An English translation of a post (in Esperanto) by Robert Nielsen, in his blog Teo kaj Libroj, 30 October 2023
Every Esperantist has already heard the usual speeches about peace many times during Esperanto congresses. They are so vague and banal that they really mean nothing. “Peace is good, death is bad,” the speaker bravely says while the spectators clap their hands emotionlessly and look at their smartphones. But what to do when peace is no longer just a slogan?
All my life, I have been a strong supporter of Palestine. As a teenager I stood in the street and asked passers-by to sign petitions for Palestine, and I even gave a lecture to my classmates at school about the cruelty of the occupation. It is said that Ireland is one of the strongest supporters of Palestine in Europe, because the history of Ireland is also a story of occupation and oppression. In Northern Ireland, the Irish Catholics are often seen flying the Palestinian flag, while the British Protestants fly the Israeli flag.
But the Hamas attacks on 7 October shocked and disgusted me. Soldiers attacked Israeli cities and killed every person they found. They killed about 1,400 people and kidnapped more than 200 others. The victims were mainly innocent civilians, including hundreds of people enjoying a music festival. Children, even babies, were found among the corpses. That’s not war, that’s slaughter. It is said to be the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
I’ve seen a lot of people online trying to defend the attack. They say that Palestinians have the right to fight for freedom and resist the occupation. But how will the killing of people at a music festival liberate Palestine? Explain to me how killing children is “resistance”? The bloodthirsty sword will not bring freedom, but suffering – for all.
If you really support Palestine, you must condemn Hamas. The massacres do not help Palestine, in fact it pushes back the possibility of an independent Palestinian state for at least one generation. No Israeli government will be able to negotiate and compromise with Hamas after the attack, and because of this real peace will not be possible for decades. Hamas knew that the massacres would provoke a very strong reaction from Israel; they knew that because of the attack, thousands of innocent Palestinians would die. But they still did it. The lives of civilians are pawns in their chess game.
Israel responded as it always responds, with heavy bombing of Gaza. Eight thousand people have already died, but that is growing every day and by the time you read this article, it will surely be higher. It is not possible to accurately bomb a city as dense as Gaza, so the result is thousands of innocent victims, including three thousand children. Israel cut off electricity, blocked the entry of necessities and ordered one million people to flee their homes, which of course, is not possible. The goal is revenge and the people will suffer.
I have watched many demonstrations around the world to sympathise with Israel or Palestine, but I have seen hardly any who sympathised with either side. For many people, there is space in the heart only for “my side”. I see many people who cry for Palestinian victims but are silent about the Israeli ones. There are people who spread information about the dead – but only from one community. If someone dies, the first question is “Were they an Israeli or a Palestinian?” because if they are from the right community, people will shout loudly about injustice, but if they come from the other community, they are silent.
A few days ago, a bomb exploded and killed nearly 500 people outside a hospital. Social networking sites were filled with people screaming about Israel’s cruelty. But when new information emerged that suggested that perhaps the bomb actually came from Palestinian militants, the anger disappeared. The people who shouted about war crimes changed the conversation to other topics. They did not pause and ask if perhaps they should have the same anger towards all the killers of civilians. For some, the war is between good guys and bad guys, and any facts that contradict that view are lies or propaganda.
This is the evil of war: you no longer care about the truth; only your side matters. Good-hearted people sincerely sympathise with the victims who have the right nationality, but the sympathy disappears for victims with the wrong nationality. Don’t Jews bleed just like Muslims? Don’t the Palestinian parents cry for their children as well as Israeli parents? Is it not possible to cry for all the victims, regardless of their community?
So what are pacifists to do? Will Esperantists stand for peace, or is the hatred too deep that even a common language would not help? The Esperanto League in Israel is silent, and there is no active Esperantist group in Palestine or any other Arab country. UEA, TEJO and ILEI made a joint statement, but it doesn’t actually say anything. It avoids talking about deaths, war crimes, massacres, blockades, protection of civilians – in fact it did not even say the names of the countries where the war is taking place. It seems that the topic was too controversial to say anything, so instead nothing was said.
But the war shows how important peace is, and that it is more than a beautiful word. Yesterday’s massacres bring tomorrow’s massacres. The killing of Israeli civilians has not freed Palestinians; in fact it only increases their suffering. Killing thousands of Palestinians will not make Israel safer; it will only raise a new generation of warriors dedicated to revenge. It seems that Israel is now preparing to invade Gaza, which will not solve the conflict but will only increase victims, hatred and sow the roots of new wars.
So, I don’t wave the flag of Israel or Palestine – I don’t want justice only for one community. Even if it is a cliché, I am an Esperantist who waves the flag of peace.