Jehad Abusalim

The European refugee crisis was instrumental in the immediate aftermath of the 1948 Nakba, especially in Gaza, given that, at this critical moment after World War II, the international refugee regime was undergoing consolidation. Daniel Cohen highlights the deep “moral” connection between displaced persons in Europe, who consisted of Jewish and non-Jewish Eastern European refugees, and the displaced Palestinians, a connection that was ignored in the name of “neutrality regarding the respective claims of Arabs and Jews.”26 As the regime of humanitarianism separated politics from relief in the name of being neutral, this very separation, which lingers in today’s treatment of the Palestinians, is, in fact, political. This proclaimed “neutrality” had the effect of neutralizing international responses to the injustices inflicted on the Palestinians, with grave consequences.

the literary works of Samira Azzam and Ghassan Kanafani, the paintings of Ismail Shammout and Ibrahim Ghannam, the cartoons of Naji al-Ali, the poetry of Ibrahim and Fadwa Touqan, Mahmoud Darwish, and Samih el-Qasem,

To Israel, however, there are “no civilians in Gaza,” as announced by Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s defense minister (2016–18), who resigned after Israel agreed to a cease-fire with Palestinian militias that he characterized as “surrendering to terror.”