades. It violates the right to self-determination of the Palestinians of Gaza, West Bank, and East Jerusalem and justifies this by national security as the act of self-defence. Narrations that portray Palestinians as dangerous and underdeveloped are not only part of the indoctrination of Israeli children at schools (p. 71) – the global public is obviously ready to accept them as well.

Dangerous brutes

How else can one explain the silent acceptance of the horrendous law approved by the Israeli parliament in 2018, defining Israel as a full democracy only for Jews? Palestinians with Israeli citizenship (called Arab-Israelis) do not have the same rights as their fellow Jews (p.102). They face various forms of discrimination, economic disparities, inequalities in education, real estate, the justice system, political participation barriers, and cultural and linguistic discrimination. Dual laws: marshal laws for Palestinians, discriminated against and harassed, and civil jurisdiction for the settlers (p. 95). Israel is openly practising apartheid against the Palestinians, warns Albanese. Many NGOs, academics, United Nations experts, as well as several former Israeli officials and intellectuals, have confirmed this (p. 92), but the international community doesn’t react.

Since the rest of the world is gradually progressing towards decolonisation, it’s hard to believe that, through the longest occupation in modern history, Israeli expansionism has created the regime of apartheid in occupied territories, notes Albanese (p.94). But we do know that ideas are the last to die, and the ideas of racism and white supremacism are no different. In her afterword, Roberta De Monticelli expresses the hope that the book will make us understand «what a terrible thing our indifference has been until today» (p. 127). J’accuse was published in November 2023, a month after the 7 October. Eight months have passed since then. The book is still only available in Italian, and the publisher gave no exact answer about when they plan to publish the English version. The horrible crimes against Palestinians continue day after day.

It’s about time we reconsider our readiness to believe in the brutes.