Still Gaza, a Year Later
- By: Farida Yassin – News Editor
When I was a little girl, I would always see my grandpa sitting on his desk, writing articles, and books, chronicling everything he saw on the news with his analysis and reflections thrown in. He would always tell me the story of occupied Palestine and how Israel is grabbing every piece of land it could get its hands on, just because they have support.
I would always refuse to watch TV to avoid seeing people getting killed—I was so scared and naive. I would have nightmares of Israel coming to Egypt. I was gripped by fear and believed there was nothing I could do. I was a little girl scared to look at death on a TV screen while children in Palestine experienced death in real life.
I’ve since learned much of the world; my ongoing maturity extends into an awareness of the bitter realities of the world around us, and the question remains. Since the whole world is watching from the comfort of their homes, who should be taking action to stop Israel’s brutal war in the region?
Theories are great and international laws are even greater, but did they consider international law when waging war—genocide—on Palestine? Who holds power over Israel and the power to stop this war? Is this an aggression in perpetuity, eventually reaching our homes and forcing us to greet death with open arms?
My grandpa always wanted me to become like him, a politician, but I worked my way around it and chose journalism. Yes, close enough.
A year ago, he was so proud of me for publishing articles, writing about Palestine, and sharing posts on social media hoping to make a change. Did it make a change? A year ago, the whole world was watching; changes were happening, and there was hope, or so I thought. One year later, the world is still watching, but nothing in Gaza has changed.
I believe what we’re seeing today has been the same since 1948, the only difference is that we all have access to the footage—God bless the internet— and citizens there are the ones publishing uncensored, unscripted, and horrifying videos of their lives.
Israel is still displacing Palestinians both Muslims and Christians, still beheading babies, still bombing homes, shelters, and buildings, still preventing any sort of aid from coming near “their promised land”, still disregarding international laws, still trying out newly imported and illegal weapons on the region, and still wiping out nations … and for what?
To live guilt-free on stolen land? To reside in houses that were once the homes of murdered families? To build “a Jewish state” on the graveyards of the slaughtered and sacrificed? When will this end? Will it even end?
Are these the right questions or should I ask: Who’s next?
