PSA

The invention of the civilian as a "nonpartisan," "neutral" figure has exacerbated the depoliticisation of the Palestinian cause. To be deemed a civilian necessitates that we exist in a mythological dimension where we are without perspective. Our cause, as imagine in this mythology, is no longer understood as a liberation struggle but as a "humanitarian crisis," where revolutionaries are not part and parcel of our nation, motivated by political aspirations and dreams of emancipation. Instead, they are interpreted as rogue actors senselessly wreaking havoc to the dismay of helpless bystanders – the disinterested women and children, the impartial paramedics and journalists. In such ahistorical readings, which obfuscate the power imbalance between the occupier and the occupied, the militant is evacuated outside of the context that gave rise to him or her in the first place; the newscaster is expected to present the killing of her siblings as if she were an unbiased observer; and the nurse whose patient is a beloved coworker maimed by an airstrike is expected to maintain "professionalism," to not seek revenge on the drone operator.