Expensive President Biden,
On Thursday morning, October 26, I woke as much as the information of one more bloodbath in Gaza.
This time, Israel killed members of my very own prolonged household. The crime scene was Khan Younis refugee camp within the southern a part of the Gaza Strip – observe, not within the north, however the south, the place individuals have been imagined to be secure, in accordance with the Israeli military. A whole residential quarter of the camp the place I used to be born and raised was ruthlessly bombarded and decreased to rubble by apartheid Israel.
Folks there skilled it as an earthquake. A brutal, man-made earthquake. It ended the journey on earth for 47 souls who’ve now returned to God. Of them, 36 have been direct household and the rest have been individuals taking shelter of their houses, in search of illusory security.
Mr Biden, two and a half years in the past in a speech on the White Home on the event of the conviction within the George Floyd trial, you spoke concerning the widespread goal of people that rose as much as say that Black Lives Matter, individuals who cried: “Sufficient. Sufficient. Sufficient of those mindless killings.”
However right now, as members of my household are murdered, you refuse to even acknowledge that these mindless killings are occurring. As a substitute, you supply phrases of encouragement to Israel. Immediately you say: “Extra. Extra. Extra of those mindless killings.”
And Israel is completely satisfied to grant your want.
When a member of their group is mercilessly killed by the American militarised police forces, Black Individuals honour their victims by saying their names out loud. Because the Israeli forces – who’re kindred in spirit and in arms to their American counterparts – kill my individuals now, I additionally need to honour them by saying their names.
Immediately, Mr Biden, we mourn the lack of my granduncle Nayif Abu Shammala, aged 79, alongside his spouse, Fathiya, 76 – each survivors of the Nakba, the ethnic cleaning of Palestine that occurred in 1948 to make approach for the creation of Israel.
Their village, Beit Daras, about 30km (almost 20 miles) north of Gaza, was ethnically cleansed and destroyed together with 530 different Palestinian cities and villages. Fathiya and Nayif, like lots of the 750,000 refugees of the Nakba, sought refuge in Khan Younis refugee camp, which was imagined to be solely momentary till their return house.
Nayif and Fathiya are not with us, Mr Biden. They died earlier than they may train their UN-guaranteed proper to return to their land.
Among the many victims of the bombardment have been additionally their three daughters: Aisha, the cutest, most cheerful face in Khan Younis; her sister Dawlat, one of the stunning girls in my household who had simply come again from the United Arab Emirates to go to her household; and Umaima, the youngest sister, alongside together with her daughter Malak. They got here to the household house in search of shelter from the fixed bombardment.
4 of Nayif and Fathiya’s sons have been additionally killed: Hassan, Mahmoud, Mohammed and Zuhair together with their wives, Fadia, Nima and Easha. Zuhair’s spouse survived solely as a result of she had gone to a different household within the camp to supply condolences for his or her lifeless. Among the many murdered have been additionally Hassan’s three youngsters: Mohammed, Ismail, and Salma. Nayif and Fatiya’s surviving son, Ibrahim, misplaced his eldest son, Nayif, named after his grandfather.
Members of the Qedeih household and Allaham household who had additionally sought shelter in my granduncle’s home have been additionally killed.
As if this was not sufficient, Mr Biden, the house of my grandaunt was additionally bombed. Her identify was Um Stated. She was 92 years previous, a survivor of the Nakba, additionally hailing from Beit Daras.
She lived in her house in Khan Younis together with her daughter Najat. Each now discover their resting place beneath the rubble. Folks tried to tug their our bodies out however couldn’t. The adjoining houses of her two sons, Marwan and Asaad, and her daughter Muna have been additionally bombed.
Marwan survived however his spouse, Suhaila, and 4 youngsters – Mohammed, Mahmoud, Aya and Shahd – have been killed. Muna additionally died alongside together with her two sons, Amjad and Mohammed. Asaad; his spouse, Imtiyaz; and his son Abdelrahman, a fourth-year medical pupil, are additionally gone.
Asaad’s house was worn out alongside together with his small grocery store. This was a favorite place for my very own son, Aziz, to go to once we would return to go to our homeland. Asaad was recognized all through Khan Younis camp as a delicate soul who offered items for little cash. He stored a thick ledger however usually forgot to gather the money owed and easily forgave them. Immediately, Asaad’s stunning smile, his kindness, his household and his store have all been taken from us.
When the bombing occurred, many family and neighbours have been in Asaad’s store to purchase requirements and use its photo voltaic power unit, which he had purchased to assist individuals cost their telephones and batteries without cost. Among the many murdered are additionally Akram, Riman, Beirut, Imad, Niema and others whose names I can not recall.
Mr Biden, do you imagine that the ache of an Israeli mom hurts greater than the ache of a Palestinian mom? Is the lifetime of an Israeli youngster extra beneficial than the lifetime of a Palestinian youngster? That is the one rationalization that I can discover for what you might be doing now – encouraging the mass killing of kids in Gaza.
After I communicate of kids, I’m referring to actual, human youngsters with their very own distinctive faces, names, laughter and goals. Israel has taken the lives of greater than 4,000 youngsters, together with infants, together with your complicity, Mr Biden; 4,000 stunning souls have been taken from us.
Amongst them is my sister’s granddaughter, Julia Abu Hussein, who was simply three years previous. My nephew Amjad and his spouse Rawan took Julia together with my sister Samia’s household to Khan Younis searching for security. It took them three days to make the journey from their house within the north of Gaza – a visit that might usually take lower than half-hour. They listened to the Israeli military’s calls to evacuate. However they discovered no security.
When the bombardment started, Rawan took Julia into her arms and rushed to the kitchen with the remainder of the household. The sheer power of the Israeli bombs broken our house and shattered the home windows. A number of items of shrapnel obtained into the home by the damaged home windows, killing Julia in her mom’s arms and badly injuring her aunt Nagham.
So, Mr Biden, here’s a youngster whose life was taken by the violence of the battle machine you wholeheartedly assist. Are you able to think about that? Are you able to really comprehend the magnitude of this and different tragedies? Or are you continue to intent on questioning whether or not Israel is responsible of the mass killing of Palestinians?
As I hear of family and mates killed day-after-day in Gaza, I wrestle to search out new methods of describing loss of life – gone, taken, beneath the rubble, their souls in heaven. In the meantime, the media is telling me that they both should not lifeless or that they’re lifeless, however they’re terrorists.
Final summer season once I visited Gaza, Um Stated kindly gave me her embroidered costume. She insisted that I take it again to Canada with me. I’m grateful that I did. Immediately, Um Stated additionally stays beneath the rubble of her house. Her embroidered costume is all that I’ve left to recollect her by.
Mr Biden, when the historical past of what’s going on right now is written, I’m assured that you’ll go down in it as the person who inspired and enabled the Israeli genocide in opposition to the Palestinian individuals. You can be remembered as a person whose authorities actively partook in battle crimes.
However extra importantly, Mr President, as a person who professes his religion in God, what do you say to Him in your prayers to justify the blood in your arms?
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
