‘I am angry with myself for not being able to do more’.
STEWART FRANCIS NEWCOMBE
‘Newcombe’s
feeling of guilt persisted to the end of his life and kept him constantly
active in furthering Arab political aims.’
ARNOLD LAWRENCE (T. E’s BROTHER) TO JEREMY WILSON, AUGUST 1971
On 7 October 2023, the Al-Qasam Brigade, the military wing of the
Palestinian organisation Hamas, broke out of besieged Gaza and brutally massacred Israeli and
foreign citizens and military personnel, an operation that left around 1200 dead, injuring many
more, and taking approximately 230 hostages. The attack, named Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by Hamas, proved to be the bloodiest
day in Israel’s history. In the aftermath of a huge intelligence, military and security failure,
Israel's retaliation on the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip was immediate, devastating
and driven by a desire for retribution.
Israel asserts its right to self-defence and history shows that it has never refrained from
using disproportionate force in response to attacks coming from Gaza, or
elsewhere. Backed by statements of support from the US, the UK and others, the
Israeli Defense Force has since unleashed a firestorm on the Gazan civilian
population from land, sea, and air. As a result of this ongoing action,
accusations have been made that Israel has violated numerous articles of
international law. Human rights organizations and governments from all over the
world have called for an end to hostilities or, at the very least, a pause to allow
in much needed aid and relief to people caught up in a humanitarian disaster. Israel
counters this by saying a ceasefire will simply give Hamas time to regroup and rearm.
In all the years I have studied the situation in Israel and Palestine, I have never before seen this level of brutality, barbarity and destruction inflicted upon the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. This is unprecedented. With live streaming, it is possible to witness this in real time. According to different sources (as of 7 November 2023), in excess of 10,000 Palestinian men, women, and children, have so far died in four weeks of relentless bombing that has targeted residential properties, hospitals, ambulances, schools, UNWRA refugee centres, churches and mosques, bakeries, so-called safe routes to the south, as well as the only remaining exit out of the Strip at Rafa on the Egyptian border. Israel claims that Hamas bunkers and tunnels operate under these buildings and are therefore legitimate targets. In the coming days and weeks, thousands of bodies will be pulled from under the rubble of Gaza City as well as the eight refugee camps that lie within its encircled boundary. With no humanitarian pause in sight, it appears Israel is determined to eradicate not only Hamas but also Gaza itself. Soon there will be nothing left for Gazans to return to. (NOTE: As of 26 January 2024, the number of dead has risen to over 30,000).
Israel has maintained control over Gaza's land, sea, and air since the brutal
blockade of 2007, tightly regulating the supply of water, electricity, fuel, and
other essential goods, and limiting or prohibiting the movement of people. Services
such as desperately needed medical aid and internet connectivity have been
weaponized and are arbitrarily withdrawn.
Gaza has a population of 2.2 million people crowded into what is in effect the world's largest concentration camp. With half of the population under the age of 18, more than 4000 children have been killed so far. Surely the terrible attack by Hamas cannot justify the murder of so many innocent children. Injuries from bomb blasts, full body burns, allegedly from phosphorous shells according to doctors on the ground, and the mental suffering from seeing loved ones torn to pieces are wounds that will never heal. While claiming to target Hamas fighters, entire families are being wiped out by indiscriminate bombing. Israel disputes any numbers coming from the Hamas controlled health authority and claims that many killed will be Hamas fighters. The number of dead women and children will tell another tale.
Among the dead are at least 37 journalists, having
been killed while displaying courage and tenacity in telling their story to the
world. Despite the horrifying scenes of the Hamas terror
attack on 7 October, known as Israel’s Black Saturday, many major cities in the
world continue to witness incredible scenes of support for Palestine. Israel has lost the propaganda war.
Palestine's armed resistance against Israel's colonisation did not start on 7 October 2023; the long road to the collective dispossession of the indigenous people of Palestine began much earlier. This was alluded to by António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, who told the security council: “It is important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.” Guterres was of course referring to the aftermath of the Six-Day War of 1967 when Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on the opening day of the war designed to destroy the Egyptian Air force and its airfields following the mass mobilisation of an Arab military alliance that had aggressively surrounded Israel on at least two borders. In the ensuing six-day conflict, Israel won territorial gains from Egypt, Jordan and Syria which included the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Sinai, and the Gaza Strip.
Israel immediately called for Guiterres' resignation and announced that it was withdrawing travel visas for UN officials, including the UN humanitarian coordinator, Martin Griffiths. As fury grows over its strikes on Gaza, it seems Israel is not afraid to lose friends and support in order to pursue its war aims. Meanwhile, the Israeli hostages remain in captivity and more than 1.6 million Palestinians have been displaced.
Respected Israeli and Jewish academics have described Israel as a colonial settler apartheid regime established in 1948 on the land of Palestine and at the expense and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people following their catastrophe (al-Nakba). For fifty-six years, Israel has held Gaza and the West Bank under strict military occupation, and in international law has a duty to protect all civilians under its control. Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, pointed out that Israel "cannot claim the right to self defense against a threat that emanates from the territory it occupies... from a territory that is kept under belligerent occupation." It is like saying that an abuser has the right to defend himself because his victim struck him. Meanwhile, attacks from armed colonialist settlers and military raids in the West Bank, which is not under Hamas control, complete the stranglehold on Palestinian freedoms and render the possibility of a two state solution null and void.
I cannot guess what the Arabist, Colonel Stewart Newcombe’s reaction
would have been to these events, but I know he would not have stood idly by
while innocent civilians on both sides were slaughtered in their thousands.
But Guterres was reticent in his speech to the United Nations and could have gone back much further, beyond even the 1948 Nakba, when 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes at the birth of a nation whose very existence was predicated on the destruction of another. Today, images of long lines of Gazans fleeing for their lives, waving white flags of surrender out of fear of being targeted, are a stark reminder of a catastrophe that has lasted over 75 years. In the follow-up to this article, I will try to contextualize many of the major events that led to this dark place in the history of the region, paying special attention to Newcombe's involvement and his steadfast support for the Palestinian people who were once promised so much in what became known as the twice promised land.
