{"id":2479,"date":"2023-11-14T18:55:44","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T10:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/?p=2479"},"modified":"2025-04-21T20:38:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T12:38:26","slug":"reflections-on-the-2023-gaza-israel-conflict-as-a-filipino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/reflections-on-the-2023-gaza-israel-conflict-as-a-filipino\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on the 2023 Gaza-Israel Conflict as a Filipino"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earl Carlo Mandi Guevarra<\/p>\n

<\/em>As I write this, I look out the window in sadness, feeling helpless at the terrible reality that tens of thousands of people are being systematically slaughtered in a place that\u2019s just 41 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide at its widest point. You can\u2019t just make this up. Imagine cutting half of Metro Manila, placing it in an alternate dimension, and bombing it with all the kinds of ordnance you can think of, 24\/7 nonstop – that\u2019s what\u2019s happening in the Gaza Strip right now.<\/p>\n

On social media, it\u2019s ironic that the majority of Filipinos support Israel\u2019s actions, even when many around the world say otherwise. There are a couple of probable reasons why they might do so; they help with the defense requirements of the country, they equate it with the Holy Land, and the country is one of the rare people who would give Filipinos travel privileges (even in their security checks, Philippines is considered as one of those countries that will come right after their own citizens).<\/p>\n

Ironically, a nation that is supposed to practice \u201cmakadiyos\u201d (Godliness and excellence in service in the name of the Creator) and \u201cmakatao\u201d (humanity and human excellence) as our core values are actively participating in dehumanizing people whose only fault was to be born on the wrong side of the planet.<\/p>\n

I actually had an internal debate on whether I should reflect on the current conflict on paper or not. On one hand, I asked myself if there\u2019s anything that has been written about the topic at hand that hasn\u2019t already been written. On the other hand, it is pretty clear that many Filipinos, especially those outside of Mindanao, immediately demonize all Palestinians as terrorists – despite being completely innocent as far as the strictures of international law, war, and common human laws are concerned.<\/p>\n

Sounds familiar? This was exactly the same situation that many people from this region had to face in the recent past. While there\u2019s undeniably an actual and sustainable shot at lasting peace with the BARMM project (and yes, it\u2019s way more peaceful now than before), it wasn\u2019t that long ago when being from Mindanao (and being a Muslim) would raise eyebrows if you were walking in the streets of Manila – more so if you came from places like Maguindanao, Sulu, and the like.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve even heard from one of my friends who lived in San Juan that there are rumors that other buyers wouldn\u2019t buy a condominium unit if they found out that Muslims were living on the same floor. This isn\u2019t the long-time-ago past of the early 2000s; I\u2019m talking about something that happened just two or three years ago. This just shows that while the negative point of view towards Muslims may have been stifled over the past few years, it is still safe to say that many Filipinos still consider being a Muslim as a byword for being dangerous.<\/p>\n

Now, on to the matter at hand: There are three things that we Filipinos should know about Gaza to understand the dynamics of the current and most destructive iteration of the conflict.<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s ruled by a political entity called Hamas – yes, even its entry on the notorious Wikipedia lists it first as a political organization <\/em>– who actually was elected democratically back in 2006 during the last Palestinian elections with 44.5% of the popular vote, and bagged 74 out of 132 seats. I can only think of a few big names here in the Philippine political landscape who have won by this margin fairly and squarely, and they had also to go up against a repressive and organized propaganda machine with virtually unlimited funding. With that being said, they also happen to be designated as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union; but at the same time, they\u2019re the de facto government of Gaza that provides for its 2.2 million people living within a completely blockaded area of 365 square kilometers. Make that of what you will.<\/p>\n

Second, Palestine, is on paper, a state, though it\u2019s divided into two entities: Fatah, who nominally sits as the Palestinian Authority, controls the West Bank, while Hamas controls Gaza. A state is supposed to have people, territory, government, and recognition by other states (even the Philippines officially recognizes Palestinian statehood) – this is what we\u2019ve all learned in World History during high school. There\u2019s a fifth element that\u2019s generally implied – that\u2019s the right to self-defense.<\/p>\n

