Palestine is Still Not Free

The entire Northern Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble, made entirely unlivable. After over 15 months of harrowing genocide in Gaza, Israel has reluctantly agreed to a ceasefire. Palestinians on the ground ignited in joyous celebration with the confirmation that the prolonged bloodshed was finally coming to an end. 

Beyond Gaza, the Palestinian American experience since October 7 has been a chaos of emotions. Many Palestinian Americans felt completely abandoned while dealing with the lingering effects of survivors’ guilt as well as the challenges facing them in the belly of the beast. Zionist organizations and institutions intend to destroy the livelihoods of any Palestinian American or ally that dares to speak out against Israel’s genocide. 

We’ve seen this play out through threats of deportation to individuals on student or work visas who are pro-Palestine or attend pro-Palestine protests. We have seen it through the vilification, blacklisting, and doxing of thousands of Palestinians and allies on hinky Zionist websites. Not to mention anti-BDS laws and genocidal and racist statements made by American politicians and senators. The list tirelessly goes on. 

I took the time to speak to a couple of Palestinian Americans in Colorado to get their reactions toward the recent ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and whether or not there is still hope for the future of Palestine.

Through engaging with dena harry saleh, a queer Palestinian artist and writer, saleh reflects on the inevitable fact that Israel will break the ceasefire but that the hope lies in the momentum that is shifting on Palestine.

“It’ll be broken, but what I am hopeful for is that because of the world’s knowledge now about what is happening and the settler colonial project that is Israel, especially related to the United States, we are starting to see a more widespread awareness of the violence of settler colonialism,” saleh says. 

Haythem, a Palestinian American engineer from Denver, says, “I think the thing about the ceasefire deal is that it’s nasty and meticulous in a way that still absolves Israel in their own eyes from continuing to murder innocent lives.” He expands, “It is a chance of relief and respite, but it’s not like Palestine is free. People get to go home, but the north is completely unrecognizable from what it was before.” 

Since Donald Trump’s win, he has gone out of his way to take credit for initiating the ceasefire deal and putting an end to the mass killing—something Biden endorsed and funded, and the Harris administration wholly ignored.

Even after countless interruptions and political demonstrations made against Harris, she refused to acknowledge the continued death sentence she and her constituents signed off on for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Saleh says, “We can’t just fall along the lines of this binary of Republican and Democrat because, ultimately, they are all capitalists. We need to understand that it’s really a class war on a global scale.”

Haythem says, “It doesn’t help when Trump says, it’s good land, it’s good real estate, I don’t think the new administration cares much for Palestinian people so much as they care about Palestinian land just as Israel does and that’s always been the thing about the American government if anything with this new administration I’m worried with the new risks.”

Donald Trump recently spoke at a press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, revealing that the actual death toll of Palestinians in Gaza could be 500,000. More so, he declared that America was going to purchase and take over Gaza, turning it into a hot hub for Americans, ethnically cleansing Palestinians from the strip entirely.

Trump still stands firm in his decision, as he told reporters on February 9 that he was still dedicated to purchasing Gaza, saying that Gazans would not have the right to return under his new plan. On the same day, Israel shot and murdered two young Palestinian women in the West Bank, 23-year-old Sondos Jamal Muhammad Shalabi and 21-year-old Rahaf Fouad Abdullah al-Ashqar, who was murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces in her home. Shalabi was 8 months pregnant. 

When asked what they feel about the recent increase in international support for Palestine, Saleh says, “The tide has turned, and people are now aware that it’s much more than a ceasefire that we need; we need an end to the state of Israel which did not need to be created in Palestine in the first place, and then an end to settler colonialism.”

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has reported that since the ceasefire deal, Israel has killed over 110 Palestinians. Launching airstrikes and attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as Palestinians returning to their destroyed homes in Northern Gaza. 

Israel refuses to abide by international law; in fact, Israel believes it is above the law; why wouldn’t it if it thinks it can get away with slaughtering over 17,000 Palestinian babies with no repercussions? Why does this foreign entity get a pass every time? The American people genuinely need to wake up and smell the coffee – Israel is America’s 51st state, profiting off you to continue committing its genocide against the Palestinian people. 

What we allow to happen in Gaza will happen everywhere. This is the holocaust of our time; act accordingly or live with the consequences forever.