“If Palestine is liberated from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea…”
A Light to the World: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding the Palestinian Issue

Based on historical context and critical perspective
Without silence, through solidarity, what is happening in Gaza
A must-read for anyone who wants to stop this horrific genocide!

It has been nearly a year since the war between Palestine and Israel began on October 7, 2023, with a surprise attack on Israel led by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and indiscriminate retaliation.
Despite growing global condemnation of Israel and calls for a ceasefire, including the International Court of Justice's "Prevent Genocide Order" and the UN resolution declaring "Israeli occupation illegal," the genocide of the Palestinian people continues to occur even at this very moment.
The number of casualties continues to rise, reaching 41,272 deaths and 95,551 injuries in the Gaza Strip alone (as of September 18, 2024), and over a million people have already been displaced and become refugees.
It is no exaggeration to say that not a single building in the Gaza Strip remains standing, as the asymmetrical, one-sided attacks continue, and there is no sign of this massacre stopping.
Even now, the news is breaking news about a pager attack in Lebanon, believed to be carried out by Israel, and the risk of a catastrophic escalation is becoming increasingly real.
What is the essence of this merciless chain of violence that continues unabated in Israel, this massive act of violence that has continued since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948?

When the brutal genocide began in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, an emergency lecture was held in Japan to raise awareness among civil society about the gravity of the situation.
Professor Mari Oka of Waseda University's Graduate School of Letters, a Japanese intellectual and expert on Arab literature, Third World feminism, and widely known for her insights into trauma and narrative, quickly shared her correct perspective on this issue in two lectures for citizens and students.
The book, "What is Gaza: The Historical Context of the Palestinian Issue and the Nature of Genocide," which compiles these lectures, invites readers into the lecture hall and helps them approach the issue from root to core.
To help readers understand the historical context of the Palestinian-Israeli issue and the nature of genocide, and to broaden their perspective on justice, author Professor Oka Mari presents a fact-based, broad-ranging account of the issue, from history to justice.
This book offers a multifaceted perspective on the issue, from the founding of Israel and the issue of Zionism, which was the starting point of all these events, to the process by which Palestinians living there after the founding of Israel in 1948 became refugees, to the reality of people living in the Gaza Strip under blockade and the resulting severity.
It also tells us that Israel's propaganda tactics, which it uses to spread falsehoods around the world in the name of diplomacy, its relationship with American politics, and the hypocritical attitude of these Western nations are of no help in resolving the problem.

By reading this book, readers will be able to establish criteria for judging the Palestinian-Israeli issue from the side of justice, rather than from false neutrality.
We can also consider together how to untie the knot so that this genocide can be stopped, the Palestinian people can regain their rights, and coexist peacefully.
“If Palestine is liberated from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea…” This book will serve as a starting point for all those who wish for world peace and begin to show solidarity with the belief that Palestine’s liberation, peace, and justice will be realized.

Colonialism is not over.
The Gaza Strip and Palestine are places where the contradictions of global colonialism and racism by Europe and the United States over the past 500 years are condensed.
That is why the saying, “If Palestine is liberated, the world is liberated” comes about.

--- From the "Preface to the Korean Edition"

It is Israel that is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip right now. So what makes this genocide possible? It is the long-standing double standards of the international community.
There must be one standard of justice.
“It applies here, but not there.” That is not justice.
To be 'fair' it must be applied equally to everyone.

--- p.40

Blockade is structural violence.
In fact, it is as lethal as the direct violence that occurs in war, but unlike direct violence such as bombing, it does not directly kill people.
So, we cannot simply understand its violence.

--- p.98~99

Blackout, and oblivion.
By repeating this cycle of forgetting, we have paved the way for this unfailing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The media and civil society only pay attention and report on the ongoing attacks, destroying buildings and killing people en masse, but once the power goes out, they forget.
Even though the blockade that is crushing the lives of the people of Gaza continues.
As long as only the Palestinians suffer, the world will not bat an eye, no matter how much Israel tramples on international law and commits war crimes.
…I can only assume that this shameless oblivion and repetition of massacres has led to the genocide now taking place in the Gaza Strip.
--- p.149~150

What we can and must do is to make it clear that the people of Palestine are fighting now for liberation from occupation, that this is a struggle that has been going on throughout history.
I think it's very important to spread this widely through social media, especially since the mainstream media doesn't report on it.

--- p.205