Watch: Maltese-Palestinian Offers Positive View Of Hamas And Rejects Two-State Solution
From the safety of her Birkirkara home, Maltese-Palestinian Hanan Abunada watches coverage of the ongoing war as she tries to maintain contact with her relatives and friends who are stuck in Gaza.
“All my uncles and cousins from my father’s side are in Gaza right now,” she explains. “I’ve been trying to contact them for the past week. Sometimes I’ve been able to get through to them but sometimes I haven’t because the situation there is worsening day by day and the people have been left without electricity, water and food.”
“All I can do is pray for them but I’m constantly worried about my family and what could happen to them in the coming hours and days.”
Hamas’ surprise 7th October offensive on Israel, where they killed over 260 people at a psy-trance party and captured several Israeli civilians, drew worldwide condemnation, including from the Maltese government.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone as far as to describe Hamas as the “new Nazis”.
However, Abunada – who witnessed war with her own eyes when she lived in Gaza between 2008 and 2011 – offered an altogether different interpretation of Hamas.
“We were kicked out of our lands in 1948,” she said, referring to the Nakba. “My grandfathers were kicked out of an area in Palestine and moved to the Gaza Strip, and the same thing is happening now. They want to take all our land and kick us out. Hamas are a part of our community, they are a party of Palestinians defending our lands and they don’t need to justify what they are doing.”
“They are absolutely not a terrorist group. Gaza is a small area, slightly bigger than Malta, with two million people living there. It is like we are in a big and closed prison which is fully controlled by the Israeli authorities.”
Scenes from a recent pro-Palestine protest in Valletta
“For 18 years now, the people of Gaza have been fighting and defending themselves. The borders are closed, they don’t have food and they are under Israel’s control. I used to live in Gaza between 2008 and 2011 and I already faced war there. Maybe I’m lucky because I’m Maltese so my government took me out with my children but what about the others who cannot protect themselves?”
“Their only way is to fight for their lands, although they don’t have military trucks and planes that they can fight with like Israel do.”
While Malta is among those countries pushing for a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine coexisting side by side, Abunada is far from convinced.
“May I ask the people of Malta this? If someone occupies their country, will they want to make peace with the people who stole their lands? I’m sure no one will accept that.”
“Also, if we are to make peace with Israel I think it needs to be fair, which it is not because every year Israel extends their occupied areas and kick us away.”
“Even in the West Bank and Jerusalem, you hear how we cannot even go to the mosques and live freely. How can we make peace with a state that doesn’t do what they say?”
Do you know anyone who has been personally affected by the war?
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