Introduction
On July 12, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) declared the Mediterranean off-limits to Palestinians. Fishermen are banned from casting their nets and warned of harsh repercussions in case of any violations. Is this new? Hardly. Israel has closed off the sea to Palestinians numerous times in the past. This time, in the genocide, why would it be any different? No convention, no international law, no lofty ideals of justice can apply here because this violence is not even registered in the grand halls of the United Nations or the International Court of Justice. And what is justice, after all? In the present world, it often looks like an expression of raw power masked in moral terms.
The connection between Palestine and the Mediterranean is deep. For centuries, the Mediterranean has been a source of sustenance, a symbol of belonging, and joy for Palestinians. This love for the sea is mirrored in the fishing-net pattern of the keffiyeh. To truly understand this bond, one must turn back the pages of time.
Gazans and the Sea
For centuries, Palestinians lived and worked along the Mediterranean, in coastal towns like Jaffa, Haifa, and Gaza. Fishing was not just a tradition; it was the backbone of local livelihoods. But everything changed in 1948. The Nakba saw Israeli armed militias expel hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, including fishing communities. Many fled to the Gaza Strip, and today, nearly 80% of Gaza’s fishermen are descendants of those displaced coastal families.
The hardships deepened after 1967, when Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War brought all Palestinian water resources under its control. From that point on, access to the sea was tightly restricted. The Oslo Accords of 1993 promised a fishing zone of up to 20 nautical miles off Gaza’s coast. In reality, permits were scarce, and Israel repeatedly reduced the fishing limits, sometimes to as little as 15 nautical miles, often to 12, 6, or even 3 nautical miles. These limits are not just numbers. Most large fish species live in deeper waters, far beyond Gaza’s restricted zones. For fishermen, this means catching only small, low-value fish or risking their lives by venturing farther out. Those who try often face live fire, boat seizures, or arrest.
Since the 2007 blockade, even basic necessities for fishing, i.e., boat engines, nets, and spare parts, have been heavily restricted. Importing equipment is impossible. Many fishermen now rely on makeshift repairs or improvise by fitting engines from motorcycles onto their boats. What was once a proud and thriving industry has been reduced to a daily struggle for survival. Not only a source of livelihood and sustenance, the sea has been a witness to Palestinian history. It has seen millions flee their homes in sheer panic and carry their pain across its waters to Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria since 1948.
Thus, water is woven into the cultural memory of Palestinians. The renowned poet Mahmoud Darwish often evoked the Mediterranean Sea in his verses, sometimes as a metaphor for the longing for home, and at other times as a symbol of the raw pain he endured as a refugee crossing its waters. In one of his poems, he alludes to the Nakba of 1948, the wars of 1967, 1982, 1991, and the unending displacements since the 2000s as:
“The sea cannot take another immigration Oh, the sea has no room for us”
At another point, Derwish expressed his longing for his homeland as:
“I do not love the sea…I do not want the sea, because I do not see a shore, or a dove. I do not see anything in the sea except the sea.”
For Palestinians, water is a shared lifeline, a thread that binds all of them together. When they chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” it is not only a political slogan. It is an ode to water and a tribute to the geography that shapes their identity. It invokes a vision of waters and, between them, of a homeland that refuses to be fragmented. For generations, the sea has sustained Palestine, and even now, they look to its horizon for hope as ships bearing aid attempt to reach their shores.
Weaponizing the Sea
Recently, Greta Thunberg’s ship, Madleen, was traversing these waters when it was intercepted by Israel. Since March 2025, Israel has blocked all aid to Gaza by sealing the sea with warships and missiles, effectively engineering famine. Thus, for Israel, the blue waters of the Mediterranean are merely a zone to be patrolled and controlled. Their recent directive turns the sea into a weapon to starve Gazans by not allowing them to fish. For a large part of the world, too, these waters exist only as legal entities. Under these laws, waters are divided, and invisible borders are marked by special economic zones. However, water, as Elif Shafak beautifully emphasizes in her recent book, There Are Rivers in the Sky, is free, fluid, and without any borders.
Israel has weaponized the sea not just to starve and confine Palestinians but to fuel its genocidal machinery. The Mediterranean hosts 4 major Israeli gas fields: Leviathan, Tamar, Karish, and Karish North. These lie within Israel’s exclusive economic zone and are operated by US and European companies like Chevron and Energean. The gas meets Israel’s domestic needs and is exported to Egypt and Jordan, too. Exports have grown to 13.11 bcm, generating massive profits. Jordan alone saves around $1.2 billion annually by buying Israeli gas instead of sourcing it internationally. In 2023, Israel even granted exploration licenses to multinationals like British Petroleum and SOCAR in Palestinian maritime waters. The Mediterranean, a lifeline for Palestinians, is now only a site of profit for global corporations and a resource bank for Israel’s military operations.
The water has long borne witness to every atrocity committed against the Palestinians. It has seen children killed for coming near it just to quench their thirst, fishermen shot, and young souls seeking a brief escape from falling bombs silenced forever. When justice seems drowned, I find myself praying for Noah’s Ark to come and shelter the innocent. I pray for the waters to rise, in all their fury, and sweep those who have inflicted such cruelty on Palestine and the world.
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Inshaal Sarfraz is currently pursuing her BA/LLB from LUMS, with a minor in history. She is a writer at heart, a pianist by hobby, and a tennis enthusiast in between deadlines.