"Since my return from the USA and my mother’s death I have not felt a strong desire to write.
At the moment I am passing deeply through my grief. Every morning I think that the telephone will ring and it will be her regular morning call. I feel that an important pillar of my humanitarian structure has collapsed. I know I need some time to restore my balance to be able to cope with her absence; she was always my great inspiration and support with her endless tender loving care.
It was too hard for me not to be able to say goodbye. It was hard to know that I was not allowed to reach her because of some tiny lousy scrap of paper, another fragment in the saga of closed borders, occupation and the long history of Palestinian suffering - one generation after another since the foundation of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, and later on in 1967 the occupation of what was left of historic Palestine - Gaza and the West Bank......
Every day patients are prevented from leaving Gaza for further treatment abroad. Some cross the borders but the majority do not. Dozens of essential medications are missing from hospital shelves, poverty is severely prevalent, 85% of the population depend on international aid agencies’ food distribution. Essential foods for a balanced diet, like meat, vegetables, fruit, milk are missing from the domestic basket - either because people cannot afford to buy them, or because they are not
even in the market.
Most of the time we do not have regular power supply or sufficient water. The occupation decides what we should eat and what we should not, what we should wear and what we should not, they interfere in the very tiny details of our daily life, by imposing so many rules and regulation (under the security pretense), they decide your children’s eye colors in case you enjoy peace of mind with healthy intimate personal relationships. The Palestinian situation in Gaza is economical and political strangulation.
We have become a small piece of news, not enough to disturb the world’s
sleeping conscience.......
We don’t know the way out of this situation where Hamas controls Gaza and Fatah controls the West Bank. And now people’s daily talk is of salaries, closure and sanctions, whereas the main Palestinian issues -- self-determination, end of the occupation, right of return – are off the agenda. No-one shows concern or even speaks of them at the moment. The occupation has achieved its long-term goal, hungry fighting people can’t think straight.
This is the strategy of the occupation supported by the Western powers. As
a national liberation movement, we fell into the trap of authority so foolishly; it is time for both parties to get on the right track towards our liberation and independence......"
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