These Palestinians are unable to leave due to the Israeli land, sea and air blockade. The vast majority of them were expelled from their homes in Palestine in 1948 and displaced several times before ending up in the strangulated enclave.
What kind of mindset deafens the world with cries for the release of 200 Israelis while turning a blind eye to the incarceration of over two million Palestinians? What kind of moral compass condemns the taking of Israeli hostages, yet ignores or attempts to downplay the genocide Israel is inflicting on the captive population of Gaza, including through forced starvation?
In 1948, 530 Palestinian towns and villages were attacked and ethnically cleansed. At least 90 documented massacres and mass killings were perpetrated for that purpose. Many of the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons became refugees living in tents in the area around Gaza City that had been designated for their refuge. Today, the number of Palestinian refugees inside and outside Gaza exceeds nine million, while the population of Jewish Israelis stands at around five million. As for the 2.3 million Palestinian hostages in Gaza, they are the inmates of the largest and most densely populated concentration camp in history, at 8,000 people per square kilometre.
The UN General Assembly Resolution 194, which affirms the Palestinian refugees’ right of return, has been reaffirmed no fewer than 130 times by an overwhelming majority of the assembly’s members. The resolution is grounded in several crucial international legal instruments that recognise the right of return as inalienable and non-negotiable. These include Article 4 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Articles 8 and 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and Articles 5 and 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
So why is there not a single demand from the West – not even a peep – calling for the release of Palestinian hostages?
* A version of this article appears in print in the 6 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
Short link: