Voices from the West Bank
‘Hope’
Last night we opened a zoom room for anyone in Palestine involved in HUP who wanted to tell us what is happening right now.
Nobody in Gaza had strong enough internet to connect but I read out the following messages from Samir and Rinan that they had just sent.
“To all the decent people in this world,l appeal to you to take action immediately.we are living daily massacres committed towards our children, our innocent civilians.l myself evacuated with my family to a hospital where thousands people are there seeking safety though there's none. I am not going to describe what is happening on the ground coz pictures have said enough.l am an eye witness of my people suffering. I appreciate what you , my friends in the HUP and other noble people are doing now.l receive messages of support from you .these ones give me strength to go on with this mightmare. Plz keep supporting us keep praying for us.keep believing in how great our children are and how amazing our house, Palestine is. Rinan ”
“Gaza is here, in spite of all the atrocities, in spite of all the massacres, in spite of all the bloody crimes. Gaza is here. No matter how many thousands will sacrifice, Gaza is here. The price we pay now will pay off one day. Freedom is never given, it is won. We have lost many good people who once had dreams and hopes, they did not die for nothing. They died for a reason, and we will continue to for the same reason, and if we die, our children and the next generation will fight for this reason. We will never give up or stop till the hope of having our country become free becomes true. Please thank all the free people who stand with us in Gaza on behalf of me, thank them for everything they say and do. We are so proud of you and you are our window to the whole worid. Keep us in your thoughts. Thank you. Samir.”
While the media attention is on Gaza we need to hold in our hearts our friends and colleagues in the West Bank. Atrocities are being ramped up there.
Nasra - a teacher from near Qualqilya who has created some hard hitting plays with her students had this to say.
“ We love life, we are peaceful, they are aggressive and violent, this is not the way. is the world seeing what they are doing to the babies? what would they say to the babies?”
Mais from Hebron who previously had shared her home with us through Zoom in our ‘Oh my home sessions’ said this
“West bank has less freedom than Gaza, they stop us to check our phones, we do not have freedom of expression, we are not allowed to post the truth on social media, they destroy what they want to, they come into our homes in the middle of the night, destroying phones and computers , making arrests, if we refer to their war crimes they arrest us and we go to prison, the settlers are always with their weapons, they have the green light to kill “
Lina one of the main teachers in our award winning Facebook live sessions. She lives in Nablus.
“ we do not know whether we will live tomorow”