The author of this novel, John White, is a Scottish writer, political commentator, and novelist with a libertarian orientation and an advocate for the issues of freedom, justice, and peace. He has two novels about Gaza: “Gaza Weeps,” published in 2022, and “Gaza: This Bleeding Land,” published months ago, and a novel about the corruption of parliamentarians in Northern Ireland, entitled: “Day of Judgment.” (The Reckoning Time), released this year, and he writes regularly on various issues.
His favorite slogan is the phrase of the Uruguayan journalist, novelist and poet, Eduardo Galeano: “History never says goodbye, but rather says: I will see you later!” Following the martyrdom of Palestinian leader Yahya Al-Sinwar, he wrote two articles about his impressions, one of them entitled: “Sinwar was not a terrorist, but rather a freedom fighter.” His most recent writing is an article entitled: “Zionism is the Nazism of this time.”
The novel points out that the current horror in Gaza is only the latest in a long series of such horrors. The current Israeli invasion is called Operation Iron Swords. The “metallic” concept of this “process” is reminiscent of a previous process in 2008-2009, called the “Cast Lead” process. While it’s fair to say that “Cast Lead” appears deadly in some way, the idea behind “Iron Swords” is designed to give the impression of cruel revenge.
Israeli bombing and raids are all Palestinians have known for several generations now. This narrow strip of land called Gaza has seemed to have been subjected to sustained attacks in recent years. Some wonderful poems and intelligent essays have been written about this horror, but very few novels in the West have attempted to offer some understanding of this never-ending and unresolved conflict.
John White is courageous enough to take on this challenge in his novel “Gaza: This Bleeding Land,” in which, as a political commentator, he presents his extensive knowledge of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma.
The dual narrative between Omar and Gabriel
The media across the West, and indeed throughout the Western-oriented Arab world, present a superficial view of this conflict. In the West, things revolve largely around Israel (the good ones) and Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran (the bad ones).
If things were that simple, the idea that Jews and Christians are good, and Muslims are evil, would have been the dominant narrative in large swaths of mainstream political commentary in the West for some time now. John White shakes all this, digging more deeply into the historical and political meaning.
He uses a dual narrative throughout the text. The first narration comes from the young man Omar. He lives in Gaza with his parents and siblings, and grows up to become an activist in the Palestinian resistance. White is clearly more precise in terminology here. The term “Palestinian resistance” is more open than the word “Hamas.” To use the latter word would simply be to dismiss it as a terrorist, because that is the extent of the intimidation in the West in terms of understanding what is happening.
The other narration comes from Gabriel, who grew up in a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. With echoes of West Side Story, Gabriel becomes embroiled in gang violence and ends up in a juvenile detention center. He had little sense of his Jewish identity, until a teacher at a juvenile detention center took an interest in him and told him about Jewish history. It turned out that Gabriel’s father was a non-believing Jew who viewed Zionism with a deep sense of hostility.
It also became clear in the novel that Omar’s father was not religious. These subtle gestures or touches show that there is never one appropriate narrative regarding religious and ethnic identity. Humans are more complex and complex, and they respond to their history in diverse ways. Later in the novel, we discover that Omar’s mother was born into a Christian family in Bethlehem, but later moved to Ramallah.
These important details remind everyone that Palestinian Christians are also on the side exposed to or receiving Israeli aggression. Their churches, just like the mosques, were also reduced to rubble under the weight of the Israeli raids. These precise details also contradict the trend of Christian “evangelicals” (evangelists) in the United States who relentlessly support Israel. They have no solidarity with their Palestinian Christian brothers.
History and politics in the novel “Gaza: This Bleeding Land”
White reminds his reader that members of the Bush administration, as well as many others in the United States, believe in an apocalyptic battle, or “Armageddon,” as they call it, when fire will engulf the world, and Jesus will raise up the elect, lined up to take their place at God’s side in an event described as a “breach,” or “Hernia” in the course of history.
Here John White uses his vast political and historical knowledge not only to educate the reader, but also to expose many of the contradictions or fallacies embedded in this ongoing conflict. While Omar and Gabriel’s narratives gain momentum, there are also inputs from White that give a much broader understanding of how historical and political forces intertwine in the conflict between Israel and Gaza today.
