By: Sukanya, Deputy Chair of Commission I of the House of\nRepresentatives of the Republic of Indonesia; Prosperous Justice Party\n(PKS) faction<\/p>\n
Three years have passed since 7 October 2023. That date is repeatedly\ninvoked whenever people discuss war and the destruction of Gaza. The\nsequence usually begins with the attack of 7 October, followed by\nIsrael\u2019s assault on Gaza, the prolonged war, a ceasefire, and then\ndiscussion of reconstruction.<\/p>\n
I believe this way of seeing things needs to be corrected. This is\nnot because we wish to avoid discussing what happened on 7 October, but\nbecause the Palestinian question did not begin on that day.<\/p>\n
In Indonesian history, we know of the moment when Prince Diponegoro\npulled up the stakes marking a road built across the land of Tegalrejo\nand the burial grounds of his ancestors. That event became one of the\ntriggers for the Java War. The Dutch then laid siege to Tegalrejo, and a\ngreat war lasting five years followed.<\/p>\n
Yet we never truly understand the Diponegoro question by starting\nhistory at the uprooting of those stakes.<\/p>\n
If history begins there, the Diponegoro War can appear to be a matter\nof personal offence. A road was to be built through his ancestors\u2019 land\nand burial grounds, Diponegoro became angry, the stakes were pulled up,\ntensions rose, and a war followed that brought great suffering and loss\nof life.<\/p>\n
Such a reading is misleading.<\/p>\n
The stakes at Tegalrejo were indeed one of the triggers of the war,\nbut they do not explain why the Diponegoro War happened. Long before,\nthere was colonialism, Dutch interference in court affairs, control of\npolitics and the economy, pressure on the population, and many tensions\nthat had long been accumulating.<\/p>\n
By starting history from the stakes, a structural problem becomes a\npersonal one. Colonialism disappears from the story, while the reaction\nof people living under colonial rule appears as the beginning of the\nproblem.<\/p>\n
The same error can occur when Palestine is read from 7 October\n2023.<\/p>\n
When the entire story begins on that date, a conflict that has lasted\nfor decades shrinks into a simple sequence: Hamas attacks Israel, Israel\nretaliates, and Gaza is destroyed.<\/p>\n
What gradually disappears is the history of occupation, displacement,\nthe seizure of land, the expansion of settlements, the blockade of Gaza,\nand the long struggle of the Palestinian people to determine their own\nfate.<\/p>\n
For this reason, 7 October must be placed within Palestinian history,\nnot Palestinian history placed within 7 October.<\/p>\n
7 October was a detonation point, not the zero point of Palestinian\nhistory.<\/p>\n
Long before, there was the mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948.\nAfter the war of 1967, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza came under\nIsraeli occupation. What followed was a long history of land seizure,\nsettlement expansion, restrictions on movement, recurring conflict and\nvarious peace efforts.<\/p>\n
There was the Oslo Accords, the establishment of the Palestinian\nAuthority, numerous rounds of negotiations, United Nations resolutions\nand the idea of a two-state solution. Yet after decades, an independent\nand sovereign Palestinian state has still not come into being.<\/p>\n
In 2024, the International Court of Justice again affirmed the right\nof the Palestinian people to self-determination and stated that Israel\u2019s\ncontinued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is contrary to\ninternational law.<\/p>\n
This context is lost when the issue is narrowed to Israel against\nHamas. Gaza is not Hamas. Gaza is part of Palestine, just as the West\nBank and East Jerusalem are. The fundamental issue is a people who, to\nthis day, have not gained full independence and sovereignty over their\nown land.<\/p>\n
Do Not Reverse Cause and Effect<\/p>\n
There is another consequence when history is begun on 7 October:\ncause and effect can be reversed.<\/p>\n
The destruction of Gaza then comes to seem like a consequence of\nPalestinian resistance itself. Had 7 October not happened, the logic\ngoes, Gaza would not have been devastated as it is now.<\/p>\n
We can test this again with Indonesian history.<\/p>\n
The Diponegoro War ended in 1830. In the same year, the colonial\ngovernment began to implement the Cultivation System, which burdened the\npeople of Java for many years. We would certainly not say that the\nsuffering caused by the Cultivation System was Diponegoro\u2019s fault\nbecause he had earlier chosen to fight the Dutch.<\/p>\n
The fundamental issue was colonialism.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the suffering of the Palestinian people must not be\nattributed to their struggle for independence. The occupation must not\ndisappear from the discussion while resistance to occupation is\nportrayed as the source of the problem.<\/p>\n
This does not mean that every action carried out in the name of\nresistance can be justified. The struggle for independence is not a\nblank cheque for any act whatsoever. Civilians must be protected, and\nevery violation, whoever commits it, must be held accountable.<\/p>\n
Yet judging an action within a struggle is different from erasing the\nconditions that gave rise to that struggle. A nation does not lose its\nright to independence because errors, violence or tragedies occur along\nthe way.<\/p>\n
Three Years Later<\/p>\n
Now three years have passed since 7 October. The world must also look\nat what has happened during those three years.<\/p>\n
