Besieged, Displaced, But Forever Resilient- An Interview From The Streets Of Gaza
In the past I have been very lucky and undeservingly privileged to be able to ask questions to people like Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn and Alexei Sayle.
Mr Chomsky told me he often looks at internet memes of Chomsky quotes and thinks “I never said that!”.
Mr Corbyn told me he only ever really had the “honest and full-hearted support” of just 15 MPs during his time as Labour leader.
And the indomitable Mr Sayle, who told me, “The crushing of the Corbyn Labour Party showed that there is essentially only one kind of ideology allowed in Western nations — a pro-big business, pro-military, pro-politcal arsehole one.”
But this is going to be something quite different altogether. Stripped back to the bare bones of humanity.
Week after week I’ll try and offer a round up of facts that are usually ignored by a vast majority of the mainstream media. I’ll throw in opinions galore, often guided by a genuine outrage towards the corruption of power and the enemies of compassion and humanity.
Like most of you, I watch the events unfolding in Gaza and the occupied West Bank with an uncomfortable feeling of overwhelming sadness, raging levels of anger, and a deeply painful sense of helplessness.
You constantly ask yourself what you can do to help. The images of children torn to shreds by Israeli bombs stay in your mind. The little lifeless hand poking through the rubble as if they were reaching out to be saved, just one last time. It rips my heart out of my chest and meticulously stamps on whatever hasn’t already been shattered to pieces by this bloody, criminal genocide.
But this isn’t about how we feel. We have to stop thinking of what we cannot do for the people of Gaza but focus on everything that we can do for the people of Gaza.
This isn’t just the pariah state of Israel versus the Palestinian resistance fighters. There’s a whole new war going on between conventional mainstream media and social media. A battle of the facts.
There’s the pro-Israel facts, propagated by Western mainstream media and then there’s our facts being live streamed to your phone, laptop and tablets, 24/7. The first ever genocide the world has seen in real time, and YOU play a massive part in making that happen.
But that’s enough about us, and more than enough about me.
Let’s talk to Mr Abdullah Omar, a 22 year old Palestinian from Gaza. He is currently in Gaza.
I first became aware of Abdullah on a Space (think of a giant conference call where you’re all invited to listen or contribute to the conversation).
Abdullah’s signal was poor - hardly surprising considering the destruction of telecommunications infrastructure in Gaza following months of indiscriminate attacks from Israeli war planes.
But what I did hear was Israeli drones, constantly buzzing in the background. Unmanned surveillance aircraft have become an integral part of Israel's diabolical blockade of the impoverished enclave, and 2.3 million Palestinians endure their incessant hum.
Abdullah is an activist. Perhaps it takes his mind away from the unprecedented atrocities unfolding around him?
So I put some questions to Abdullah because I wanted to get a better understanding of what life is really like in a tiny open air prison where kids are drinking out of puddles and almost an entire population is on the brink of famine.
I started by asking Abdullah about his living situation. He tells me has lived in Gaza for 22 years and has “from a very young age endured so many wars.”
Abdullah explains to me how he lives with family. He seemed surprised that I asked if he lives with them: “Yes, of course, I have my family members with me, which consists of my father, mother, and married brothers with their young children”.
Palestinian families often live together in large numbers. Family means absolutely everything to Abdullah and the Palestinian people.
I asked Abdullah what life was like growing up in the world’s largest open air prison camp. He says, “When I was a child I saw many massacres, the demolition of homes, trees, and streets, and the killing of children, women, and the elderly. I never saw a happy day in my life”.
He has never seen a happy day in his 22 years of existence.
Like many Gazans, Abdullah spends much of his time helping others. I asked him about his fundraising efforts. Essentially he is helping displaced families - including orphaned children - and at the last check had raised more than $600 to help poor families with food and shelter.
“I have seen many massacres and deliberate killings of innocent, defenceless citizens, and the demolition of homes over the heads of their owners. So many are still under the rubble”.
Abdullah doesn’t share the same horror as us. We see the images and our hearts break, but Abdullah has been living this way all of his life. He doesn’t know any different because he has built up an immunity to the sights and sounds that would utterly break most of us into tiny little pieces.
He goes on to say:
“The war has not been since October 7. The war began 75 years ago and we were displaced from our land by forced displacement to steal the land and property of the Palestinian people.”
I then asked Abdullah about Hamas. I could’ve asked him a thousand questions about them, but his first answer said enough.
Apparently, support has grown for Hamas since the genocide of Gaza entered its latest phase on October 7th. I asked Abdullah if he felt that was the case. Was support for Hamas growing amongst his fellow Gazan people?
