Israel’s assault on Gaza echoes Franco’s white terror for Spaniards

In December, a few months into Israel's large-scale onslaught on Gaza, thousands in Spain came together to stand in solidarity with Palestinians in the country’s northern town of Guernica. In a symbolic vigil, the event marked both peoples' oppression under the far-right.

Between 1936 and 1939, during Spain's civil war, Guernica was bombed amid the far-right's overthrow of the country's democratically elected government. At General Franciso Franco's behest in 1937, the German Nazi and Italian fascist planes heavily struck Guernica – a centre of the Republican resistance movement. It killed an estimated 1,645 people.

For 36 years, fascist ruler Franco governed Spain with an iron fist, crushing dissent. Authorities imposed a policy known as 'limpieza social' or 'social cleansing' during the "White Terror" period. Around 150,00 people were estimated to have been killed during Spain's civil war and dictatorship.

At December's vigil in Pasialeku Market Place in Guernica, members of trade unions, political parties, and social movements created a mosaic with a human chain depicting a large Palestinian flag, to underscore the victims of the Israeli attacks.

"Spanish people resisted against the dictatorship not that long ago," says Palestinian, Saif Abukeshek.

After more than four months of intense bombings, Palestinians like Abukeshek in Spain are drawing parallels to their oppression.

It began in 1948 when Zionist militias forcibly displaced some 750,000 Palestinians to establish the State of Israel, killing 15,000 Palestinians in the Nakba or catastrophe.

In his early 40s, Abukeshek is part of 'The Palestinian Community of Catalonia', an association of Palestinian residents and citizens defending human rights and the right to self-determination. It was formed by Palestinians who mainly came to study medicine from the late 1970s onwards.

After Israel's military occupation seized the West Bank in 1967 and the 1982 war in Lebanon, he says they decided to stay in the country while the youth are now taking up the mantle.

"Catalonia is led by a 3rd and 4th generation of young (Palestinian) people, some of them were born here," says Abukeshek. While 6 million Palestinians make up the diaspora worldwide, there are 2,569 Palestinians in Spain, according to the 2020 survey of Dates Macro.

"With all of us, we integrate within the Spanish community," he tells TRT World by phone, referencing their adaptation to a new culture and language - something he experienced.

Life in historic Palestine

"I was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank in the city of Nablus," he says, referring to the Askar refugee Camp created in 1950.

He says it began with simple infrastructure - no sewage, water or electricity - just tents.

Askar initially housed 500 people but grew to hold over 15,000 refugees.

"So you grow in that environment of people who are displaced. They have this sensation of belonging to a land that they can't go to anymore," he says. "You would find kids in the camp identifying themselves based on their city of origin."

At Askar, Abukeshek saw how The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provided key services from food, infrastructure, education and health - albeit under deeply challenging circumstances.

The education system, he says, was "very crowded," with more than 50 children in the same class, while the health system was "very small to handle such a huge number of patients, and they tend to give painkillers most of the time."

Anyone in bad health who needed health services was often carried in a chair from their home, down narrow alleys to the main street, he says, before being placed in a car or ambulance. It was a similar case for the deceased.

Amid the cramped conditions of the tightly built homes, Abukeshek says many suffer from the lack of ventilation and do not see the sunlight while the military occupation is ever-present.

"Since the beginning, the refugee camps suffered huge brutal and continuous attacks from the army and military occupation. So you will go through regular invasions and regular attacks on a daily basis," he says, describing the Israeli forces as "detaining, assassinating and killing people."

Raising Awareness of Palestine

He says such direct experiences shaped him politically.

"I grew up in a family (that) was just pretty active in this regard. My both parents were in prison. My uncle's friends got assassinated," he says. "Palestine has been part of my purpose in life since the beginning."

As his political consciousness grew, he began to participate in different solidarity organisations in historic Palestine, highlighting the human rights violations committed by Israeli forces.

While he was in his early twenties, his work led to him being invited to participate in a European project called the "Clash of Civilisations," seeking to counteract the Western bias among media and officials. His role was to educate others about the Palestinian cause, its culture and the impact of military occupation.

"I just saw that there is a lot of work that can be done to create awareness about the cause and was provided with the space and the tools to be able to do that work," he says.

He eventually moved to Spain 22 years ago, settling in Catalonia, where he has lived for the last 11 years.

Since October 7 Hamas' incursion into Israel killed 1200 Israelis, more than 28,300 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in retaliation, which many describe as “ethnic cleansing”.

Amid the devastating images of Gaza, he and locals have been deeply moved by events in the besieged enclave, taking to the streets to denounce the situation.

In January, after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) interim ruling found a "plausible" case of genocide brought by South Africa, more than 100 areas of Spain took part in nationwide protests to end the onslaught in Gaza.

'Genocide'

According to Antonio Basallote Marin, Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Seville, "I believe that as Israeli expert Raz Segal, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockholm University and other specialists, stated, we are facing 'a textbook genocide'."

