Marhaba From Palestine

Today I was supposed to be in London, addressing the Rally organized by
PSC and other organizations to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the
Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. It was the “Enough!” Coalition rally, calling for an end to Occupation and freedom for Palestine.

I could not make it to London. The Gaza borders are closed for an indefinite period. Before the closure was announced I was hoping to cross to travel to London, as it had been announced several times on local TV that the borders would open for one continuous week.

I postponed all my work, my plans and appointments and also my community
work, and went to the borders several times hoping for the opening. It was so cold and the situation so uncertain, and I saw crowds of people waiting on the Palestinian side in inhuman circumstances. I was told that at least 200 patients were waiting to leave to Egypt for treatment not available in Gaza, e. g. cancer patients.

Even when you are lucky enough to leave Gaza for Egypt via this one and only exit, the Rafah crossing, you are always uncertain of your return to Gaza.

We in Gaza do not travel and are deprived of one basic right, the right of movement. We also have various restrictions on our movement inside Gaza and on travel to the West Bank. The majority of us cannot use the Eretz checkpoint to leave Gaza for the West Bank. All of us are barred from using the Israeli Lod airport. I personally did not travel to the West Bank for 12 years. During this time I missed many important and more routine meetings related to my work as a physician. My youngest daughter dreams of visiting Jerusalem, Ramallah or Nablus, like all her mates in Gaza.

Living in Gaza and under such tough and cruel circumstances, the entire community suffers from the economical sanctions imposed by the Americans and the rest of the West, sanctions against the Hamas government, those sanctions that contributed heavily to the severe deterioration of the political, economical, social and psychological situation inside Gaza.

While living in Gaza and experiencing the situation on the ground, and living in the midst of the Palestinian-Palestinian clashes between Fatah and Hamas, I blame both parties for the Palestinian bloodshed and do not give any excuse whatsoever for any of them, nevertheless I blame the West for its economical sanctions against Palestine and the Israeli occupation which on its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip it converted to a big boiling pressure cooker.

That Israeli disengagement plan from Gaza was a new form of Occupation,
because Israel still controls Gaza from outside. It controls the borders and the economy, and has a free hand to carry out various incursions. Israel’s disengagement from Gaza was a step towards making an independent Palestinian state impossible. Its consequence was to turn the Palestinian cause into a charitable not a national issue. By making the Palestinian people go hungry and lose all aspects of a dignified life, it is a step towards demoralising them and making them in the end accept whatever solution, however small and inadequate.

What do you expect of people living inside this pressure cooker, but all sorts of aggression, despair, demoralization, and frictions against each other? More than 60 people were killed, 30 in 3 days, and more than 70 were injured in different parts of Gaza. Most people stayed inside their homes, one man was killed inside his home, many buildings in the Remal area where I live were hit by random shooting, many residents left their homes seeking safer areas, but where are those safe areas, when no place is safer than any other?

It is mid-term holidays for the children of Gaza, 2 weeks holiday, no regular electricity, no safe streets to run in, no proper places to play, no safe homes to stay in, and no proper food to eat. Life continues and the most dangerous time is when people start to lose faith and hope, and have no vision for the future.

With your solidarity, with the solidarity of all those good people worldwide who hate to see injustice and aggression, and continue to work for a better world, I can keep my hope and vision for a better future, and try to transmit those feelings to the others here to keep them strong.

I still count on you for a better future for the Palestinian people, the women, the children who deserve better lives.