“I don’t get involved in politics”, said Abdullah, so I went down a different path with him.
The price of food in Gaza has skyrocketed. Increases of 100% are not uncommon, and supplies are sparse. I asked Abdullah what he believed was happening with the humanitarian aid
“There are many obstacles on the Israeli side because we are besieged from all sides and aid does not enter the Gaza Strip sufficiently. The cost to try and live is very expensive.”
He isn’t wrong. Truck loads of aid are being disposed of on the Israel side because it has been held up so long the goods have gone out of date.
Using starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime in itself.
We moved on to discussing the supplies of essentials such as electricity and water. The persistent bombing has created a humanitarian crisis on an unimaginable scale.
“There is no source of electricity, water, communications, or internet due to the destruction of infrastructure, and Gaza has become a humanitarian disaster”, says Abdullah.
He goes on to say, “The Internet service has been cut off since the beginning of the war, and we connect to the Internet via ESIM.”
Various schemes are available where you can purchase these e-sims and they can then be sent on to a person in Gaza to help them stay connected to the outside world.
I then asked him a pretty difficult question to ask, but I wanted to get an understanding of his own personal loss.
“Yes, I have lost many relatives, neighbours, friends and entire families who have been erased from the civil registry”.
The sad thing is, he has lost so many relatives to Israeli’s brutal genocide he has lost count.
Many of the Arab states in the Middle East have been hugely criticised for ignoring the plight of the Palestinian people, but Abdullah doesn’t feel this way.
“I did not feel that any people ignored the Palestinian issue, and many of my friends went out in popular demonstrations in support of the Palestinian issue and for a ceasefire and an end to the genocide.”
Here’s the thing. Abdullah doesn’t look to criticise other states for what they are NOT doing, he looks to praise the citizens of the states speaking up for Palestine for what they ARE doing.
Next, I asked Abdullah what he would say to the President of the United States if he had the opportunity.
Me? It would be a flurry of expletives and a barrage of insults, but Abdullah’s message is on point.
“Tell President Biden to stop supporting the Israeli occupation with lethal weapons to kill our children, women, the elderly, and Palestinian doctors. It must stop, and there must be an immediate ceasefire.”
I then asked Abdullah about the mass displacement of the Gazan people and what he had seen with his own eyes, not realising he was living in a tent in Rafah himself until recently.
“I have seen the displacement in Rafah because I was displaced myself, living in a tent”.
That certainly took the wind out of my sails.
We then discussed the South African complaint of genocide against Israel. Abdullah keeps up to date with news when he is able to get his phone charged and an active e-sim.
“The international court must punish the criminals who kill innocents, children and women, arrest children and women, torture them in Israeli prisons, and prosecute Israel for its unjust actions towards the people of Palestine”, says Abdullah.
Finally, I asked Abdullah what we can do to help him and the Palestinian people.
He said, “People must move urgently with peaceful marches in all countries to support Palestine and put pressure on your leaders to stand by the Palestinian cause.”
He didn’t ask for any money. He obviously needs financial help and I am happy to promote a link to his wife’s PayPal - you have to have an Israeli bank account to get the funds because PayPal discriminates against the Palestinian people - but it is important to note that he hasn’t asked for a single penny.
Abdullah came across as a genuinely decent young man. He doesn’t like confrontation, he’s fairly sensitive for someone that is hardened by the tragedy of conflict, and he spends much of his time helping others.
Abdullah isn’t interested in the politics of where Gaza finds itself now because every ounce of his energy is devoted to dealing with the inevitable consequences of genocide, and of course, trying to stay alive.
He has a very simple introduction pinned to the top of his X/Twitter feed that reads:
“Dear world,
I am Abdullah from Gaza. The conditions living under apartheid occupation in Gaza are extremely painful and difficult.
It has been 100 days of losing friends and family and pain and starvation because of Israel’s attacks.
My internet doesn’t work well because of the occupation and I need your help to share and raise my voice and Palestinian voices.”
We can’t do much Abdullah, but we will continue to share your voice and the voices of the Palestinian people.
“I have a dream and my dream is for the war to end… I sleep every night hoping to wake up to the end of this genocide”, says Abdullah.
This is a dream that is shared by the civilised world, and we will not stop until this dream becomes a reality.
You can follow Abdullah on X just here
If you wish to donate to Abdullah directly and can afford to do so you can donate here
Thanks for reading.
Rachael
Comments
Post a Comment