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A question from Gaza: Am I not human enough?
Maisam Abumorr
Last updated: 03 Aug 2014 15:14
I remember when I attended a three-day workshop on international law and human rights by the ICRC in Gaza, one of the attendees asked the trainer: “What do I do to be qualified to obtain those human rights?” The trainer replied without much thought: “Nothing. You should be a human, that’s all”.
The question now is, what am I supposed to do/be to be qualified as a human? As far as I can tell, I live like normal humans do. I love, I hate, I cry, I laugh, I make mistakes, I learn, I dream, I hurt, I get hurt, I love pizza, I watched Titanic 6 times, I have a crush on Bradly Cooper, I get sick, I sometimes tell lame jokes to which only I laugh and last time I checked myself in the mirror I very much looked human.
The only difference is that an occupying nation came from nowhere to claim exclusive ownership of my land on which an endless chain of my ancestors lived, and they started to ethnically cleanse my people.
My only sin is that I stood up and fought for my lost land and for everything that is dear to me.
The world accused me of terrorism just because I refused to be killed like an animal. But, even an animal will fight for its life.
I obeyed the US and went to elections; I voted for a party which met my expectations. But then I was punished for practicing the very democracy they taught me. I didn’t realize that the modern definition of democracy is to elect a party approved by the US, not a party that the majority of voters want.
As a result, I was put under severe blockade and was subject to systematic starvation, locked in a tiny patch of land isolated from the rest of the world for years.
I finished my university degree in that period, studying for my finals by candle light and writing entire research papers by hand. I often spent the long school days without having enough money to buy food because my father, an engineer, had nothing to build with.
Within four strenuous years I graduated with big dreams. Unfortunately, they were bigger than my reality.
I remained jobless despite the huge potential I have.
I stood up and fought for what I perceived as my basic rights but what the whole world calls terrorism. My Gaza that has been exhausted by poverty and isolation was also subject to three deadly wars within less than a decade by the Israeli occupation whose forces are armed to the teeth with weapons of mass destruction, paid for by US tax payers.
And the world again blames me for fighting back with my very humble and often-laughed-at, hand-made weapons.
Tens of my people are being killed on a daily basis and I’m watching my childhood and youth wasted in pain and utter misery and the world is still labeling me a terrorist.
I am a terrorist because I fight for my basic rights which everyone else is taking for granted without shedding a single drop of blood and without being dehumanised.
Twenty-seven days of my short life were robbed from what are supposed to be the most beautiful years of my life. I spent them watching my loved ones getting killed because they were not human enough in the eyes of the world and I will spend many more years recovering from the war trauma instead of building my career.
If I don’t survive this war, I would like the world to know that I have never seen a rocket nor stored any in my house.
Rest assured that I was not used as a human shield!
As I am writing this article, my mother told my father that we are out of cooking gas, knowing that we have been out of water and power for days now.
I still have not figured out what crime I have committed to endure this kind of wretchedness. I wonder what being human feels like.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/08/question-from-gaza-am-i-not-hum-201483112622663607.html
It’s the saddest thing ever.
International community loses patience with Israel actions in Gaza
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67433
Israel faced growing international condemnation of its actions in Gaza on Monday after a strike near a UN school sheltering civilians left 10 people dead and sparked widespread outrage.
As Israel’s operation in the besieged territory entered its 28th day, the international community appeared to be losing patience with a confrontation the Palestinians say has left more than 1,800 dead in Gaza.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius led the charge, issuing one of the most strongly worded condemnations yet from a Western official.
“How many more deaths will it take to stop… the carnage in Gaza?” Fabius said in a statement.
“Israel’s right to security is total, but this right does not justify the killing of children and the slaughter of civilians,” Fabius said.
“A political solution is essential… and should in my opinion be imposed by the international community,” he said.
Fabius’s statement prompted some to praise Western officials for at last taking a tougher line with Israel.
“Finally! This is very, very good. The systematic targeting of civilians and schools must be denounced,” said Yves Aubin de la Messuziere, a retired French diplomat and expert on the Middle East.
Chris Hedges: Why Israel Lies
from truthdig: Posted on Aug 3, 2014
All governments lie, as I.F. Stone pointed out, including Israel and Hamas. But Israel engages in the kinds of jaw-dropping lies that characterize despotic and totalitarian regimes. It does not deform the truth; it inverts it. It routinely paints a picture for the outside world that is diametrically opposed to reality. And all of us reporters who have covered the occupied territories have run into Israel’s Alice-in-Wonderland narratives, which we dutifully insert into our stories—required under the rules of American journalism—although we know they are untrue.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_israel_lies_20140803
So what is Chris Hedges saying? American journalism requires jAmerican ournalist to REPORT DISTORTED LIES as real TRUTH, REAL NEWS?
What’s your take on this, SG2?
I just seconded your comment to this on the open thread. I’m going to tweet to her and ask what’s a constructive player?
SG2, I’m well aware of this fact: The President of the United States of America is privy to certain secrets that he can not reveal to us., the American public.
And I’m sure just like the 43 POTUS’ that preceded PBO, #44, they too had secrets they can not reveal to the American people.
