A New Dawn: A Strategy for Palestinian Liberation and Global Justice

Intended Audience: The United States Congress

Honorable Members of Congress,

The Palestinian poet Abu Salma spoke to the heart of our enduring bond with our land:

“Say to those who / Have committed crime against my / homeland: ‘Before you / Other tyrants have passed through. / Do you see any trace of them, now? / They are gone.’”

Empires and states rise and fall, but we, the Palestinian people, remain rooted to our land, witnessing power structures come and go. We seek not to perpetuate a failed system that pits people against each other, but to protect our lives and livelihoods on the land that is ours by right.

Moments ago, you heard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu present A Clean Break’s 1996 vision to divide Iraq and Syria, a vision to topple governments in Iraq, Syria, and Iran, divide nations, and erase Palestine from maps. For two decades, his blueprint unfolded, and has fueled wars and oppression, applauded by this chamber.

Now, I, a Palestinian, rise to claim equal time. I come not as a terrorist, but as a warner—not threatening hell or wielding power to threaten or overpower you. I carry only arguments for reflection and reason, not domination. The fear I place before you is of God, not of myself, Muslims, Palestinians, or Arabs, who is listening and monitoring this conversation, as the Quran warns:

well-nigh bursting with fury; [and] every time a host [of such sinners] is flung into it, its keepers will ask them, “Has no warner ever come to you?” They will reply: “Yea, a warner did indeed come unto us, but we gave him the lie and said, ‘Never has God sent down anything [by way of revelation]! You [self-styled warners] are but lost in a great delusion!”‘ And they will add: “Had we but listened [to those warnings], or [at least] used our own reason, we would not [now] be among those who are destined for the blazing flame!”

I ask you to sit, listen, and reason with me, for the lives of my people hang in the balance.

God made human lives sacred, not states. The Quran declares, “Whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind” (5:32). Genociding a people to sustain a state violates this divine principle. The daily genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, enabled by your $3.8 billion annual aid to Israel, demands a bold response. Why does Netanyahu’s call to fracture the Middle East—presented without accusation of incitement—go unchallenged, while our chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a plea for liberation and equality on our land, is branded antisemitic and genocidal?

Today, I propose A New Dawn—a strategy to protect Palestinian lives, dismantle systems of oppression in North America, Europe, Australia, and beyond, and realign global priorities with Palestinian and Middle Eastern interests. This is a moral imperative to end genocide and restore justice and hope for all.

The Case for a New Dawn

Behold, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and divided its people into sects. One group of them he deemed utterly low; he would slaughter their sons and spare (only) their women: for, behold, he was one of those who spread corruption [on earth]. But it was Our will to bestow Our favour upon those [very people] who were deemed [so] utterly low in the land, and to make them forerunners in faith. and to make them heirs [to Pharaoh’s glory], (18:4-5)

History warns of unchecked power: from Pharaoh’s oppression (Quran 28:4) to colonial empires carving up the Middle East. Today, Western complicity—through U.S. arms, European trade, and Australian diplomatic cover—sustains Israel’s genocide. In 1969, Golda Meir declared, “There was no such thing as Palestinians… they did not exist.” In 2002, Moshe Yaalon demanded Palestinians be made “a defeated people.”

“the Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.”

This is not an isolated statement, there are many by Israeli leaders, soldiers, settlers, and public officials.

• Psychological Warfare: This statement does not simply refer to territorial conquest but to erasing hope, resistance, and agency. It seeks to ensure that defeat is not just a military condition but an accepted reality in the minds of the oppressed.
• Narrative Control: By framing the Palestinian people as inherently defeated, it suggests a permanent condition, aiming to strip them of any belief in justice, rights, or future restoration.
• Moral and Ethical Concerns: It implies a forced submission, denying Palestinians the possibility of dignity, resilience, or national aspiration, which raises deep ethical questions.
• Historical Echoes: Similar rhetoric has been used throughout history in colonialism, occupation, and oppression—to break the spirit of a people, making resistance seem futile.
• Brainwashing: A psychological conditioning meant to break one’s spirit, psyche, and reshape perception. This kind of rhetoric aligns with tactics used in psychological warfare, where the goal is not just military defeat but spiritual, emotional, and mental submission—forcing an entire population to internalize a sense of hopelessness.

Brainwashing operates by repetition, isolation, humiliation, and extreme pressure, convincing individuals or communities that their resistance is futile and their identity is destroyed. Statements like this seek to instill loss of hope and despair, stripping people of their ability to challenge their circumstances. It is about controlling the spirit, mind, body as much as controlling the land, ensuring not just victory, but extermination.

In 2023, Netanyahu’s UN maps erased Palestine, echoing A Clean Break’s 1996 vision to divide Iraq and Syria. His 2024 call for regime change in Iran and 2025 endorsement of expelling Palestinians from Gaza face no rebuke. Yet, our call for freedom on our land is condemned as a threat to Jews. Why does Congress embrace his destabilizing agenda while criminalizing our cry for life?

The daily slaughter of Palestinians demands a response as bold as A Clean Break. We seek not to destroy states but to save lives, prioritizing the sacred over the transient. Our strategy rejects divisive, failed, fruitless, oppressive systems that pit people against each other, focusing on justice for the oppressed rooted to their land.

Strategic Objectives

Mirroring A Clean Break’s audacity, I propose a strategy to secure Palestinian liberation and global justice, restructuring systems that enable genocide:

Dismantle Western Complicity

• United States: End $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel, redirecting funds to rebuild Palestinian communities. Halt arms sales fueling genocide, as Congress sanctioned South Africa to curb apartheid violence.
• Europe: Impose trade sanctions on Israel’s illegal settlements, as Europe did against Russia in Ukraine. Divert investments to Palestinian refugee repatriation, prioritizing life over occupation.
• Australia: Cease diplomatic defense of Israel’s war crimes, joining Ireland and Norway in recognizing Palestinian statehood from the river to the sea, affirming equal rights.

