May 15th 2008 ... That’s what the calendar told me when I woke up this morning, it felt like any given Thursday, nothing felt new, strange, or out of the usual. But today is a very special day.
60 years ago in the dark year of 1948, and just like today,, it was the day that changed the lives of the people of the Middle East all in all… It’s the day of what we Palestinians refer to as “An-Nakba” which means “The Catastrophe”. To the Israeli’s “they didn’t exist before that day” it was their most sacred most special day of all special days ,, the day they had their independent state, “The State of Israel”.
How strange that is, an entire population is murdered, raped and forced out of their land. While others take over and start their own, and then , that’s called “Independence”. Over 700,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes and land into their “up till now” unknown future, two thirds of the Palestinians were made homeless, never mind the countless massacres and complete towns and villages vanishing from the face of the earth… That’s called “Independence”.
Now what until this moment I can’t fully understand is this. All this was done under the excuse of escaping unfairness, injustice and persecution. If you or anybody else can phrase that in a way that could make sense to me, then please do.
It wasn’t us the Palestinians who harmed the Jews of Europe, it wasn’t us who chased, killed and tortured them. Then why are we the ones to pay for it? Why does the entire world stand still and watches the ongoing “Nakba” of the Palestinian people? Over 4.5 million Palestinians still live in refugee camps, in conditions that no human can endure… What was their crime you might ask? They were and still are “Palestinians”.
That was the crime they were found guilty of charge, to be born Palestinian… that’s why we have to pay the price of the crime we did not have any part of.
Now if you find all that to be a little bit awkward or maybe strange, here is the enigma … all of this misery brought to the Palestinians, throughout the last 60 years, was on the hands of the people who were escaping the same injustice. The Jews of Europe came to Palestine fleeing what was being unfairly done to them. Now they didn’t just come and say “can we live among you?” I really doubt that request was actually offered to the people of Palestine. No, they came in and practiced the same injustice on innocent people who are still up until now after 60 years of darkness, screaming for the world to hear the cry of the truth. But then it seems that the world have turned deaf… 60 years of showing the world the crimes that they have been victims of. But then again the world seems to be blind.
60 years of total silence, nothing said, nothing done. When will the light of justice bring it’s warmth to the dying conscious of the world…