I’d like to believe that this is one such case with PBO. That he knows exactly what the 41l is with Israel and this “constructive player” comment by Valerie Jarrett means that he is working on a solution to CURTAIL THIS MADDNESS.
The Congressional Black Caucus is still silent about the atrocities in Gaza. Corporate financing. It’s repulsive seeing someone sell their soul for money.
What did CPL used to say? Selling their Souls for 3 piece meal with sides!
DAMN! NBC removed one of their journalist from reporting on #Gaza. Y’all see where this is headed?
The USA’s media is becoming WORSE than RUSSIA!
Looky here. The BBC is censoring reporters.
Bet you’ll never see this photo gallery of support for Gaza on CNN, MSNBC, and certainly NOT FOX
All American news reporting has an Israel bias except for Amy Goodman on “Democracy Now.” And we know who watches Amy Goodman, so most Americans who are even interested in this are not hearing or seeing a fraction of the truth.
Well, I’ve said this before. The US is a major part of the problem and the sole reason why a right wing fanatic like Benjamin Netanyahu is so emboldened to kill Palestinians with impunity. He has the support of the US government and a large percentage of Americans who don’t give a damn what happens to Muslims, any Muslims, no matter how young they are.
Sweet Jesus!
State Department Condemns ‘Disgraceful’ Shelling Of U.N. School In Gaza
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/03/un-school-shelling-_n_5645771.html
The State Department issued a statement Sunday condemning Israel’s “disgraceful” shelling of a United Nations school sheltering civilians in Gaza, saying that the United States is “appalled” by the attack which left 10 people dead.
“The United States is appalled by today’s disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA school in Rafah sheltering some 3,000 displaced persons, in which ten more Palestinian civilians were tragically killed,” reads the statement from State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki. “We once again stress that Israel do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties.”
Psaki continues: “UN facilities, especially those sheltering civilians, must be protected, and must not be used as bases from which to launch attacks. The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.”
In language that was rare in its directness and severity, the U.S. denounced in a statement issued Sunday the attack earlier in the day that killed 10 people, noting that the school had been designated a protected location.
“The coordinates of the school, like all UN facilities in Gaza, have been repeatedly communicated to the Israel Defense Forces,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in the statement. “We once again stress that Israel must do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties.”
The U.S. condemnation follows one by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who depicted the shelling near the Rafah school as both “a moral outrage and a criminal act.”
“DISGRACEFUL”
disgraceful
Disgraceful?
IT’S TERRORISM
John Kerry doesn’t want to lose his job for calling this out for what it is. Can you imagine what would happen if Kerry used the word “genocide?” All hell would break loose.
This unconditional alliance that the US has with Israel is going to cost us another piece of our nation’s soul, and God knows we’ve lost much of it already.
It’s very disturbing & traumatizing to Americans seeing Israel bomb innocent people and knowing the US is complicit in it.
It’s a fucking CRIME, what NUT-IN-YAHOOT is doing.
3Chics, this is so disturbing but we must show you what’s happening in Gaza. Brutal genocide is being carried out on a defenseless people while the world watch.
Barbaric! Savagery!
GRAPHIC: Strike Kills 10 Near UN School in Gaza
Israel = lying deceptive terrorists thugs. They intend to carry out genocide of Palestinians and damn what anyone thinks.
Calendar of Ongoing Global Protests To Stop the Genocide of Gaza
http://www.earth-heal.com/news/news/33-palestine/1653-take-action-palestine.html
Los Angeles, CA, US
Sunday, August 3
2:00 PM
Westwood Federal Building
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/351085091705915/
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sunday, August 3
3:00 PM
De Dam
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/351085091705915/
Netanyahu is one arrogant sadist racist. Evil to the bone.
Ten dead in strike on school in new Gaza fighting
http://news.msn.com/world/ten-dead-in-strike-on-school-in-new-gaza-fighting
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli air strike killed at least 10 people and wounded about 30 others on Sunday in a U.N.-run school in the southern Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said, as dozens died in Israeli shelling of the enclave and Hamas fired rockets at Israel.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported attack, the second to hit a school in less than a week.
Sure. Support terrorism and the death of Israel. NOT!
Israel is the fucking terrorist here, Cielo.
I disagree, southern girl. Hamas builds tunnels to attack CIVILAN AREAS.,Hamas has broken each truce. Hamas parades it’s dead around, the gorier the better. Hamas used the supplies sent to it to build tunnels and arsenals instead of bomb shelters and hospitals. They are extremists and fanatics. Appeasement will not work. Hamas must be destroyed for there even to be a chance at a Palestine.
Spare me about fucking tunnels when little children are blown to pieces, little boys playing soccer on the beach shot down by a fucking missile. Hamas is resisting the occupation. That’s what one does when they’re trying to protect their land from invaders.
You’re spreading nothing but Israeli propaganda. Israel was killing Palestinians before Hamas was ever created. Saying Hamas is using human shields strips Palestinians of being the victim and makes them responsible for their own deaths. It’s got damn offensive. Israel was warned about U.N. schools 33 times and then one hour before the school was hit. Israel targeted the school any way. That’s terrorism in every sense of the word.