WE know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians” the defender of the human rights “Nelson Mandela” who spent 27 years behind the walls for his resistance against South African apartheid. His words reflected the care and empathy for the bereaved people of Palestine. He was a great supporter of Palestinian cause. An average person of Palestine is living like a Homo Sacer whose life is cheaper than a toy. They are at the behest of Israeli Defence Force (IDF). Observing the current situation of Gaza South African legal officials have contextualized within a historical framework of continuing breaches of Palestinian rights. South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israelon December 29, 2023, the first country to do so, claiming that Israel’s military actions in Gaza were tantamount to genocide. Israel has responded by formally requesting that the lawsuit be dismissed by the International Court of Justice of the United Nations.
People of Palestine in realty are living in a concentration camp inside a chamber where any sniper or exploding bullets can tear apart them. The concept of Homo Sacer has been presented by an Italian thinker Giorgio Agamben. The term Homo Sacer described those who, in terms of classical Roman law, were permitted to be slain. While referring to the concentration camp life he symbolizes it to a lawless place where people’s life is subjected to ‘bare life’. This phrase is used by Agamben to define a state in which people are deprived of the democratic and constitutional protections, and are reduced to nothing more than biological beings. They cannot argue about their needs and desires, often held accountable without any charge.
In 2003 ‘Urban Homo Sacer’ originated by Boano and Marten in their work, titled as ‘Agamben’s urbanism of exception: Jerusalem’s border mechanics and bio-political strongholds,’ claimed that Palestinians are turned into ‘Urban Homo Sacer’. They are members of a disadvantaged, economically deprived, and largely ignored subgroup whose rights could be taken away from them. The emergence of the Zionist organization in the late 19th century, the issuance of Balfour Declaration in 1917 and the allocation of British Mandate in 1919 by League of Nations laid the groundwork for the discord between Arabs and Jews.In the post-World War II milieu, civil unrest forced Arab and Jew communities toward chaos. The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) partition plan 1947 intensified that rift and set the stage for the first war Arabs-Israel Jews in 1948.
Arabs who rejected the partition plan fought multiple battles. From the inception of ‘civil uprising’ commonly known as ‘First Intifada’ (1987-1993), made Palestinians to stand with full rigour against the oppressive and colonial settlement of Israel. By the singing of Oslo Accords 1993 Palestinians wished for silver lining on the horizon but soon that dream shattered with the realization that it was just a trap. Second Intifada (2000-2005) was an effort to break the status quo. Multiple military operations were initiated by Israel to control the influence of Hamas in 2008, 2012, 2014, and now in 2023.‘Homo Sacers’ of Palestine are forced to break the walls of concentration camp. The land of Palestine is in the state of continuous turmoil which demands quick justice. The unceasing mass carnage and unrest along the Mediterranean Sea is setting the narrative that ‘might is right’.
—The writer is an MPhil Scholar at National Defence University Islamabad.
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views expressed are writer’s own.
