January 16, 2025
Nasser Kandil
• There is nothing to celebrate on Gaza’s big day, soaked in the blood of its martyrs, children and elders alike, all we have are tears. They are tears of joy for victory and tears of sorrow for the martyrs, foremost among them the leaders who offered their blood to write this story of triumph. Twenty-one tear-salutes today are worth more than twenty-one bullets, for bullets and shells have their place elsewhere. Today we remember the martyrs, each with their twenty-one tears, especially for Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who may have realised this was Lebanon’s final war for Palestine – one in which he might ascend as a martyr. The occupying entity emerged crippled from its wars in Lebanon and Gaza, wounded in spirit, incapable of waging further wars. Having previously thrown its weight into imposing its terms on Lebanon and failing, it tried again in Gaza and failed. Twenty-one tears for the martyred leader Ismail Haniyeh, who devoted himself to Gaza and its Flood, merging with them until his martyrdom. And twenty-one tears for the martyred commander Yahya Sinwar, the father of the Flood and the architect of the Qassam Brigades’ glory.
• Gaza fought like legendary heroes and earned a victory that will etch its name in history. This was a war the world has never witnessed, one the Arabs have never fought before. It was a war waged by the entirety of the West against Gaza alone, save for a few Arab exceptions led by Lebanon and Yemen. The costs were unimaginable, with Iran bearing a heavy price in its support for Gaza, Syria paying dearly, and Iraq contributing its share. Yet, despite the solidarity of many peoples who filled streets and squares, and despite governments daring to impose boycotts and pursue charges of genocide, Gaza fought its war alone facing the full force of America, the West, and the poisoned claw of the occupation army armed with every technology, expertise, and intelligence they could muster.
• Gaza fought and won. The facts speak for themselves: the occupation army is to fully withdraw, the war has ended, the displaced are to return, the siege is to be broken, forced displacement was prevented, and reconstruction begins. Gaza imposed its terms on the West, led by Washington, shattering the dream of a resounding collapse of the resistance. Even the enemies of the resistance admitted it grew stronger during the war than before it.
Today, Gaza is the Arabs, and none but those who paid the price in blood alongside it can claim that identity. To seek Arabness, one must bring the lists of their martyrs in Gaza’s war and go to Gaza applying for the credentials of kinship and belonging. Arabs are a nation embodied by Gaza and whoever it chooses to stand with it. All others are merely Arabic-speaking people, not Arabs. Where there is no honour or valour, there are no Arabs.
Lebanese pride themselves on being among those who offered their most precious blood willingly shed – to inscribe Lebanon’s name in the register of supreme honour. History will record that the smallest and poorest Arab lands – Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen – achieved what major nations could not: defying and breaking American will and crushing its smaller counterpart. Let the Lebanese who disparage one another grant those who fought with Gaza and died in its name the exclusive honour of nobility. It is no shame for some to disown Gaza’s war – it is their right to forgo dignity, honour, pride, and victory, for such virtues are unfit for them.
• Tomorrow is another day, and with it begins a new chapter in Arab history and the history of the occupying entity. No flattering verses, no false claims, and no fabricated narratives can change the reality: Gaza has triumphed. The ink flowing now is deceitful, for history was written in blood. No media strategies can paint the occupation as victorious, for Gaza dealt it a resounding defeat. Those who try to inflate the image of the “strong Israeli” before their compatriots are blowing into a punctured bag. It won’t be long before this grotesque entity begins its death throes, its crises surfacing, and internal strife erupting – it’s only a matter of time.
Likewise, no rhetoric can obscure the American defeat. Gaza defeated it, whether by Lebanese hands, Yemeni hands, or its own. Gaza has become the watchword for heroism and the epic of contemporary humanity. Shame and disgrace will haunt all who conspired against it, participated in its slaughter as it matched down the aisle in its wedding gown, or they stood by weeping when they could have acted – those who restrained themselves out of fear of, or allegiance to, the Americans and Israelis.
To those who doubted Gaza’s ability to impose its terms: rub your eyes and read the text again. Gaza has imposed its terms – yes, it has. Say it aloud ten times to atone for your intellectual lethargy.
• Gaza has triumphed, and that suffices. Every free soul in the world has the right to celebrate this victory.
