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What It Means to Be a Palestinian Dissident
Palestinian dissidents in Gaza deserve international recognition and support.
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Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is a Palestinian-American from Gaza. He is the founder and director of the Realign for Palestine project at the Atlantic Council, which publishes The Radical Pragmatist on Substack.
What does it mean to be a dissident from Palestine?
This past week, the Renew Democracy Initiative put together a gathering for dissidents from around the world titled Frontlines of Freedom Conference, showcasing how advocates from different corners of the Earth battle with tyrannies and transnationally oppressive forces that are regressing human progress and prosperity.
I was honored to speak alongside Rushan Abbas, a Uyghur activist and entrepreneur whose work in the United States cost her family members dearly at the hands of Chinese authorities, and Mu Sochua, a Cambodian politician and human rights activist who is a senior opposition figure working to overcome a repressive political environment in her homeland.
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I spoke about Hamas in Gaza and the challenges facing Palestinian activists in the Strip. Those Palestinian voices are often dismissed by international human rights advocates, democracy activists, and other dissidents because of the nearly-exclusive focus on the Israeli dimension of the conflict, without understanding the internal dynamics of Palestinian society.
But Hamas in Gaza is a human rights issue.
There are numerous Palestinian dissidents against the terror groups’ fascist rule and control of the population. They deserve our support and empowerment.
It pains me that much of the international human rights community has been willing to give Hamas a pass. It all points to an inability to truly hold multiple truths at once: To address Israel’s actions while holding Palestinian groups accountable for their crimes.
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Hamas is a disaster for the Palestinian people and their national project for freedom and independence; Hamas has brought so much devastation and regression to Palestinian society; Hamas squandered decades, tens of billions of dollars, and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives for absolutely nothing.
Gaza is indeed a frontline for the fight of an entire people to be free from the grip of a fascist, terrorist organization, as the first necessary step to emancipate them from Israeli control and military occupation.
There is no Palestinian freedom without freedom from Hamas first and foremost, and freedom from the violence and Jihadi “resistance” rhetoric and narrative that the Islamist group represents.
The fight for Palestinian rights takes a lot more than simply being anti-Israel, even if one is furious with Israeli actions and policies against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
Put simply: Palestinian dissidents in Gaza deserve international recognition and support.
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