Who Will Restore Palestine's Laughter?

It laughs like the fields when spring passes over them, and like the ears of grain when they bend to the wind without fear, and like mothers laugh when children run in the alleys of villages and between the orchards of oranges and olives.

Before Palestine became a permanent title for wars and breaking news, it was a complete life.

Jerusalem brought together bells and calls to prayer in one scene, and Bethlehem adorned itself for Christmas just as the sky adorns itself with stars, and Palestinian cities and villages welcomed Islamic holidays with joy overflowing from homes, squares, and markets.

People differed in opinion, but they united in joy.

And the Palestinian laughter inhabited homes just as light inhabits windows.

Then came the Nakba.

So, it was not just land that was stolen, but entire villages were uprooted from living memory, keys became symbols, and tents turned into temporary homelands that lasted for decades.

Families dispersed, exiles filled with stories, and the Palestinian walked carrying his homeland in his heart after he couldn’t bear it on his shoulders.

And yet...

The laughter did not die.

It emerged from the holes in tents, and was reborn at the weddings of the camps, and in the insistence of refugees on life despite everything.

Then the features of the Palestinian revolution began to take shape.

In a time when many believed that the Nakba had become a permanent fate, men and women emerged who believed that nations do not die as long as they resist forgetfulness.

The beginnings were modest.

But the dream was as grand as Palestine.

The Palestinian revolution carried the banner of national struggle, attempting to return the cause to its true owners, and to bring the name of Palestine back to the forefront of the world after years of loss and dispersion.

Then came the Naksa.

As if the wound of the Nakba wanted to test the Palestinian’s ability to endure once again.

In 1967, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip fell under Israeli occupation, and the circle of pain and loss widened.

It was a harsh shock.

But at the same time, it pushed the Palestinian revolution to the center of the national and Arab scene, granting it new momentum that made it the title of a whole stage of Palestinian struggle.

The revolution grew, along with the sacrifices, and the pages of history filled with the names of martyrs, prisoners, and exiles, and the voice of Palestine rose in international forums, and the Palestinian people became present in the conscience of the world despite all attempts to erase its identity.

Then came the first Intifada.

Stones slipped from the hands of children to shake the image of occupation before the world.

And everyone discovered that nations might be unarmed compared to their foes, but they are not helpless against them.

It was a rising of dignity and popular will while Palestine was bleeding but smiling.

Because hope was still alive.

Then the Palestinian National Authority was born.

Thousands of exiles returned to their land, and Palestinian flags rose over institutions, and people felt that the dream of a state was no longer just a distant wish.

Streets filled with national songs.

Schools crowded with students.

The dreams of new generations grew.

The Palestinian tried to build his life on land that continued to suffer under occupation.

Then came the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

The Palestinian anger reignited.

Streets filled with confrontations.

The scene turned into one of the bloodiest and most complicated phases of the struggle.

Thousands of martyrs and wounded fell, Palestinian cities faced invasions, sieges, and destruction, and scenes of pain returned to overshadow Palestinian homes.

But the Palestinian remained steadfast in his right to freedom, despite the heavy price.

Then the occupation continued to change its tools.

Sometimes with checkpoints.

Sometimes with settlements.

Sometimes with walls.

Sometimes with attempts to suffocate both the economy and hope.

Then came the division.

It was one of the most painful chapters in the Palestinian narrative.

The homeland that withstood the Nakba, Naksa, revolution, and Intifadas found itself facing a heavy internal wound.

The geography divided.

Positions drifted apart.

Politics grew weary.

And the cause often became a prisoner of conflicts instead of being the compass for all.

As the years passed, manifestations of corruption spread in some corners, competency declined in some positions, and economic and social crises accumulated on the shoulders of people.

And the Palestinian faced two questions at the same time:

How to protect his homeland?

And how to protect his livelihood, dignity, and the future of his children?

Then came October 7.

And the entire scene exploded at once.

Palestine entered a new chapter of pain that exceeds the capacity of words to describe.

A devastating war.

Devastated cities.

Entire families disappeared from the record of life.

Children aged years in just a few days.

And mothers searching for their children among the rubble.

And scenes of death and devastation will remain etched in Palestinian memory for generations.

Even the holidays are not what they used to be.

How many Christmas trees were illuminated while hearts were extinguished?

And how many Eid takbirs rose as homes drowned in sorrow?

And how many children wore festive clothes while waiting for a father, a mother, or a brother who will not return.

And here stands Palestine today.

Burdened with exhaustion.

Heavy with wounds.

Besieged by crises.

But it has not been broken.

For this people that crossed the Nakba and the Naksa, and led revolutions and Intifadas, and built its institutions under occupation, and endured division, wars, and sieges, is still able to stand.

And the big question remains:

Who will restore Palestine's laughter?

Will politicians restore it alone?

Will conferences, speeches, and slogans restore it?

Or will miracles restore it that we await every morning?

The truth is that Palestine's laughter will not return with a fleeting decision.

It will return when the Palestinian stands by his fellow Palestinian.

And when national interests advance over narrow interests.

And when serving the people becomes a responsibility, not a privilege.

And when the law is above everyone.

And when manifestations of corruption are fought wherever they exist.

And when the Palestinian human being is preserved as the Palestinian cause is preserved.

It will return when the child feels safe.

And the youth feels hope.

And the mother feels reassured.

And the elder feels that the sacrifices of his lifetime were not in vain.

For Palestine has never just been a land we want to liberate.

It was, and still is, a human being we want to live with dignity.

A homeland we want to rejoice.

A people that deserves life after all this pain.

Today, Palestine is not seeking a miracle...

As much as it is seeking its children gathered around it.

The laughter that wars have stolen could return with unity, and the joy that pain extinguished could be awakened by hope, and Palestine itself, as it has always been, is greater than its wounds and more enduring than all the storms.

And when Palestine’s laughter returns...

The world will know that this people was not just fighting for survival, but was fighting to reclaim its natural right to life, joy, and hope.

And that great homelands may tire...

But they do not die.