Some of the West, such as the UK and Germany, have sought to criminalise pro-Palestinian support but Abukeshek says Spain has seen little pushback by authorities.

As a Palestinian, since his arrival, he describes Spain as a "diverse" and "open" society with different ethnicities that he feels are "all welcomed."

Internationally, Marin says Spain has not looked to break too much from its traditional approach regarding the Palestine-Israel question, but has sought to be as loyal as possible to public opinion, which "continues to sympathise with the Palestinian cause."

Since Spain established formal relations with Israel in 1986, he says the issue of Palestine has been a "priority" concerning diplomacy and development cooperation.

"However, the EU's loss of influence in the Middle East, the absence of cohesion in its foreign policy and the growing pressure from the latest Israeli governments, increasingly more extremist, has caused Spain to greatly moderate its position," Marin tells TRT World.

For States like Spain, which recognises the jurisdiction of the ICJ, Marin says such countries must take into account the "legal protection and not become possible accomplices of an alleged genocide."

Abukeshek says those involved in the pro-Palestinian solidarity movement have been campaigning to block the arms trade with Israel.

Spain has since pledged to suspend all arms sales and exports to Israel. Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has called for a "permanent solution to the question of the Palestinian people."

UNRWA's importance

After Israeli sources claimed that some UNRWA employees were allegedly involved in the October 7 Hamas operation, despite credible media such as the UK's Channel 4 reporting insufficient evidence to support the Israeli claim, several Western nations - including 2022's top donors, the United States, who contributed $343,937,718 and Germany who gave $202,054,285 - quickly slashed funding to the agency.

Abukeshek says UNRWA also provides critical services to Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt and is "essential to preserve the right to return," something the UN defines as "a fundamental pillar of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination."

Reports say UNRWA has been under financial "strain" for years as it pushed for 1.6 billion in funding, insisting its operations are at risk, while Abukeshek says such discrediting tactics are not new.

"There have been so many attempts by Israel and other European countries to terminate the existence of UNRWA to replace it with local entities, to deviate the funding into the Palestinian Authority," he says.

Abukeshek says UNRWA's vital humanitarian work is something Israel does not wish to acknowledge, pushing to eliminate it and pressuring other nations to follow suit.

However, in the West, Belgium, Ireland, and Spain vowed to continue funding UNRWA.

Albares called the agency "indispensable" as such contributions "alleviate the terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza."

Spain has also helped with financial contributions to the Palestinian cause, last year contributing €18.5 million to UNRWA, while €10 million was given the green light in December.

In recent months, Albares said the country has tripled funding to Palestine to around €50 million ($54 million), including UNRWA funding.

Marin explains Spain's government has sought to take advantage of its presidency in the EU to "clearly" position itself in line with international law, distancing itself from other Western nations like France and Germany that gave "Israel carte blanche in the beginning."

At the regional and local levels, Abukeshek says those involved with the pro-Palestinian movement are gaining momentum.

"We have achieved several victories in terms of the municipalities; major municipalities in the region of Catalonia announced that they are cutting all ties with the State of Israel until Israel complies with international law and United Nations resolutions and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza," he says.

'Second Nakba'

Now, as the pro-Palestine movement on the streets continues to push for action, Abukeshek believes it is not only about stopping Israel's aggression.

He insists it is also about making Israel respect and adhere to the UN resolution on occupation, as a ceasefire does not fully resolve the situation, given the historic precedence.

"This is not the first crime that Israel has committed in Palestine for 75 years. They have been committing genocide and displacing people and murdering people on purpose on live cameras, and they don't care," says Abukeshek.

Amid what UN experts have called a "settler-colonial project pursued by Israel," Abukeshek says politicians must take decisive action and not have to honour the victims 20 years later.

The Palestinian says the push for his community's liberation is tied to a change at a geopolitical level, requiring liberation from the widespread pressures of the international Zionist movement and the associated "colonial mentality."

More broadly, he also points to a "double standard" among some Western nations that speak of "human rights" while providing financial and political aid to Israel.

He adds investments between Israel, Europe, and the US are "enabling Israel to commit genocide."

According to Marin, "With each passing day, the United States and Israel are losing credibility, becoming more isolated with their stubborn belligerence and violating all the clauses of International Law."

The academic believes support between the EU and the Arab world is also becoming "increasingly unsustainable".

Some scholars like David Miller have told TRT World that the world is shifting from a unipolar order to a multipolar order amid the decline of the US.

Marin says this trend will eventually allow Russia and especially China to gain influence.

"We are facing the second Nakba, and this will have much greater repercussions on an international scale", he says.

However, as the Palestinian death toll continues to increase in Gaza, Abukeshek portrays a bleak situation for his community.

Israel's large-scale onslaught has killed largely women and children, as raids intensify on the overcrowded city of Rafah near the border with Egypt.

85 percent of Gaza is internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, water and medicine, while 60 percent of the infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.

Abukeshek says, "What Israel is committing today, it's unprecedented over the years, even compared to what happened in the Nakba."