East Timor and Palestine: Parallels of Struggle and Hypocrisy

By Guest Contributor

Two nations, worlds apart, bear the scars of occupation: East Timor, once the forgotten colony of Southeast Asia, and Palestine, a people dispossessed in the heart of the Middle East. Both have endured decades of domination, both paid staggering human costs, and both relied on the international community to enforce the principles of self-determination.

But while East Timor eventually emerged free in 2002, Palestine remains trapped in an endless cycle of dispossession. The difference lies not in the justice of the cause, but in the hypocrisy of the international system and its subservience to Israel’s strategic shield in the West. The world that condemned Indonesia’s occupation now bankrolls Israel’s war. The parallel exposes not just double standards, but a global hypocrisy that costs lives.

Historical Roots of Occupation

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, declared independence in November 1975. Indonesia invaded in December of the same year and formally annexed the territory in 1976, initiating a brutal occupation that lasted until 1999—inflicting an estimated 100,000–300,000 civilian deaths. The occupation included widespread atrocities: massacres, forced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, and starvation. Notoriously, the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre, where Indonesian forces killed over 270 protesters, was a turning point as graphic footage sparked international outrage.

Palestine, by contrast, has undergone occupation since 1967. Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza during the Six-Day War and imposed settlements and military governance across these areas. Various Palestinian areas fall under fragmented administrative regimes as per the Oslo Accords, though Israel maintains ultimate security control—including in Area C. In 2024, the International Court of Justice affirmed that the occupied Palestinian territories form a single unit, deemed an illegal occupation, and called for reparations.

Both cases reveal how power vacuums, global indifference, and regional ambitions paved the way for decades of military domination over vulnerable civilian populations.

East Timor (1975–1999)

• After declaring independence from Portugal, the territory was invaded and annexed by Indonesia. Over 24 years, an estimated 102,800–183,000 Timorese perished through killings, starvation, and disease—nearly one-third of the population.

Palestine (1967–2025)

• Since Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in 1967, the death toll has been relentless:
  • 1967 war: ~18,000 Palestinians.
  • First Intifada: ~1,550.
  • Second Intifada: ~4,900.
  • 2008–2023 conflicts: ~6,400.
  • Recent Gaza genocide (2023–25): over 60,000 killed, with indirect deaths potentially surging to 186,000 or more.

In East Timor, mass death came over two decades. In Palestine, an equal or greater human toll has accumulated over six decades, with the current war reaching genocidal levels of intensity.

The Politics of Erasure

Both peoples endured attempts at cultural erasure. Indonesia sought to forcibly “integrate” East Timor, banning language and traditions. In Palestine, ongoing settlement expansion, land confiscation, and restrictions on movement steadily undermine Palestinian presence on their land. The strategy in both contexts was not only to occupy space but to diminish identity—making the colonised population invisible in their own homeland.

Methods of Control and Population Suppression

In East Timor, Indonesian authorities enacted a scorched-earth policy: destroying villages, blocking media, curtailing access to justice, and maintaining near-total military dominance. Inside East Timor, civil institutions were subordinated to military rule; the “provisional government” set up by Indonesia was largely symbolic.

In Palestine, Israel enforces movement restrictions via checkpoints and permit systems, demolishes Palestinian infrastructure, and expands settlements—often under legal pretexts though widely condemned under international law. Amnesty and other organizations have characterized Israeli policies as apartheid—systemic domination and segregation.

The Role of International Community

• East Timor: For years, the world turned a blind eye. Western powers, prioritising Cold War alliances with Jakarta, downplayed atrocities. Only after the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre, when footage of Indonesian troops firing on peaceful demonstrators was broadcast globally, did international opinion begin to shift. By 1999, under UN auspices, East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence.
• Palestine: Despite decades of UN resolutions affirming the right to self-determination, Israel continues its occupation with little more than rhetorical condemnation. Western nations, particularly the US and EU, sustain Israel militarily, politically, and economically, while Palestinians face indefinite statelessness.

The contrast is stark: global pressure eventually pried East Timor free, while Palestine remains locked in a cycle of failed negotiations and escalating violence.

Resistance and Resilience

In both struggles, ordinary civilians bore the brunt of occupation but also embodied resilience. Timorese resistance was waged through clandestine networks, diaspora lobbying, and Catholic Church advocacy. Palestinians persist through grassroots mobilisation, cultural expression, and international solidarity campaigns. Both peoples turned survival into a form of resistance, refusing to let external powers dictate the erasure of their nationhood.

• FRETILIN in East Timor: The resistance movement was not free of bloodshed. During civil strife, FRETILIN executed alleged collaborators and conducted internal purges that terrorized villages.
• Palestinian Groups: Hamas and other factions have carried out attacks on civilians, including suicide bombings, rocket fire, and the October 7 massacre.

East Timor’s right to independence was not denied because of FRETILIN’s crimes. The world judged the occupation illegal. Palestine’s right to statehood, however, is continually withheld because of Hamas—though international law explicitly forbids collective punishment.

Global Hypocrisy in Plain Words

When Indonesian forces slaughtered 271 Timorese in Dili’s Santa Cruz cemetery in 1991, U.S. President Bill Clinton later admitted:

“The United States changed our policy in East Timor because the people there were being killed in large numbers. We could not look away.”

By 1999, Washington cut military aid to Jakarta and pressed for a UN referendum. Independence followed within three years.

Contrast this with President Joe Biden in October 2023, after the destruction of Gaza’s Al-Ahli hospital:

“I have no notion that the Palestinians were not the ones who did it.”

Despite overwhelming evidence of Israeli bombardment, the U.S. narrative shielded Israel, and weapons continued to flow.

Or take German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in 2024:

“Germany has a responsibility for Israel’s security. This is a Staatsräson.”

This unconditional alignment translates into blocking ceasefire resolutions and vetoing international accountability—while famine and epidemic spread through Gaza. The message is unmistakable: Timorese lives eventually counted. Palestinian lives, to this day, do not.

Genocide and The Lancet

In East Timor, the UN ultimately called Indonesia’s campaign “systematic and widespread violations of human rights.” In Palestine, UN rapporteurs, Amnesty International, and genocide scholars now warn that Israel is committing genocide.

In 2024, The Lancet estimated indirect deaths in Gaza could have exceeded 186,000, due to famine, disease, and infrastructure collapse. Yet while such figures galvanised action in East Timor, today they are dismissed as “implausible” or “junk science” by Western officials intent on shielding Israel.

East Timor’s liberation proves that even after decades of violence, the world can mobilise to end an occupation. But Palestine’s ongoing catastrophe reveals the fragility of international law when confronted with Western alliances.

The same world that forgave FRETILIN’s crimes to uphold Timorese sovereignty now condemns Palestinian resistance to justify occupation. The same powers that cut military aid to Indonesia continue to arm Israel.

The lesson is clear: international justice is not universal. It is political. And until the hypocrisy is confronted, Palestine will remain what East Timor once was—an open wound in the conscience of humanity.