50Days4Gaza: Ali Abunimah speaks about resistence movements being labelled as “terrorism”

8 July 2015 marked the one year anniversary of the 2014 Gaza war. With there being very slow progress on reconstuction in the Gaza Strip since the war ended, over 100,000 Palestinians remain homeless and not one house has been rebuilt so far.

As Palestinians continue to live through the horrific aftermath of the war, Ali Abunimah from Electronic Intifada speaks to France24 about the “total impunity that Israel has enjoyed, not just in the past year, but for many years”. He points out how there have been no consequences for the continued blockade in the Gaza Strip and “a great deal of complicity” from the outside world in terms of reconstruction of Gaza after the war.

Furthermore, he reminds people that “Palestinians have a right to resist military occupation”, just like France resisted during World War 2, just like South Africans resisted while under apartheid, and just like many others who have resisted occupation throughout history.

“We know there’s a long history in the world of calling any form of resistence to be terrorism. The French referred to resistence in Algeria as terrorism, Nelson Mandela and the ANC were called terrorists. When you talk about people living under occupation as being terrorists and you greet the occupiers and the oppressors at Buckingham Palace, you are sending a moral message that occupation and apartheid is okay.”

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