Gaza shatters the facade of ‘calm’
JVL Introduction
Mohammed R. Mhawish writes from Gaza a day after the crisis erupted.
He describes the reality of life within the besieged Gaza Strip in the face of Israeli retaliatory bombing: ” We try to conceal our fear, wearing a mask of calm even as the attacks draw nearer. Our prayers, usually so strong, now feel fragile — a stark reminder that we’re powerless to protect ourselves.”
Israeli intelligence may have failed this time, but there is a more enduring failure: “a failure of imagination, empathy, and basic decency.” This is Israel’s failure to understand that no-one can be expected to endure protracted occupation stoically and passively.
This article was originally published by +972 Magazine on Sun 8 Oct 2023. Read the original here.
Gaza shatters the facade of ‘calm’
Palestinians have long warned that Israel’s blockade and repeated aggressions would eventually lead to an explosion. But few of us in Gaza expected this.
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Here’s an aspect – a very large aspect – of the reality for numerous Palestinians that doesn’t get much coverage:
No Peace of Mind – Palestinian Mental Health Under Occupation (June 2022)
No Peace of Mind, a report released today by AIDA and Médecins du Monde highlights the often hidden impact of over half a century of occupation has had on the mental health of Palestinian communities…..
The report draws from interviews conducted in August and September 2021 across ten communities of the West Bank in Area C, and reveals Palestinians suffer widespread ailments symptomatic of mental health conditions such as trauma, depression and anxiety arising from rights violations, primarily settler violence, excessive use of force from the Israeli Secuirty Forces, confiscations and demolitions.
https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/no-peace-mind-palestinian-mental-health-under-occupation-june-2022
How could it be any different living in such a situation and such conditions – ie trapped in such a situation with no way out. Thing is though that for millions of people who have swallowed all the demonisation and the terrorist B/S it never enters their heads how so many of them suffer and despair, and how stress and distress is just a constant in their lives.
Thank you Mohammed. One of the most politically and personally clear and incisive accounts I have read. We need everything we can get to help us argue more effectively against pro-Israeli establishment views here.
I weep for Palestinians & for the decent Israelis who saw how Palestinians have been kept as prisoners in their own country! Their dignity & humanity attacked daily in fact them being Palestinian has provoked Israel to treat THEM like the antisemites treated the Jews in Europe & the vile hatred imposed. This time it’s the vile hatred against Palestinians who are regarded as animals & have been degraded for 75 years!
If Israel is allowed to defend itself WHY then are Palestinians NOT ALLOWED to protect Themselves & their homes?
Israel regards them as inferior beings, not even Human beings , for all the Jewish people who still remember their parents hiding from the Gestapo the Nazis they will also remember the fear, panic having lost everything!
It is Israel that has forgotten the Holocaust it is Israel that has convinced its financial supporters like the UK & US that the total extermination of Palestinians is of great benefit to Israelis!!! I weep that NO ONE in the UN , didn’t stop this Israeli takeover years ago.
Peace was always on the table but promoting illegal settlers from the UK & US to steal other peoples homes, farms & shoot those families is an ATROCITY….Israel needs to ask itself was such hatred of Palestinians worth this amount of greed & sense of entitlement????
As a refugee I still remember the fear & caution my Babcia & mother felt years after coming to Britain & we were foreigners, Catholic foreigners but still looked on with suspicion & hatred!
Religion & race is irrelevant ,treating a human with kindness & respect is essential & has far more benefits in the long run for everyone & their children.
heartbreaking reality of life for Palestinians.. an existence of trying to stay alive.. the Biased narrative in the media & of politicians surely must make everyone question EVERYTHING they “feed ” us as unsafe and questionable..
What a ‘friend’ Kier has been. Dutifully providing cover whilst extremists go off the rails and never warning of possible consequences.