Economic Realignment for Middle Eastern Interests

• Redirect Western investments from Israel’s war economy to a Middle East Reconstruction Fund, rebuilding Gaza, the West Bank, and refugee camps. Tax corporations profiting from occupation (e.g., Caterpillar, Boeing) to finance this, as divestment weakened apartheid.
• Globalize the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, targeting Israel’s settlement economy to end ethnic cleansing, mirroring A Clean Break’s economic leverage tactics.

Diplomatic and Military Protection

• Demand UN-led military intervention to protect Palestinian civilians, enforce a ceasefire, and halt genocide, as NATO did in Bosnia (1995) and UN peacekeepers did in East Timor (1999). This protective force, guided by international law, is a last resort to save lives.
• Support ICC prosecutions of Israeli officials, including soldiers for war crimes, rejecting bias claims.
• Recognize a Palestinian state from the river to the sea, not as erasure but as equality, countering Netanyahu’s maps erasing Palestine (UN, 2023).

Global Narrative Shift

• Launch a campaign to educate about the Nakba, occupation, and genocide, as Holocaust education reshaped antisemitism narratives.
• Use platforms to amplify Palestinian voices, countering history of criminalizing their voices.
• Establish truth commissions, like South Africa’s post-apartheid model, to document atrocities and foster reconciliation through justice.

Implementation

Congress, you can act:

• Convene Hearings: Openly invite Palestinian leaders from the 14 factions, including Hamas, alongside human rights experts and Jewish voices opposing ideologies of supremacy—such as those invoking “chosen people” claims to justify occupation and oppression (e.g., Jewish Voice for Peace)—to testify, balancing Netanyahu’s platform. Including Hamas ensures transparent representation under human rights scrutiny, not endorsement, to counter distortions. If Congress hears from Netanyahu and leaders like Itamar Ben-Gvir, a convicted inciter and Kahanist extremist (2007), we should grant equal, open, and transparent space for Palestinians to counter groups distorting their voices, as seen in the 2023 censure of Rep. Rashida Tlaib for defending Palestinian rights. These hearings are a first step to expose double standards, halting the gradual escalation toward genocidal oppression.
• Legislate Sanctions: End military aid to Israel, redirect funds to humanitarian aid, as seen in Sudan sanctions for Darfur (2004).
• Support UN Action: Back a UN Security Council resolution for a protective force, overcoming vetoes through global pressure, as in Kosovo (1999).
• Fund Education: Allocate resources for campaigns on Palestinian history, countering bias, as South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement did.

Exposing Supremacy

By supremacy, I mean the double standards that privilege Israeli narratives of dominance, such as “chosen people” claims justifying occupation, while condemning Palestinian calls for equality on our land. We must assess our footsteps, for atrocities like the Holocaust—the “Hitler stage”—do not erupt overnight but grow gradually through unchecked double standards. In 1930s Germany, propaganda vilified Jews while normalizing Nazi aggression; by 1935, Nuremberg Laws stripped rights, and global inaction enabled genocide.

Today, Netanyahu’s A Clean Break (1996) proposed toppling governments and remapping the Middle East, yet you embraced it, funding wars in Iraq and beyond. His 2024 call for Iran’s regime change and 2025 support for expelling Palestinians from Gaza faced no backlash. Meanwhile, our chant, “From the river to the sea,” seeking liberation, is condemned as hate.

In apartheid South Africa, double standards ignored Black suffering while endorsing white rule, prolonging oppression until global sanctions acted. These double standards, this supremacy, rooted in power, protect genocide while silencing its victims. If you accept Netanyahu’s call to fracture our region, you must hear our call to dismantle your systems of oppression—realigning North America, Europe, and Australia to uphold the sanctity of life—before double standards lead to a more irreversible stage of horror.

A Call to Action

The daily genocide of Palestinians demands decisive action to save lives, not preserve states. History proves military intervention can stop mass slaughter: NATO’s 1995 airstrikes ended the Bosnian genocide; UN peacekeepers halted violence in East Timor in 1999. I, a warner, demand a UN-led military intervention to protect Palestinian civilians, enforce a ceasefire, and halt atrocities, guided by international law.

Why does Netanyahu’s vision which unfolded into plans to divide our region, including ongoing massacres and genocide go unchallenged, while our plea for freedom is labeled genocidal?

Invite Palestinian voices who spoke during protests to address you in Congress, support ICC accountability, and educate about the Nakba. Read and reflect on articles exposing Western complicity, demanding a realignment to serve justice, nurture life, all life, not oppression.

Launch articles exposing double standards as supremacy, demanding a realignment to serve justice, not oppression.

The Quran asks, “Where are you going?” (81:26). Before God, who monitors us, choose life over death—act now to end this genocide and build a world that honors our shared humanity.

Author’s Note: This op-ed is intended to provoke thought, offer reflection of Western policies, and just action. It does not represent an official stance of any leader or organization, but rather a challenge of prevailing narratives and demand accountability. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of any organization, leader, or entity.

Fadwa Wazwaz | Fəd-wə Wəz-wəz | Author of “God Intervenes Between A Person and Their Heart: Key Lessons from the Prophets” and “Love Is Deeper Than Words: Key Lessons from the Prophets.” The author’s work centers on exploring Islamic teachings, philosophy, ethics, and the Israeli colonialism in Palestine.