[News] Targeting the Future Generations - In Gaza, We Have Lost So Many That We Love

[Anti-Imperialist News]

August 06, 2014
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/06/in-gaza-we-have-lost-so-many-that-we-love/



*Targeting the Future Generations*


  In Gaza, We Have Lost So Many That We Love

by Dr. MONA EL-FARRA

It's been three days since Israel's deadly attack on my cousin's home 
and I still haven't been able to go to Khan Younis to mourn with my 
surviving family.  The Israeli bombing is ongoing and it's difficult and 
very dangerous to travel 18 miles from where I'm living and working in 
Gaza City.  Today Israel announced a ceasefire and I wanted to go to 
Khan Younis.  But we have learned we cannot trust these ceasefires and 
one of my cousins called and begged, "Please don't come, no where is 
safe, and you don't need to take the risk."

There is no safe place in Gaza.  I've said it many times before in 
writing, in interviews, because it is the frightening reality for us. 
  Many families have been erased and everyone in Gaza is wondering when 
it will be their turn.  Between 60 to 65 families have been wiped out 
completely.  My family is no different from any other in the Gaza 
Strip.  Part of my family has been erased.   We are always wondering, 
"Who will be next?"

Here is the story of my family, just one among many stories in Gaza:

At 2:30a.m. on Friday, August 1, my family received a first "warning" 
bomb on the roof of their house while they slept. They jumped up, woke 
the children, and told everyone to run outside.  The family lived in a 
four-story apartment building. Three to four minutes after the first 
bomb, a second larger bomb hit the building.  Part of the family was 
outside running into the street, but part of the family was still in the 
building when the second Israeli bomb hit.

My cousin's son Emad was trying to bring the children together to move 
them to a safer place when a third rocket hit them in the street and 
killed them all where they stood. There were body parts everywhere, most 
of them children.  This series of attacks killed nine members of my family:

    Abed Almalek Abed Al Salam El-Farra, 64 years

    Osamah Abed Almalek El-Farra, 34 years

    Awatef  A'ez Eldeen El-Farra, 29 years

    Emad El-Farra, 28 years

    Mohamad Mahmoud El-Farra, 12 years

    Nadeen Mahmoud El-Farra, 9 years

    Yara Abed Al Salam El-Farra, 8 years

    Abed Al Rahaman El-Farra, 8 years

    Lujain Basem El-Farra, 4 years

Also, ten more people were injured in this bombing, among them one 
family member, Afaf, who was pregnant and miscarried her baby.

The night my relatives were killed was one of the worst nights 
throughout Gaza.   No one could sleep because the bombing was 
everywhere.   At 4 a.m. I opened Facebook and saw that a post about Abed 
Almalek and some of his children and grandchildren being killed.  I 
immediately called my cousin Mahmoud in Khan Younis and when he answered 
the phone, he was weeping.   Mahmoud is a headmaster at the UN school in 
that area, taking care of refugees and he confirmed the news.   It was a 
shocking painful moment, but this is Gaza.   You find yourself 
supporting someone because they lost their loved ones and suddenly you 
find that same person supporting you in your loss.   And later we both 
support others in their loss.   It's like a circle.

It's tragic and sad for our family and for everyone in Gaza.  Abed 
Almalek was one of the father figures in our family.  We are a family of 
refugees who were driven into Gaza when our land was taken by Israelis 
in 1948.  Abed was a businessman who owned a home painting and 
decorating shop.

Israel is killing and destroying homes, schools, 
infrastructure---everything.  When Germany bombed London during World 
War 2, the English built bomb shelters under London Underground stations 
to protect civilians.  Even with shelters, the English evacuated 
hundreds of thousands of children from any area that might be targeted, 
even sending thousands of children overseas for safety.  But in Gaza's 
case, where can our children go?  Where can our people go?  We are not 
safe at home and not safe in United Nations facilities.  We are targeted 
by the Israeli military just because we are Palestinian.  Our Israeli 
attackers are cowards because they target civilians and especially 
children.  They are trying to kill the future of our people by targeting 
the next generations.

But I'm very proud of the people in Gaza.   Despite all of the pain and 
violence, people are coming together, supporting one another, sharing 
whatever they have. It's an issue of survival.  Israel's attacks are 
aimed at killing us as individuals, as a country and as a cause.  So I 
get up every morning because it is my duty to my community and because I 
know others are doing their duty to keep me and my country and my cause 
alive.

I don't want condolences on a personal level.  This is a tragedy for 
everyone in the Gaza Strip and for every Palestinian.  I want people to 
take a stand and take action to stop these war crimes.

/*Dr. Mona El-Farra,* Director of Gaza Projects, is a physician by 
training and a human rights and women's rights activist by practice in 
the occupied Gaza Strip./

-- 
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