day 364. dear Palestine
genocide genocide and genocide
I can't even count how many times I dreamed of being in Gaza, waking up with tears in my eyes even though none of it was real. But this anxiety I felt for two minutes during sleep is nothing compared to what the Palestinians endure. Those were just dreams, everything was in my mind. Isn't it strange that the word dream has two almost opposite meanings? One meaning is the thoughts and emotions you experience during sleep, when you are unconscious, the minor death. The other meaning is to have an ambition for something, something you yearn for every day. The word dream originally meant joy, and now it is just something you hope for, in sleep and while you're awake. What does it mean to dream in Gaza? The Palestinians cannot even dream peacefully, with the sound of sirens and the constant fear of being bombed and killed in a genocide planned by israel and the usa.
I keep thinking about certain people.
To all the healthcare workers of Palestine, I don't think I've ever wanted to be in the medical field more than I do now. Your dedication, selflessness, and love for your homeland and its people will never be forgotten. The driver who kept reciting the verses of Surah Al-Baqarah about patience and prayer in the ambulance, the doctors and nurses staying in hospitals confidently for the patients despite being raided by the israeli offense forces, the surgical procedures performed without anesthetics, the medical students who volunteered in the hospital after their beloved university was bombed to destruction, the healthcare workers comforting the orphaned baby that survived, your strength will never, ever be forgotten.
To the journalists of Palestine, not one image or video footage will ever go to waste. Motaz, Plestia, Bisan, Saleh, Wael and many many more I respect you so much, the resilience of Palestinian blood is unlike any other, I can't imagine documenting everything that I lose. You became such a threat to the oppressors that they started targeting your houses and families, spreading propaganda that no one really believes in, because the truth you present is more than enough. To the journalists who have left Palestine for a different country, the impact and awareness you are spreading outside is affecting everyone. Please don't feel like you don't deserve it. I pray you can step foot into your homeland soon.
To the children of Palestine, you beautiful little doves, fearless of the israeli oppressors because you know what their outcome will be in the next life. Innocent doves, you play a game of carrying and burying each other in mass graves because that is all you see around you. You with your names written on your arms and legs, holding your parents' arms tighter than ever, never letting go. To the children always saying alhamdulilah (all praise be to Allah) when asked how they are, and hasbunAllahu wa ni’mal wakeel (Allah [alone] is sufficient for us and He is the best Disposer of all affairs) when afflicted with loss, let me tell you that you will get your justice, you will get whatever you want, you will be in peace. You will fly so high, you will reunite with everyone who has been martyred. You will not be alone, little dove. Oh, Hind Rajab, small girl. What was her fault to be brutally murdered? The world spread lies over israeli babies being beheaded with no evidence, yet with clear images of actual beheaded palestinan babies the world remained silent.
To the women of Gaza of Rafah, to the mothers who secretly starve just to let their children eat, even if it’s only grass. To the women who wear their hijab at all times, even in their sleep, just so that if they are killed, they will be martyred while covering themselves in honour and pride. To the grandmothers clenching Palestinian folklore and culture tightly in their wrinkled fists to pass on to their grandchildren’s hearts, because even though israel is trying so hard to erase Palestine as a whole, they will not let it happen. To the women who cannot conceive properly, who are suffering in menstruation due to lack of resources and dealing with everything around them—you are so strong, even though you don't want to be, you just want to live normally again.
To the men of Gaza. The West is trying to forget you, to berate you because to them you are nothing but terrorists, but we know who the real terrorists are. We see you. The men and boys, pulling each other out from the rubble, carefully and always with the name of Allah, giving reassurance to everyone even though they might need it more. Protecting their families in their arms, as a shield, an armor, from the shrapnel in bombs and falling buildings. Leading prayer in fallen mosques, and all the men lining up in neat rows, even if the air smells like blood and debris, because their faith in Allah is more than anything. You are worth more than what the media says you are. Oh Amo Khaled, Reem's grandfather, clinging on to her toys and jewelry because that's all that is left of her. He lost his Rooh Ar-Rooh. (the soul of his soul). The father who held his son’s limbs in a blue bag, I can't see blue shoppers the same anymore.
Tell me something, my reader: if your family, if your people, are constantly under attack for decades, when illegal settlers raid your houses and farms, when you lose your children and parents to bombardment and bullets, tell me, will you not resist? Tell me, will your orphaned son sit on the grey rubble, under the harsh rain with no thoughts of fighting? Who is the real terrorist? What is the cause of revolution if not oppression?
To the land of Fillistin, your olive and fig trees will speak on the Day the oppressors plead that they never shed any blood. Your soil will let out every whisper, every dust particle stained with blood will speak. I can't look at ice-cream vans the same since last year, knowing that they carried martyrs in Gaza. There are enough witnesses for the horrors you are enduring. Your people will get justice. One day, on this earth, you will be free. Your people have always loved you.
To my Palestinian friends and juniors in school, who have never stepped foot in their beloved homeland because their grandparents were expelled in the Nakba of 1948, I know you would do anything to go. You yearn to touch the ground of your land, even if it is covered with rubble and bones. This is the resilience of Palestinian blood. This is the beauty, the fearlessness, the love for home.
When Meta began to shadowban posts and stories on Instagram last October, I thought it was almost dystopian—I thought of the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, in which books were burned and readers were jailed. Knowledge was a sin. However, I immediately remembered that this censorship, this propaganda, has been a big part of civilizations since the beginning of time. I thought about all the history classes, when we studied different propaganda posters of WWI and WWII. Lying has always been used as a weapon that causes the most damage because the masses are directly affected, their views change, and it spreads like wildfire. In many cases it is almost irreversible.
I'm always surprised by the people who don't hold any unorthodox views in today’s world and then claim that if they were alive during Hitler's reign in Germany, they would have done something about it. They claim they would have fought against the Nazis, the fascism. Your views and actions on Palestine today (or any other genocide that is happening right now) indicate what you would have done if you were alive in WWI and WWII. If you are so easily influenced by news outlets, where they word everything about Palestinians so disgustingly, as if they are worth nothing, if your moral views are so easily replaced by some influencer on the internet, you are not looking for what's right. You are only doing things because everyone else is doing it. You aren't seeking truth, you are seeking society's pleasure.
And as of today, Lebanon and Yemen are bleeding under the USA's and Israel's bombardment. Just for speaking up. Remember them in your prayers, do whatever you can to help. Donate, spread awareness, and most importantly rectify yourself.
love,
afifa
Beautiful... May الله Help the believers of Filistin and around the world everywhere against His enemies and against the oppressors.