What does “Free Palestine” really mean?

There are resounding cries of “Free Palestine” coming from all over the world at present. People are flying Palestinian flags in solidarity with the people of Gaza, and expressing outrage that Israel should respond with anything other than meek acceptance and resignation to the thousands of rockets being fired by the terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, that dominate the political scene there.

But what does the slogan “Free Palestine” really mean? The enclave of Gaza is self-governing, and since Hamas came to power in democratic elections by the people of Gaza in 2006, they, and not Israel have ruled that area. In effect it is like a mini Palestinian state.

Under Hamas, of course, the people of Gaza are not free, in the sense that criticism of Hamas is likely to result in jail or worse; and for example women’s rights are poorly defended, and homosexuality is punishable by death etc. etc.

Gaza receives more aid per capita than anywhere in the world, but this aid does not generally go to improving the lot of ordinary Palestinians, building and maintaining civilian infrastructure and raising the standard of living. Instead it mostly goes to pay salaries to terrorists and their families, to line the pockets of Hamas leaders, many of whom are billionaires, and of course to fund the construction and purchase of terrorist infrastructure and armaments.

But the “Free Palestine” mantra does not refer to the retaking of the freedoms denied by Hamas to the Palestinian people. Oh no, it is concerned only with the demolition of the Jewish state, namely Israel. Nor is it content in its demands for Gaza or a part of the land of Israel to be ‘liberated’.

No, instead the slogan states, “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free!”. For the people who chant this, there can be no compromise; there is no room for Israel: no sovereign state for the Jewish people. All of the land of Palestine must fall under Palestinian rule. Since the current rulers of Gaza would then control the whole country, we can only assume that their policies towards Jews and Arabs would reflect the current status quo. There are currently no Jews in Gaza, save for a couple of unfortunate kidnap victims, who are being held hostage for ransom, and the punishment of selling land to a Jew is death. So perhaps what “Free Palestine” really means is that the whole country must become 'Judenrein', a Jew-free zone, cleansed of every last one of its Jewish inhabitants, the records of whose civilisation is prolific throughout the archaeological strata of the region. Synagogues would be razed to the ground and the historical artefacts and monuments would be destroyed or rebranded as Muslim ones, as deemed appropriate by the new Masters of History.

And what of the Arab inhabitants that remain? How would they flourish as a result of the liberation of Palestine? Well the Christian Arabs probably wouldn’t fare so well, based on past experience of militant Islam’s hegemony. The rights of Palestinian Muslims would likely be much the same as in other neighbouring Arab states, dominated by tyrants such as Bashar Assad and terrorist groups such as ISIS and Hezbollah, as in Lebanon or Syria.

A veritable paradise indeed! A promised land – at least for the leaders of Hamas, who will have a whole country from which to skim their billions and in which to build palaces and monuments to their corruption.

So instead of a regime that looks like Israel in terms of its Human rights record: -

We would end up with one that resembles Gaza: -

A great day for freedom indeed, (as Pink Floyd once said), the ship of fools would finally have run aground!