- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 09/Sep 07:48

From the river to the sea…

THE EDITOR: "The mother that cries in Gaza is the same mother that cries in the West Bank, and her tears are of (the same) value as any mother in Port-of-Spain.” These were the words of Ambassador Designate of Palestine to TT, Dr Linda Sobeh Ali, at the Paradise Pointe Banquet Hall in Charlieville where some 300 people gathered last Friday. Her statement reiterated what UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, had said, that “…a deep, entrenched racism…prevents us from looking at the Palestinians as ordinary human beings.” Aside from declaring that Palestinians deserved the same fundamental rights as all human beings did, Sobeh Ali’s statement served another purpose. It was used to show that Gaza and the West Bank both belonged to Palestine. Consistently naming them as separate territories, she explained, was a deliberate attempt to make the separation of Gaza from the territory “easier.” Palestine is the mother of Gaza, she unequivocally declared. In Carol Mansour’s and Muna Khalidi’s documentary “A State of Passion,” which was screened the following evening, on September 6, at Alice Yard in Belmont, Gaza was in fact, described as “…the essence of Palestine.” The film was an unscripted account of reconstructive surgeon Professor Ghassan Abu Sittah’s work at Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli hospitals in Gaza, and later, in makeshift tents when both hospitals were destroyed. Dr Sobeh Ali said on Friday that she was moved by the outpouring of local support for Palestine. The hall was packed, and, backdrop to the stage consisted of a massive Palestinian flag flanked by two eye-catching banners which read, “What more will the eyes of children be made to witness before a free Palestine?” and “Rise Up Against Genocide. Free Palestine.” People wore stunning combinations of red, white and green, and sported Rafah-style dresses and keffiyehs. Cans of Palestinian soft drinks decorated the tables. Videos were shown of the local marches and protests which had been held in support of Palestine, and a reliable system to receive and disburse monetary donations was described. Sobeh Ali reminded us of a story we had heard before, of mothers writing their children’s names on their bodies to identify them if they were killed by the airstrikes, but we also learned that this practice was to ensure that the body parts of children could be pieced together before they were buried. Ghassan Abu Sittah spoke of little boxes with children’s body parts, labelled, “the leg of so and so.” And under the rubble where bodies and body parts were trapped, he had seen a child’s hand with nail polish, and the plastic shoes which children once wore, melting in the heat. Small corpses at the hospital were individually shrouded and labelled, “unknown child.” Equipment and resources were few and the injured could not receive the requisite care. To prevent wounds from becoming infected, Abu Sittah reported that painful surgeries without anaesthesia were performed. Dr Sobeh Ali focussed on the daily suffering of Palestinians being bombarded as they queued for food in famine conditions. Women gave birth in prison. Rape was not something that Palestinians traditionally spoke of, but now they did. There was no water to wash, so women shaved their heads. People took turns to sleep in cramped tents. They were detained at multiple checkpoints, and a journey of four or five kilometres could easily take nine hours. If a child wore a jersey with the Palestinian flag, he removed it before the soldiers saw it and arrested his father or threw him into prison. Dr Sobeh-Ali warned the crowd last Friday about supporting companies engaged in the violation of Palestinian rights and, by extension, the genocide. If we patronise them, she said, we are paying for the bullets that are killing our children. Visible support for Palestine was encouraged at the close of the film screening on Saturday. “Wear a pin,” Gabrielle Samuel, author of Consider the Birds said. “Put a flag on your desk…donate.” On September 6, some 900 protesters who were supporters of the banned Palestinian Action group and held, “I oppose genocide” signs outside Parliament Square, Westminster, were arrested in London. But this week, the Global Sumud Flotilla, a delegation of ships from 44 countries is carded to leave Tunisia before journeying to Gaza, Palestine to stop Israel’s illegal siege. A one-day concert in London titled Together for Palestine, featuring British and Palestinian artistes is being planned for September 17. All tickets have been sold and the millions of dollars accrued will be sent to Palestinian organisations on the ground. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. DR AMINA IBRAHIM-ALI Faculty of Humanities and Education, UWI The post From the river to the sea… appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.