The chaos unfolding on the ground in Palestine-Israel is real, brutal, and terrifying. Fighter jets, rockets, cops, and lynch mobs have swallowed the skies and streets these past four days. The Israeli army and Hamas militants are continuing to exchange wanton fire, killing scores and wounding countless more, overwhelmingly in the besieged Gaza Strip. Across Israel, throngs of armed groups, many of them Jewish thugs accompanied by police, are roaming towns and neighborhoods destroying cars, invading homes and shops, and seeking bloodshed in what many are rightly describing as pogroms.
This descent into unrestrained state and mob violence is tragically drowning out one of the most incredible moments in recent Palestinian history. For weeks, Palestinian communities, with Jerusalem at their epicenter, have been organizing mass demonstrations that have spread like wildfire on both sides of the Green Line. Sparked by events at Damascus Gate and its adjacent neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, protests have sprung from the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza to the city of Nazareth in Israel to the West Bank hub of Ramallah. And so far, they show little sign of abating.
Even as current events take a horrific turn, these mobilizations over the past few weeks cannot be overlooked. While Palestinians of all stripes are deeply aware of their shared identity, many have long feared that Israel’s violent fragmentation of their people — abetted by national leaders who enforced those divisions — had crippled their unity beyond repair. The fact that Palestinians have taken to the streets in such unison is a defiant reminder that, despite the immeasurable toll on its victims, Israel’s colonial policy has still not succeeded. This perseverance is more than just a source of solace for Palestinians; it has galvanized them to seize this moment to forge radical, decisive change.