Writer:Â The author is a US citizen living in Ramallah, Palestine. Loor, Raya, and Sama are 3 young women from Gaza. Layan is a young woman living in al-Khalil, aka Hebron.
I donât understand why they turned Gaza into a military base, my uncle says.
They shouldnât teach their children to throw stones, my coworker replies.
Those people canât be trusted to govern themselves, my brother adds.
Hamas isnât helping, my friend tells me.
Israel is under attack, the media chimes in
We support Israelâs right to defend itself, declares the president I voted forÂ
Soon Gaza will be demolished and the territory will be ours, an Israeli informs me
He has plans, he says, to build bars there, next to the beach
He does not describe his plans for the people currently living there
Except to say that terrorism must be destroyed at the root
The land must be cleansed
I suppose thatâs why the IDF neutralizedÂ
The four demographic threatsÂ
Playing soccer on the beach
And in all of this conversationÂ
In this swirl of angry words
I hear the deafening silenceÂ
Of 2 million missing voices
Why do we listen to so many politicians, journalists, opinionated bloggers, media correspondents
But not to the Gazans themselves?
My 8-year-old cousin is in the hospital, Loor writes to me.Â
Their whole family injured by the Israeli airstrike next door
Loorâs family have left their home
And they are runningÂ
To nowhere
Why doesnât the world see us?, Raya posts.Â
Why does no one care?Â
Arenât we human?
I havenât heard from Sama
For 3 days, 72 hours,
When the ground invasion begins
I remind myself there is no electricity in northern Gaza
I fast because I donât know what else to do
I pray I will not see her name on the ever growing list of the dead
Finally, a message from Layan: Sama is aliveÂ
She is with half her family â with her parents
Her siblings are elsewhere
This way, if Israelâs next surgical strike lands on their roof
They will not all die at once
She has no power â no electrical power, no political power, no financial power
The quietest voice of all
Ignored by a world that doesnât care about the lives
Let alone the opinions
Of people like her.
Loor could tell my uncle exactly why
70 years of dispossession and oppression
Have given birth to rockets
Why 2 million people under siege
Dig tunnels to survive
Layan in al-Khalil
Could explain to my coworkerÂ
That the 5 year old detained by Israeli soldiers
For allegedly throwing stones
Is growing up in a city where settlers graffiti âdeath to arabsâ on the walls
Where the streets of the HI district are off-limits to Palestinians
Where Layanâs grandparents stay inside every SaturdayÂ
Closing their doors and windows
To keep out the rocks thrown by settlers
While the same soldiers who arrest children
Stand by and do nothing
And if my brother met Raya
The most resilient student Iâve ever taught
Who dreams of using her educationÂ
To improve the public health system in Gaza
Perhaps my brother wouldnât be so quickÂ
To dismiss âthose peopleâ as violent, irrational, âterroristsâ
Incapable of ruling themselves.
And if only the media would listen to Sama
Maybe then they would seeÂ
That bombing a captive civilian population
Killing hundreds and injuring thousands more
Is an act of terrorism
Not of self-defense
And the more than 700 men, women, and children,Â
Who have become collateral damageÂ
If only they still had breath in their bodies
If only anyone cared enough to listenÂ
They could tell the world
That the 2 million human beings in Gaza
Love life
Love their children
Love their homeland
And that peace will never come
Without justice.