Given that Palestine is a state that\u2019s recognized by 138 countries around the world and is being attacked by multiple means, doesn\u2019t it have the right to defend its people, territory, and government through any means possible? This is what Palestinians have tried to do for many years against illegal settlers (no less than the UN condemned them), oppressive security forces (for those of you who don\u2019t know, they\u2019re going up against a full-scale surveillance apparatus that rivals the one placed in Xinjiang in China), and external parties who simply don\u2019t want them to be a viable state for varying reasons.<\/p>\n

Finally, in any conflict, there\u2019s the concept of proportionality. To put it in terms that someone on the street would understand: You can only use force that is necessary to defend yourself and you can\u2019t systematically target others who are not a part of your fight. One can argue that the invaders acted in \u201cself-defense\u201d (objectively, Hamas struck first), but that went out the window shortly after they decided to actively target medical facilities, schools, residential buildings, places of worship (including an Orthodox church), power facilities, you name it. Then, there is the fact that journalists were taunted and bombed (Wael Dahdouh, the Gaza bureau chief for Al Jazeera Arabic, had to go live 15 minutes after he had to bury his family – his wife, son, daughter, and grandson – that\u2019s three generations killed in one strike!) Worst of all, nearly half of the deaths in Gaza are children; due to the conflict, an entire generation\u2019s right to basic education and knowledge is denied and wiped out. You can\u2019t think of a greater injustice than this.<\/p>\n

Even if we throw all societal, rules-based, religious, and values-based considerations out of the window, anyone with basic human dignity should show at least some sympathy for those thousands who are forever unalive. It\u2019s not just the people who are being erased from existence; traditions, cultures, and tales are being methodically and permanently devastated forever – that\u2019s the extent of the horror that\u2019s happening today in Palestine.<\/p>\n

We may be apathetic and dismissive now, saying that it\u2019s halfway around the world. However, this might be the reality that we Filipinos will be facing in a few years unless by some miracle we are spared from it. We can all rest assured that everyone and their dog is currently taking notes on this conflict, gauging how much they could get away with in terms of destroying human lives and dignity as well as the techniques and procedures that they could apply to maximize said destruction.<\/p>\n

Going back, I realized I\u2019d run out of tears. Every day, there\u2019s a new catastrophe; every hour, there\u2019s a novel calamity\u2026and every hour, the population of an entire state is being decimated while many all over the world just watch on impassively as if it was nothing but a tragic movie.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s this poem entitled \u201cOh Rascal Children of Gaza\u201d by Palestinian writer Khaled Juma, written in 2014, that encapsulates my feelings pretty well:<\/p>\n

<\/em>Oh rascal children of Gaza.
\n<\/em>You who constantly disturbed me
\n<\/em>with your screams under my window.
\n<\/em>You who filled every morning
\n<\/em>with rush and chaos.
\n<\/em>You who broke my vase
\n<\/em>and stole the lonely flower on my balcony.
\n<\/em>Come back,
\n<\/em>and scream as you want
\n<\/em>and break all the vases.
\n<\/em>Steal all the flowers.
\n<\/em>Come back\u2026
\n<\/em>Just come back.<\/p>\n

<\/em>The bitter truth is that they\u2019re not coming back to this world; they\u2019ve been denied their right to exist and the right to try to shape the world around them for a better, brighter future. Yet, I believe that they\u2019ll be reborn in another world, in a place where they\u2019ll be happy, gilded, and dignified.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t comprehend the fact that I\u2019m living in an age where it\u2019s possible to see entire generations dead in the blink of an eye. Still, I pray that the people of Palestine may resist and outlast this grim period – and that they may enjoy the chance to attain lasting and sustainable peace and progress, just like what\u2019s currently built up in the Bangsamoro. I also hope to see them one day becoming free from the river to the sea and spreading into the ocean and leaving their stamp on all the coasts of the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earl Carlo Mandi Guevarra As I write this, I look out the window in sadness, feeling helpless at the terrible reality that tens of thousands of people are being systematically slaughtered in a place that\u2019s just 41 kilometers long and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essay"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2480,"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479\/revisions\/2480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangsamororeview.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}