What Should Have Been Done? With Calm and Reason:

by: Omar Shaban

From the very beginning of the aggression — and on numerous occasions — we have said, publicly and clearly:

• The war on Gaza targets the Palestinian cause and society, both in the present and the future.

• Israel’s extremist government is using the fight against the “H” movement as a pretext to crush everyone.

• The world has fixated on October 7, while everything that followed — an unprecedented assault in modern times — has been treated as a mere consequence.

• International support for Israel — financial, political, military, and media — has multiplied several times. Israel has become the regional bully, striking at will: Tehran, Damascus, Beirut, Yemen, Gaza… without any deterrent.

• University protests, international court rulings, and other initiatives will not move the war government an inch (Netanyahu is in Hungary today). Even a prestigious American university struck a deal with students, offering two scholarships for students from Gaza in exchange for their silence.

• You must get off the train at the nearest station when you realize you’re on the wrong one.

• The entire file must be handed over to Egypt — a state with major regional and international leverage. A political organization cannot achieve what a state of Egypt’s size and influence can.

• October 7 paved a red carpet for the extremist government to continue the Judaization of Jerusalem and the West Bank, dismantle UNRWA, and eliminate refugee camps, all under global indifference.

• One must not, under any circumstance, bet on internal divisions within the Israeli government coalition or between Israel and the United States or others. They may disagree on everything, but they are fully united in burying Gaza.

• Amplifying the image of Gaza — besieged, small, impoverished, dependent on the occupation for everything from water and milk to paper and electricity — and portraying it as the aggressor rather than the victim directly serves the Israeli narrative. No reasonable mind can imagine that a movement confined to a 200-square-mile, fully besieged strip, relying on its occupier for its most basic needs, could defeat an occupation backed by two-thirds of the world — one that controls water valves, power switches, and baby formula.

• There will be no reconstruction, no humanitarian relief, as long as “H” remains part of the scene.

• Everything possible must be done to shorten the war, for the world is beginning to grow accustomed to our death.

• No Western, Arab, or Islamic country will fire a single bullet for your sake. Ending the massacre is in the direct interest of the Palestinian people — something not necessarily shared by some countries in the region. Therefore, their rhetoric must not only be ignored but treated with caution.

• Since the aggression targets all Palestinians, the negotiation delegation should have represented all Palestinians, with the support of internationally renowned Palestinian experts.

• Preserving the lives of civilians, strengthening their resilience, and preventing their killing must be a sacred red line.

• One must not listen to the screen mercenaries and social media stars (Influencers) who are profiting from the war — whether in money or prestige — in Ramallah, Hebron, Doha, Istanbul, Algiers, and elsewhere.

• Ending the war by all means is not only in the interest of the people and the cause, but also in the interest of the “H” movement itself.

It is time to think about alternative paths — and they do exist.

The door is still open to stop the massacre…