Two Voices
In Defense of Palestine
Noam Chomsky. Laureate professor of linguistics, University of Arizona; institute professor emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology:
You can decide if you’re willing to live in a bubble, as distinct from the entire world—you’re free to do that. There are three notions that come up: the Biblical rights, which have absolutely no status. None. Nobody in the world can say, “Two-thousand years ago, here’s my story of what happened, so I have a right to do it now.” You can’t live in a world like that. Nobody in the world ever makes such a claim. You want to make it? Okay, but then just admit, “I’m out of the world.” Yes, totally distinct. If you really want to play that game, the Palestinians have more of a right to claim to be descendants of the population from 2,000 years ago than I do. My ancestors probably come from the Caucasus. Their ancestors come from Palestine. The Kana’an were correct about this. So you don’t want to get into that game. Biblical rights have no status. Now, let’s turn to legality and occupation. There is 100-percent agreement among all relevant international institutions. Not just the United Nations Security Council, but the International Court Of Justice, the World Court, the Red Cross, which administers the Geneva Conventions, Israel’s own top legal authorities—all agree that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are in violation of international law. Hundred-percent agreement. Israel doesn’t agree? Fine. Israeli Jews want to live in some little bubble of their own, they’re entitled to do so. But you can’t overlook the fact that every relevant international institution disagrees on the question of legality. Same with occupation. Every relevant international institution recognizes that Israel is occupying not only the West Bank, but it’s also the occupying authority in Gaza. So, as far as terms go, the illegal expansion into the West Bank, its hundreds of thousands of settlers there, represents wholesale theft and displacement of the rightful owners. There is no counterpart on the Palestinian side.
Ramzy Baroud, Palestinian journalist and writer:
When you think about it, I don’t think there is a greater liberation war that we have seen, maybe since the liberation war of Algeria that compares to what the Palestinians are doing in Gaza. And it’s so very important to do so, because the genocide will be over, and then we’re going to come and talk about—well, who represents the Palestinians? And the ones who represent the Palestinians are not those who are collaborating with Israel, but rather, are those who are representing my people and fighting for their rights. So, yes, it is a genocide because we can’t control what our enemy does to us. I can’t decide for Netanyahu to take over Gaza City or the whole of the Gaza strip. It’s a decision he makes. It’s the immorality he’s responsible for. It’s the illegality that he brings to the table. But as a Palestinian or as a Palestinian people, we do have choices. And our choice is to resist and to fight back.
And so for us, this is a war. It’s a war of liberation from our side. For Israel, it’s a war of complete dishonor. And it’s an utter and absolute genocide that will bring shame to anyone who has defended or explained or justified or rationalized what Israel is doing to the Palestinians until the very end.
