( Middle East Monitor ) – As Israel continues with its genocide to empty Gaza of Palestinians, the Gaza Media Office stated this month that more than one million Palestinians are refusing to leave Gaza city. “We must affirm that more than one million Palestinians, including over 350,000 children, remain in the north, steadfast in their land, homes and properties, and rejecting outright the scheme of forced displacement to the south,” a statement partly read.
Only recently did the UN acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. It took almost two years for the purported human rights institution to acknowledge the obvious. But what the UN and world leaders continue to refuse to recognise is Israel’s colonial project and international complicity in maintaining it. Both allowed Israel to arrive at the point of genocide and its ongoing implementation as we see unfolding in Gaza.
Palestinians in Gaza represent the entirety of Palestine. All have known forced displacement, many since the 1948 Nakba. In line with the 1947 UN Partition Plan, the international community has made it clear that its prime objective is to protect Israel’s colonial enterprise. Which is why Palestinians were coerced into the humanitarian aid and human rights violations paradigms. By separating Israel from what defines Palestinians according to the international community’s narrative, the Zionist colonial project was free to arrive at genocide. The path to genocide is protected by the international community.
In the first months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, forced displacement was openly talked about by Israeli officials. The international community maintained that it would not accept, or be party to, hosting Palestinians in complicity with Israel’s ethnic cleansing plans, citing international law. However, the international community has given ample examples of how unequal the application of international law is. Taking a stance against ethnic cleansing for political reasons that have nothing to do with Israel’s colonial project is one such manipulation of international law. Or what anyone with a sense of justice would associate with international law.
If international law is derived from the continuation of colonialism, then Israel’s accomplices and Israel itself hold a position that can only be challenged and countered through decolonisation. Ghassan Kanafani articulated several times in his political writings that Palestinians are up against colonialism and imperialism, not just the Zionist colonial project and expansion on their own territory.
“Gaza 60,” Digital, Midjourney, 2025
While the Palestinian people are affirming their right to remain in Palestine, the international community has defined Palestinians through paradigms that only serve Israel and its Western accomplices. Palestinians defining themselves is not something the international community wants to face, as it would cause the entire façade of human rights to crumble. While the UN now acknowledges that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people, it has not yet acknowledged Israel’s colonialism. Neither has the UN acknowledged that its recognition of Israel bars recognition of colonialism.
Palestinians do not want to leave their land. The Western concept of human rights should not even intrude upon, or negotiate that right, in colonialism’s favour.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment.
Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
© 2025 All Rights Reserved