“Don't be scared, Dad. Don't be scared. I’m fine. Enough now.”
A young Palestinian boy is laid out on a stretcher, speaking to his father. He is ten years old, with bandages covering all visible skin. His father tries to embrace him, as best as he can, but he can’t quite get close enough. He, too, is on a stretcher, surrounded by the bravery of those sacrificing their safety to make sure that the little boy gets to hug his father again. He might not get that luxury, because even if he recovers, there is a strong likelihood that he won’t survive much longer anyway.
Video contains graphic scenes, viewer discretion is advised.
Video from Wissam Nassar, shared by @kinda_halal
The young boy's skin has been burned off by white phosphorus. He could be blind, senseless for the rest of his precious life. Using such materials is illegal under international law. That has not stopped Israel, thus far. They’ve used such tactics before and what’s to stop them now? Nothing. The international community is silent. Children are being burned, mutilated, destroyed, and the international community is silent.
Well, not exactly silent. The West sides with a regime that has become world-renowned for its crimes against humanity. The regime that fires into homes, and under the guise of having a heart, warns Palestinians to leave, knowing full well they have nowhere to go. They cannot take safe passage by sea, they cannot cross borders, they are treated like rats caught in a trap, just waiting for the snap. One million children are trapped in the Gaza Strip. A thousand have been buried alive, lost to the rubble as their houses collapse on top of them. I’m crying as I write this.
There are glimmers of hope. Birthday parties take place on top of the remains of houses and people massacred for the cause. Children are reunited with the pets they thought had been lost to the slaughter. Does this count as a glimmer? Probably not. It is normal for the Palestinian people to get on with their lives in the face of hell on Earth. This is a reality they have faced for eight decades.
This is what liberation looks like, whether we accept that or not. It is a great oversight to ignore the reasons for this conflict. This should not be about resources, and militaries, and political stakes, this should be about people, human life. The Palestinians are owed a grace that they have been so wrongfully denied for decades. They are owed land, undoubtedly, but above all else, they are owed the promise of safety, clean water, resources, electricity. They are owed the solidarity that they have been deprived of from all over the world.
Five million people are derived from war and separated from their homelands. Two million people have been trapped in an open-air prison for 16 years, and one million children have never known a life without missiles and needless funerals. And yet, there are people with the audacity to side against them. This conflict is not about sides, it is about freedom.
When I decided I wanted to be a Journalist, that decision was born of watching moments unfold. Moments like this, when people need a voice in the face of oppression. We cannot stand idle in times of injustice.
Comments