[News] Handicapped kids demonstrate in Jenin: We are not powerless and Gaza is not alone

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Handicapped kids demonstrate in Jenin: We are not 
powerless and Gaza is not alone
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4454&Itemid=1

09.01.09 - 13:20

Jenin / Ali Samoudi – Children in the northern 
West Bank’s Jenin are demonstrating against the 
Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip with Dujana 
Hassan Abu Kamal among those carrying a symbolic coffin.

The boy is handicapped and said he would give his 
blood and soul for Gaza. Nonviolent Palestinian 
demonstrations are taking place several times 
daily throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

His eyes blazed with anger when he said, “All of 
my friends here with special needs are 
demonstrating and want to say to the children of 
Gaza that we are sad and we die in every moment with the children of Gaza.”

He said, “We are with you! We will not sit silent 
as the world does. Enough of the silence of 
death, the massacres must be stopped.”

No one is immune to the reality of the Gaza 
Strip, handicapped children among them. Dujana’s 
father said, “Despite his own suffering, the 
suffering of all of these young people with 
special needs, they are following the news with 
us moment by moment. We are all in solidarity 
with Gaza and it is heart breaking to see the grief and anger in my son.”

To counter the general international silence, 
Dujana and hundreds of children decided to march 
with the Union of Health Care Committees to a military checkpoint in Jenin.

The children shouted and cried out to the people 
of Gaza, “We are with you every second!” Fourteen 
year old Nadi is parallelized and insisted in 
taking part in the part. She used her wheel chair 
and carried pictures of child victims of the 
ongoing bombings and destruction. “Our hearts and 
blood and tears and rocked by the bloodshed. By 
what right can Israel continue the massacre with 
its aircraft and missiles that hunt down women 
and children, destroying everything while the world is silent?!”

She continued, “We are children with special 
needs and we will not be silent! We will not be 
silent while the blood of victims killed in cold 
blood is shed. We call on children all over the 
world to stand with our siblings in Gaza where 
even the schools are targets of the occupation.”

For more than two hours the children released 
their cries into the streets of Jenin, some 
carrying Palestinian flags and pictures of the 
victims, others hoisted a symbolic coffin. The 
sound of chants and songs filled the air during 
this period of mourning, tears and pain. Twelve 
year old Hamad was in a wheelchair carrying a 
banner reading, “We are not powerless and Gaza is 
not alone.” To the world he said, “You are 
partners in the massacre until you make them stop it.”

Mohammad Jaber said, “Since the beginning of this 
aggression our hearts are sad, we cannot eat, we 
are waiting for the world to act to aid the 
children of Gaza.” The 13 year old disabled boy 
was visibly shaken and continued by saying, “Our 
message through this is that our people in Gaza 
are human beings and we need to protect them.”

Fifteen year old Salah said, “We are all human 
beings who have the right to live freely and 
without occupation,” while 13 year old Mustafa 
Mohammad added, “Yes, we all suffer from a 
disability, but we are not powerless to express 
our feelings and emotions for the loss of so many 
people killed by Israel’s bombardment. Stop the war, stop the bloodshed.”




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