The war in Gaza and the genocide against the Palestinian people unleashed by the Zionist regime has been an earth shattering event in terms of its importance to both forces of reaction and revolution. I wrote an article last year for Al Mayadeen English titled “Time, Space, and the Will” where I explored these three concepts as integral components of guerrilla warfare in general, and Palestinian military tactics in particular. I quoted from General Vo Nguyen Giáp and Mao Zedong—the 20^th century modernizers of guerrilla warfare—in order to create a bridge from the past to the present. Finally, I brought in the short essay

“Live Like a Porcupine, Fight Like a Flea” by the martyr Basel Al Araj in order to make a connection with Palestine. Al Araj’s ‘flea war’ details how the flea exhausts its host and causes him to become psychologically and physically unstable. In this essay, which acts as a continuation of the previous one, I would like to expand on this idea that Palestine is the place where 21^st century guerrilla tactics are being developed in practice. Al Qassam’s territorial divisions, the unity of fields, both indigenous-made weaponry and war loot, and the popular cradle are the main sources of the victory of the Palestinians in the battle of Al Aqsa Flood.

John Elmer of the Electronic Intifada did an excellent job bringing Al Qassam’s videos to the world outside of Palestine. In his resistance report every week, Elmer detailed the tactics, techniques, and different types of weapons used by the various resistance factions in the videos they posted to Telegram and other media platforms. One point Elmer made frequently was the fact that the Gaza resistance was organized into territorial units which were small, mobile guerrilla units. These units, intimately connected to the piece of land they are defending, were able to withstand Israeli bombardment and inflict large-scale damage to the Israeli shock troops and their APCs, D9 bulldozers, and Merkava Tanks. Whenever the Israelis declared an area cleared, these territorial units would launch surprise attacks from that very same location. The social media of the Zionist soldiers was also used against them for geolocation purposes.

In Basel Al Araj’s ‘8 Rules on the Nature of War’, he details this element of psychological warfare: “The enemy will spread photos and videos of their invasion into Gaza…allow your enemies to move as they wish so that they fall into your trap and you strike them. You determine the location and timing of the battle”. Instead of having to mobilize large numbers of troops to different areas to retaliate against Zionist aggression, keeping the units in territorial positions allowed the resistance factions to maximize their strength and outmaneuver the enemy.

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This battle was the fruit yielded by a series of events which have strengthened Palestinian national unity against Zionist colonialism. We can draw a line back to 2006 and the Prisoner’s Document which argued for national unity modeled on the victories prisoners were able to achieve by working together in the prisons. Then in 2011, when the Gilad Shalit deal was reached and many resistance leaders were released from the dungeons, a real push was made towards national unity. This culminated in the 2021 Unity Intifada and the creation of the joint operations room. The joint operations room was fully operational by the time October 7^th, 2023 came around; Marxist groups, Islamic groups, patriotic nationalist groups all united in Gaza against the occupation and invasion. This is operationalized theoretically by the concept of the unity of fields.

Similar to the popular front strategy during WWII, the unity of fields promotes unity in action and resistance, while maintaining and strengthening relations among groups with differing political views. The shared view of the resistance and national sovereignty animates the various factions to fight together. The unity of fields has its expression outside of the armed groups as well, in the form of the popular cradle. Palestinians are returning to the rubble in the north of Gaza. Almost immediately, footage emerged showing them rebuilding what remains of their homes. When Trump launched his inflammatory comments saying that the US would assume colonial control of Gaza, the Palestinians—who have lost everything—responded with a laugh as if to say “go ahead and try”. One Palestinian man was interviewed, he said “we are returning here and building wells already, we will never leave this land”. The Sumud (steadfast) of the Palestinian people is the stuff of legend.

The propaganda of Hamas has also been particularly successful since the ceasefire. A large banner, reading “We are the flood, we are the day after” was on the stage where one of the first prisoner exchange happened. The fact that the Zionist soldiers were returned healthy, well fed, and given gift bags was also a blow to the Israeli government. It is worth noting that every prisoner said they were treated well, in accordance with Islamic law. Also, on stage were members of the Al Qassam shadow unit, who are in charge of the prisoner’s security. Not only were they successful in their mission—Israel never found a single person in all their raids—but they also stood on stage wielding Tavor bullpup rifles, which are standard-issue in the Israeli military. Prisoners were delivered to the Red Cross in brand new trucks, taken from the occupation forces. Each truck, loaded to the gills with fighters. According to U.S. intelligence reports, the Al Qassam Brigades actually grew during the war. This was despite the Zionists making large displays of captured prisoners.

According to Al Araj: “The enemy may broadcast images of prisoners, most likely civilians, but the goal is to suggest the rapid collapse of the resistance. Do not believe them”. All of this war booty has helped the Palestinian resistance over the years in developing indigenous technologies like the Yassin tandem charge RPG which proved particularly effective against tanks and APCs.

As discussed in the previous article, General Giáp of Vietnam said that the majority of their weaponry was old or secured from raids against the French and Americans. The Palestinian resistance has shown that war booty can serve a secondary role in a guerrilla war for national liberation because of the manufacturing capabilities of the movement.

In conclusion, while the entire western imperialist camp assaulted the tiny Gaza enclave, they did not know who they were up against. The Palestinian resistance is steadfast, growing, and capable of defeating the collective imperialist powers in battle. Despite the martyrdom of so many key leaders, the resistance has secured the release of hundreds of prisoners, and potentially thousands more will follow. While the prisoner exchanges have been put on pause due to Zionist aggression, we all know that the Palestinians are the ones negotiating from a place of strength.