Understanding Israel's Perspective on Palestine: A Neutral Analysis

“You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time”.

The above saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln came to mind as I read Emmanuel Joseph’s report of his interview with Ital Bardov, Israel’s Ambassador to Barbados, in your edition of May 10, and Bardov’s anger with Barbados’ decision to recognise the State of Palestine and his message: “It is important for the people in Barbados to understand that Israel is seeking to have peace.”

If the horror inflicted on the Palestinian people was not atrocious then Bardov’s comments would be hilarious. What peace is Israel seeking? Over 35 000 reported deaths of Palestinians in the last seven months at the hands and weapons of Israeli Occupation Forces. And those are the reported deaths, it is estimated that the number doubles if you consider the unreported or not found. Over 15 000 are children. Israel directly targets and murders journalists, doctors, nurses, teachers, humanitarian workers, women, and children.

The illegal occupation of lands, destruction of properties, arrests and detention without cause and trial, and the denial of basic human rights are all the “peace-seeking” methods of the Israeli government.

In 1948, 750 000 Palestinians were forcibly uprooted from their homes and lands at the creation of the state of Israel and made refugees all over the world with no right of return. It was the hope of the Zionist founders of the Israeli state that the old Palestinians scattered across the globe would die and the young would forget. But the young didn’t forget; they are Palestinian. The keys to their usurped properties passed from generation to generation, hung around their necks, a constant reminder of the injustice meted out at the Nakba or catastrophe on May 15, 1948.

Bardov talks about a two-state solution that he claims Palestinians don’t want but in reality, Israel destroys. How can a 2-state solution work if Israel continues to take up Palestinian lands in the West Bank, decimate the Gaza Strip and force out Palestinians?

The people of the world are waking up to the lies that have been propagated for decades. Injustice, genocide, and the cries of the oppressed will not go unnoticed or unchallenged forever.

Palestine was never a “land without a people for a people without a land”. Palestine is the land of the Palestinians. It is their State, their Nation. That is what 143 countries of the 193 members of the United Nations recognise. Whether you like it or not, that is what Barbados announced on April 19, 2024. God bless Barbados and God bless the Palestinian people.