Budour Hassan On Palestinian Liberation And The Impact Of Israel’s Brutal Occupation
Interview by Spencer Roberts and Salvatore Laimo
We spoke with Palestinian journalist Budour Hassan about how media narratives influence popular conceptions about the struggle for Palestinian liberation.
Israel’s violent campaigns of repression and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians have long been backed by US government, military, and media. Mainstream media often fail in reporting the actions of the Israel state as war crimes—normalizing the destruction of infrastructure, schools, media, hospitals and housing complexes. These acts are not only defended, but rewarded by the American government in the form of federal aid and weapons. With the exception of a handful of Democrats, congressional support for Israel is unanimous and the United States single-handedly prevents the UN Security Council from condemning Israel’s actions.
First, Hassan talks about the psychological aspects of the occupation, including the tendency of the Israeli state and international media to refer to Palestinians who are given Israeli citizenship as Israeli Arabs. “Israel worked tirelessly to erase their identity,” she says of her elders, describing the history of Israeli’s hierarchical apartheid citizenship structure.
We also talked about how the indiscriminate guerrilla weaponry of Hamas is discussed ad nauseam in media, yet little mention is made of the high-tech hellfire wrought upon thousands of innocent Palestinians maimed and murdered by the IDF with precise targeting technology. Budour also told us about how the warnings we are assured precede Israeli air strikes come in the form of missiles, which can and do kill, in cases coming after escape routes have already been blocked with rubble. “Their firing is also a means of intimidation,” she explains.
In spite of all this, we hear about the resilience of Palestinians and their refusal to be defined by the occupation. “I believe that this is an opportunity, now that people are paying more attention to Palestinian stories, [to realize] that doesn’t stop here... These people who can do all these beautiful things while resisting Israeli occupation will continue to live past that.”
Lastly, Budour talks about finding reason for hope in the new wave of solidarity rising across Palestine and spreading to the international community. “This unity that Israel has long tried to break has really been reborn.” “We are fighting as a unified people.”