Palestinians Side With Russia Despite Their Leaders' Decision to Stay Mum on Moscow's Op in Ukraine

Residents of the Gaza Strip have expressed support for Russia amid the country's special military operation in Ukraine, and not only because they feel Moscow is fighting for "the right cause" and for liberating their own lands; they are also venting anger at the West for their bias and for the fact that they have neglected the Palestinians.

Since 24 February, when Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine, the Palestinian leadership -- that has always sided with Moscow -- has been refraining from making comments about the conflict.

The fear was that supporting Russia would provoke the outrage of the United States, and that would also mean the Palestinians would lose their diplomatic backing and heaps of monetary donations.

Backing Russia Is Natural

For many ordinary Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, supporting Russia was "natural" and they weren't fearful to express themselves.

A 40-year old Salim Shurrab told Sputnik that he supported Russia because it was fighting "for the right cause", namely liberating its own lands from radical forces.

Other Gazans said the war was necessary for Russia to stop the threat of NATO and its expansion towards the East. But there were also those, who backed Moscow for yet another reason.

"I throw my full support behind Russia," said Angham Eid, a native of Gaza in her thirties, who was injured last May during Israel's operation the Guardian of the Walls and who lost her father and a brother in those hostilities.

"In May 2021, when Israel attacked Gaza, the Ukrainian President [Volodymyr Zelensky] openly backed Israel, only because he is Jewish. He ignored our suffering and now we ignore his," she added.

The Biased West

However, the Palestinian frustration is directed not only at the Ukrainian leadership. The public in the Gaza Strip is also angry with the West, and with the way the its media has been covering the conflict.

Over the past three weeks, Arabic-language social media has been packed with images and caricatures that exposed the duplicity and the double standards of the West.

Molotov cocktails in the hands of the Ukrainians were presented in Western media as a lawful means to fight the "Russian aggressors". Palestinians, who were using the same tools, have been denounced as terrorists. Their cause has been largely forgotten.

"We have gotten used to the double standards of the West," said Eid, "so we were not taking aback by the way the media has been covering the conflict in Ukraine. The media is promoting the interests of their countries. Their main interest is to confront Russia. The Palestinians are not on their priorities' list."

Shurrab agreed. "If the West is so concerned with the so-called occupation, why don't they speak about the deeds of Israel? They have been killing Palestinians for years but that hasn't gotten that much of attention."

Since 2007, when Hamas -- an Islamic group deemed terrorist by Israel -- took control over the Gaza Strip, the Jewish state has waged four military operations in the enclave.

Those campaigns reportedly killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians. They have also devastated the Strip's infrastructure causing billions of dollars in damage. Although the international media has repeatedly slammed Israel for its actions, the general feeling on the Palestinian street was that the Western sympathies lay with the Jewish state and its people.

However, Shurrab says it didn't deter his people from continuing their fight. "We know they are biased. We know they are not fair. But we will continue our struggle and our resistance until we liberate our lands".