Zionism was a direct result of the Jewish question in Europe and a response to centuries of anti-Semitism and persecution of Jews by Zionism’s current sponsors in the West. Omar’s decision to join the Palestinian resistance came simply because he saw no alternative. White reminds us that Israel itself was created through “terrorism,” and that former Prime Minister Menachem Begin was once a member, or even a leader, of the terrorist organization “Irgun,” which fought the British and killed more than 100 of them in one incident, when it blew up the headquarters of the British administration at the King’s Hotel. David in Jerusalem, late in the period of the British Mandate over Palestine.
These details make readers in the West witness a more complete story. It is the most complete story that John White instils in his dual narrative of Omar and Gabriel. You understand how Zionism can attract, and how armed resistance can also attract. Both characters are trapped by everything that came before them. Of course, what preceded them was not only anti-Semitism in the West, but also the role of Western imperialism in the Middle East. This has trapped both peoples.
While the characters Omar and Gabriel tell their own stories and can be considered trustworthy figures in their own right, in the hands of John White they also represent a living embodiment of the history that preceded them. Thus, the novel provides a historical lesson in addition to an attractive narrative.
If we think of Suella Braverman, the British Home Secretary (2022-2023) of Hindu origin, who suggested that those demonstrating against the genocide in Gaza were nothing more than a “hate-filled mob,” we can see how such comments have created The idea that everyone who participates in such demonstrations and protests is anti-Semitic in one way or another!
Not only that, but such a comment also means that Israel is the eternal victim. However, there are always Jews who regularly attend such demonstrations and speak out against genocide, which they disavow, with the slogan “Not in our name.” Rather, the author reminds us that Western countries supported the creation of the State of Israel precisely because they were anti-Semitic, and did not want Jews in their countries after the World War. Second.
Violence, resistance, and the repercussions of conflict
There is a degree of aggression and violence in the novel, which is both real and metaphorical. Both families suffer from outbursts of rage, and the two main characters, Omar and Gabriel, seem to be raised by violence. The source of most of this violence comes from an international economic system that creates inequality, picks winners and losers, and always provides scapegoats. Violence is often the response, because capitalist violence violates the rights of people all over the world, and their responses to this violence are always violent, whether among themselves or toward others.
So, Gabriel becomes a Zionist after discovering his Jewish history and identity, and heads to Israel with his wife Rachel. He lives in a settler community and wants to join the Israeli occupation forces. He comes from a background of violence in America, and he will bring that violence to his new “land.” He is accepted into the elite Golani Brigade.
What White also told us earlier in the novel is the story of leftist resistance by the Jews, and how they also have socialist and communist stories in their past. But Zionism was the decisive factor that led to Operation Protective Edge that took place in 2014. This is the “invasion operation” in which Gabriel will participate, and Omar will resist.
The pace of both narratives accelerates towards the end of the text to indicate the tension in which Omar and Gabriel will face each other in combat. Although the text does not say explicitly, it suggests that Omar will be killed and that Gabriel will “win.” Towards the end of the text, Omar’s entries become much shorter, essentially concluding into a series of prayers, where he will inevitably receive martyrdom.
The ending could not have been otherwise, simply because this is what we have seen repeated so often. Yes, White points out, this is the horrific level we seem to have reached politically. The absence of any rational political discourse in the West is largely responsible for this. We saw this recently during the general elections in Britain, months ago, where all the major parties said nothing about the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Is White’s novel controversial in the West? Yes, this is unequivocally true, because the political commentator represented by White simply used the structure of the novel to fill in all the blanks that are generally absent from any discussion of issues related to Israel and Palestine. However, the novel has a reliable description, and even includes a trip in which Omar and his family visit his uncle in Amman, Jordan.
Omar must have the last word as he awaits the Israeli attack. He tells us: “Wherever we go, others will follow”! Unless there is a solution to this terrible conflict, this is exactly what will happen…
White’s novel cries out for an end to such senseless waste of life.
- The opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune Network.