On the Second Anniversary

Author: طلال عوكل

Apologies, my brothers and sisters, apologies friends and loved ones, apologies to my family and neighbors who have suffered and continue to suffer pains beyond human capacity, except for you.

Apologies to the streets of Gaza filled with potholes and ditches, apologies to the schools, parks, and playgrounds that have disappeared and turned into rubble of destruction, mixed with human bones and embracing their souls.

Apologies to the bereaved, the widows, the orphans, the wounded, the sick, of children, women, journalists, civil defense crews, medical staff, and municipal workers.

No one, no matter their capacity for eloquence, can describe your condition and what has befallen you. They have described you as monsters, deserving nothing but death and nothing less than death, yet you are a model of the decent human being, capable of conquering injustice and aggression, capable of steadfastness, resilience, and holding onto dignity and right.

I never excuse or forgive anyone who has taken to media platforms or social media sites, ridiculing your pain, demoralizing you while yearning for fame they do not deserve, and belittling your achievements that have surpassed all imagination.

I have always considered Gaza as the bearer of the Palestinian national project since the Nakba, continuing its historical pride in confronting colonial invasions.

Gaza, this small part of the land of Palestine, is also a part of the essence and genes of a people, many have said, including Israelis, that it is one of the greatest peoples, if not the greatest on the face of the earth. A people that does not claim to be the chosen people and does not attribute to itself great morals and capabilities, but leaves it to others to classify it in the place it deserves among the peoples of the earth.

Two years since the "Al-Aqsa Flood" have been costly, a quarter of a million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip between martyrs, injured, and detainees, constituting 10% of its population.

Two years of repeated displacement, no tent shields from heat, nor alleviates the cold, hunger gnaws at flesh, leaving nothing of bodies but skin and bone; it is a war of extermination acknowledged by the entire world, and a war of starvation and thirst, a siege and disease, but it is a significant chapter for those who wish to seize their rights and preserve their identity and dignity.

You know full well that homelands are only regained by paying a heavy price, for you experienced that during the first Nakba, and from that time until now and tomorrow, no one but you will pay the price for your freedom and dignity. Even if you are an intrinsic part of the Arab nation and of the free peoples of the earth, this does not exempt you from being at the forefront. If the people are the ones paying the price, then they are most deserving of the siege.

Yes, we hear and see the cries of mothers, the groans of youth, the calling of memories of schools, playgrounds, and play, but we also hear and see the determination of people to stay, to learn in tents and under crumbling concrete roofs, and we hear the songs of youth, their celebrations and dances.

You are in torn tents, yet you marry, celebrate, and give birth while smoking from leaves. In Gaza, despite all the pain, it pulsates with life, albeit miserable, and you know that death is a reality and that joy, fear, and crying are characteristics of decent humans.

If all this has become known in image and sound, there are other many and important things that can wipe away hot tears, relieve pain, and herald a human capable of overcoming injustice and destruction, and building a better life.

Look at Gaza, what it has done and continues to do. The Palestinian flag has become the most famous around the world, and Gaza has turned into the most widely spread "trend."

Palestine is no longer that limited geographical spot; it has become the size of the geography of the world. There are those who said that Gaza has liberated the world and broken the "sacred" taboos. Gaza has liberated the world from the deception that prevailed among the arrogant colonial states regarding justice, human rights, and democratic values.

Many peoples have suffered wars and paid heavy prices under the pretext of protecting human rights and democracy. Gaza has exposed, in a clearest way, the bias of the prevailing global system responsible for wars, poverty, marginalization, and the plunder of the peoples' wealth and resources, perpetuating their backwardness and poverty.

Gaza has exposed and irrevocably toppled the Zionist narrative that has prevailed for decades, along with it the scarecrow of anti-Semitism that has been employed to suppress anyone or any movement that sings outside the flock of Zionism and its narrative.

Gaza has liberated global public opinion in the United States, the largest and most persistent supporter of the occupying state, and they demand their administration to stop supplying weapons to it. Western Europe, where some of its countries established the Zionist project, has witnessed profound and extensive transformations in public opinion, affecting the policies of existing governments that stood by the occupying state at the beginning of the aggressor war.

Gaza has also liberated many sectors of the Jewish world, who took to the streets to denounce the policies of the occupying state and the wars of extermination and starvation it wages against the Strip. Isn’t it magnificent to see American and European Jews carrying the Palestinian flag and chanting for the freedom of Palestine?

Did anyone expect this political 'tsunami' that forced the most important historical allies of the occupying state to recognize the state of Palestine and declare their commitment to work towards a "two-state solution"?

If the Palestinians are suffering greatly for their dignity and legitimate rights, they must draw much hope and accomplishment from the freedom fleets, the consensus of the United Nations institutions and experts, and international justice institutions.

The occupying state is also suffering immensely; there is no way to track the acknowledgments of writers, journalists, as well as political and security officials, who admit to what has afflicted their occupying entity.

The leader of the Israeli 'opposition' summarizes the matter when he recently acknowledges that his entity is living through a terrible political, security, and economic crisis.

There is no room to discuss the figures of Israeli losses and the situations they have reached on various levels, it is enough for Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the "International Criminal Court", leading the "Titanic", to admit that his colonial entity is living in horrific isolation, and this is what his actions have brought upon him.