Gaza has suffered extraordinary destruction. Countless people have\nlost their lives and their family members. Homes, schools, universities,\nhospitals and many other elements of social infrastructure have been\ndamaged or destroyed. Most of Gaza\u2019s population has been displaced, in\nmany cases repeatedly.<\/p>\n
What has been damaged is not merely buildings. The fabric of a\nsociety has been shattered. Children have lost their education, families\nhave lost their homes and livelihoods, and the social and psychological\nwounds will last far longer than the war itself.<\/p>\n
Gaza must therefore be rebuilt. But reconstruction must not make us\nforget the larger problem.<\/p>\n
In a few years, Gaza may well look very different. New buildings will\nstand, roads will be repaired, schools will reopen and economic activity\nwill resume. The world may then come to feel that the Gaza issue has\nbeen resolved.<\/p>\n
Yet the Palestinian people may still not have sovereignty. The\noccupation could well continue, Palestinian territory could become\nincreasingly fragmented, and a Palestinian state could still fail to\nmaterialise.<\/p>\n
It is here that we need to remember one thing:<\/p>\n
Gaza must not be rebuilt while Palestine itself is lost.<\/p>\n
Reconstruction must be part of the path towards a political\nsettlement, not a substitute for it. The Palestinian people need food,\nmedicine, homes, schools and hospitals. But they also need a homeland\nwhere they can live safely and determine their own future.<\/p>\n
Humanitarian aid cannot replace independence.<\/p>\n
Do Not Cleanse the World\u2019s Memory<\/p>\n
There is another matter to be wary of as the war recedes from global\nattention: efforts to rehabilitate images and reshape world opinion.<\/p>\n
The destruction of Gaza has changed how many people around the world\nsee Israel. The image of a modern, advanced and democratic state now\nconfronts the reality of the occupation of Palestine, the destruction of\nGaza and the many issues of international law that accompany them.<\/p>\n
After all this, there are certainly interests in restoring that image\nand returning things to how they were. We need not speculate endlessly\nabout the form or course this will take. What matters is that societies\ndo not lose their memory or their capacity for critical thought.<\/p>\n
History can be cut in two directions.<\/p>\n
It can be cut backwards by making 7 October the starting point of the\nPalestinian issue. In that way, the occupation and the long history\npreceding it disappear from the story.<\/p>\n
It can also be erased forwards, when the world is gradually\nencouraged to forget what happened after 7 October. Gaza is rebuilt,\nattention shifts, relations return to normal, while accountability and\nthe issue of occupation remain unresolved.<\/p>\n
For this reason, Gaza must not be rebuilt physically while the\nworld\u2019s memory of its destruction is quietly cleansed.<\/p>\n
Normalisation should not move faster than accountability.<\/p>\n
This is not a matter of hatred towards any particular nation or\nreligion. Criticism of the actions of the Israeli government must not\nturn into hatred of Jewish people. Solidarity with Palestine must not\nbecome a justification for antisemitism.<\/p>\n
What we are discussing is occupation, justice and accountability.<\/p>\n
Remembering Gaza is also not about nurturing hatred. We preserve that\nmemory so that the world learns and the same tragedy does not keep\nrecurring.<\/p>\n
The Ending Remains Independence<\/p>\n
In the end, we return to a question that has long gone unanswered:\nhow much longer must the Palestinian people live without\nindependence?<\/p>\n
We have seen war, negotiations, ceasefires, humanitarian aid and\nreconstruction. If the root of the problem remains, the same cycle is\nvery likely to repeat itself.<\/p>\n
Today the world sends food and medicine. Tomorrow it helps build\nhomes. Let us not reach a point where, a few years later, the world is\nagain sending aid to the same families because their homes have been\ndestroyed once more.<\/p>\n
Indonesia\u2019s experience should make this problem easy for us to\nunderstand. We have lived under colonialism. For a nation living under\ncolonial rule, the issue is not merely receiving better treatment from\nthe colonial authorities.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian people did not fight for a more humane colonialism. We\nfought for independence.<\/p>\n
That, too, should be the conclusion of any discussion about\nPalestine.<\/p>\n
Indonesia must continue to support an end to violence, the protection\nof civilians, humanitarian aid, the reconstruction of Gaza and various\ndiplomatic avenues towards peace. But all of these must have a clear\ndirection: an end to the occupation and the emergence of a free and\nsovereign Palestine.<\/p>\n
Three years after 7 October, we need to look again at the Palestinian\nquestion in its entirety.<\/p>\n
The stakes that Diponegoro pulled up were never regarded as the\nbeginning of Dutch colonialism. We understand that behind that event lay\na much longer history. In the same way, 7 October should not be treated\nas the beginning of Palestinian history.<\/p>\n
It is the detonation point of a problem that had been unfolding long\nbefore.<\/p>\n
And when one day Gaza has been rebuilt and the world\u2019s attention\nmoves elsewhere, let us not allow history to be cut from another\ndirection. Do not allow the destruction of Gaza and the suffering of its\npeople to fade from memory.<\/p>\n
For what the Palestinian people need is not a slightly better life\nunder occupation.<\/p>\n
What they need is an end to the occupation and independence in their\nown homeland.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/palestine-did-not-begin-on-7-october-1791438952", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }