Is Gaza Under Israeli Occupation?

On October 7, 2023, the world became informed that Hamas had launched an attack by going over the fence and on the other side of their border. It became breaking news all over the world. The next day, the short message platform X was flooded with content against Hamas and against the Israelis. The mainstream media followed suit minutes later. The most used words? "Hamas terrorists".

Let us begin with the word "terrorists," which is an adjective to "terrorism," which in turn comes from the word "terror". So, what does "terror" mean?

Terror means extreme fear. But, the word terrorist has a much different meaning: a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims. That person can be anyone, even the leader of a country, but where the people are under tight control to protect the continuation of gained position.

But, what does "unlawful" mean here?!

Gaza, where once Philistine was, is namely not part of those the ancestors of the Israelis, the East European Jewish migrants, have invaded in 1947. The Strip is also not a member of the international community because it is not recognized as such. So, to whom is it?

A similar description can also be given to anyone who supports, facilitates, and/or contributes. That person is known as a supporter of terror, terrorism, and terrorists. But how does this all fit between Hamas, the Israelis, and all those who side with either of them?

The Gaza Strip is part of the State Of Palestine, which includes the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In Gaza, elections were scheduled to be held in May 2021. These elections were set to include legislative elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, as well as presidential elections and elections for the Palestinian National Council. It was cancelled for this reason. The very first elections in the Gaza Strip were in 1994.

So, the Gaza Strip has a governing administration but apparently operating apart from of the Palestinian Authority that rules over the rest of the State Of Palestine. Apparently. In May 2014, Hamas and Fatah sought unity in response to Netanyahu's actions aimed to jeopardize the peace talks led by the then Secretary Of State, John Kerry. 

Most countries in the world do not recognize the Gaza Strip as a sovereign nation, which doesn't make any difference. Because they already do that against the whole State Of Palestine. It is this fact that prompts us to view the narrative "Hamas terrorists" as extremely politicized.

Because, if your country was not recognized, and your government resorts in unlawful violence outside your country's borders, your government would then also be called terrorists. How many but recognized do resort in terrorism outside their borders. No one calls them terrorists only because they are recognized countries.

TERRORIST ATTACK VERSUS RESISTANCE ATTACK

There is a question: Is the Gaza Strip occupied?

According to the Israelis, silence. According to Western countries that support the Israelis, the Strip is not occupied. There are also claims saying that Hamas confirmed that the territory is not occupied.

In today's world, where there is the ability to weaponize artificial intelligence, we should be very cautious about what is thrown on the internet. Therefore, we should look at what is already known before information becomes artificially intelligent.

Despite the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005,  they have maintained tight control over the territory through a land, air, and sea blockade since 2007.

For nearly 17 years, Gaza has been almost totally cut off from the rest of the world, with severe restrictions on the movement of goods and people. Still, the pro-Israelis side claims that there is no occupation, something you also can find in Biden's warning to the Israelis.

Now, let us look at what is really to see both on land and at sea.

The clickable image, here on the left,  shows the analysis of the land border and doesn't need to be explained as it is already in the analysis. It is different at sea when looking at the way the Israelis occupy the border of Gaza's territorial waters like they did in June 2021 and backwards.

When there is "something" between them and Hamas, the Israelis retaliated at sea by scaling the nautical border closer to the coast of Gaza, depriving fishermen of trying to earn a living. It is a form of collective punishment.

But scaling Gaza's nautical border back and forth carries the character of scalable border occupation.

These two kinds of occupation make the Israeli and the Western narratives, such as Hamas terrorists or the Hamas terrorist organization, foolish.

If you are occupied no matter in what way, and you decide to show resistance by carrying out an attack on the occupying power, even when that power is on its own soil while acting against you from its soil, you just carry out a resistance attack.