RESILIENCE - the Unconquerable Superpower of the Palestinians

Israel kills and tortures in increasing rage because they cannot kill the resilience of the Palestinians.

Photo by v2osk on Unsplash

There is something interesting about victims of domestic abuse. In the aftermath they either crumble or become shell-like, before finally and very gradually, becoming a person again. They may never reach that goal - they may never know who they are again, but they function better. They live slowly and take in their surroundings as if everything is anew. They have a solitude they find comfort in, perhaps because the rest of the world is always a danger in their minds. They find some sort of peace after such horrific times.

But then there are the others. And their abuse never stops. And it never stops because, despite the bruises and broken bones; the relentless humiliation and abuse, these people do not give up their spirit. It may sometimes be quietened but it is never broken. They are resilient and their resilience lives on. They do not even know they have it - it is just there. It means that even after the relationship has ended, and the survivor has escaped, they are usually still pursued by their abuser. Years later, he will pop up again. He will never stop. Because he never won.

I do not know if resilience is nurtured or innate, though I strongly believe it is the latter. The resilience of the abused is not even purposeful or intentional. In fact, it makes the abuse they endure worse.

Abusers try to control and defile; contaminate and destroy. This is their aim. That is why there is a shocking and hideous culture of rape by the IDF. When Zionists cannot shut up Pro-Palestines peace marches, they threaten them with rape - the most dehumanising of actions. They threaten to rape anyone who speaks against their genocide. They rape men, women and children and have not an iota of shame but believe it is their right.

There is an acceptance in the world that what we are witnessing in the people of Gaza is nothing short of breathtaking. Amid the videos that bystanders are forced to send to our screens - to beg the Western world to recognise them as human beings - are the scenes of people ripped to pieces and whose families, in the depths of their palpable pain and grief, unfailing scream into the sky:

“Hasbunallah wa ni'mal wakeel!”

Allah is Sufficient for us, and He is Our Protector!

The full verse, revealed thousands of years ago, seems destined for the Palestinians today:

"Those to whom people said, 'Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them.' But it (only) increased them in faith, and they said, 'Sufficient for us is Allah, and He is the best disposer of affairs.'" (Quran, 3:173)

The verse is of entrenched and indomitable resilience. And indeed, the Palestinians embody their faith entirely. Do not take my word for it. See it for yourself “Hasbuyallah wa ni'mal wakeel…”

One of the problems of trying to subjugate the Muslim world is that the Muslim doctrine is one of resilience. The idea of life in Islam, is that you are created to be tested on the earth, the result of which determines your final destination - your real life. This is where your life actually begins; having been sifted out from the sufferings of the earth. There are only three categories you will be tested in: your wealth, your lives and your children. The Palestinians are being heavily tested in all three. The doctrine is that the test may not be easy. It may be hard and feel soul-destroying. But it is all just a test.

“Do you think you will be admitted into Paradise without being tested like those before you? They were afflicted with suffering and adversity and were so ˹violently˺ shaken that ˹even˺ the Messenger and the believers with him cried out, “When will Allah’s help come?” Indeed, Allah’s help is near.” (Quran, 2:214)

The notion of patience itself is resilience. Sabr, or patience, along with prayer, are the cures to all hardships in the Islamic faith. To remain patient, enduring whatever befalls you, is both the test and the ultimate success of that test. This duality is profound, a transcendence of patience and resilience. It is this resilience - patience - that is the supreme success.

“O you who have believed, be patient and endure and remain stationed and fear Allah that you may be successful.” (Quran, 3:200)

"Indeed, I have rewarded them this Day for their patience. They are indeed the ones who are successful” (Quran, 23:111)

It is hard to destroy a people who believe the next life is the life: the life of peace and happiness; this present life nothing but just a trial and test. Fatih Al Ghorri’s, “We are Muslim, we are not scared of death!” is so funny because deep down it’s so true. Death is not feared. The pain that we often associate with death may be feared, but the ending of life? No. The end of earthly life is not the end: it is merely the end of the beginning. If this is the test, one must simply endure it. That is the test. Endure with patience. Endure, endure, endure. That is the definition of resilience. That is the superpower of resistance.

