Today I heard a heartbreaking story of a Christian family in Bethlehem who doesn’t have enough money to buy bread that costs only 2.5 NIS, which equals half a US dollar. This story is one of many other stories about people who are suffering from a deteriorating economic situation. The teachers at school were wondering about other families all over Palestine who don’t have enough money to buy the basic necessities for their children. Some parents are too proud to ask for help or even tell others that they are needy, so they just suffer in the security of their homes and God only knows how they manage. The other side of the story is that more and more people are dying of heart attacks, especially men. The pressure that people are under is taking its due on people and the military closure is just adding to the suffering of the Palestinians. And the question is: What next?
Today I heard a heartbreaking story of a Christian family in Bethlehem who doesn’t have enough money to buy bread that costs only 2.5 NIS, which equals half a US dollar. This story is one of many other stories about people who are suffering from a deteriorating economic situation. The teachers at school were wondering about other families all over Palestine who don’t have enough money to buy the basic necessities for their children. Some parents are too proud to ask for help or even tell others that they are needy, so they just suffer in the security of their homes and God only knows how they manage. The other side of the story is that more and more people are dying of heart attacks, especially men. The pressure that people are under is taking its due on people and the military closure is just adding to the suffering of the Palestinians. And the question is: What next?
It’s so easy for Europeans and Americans to condemn the “terrorism” of the Palestinians from their comfortable homes. The ironic issue is that many delegations come and visit the Palestinian cities and they see the destruction that is afflicted upon the Palestinians, and they find it so difficult to do something about it. Why do people become “terrorists”? Has Mr. Bush asked himself this question? Instead of condemning the acts why don’t these super powers of the world nip the problem in the bud and solve this problem? The Palestinians and the Israeli people are suffering from fear, frustration, insecurity, depression etc… and still we’re waiting for someone to do something tangible about it. Of course we keep hoping, but until when? Is it difficult to secure the rights of human beings? It’s easy to make war, but it’s so darn impossible these days to establish peace. Is it too difficult in this day and age to live and let live? In the end, a person gets a small space to be buried and takes nothing of the material world with him/her. We think a lot about death these days and it has become a daily event. So far it still affects us every time we hear of it, and this is a blessing since we still feel the sadness that “normal” people feel, and we still have our sanity as human beings. Have we become abnormal? No, not yet. We live in an abnormal situation, but we still cling to life, and our human rights and our dignity mean a lot to us and that’s why we are still fighting occupation. Is it too much to ask? I’m asking every Israeli, every American and every European this question. Notice I haven’t counted others; you wonder why, right? Well, we have occupation inflicted upon us by the Israelis, our destiny is decided by the power exercised by the American government on the Israeli government, and we think that some European governments understand what we go through more than others and try to back up a Palestinian state.
Yesterday I saw a few thousand Israeli people demonstrating in Tel Aviv asking their government to get out of the Palestinian territories. I was happy to see that some Israeli people that belong to the peace camp realize what their policy is doing and are protesting against it, but is it enough to move their leaders? It’s a good step toward putting their government under pressure to talk peace with the Palestinians. That and together with more Israeli soldiers refusing to serve in the Palestinians territories because what their military orders have made them do and the reported scandals that they announced, there’s hope for more pressure by the Israeli people to establish peace in the region. Could this happen soon? I hope and pray that it will.
