Opinion: If Gaza is gone, there will be no Palestine
Israel's continuing war on Gaza has devastated the territory, exceeding even the 1948 Nakba in terms of the numbers of dead, injured and missing.
But while the Nakba shaped Palestinian identity, today, people across historic Palestine are not acting accordingly. While Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are clearly outraged by the scenes coming out of Gaza, I believe they have more to contribute to stopping the current conflict.
Ending this war and rebuilding the Gaza Strip's social and physical infrastructure is not just about Gaza; it is about all Palestinians. If Gaza is gone, there will be no Palestine.
Before the war, some people rightly argued that the Nakba had never ended. Israel has been gradually ethnically cleansing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank through illegal evictions, home demolitions, arrests, settler violence and army raids. Today, all of these things are happening at an accelerated pace.
Historically, Gaza has been at the epicentre of uprisings and disruptions to the status quo in Palestine. Israeli leaders' desire to see Gaza "sink into the sea" reflects this, as does Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish's musing that Gaza is "the most capable among us of disturbing the enemy’s mood and his comfort".
Gaza has been more resistant to ethnic cleansing than the occupied West Bank due to its unique location, population density and the absence of a direct Israeli presence, beyond the siege. But on 7 October, Israeli leaders saw an opportunity to get rid of Gaza forever - and they are doing it.