‘This Genocide Is About Oil’

“That taught us how the olive trees are so resilient and can survive even though a lot is affecting [them],” said Handala, a 31-year-old environmental activist with a Palestine-based organization who is using a pseudonym out of fear of Israeli government retaliation. 

In that way, the trees and the Palestinian people who care for them are not so different. As a child, Handala wouldn’t devote his attention only to the olive trees. There were always the tanks, too; he’d count them on his walks to school.

“Life has never been normal,” he said.

Since October 7, 2023, normalcy in Palestine and Israel has felt even more out of reach. For nearly two months, the U.S.-funded Israeli government has launched attack after attack on Palestine’s civilian communities. Indeed, the U.N. has warned the international community about “a genocide in the making.” Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor estimates that the Palestinian death toll has likely reached 20,000 as of Nov. 17. The terrorist group Hamas has begun releasing hostages but still has nearly 200 held captive.

Though pro-Israel politicians and officials have framed the offense as a war against Hamas, some pro-Palestine advocates throughout the Middle East don’t buy that message. They believe another interest is behind the violence: fossil fuels.

“This genocide is not about the claims of Israel protecting itself,” said Shereen Talaat, founder and director of MENAFem Movement for Economic, Development, and Ecological Justice, which approaches the climate crisis in the Middle East-North Africa region through a feminist lens. “This genocide is about oil.”