It cannot be explained further. It can only be witnessed. I will leave it to this Palestinian father to show you.

The US went into Afghanistan with the best of weaponry and were met with men in flip-flops and AK47s. They left 20 years later leaving the country to the ‘evil regime’ they claimed they would destroy.

The US takes to the Red Sea with the most highly sophisticated vessels, intent on destroying men in boats determined to obstruct the genocide of innocents. They too retreated, tail between their legs, acknowledging their defeat by wanting to ‘talk’ something the US never does if it can simply bomb to smithereens.

The Israelis take to a 25-mile piece of land and destroy the families of everyone with the highest technology on earth- bombs that rip human bodies so thoroughly that there is no possibility of identification and only by weighing pieces of flesh can it be determined if an adult or child has died, and still they have not won a thing. Eleven months of pure hell and the Palestinians still cry out that they will not leave their land, and God is their protector and they rely only on Him.

The Israelis are so abusive, so utterly depraved that they return to dead bodies to defile them more. They cannot stop. They urinate on them and defile them, and crush them and rip their organs from them. They attack their funerals and steal them from graves. They cannot stop. Their anger is visceral and undying; it is a rage that consumes and commands them. Even the bodies of the dead taunt them because even in death the Palestinians are resilient.

And despite all of this, the Palestinians continue. They continue to live throughout it all. If they die, they are with God and there is nothing to fear. If they remain alive, it is through pure resilience - a refusal to die, to be extinguished, to be put out.

Someone said to me last week, as I sat on a chair, zoned out from the world after witnessing yet more IOF depravity. “Please, don’t be sad. Be an eagle.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You see what is in front of you, and what is beneath your feet, and what surrounds you, but you have not seen from above. You have not left the ground and flown above.”

That evening, like all evenings, I was consumed by grief. The words of this person came to my mind. So, I closed my eyes and I flew. I flew high above the world into the night sky, everyone asleep; silence surrounding me. And from above I saw a tiny strip of land. A tiny slither on the vastness of the earth. So small as to barely be seen; like a date stalk. I saw a military power bombarding it day and night. I saw the rest of the Western world parked in the sea, sending their planes and weapons to help. Eleven months of non-stop bombing and murdering and attacking and pummelling. But the land remained there, intact and unmoving. Resilient and enduring.

I saw from the sky, the weakening of the attackers. Their retreat from the sea. Their populations retreating from land. The longer they bombed, the more their people and their armies and their soldiers fled.

From above I saw a miracle - one that is hidden behind the corpses of mutilated babies, and broken bodies of innocents.

I saw a land resilient, unmoving…and refusing to be defeated.

The people of Gaza are resilient.

And their superpower is shaking the earth.

---

I want to add a postscript. I want to ask you, to plead with you, to not give up. Do not stop. Be resilient in your efforts to free Palestine. Do not be moved to inaction by the trauma they put us through: forcing us to watch, unable to physically stop them: always remember, it is all by design. As the oppression and genocide of the Palestinians intensifies, and the suppression and state brutality towards us escalates at an alarming rate, we must continue in our actions, in our humanity, and in our endeavours. As Craig Murray - who has himself been outrageously detained under the UK’s Terrorism legislation - wrote this week:

“If we are to survive this descent onto fascism as a society, we need to be prepared to dissent now, and each of us needs to be prepared to go to jail if necessary.”

I leave you with the words of former UN human rights lawyer, Craig Mokhiber, who resigned from his post in protest at the UN’s failure to stop the genocide in Gaza.

Be a light in the darkness. Raise your voice. Fight back.

(P.p.s: I talk about Islam in this piece because the majority of Palestinians and imperialism’s victims in the Middle East are Muslims. This is to explain the psychology of many of these individuals, so please can I politely ask for comments to respect that: as it is not an otological piece.)