The life of the Palestinians in the sealed Gaza has become like a swing, swinging, and swinging so fast all the time between varieties of stages, however, no one is able or even dare to stop this swing, until we lost control of ourselves and of our swing too, and those who tries to stop it or slow its movement become its victims.
The first and ever lasting stage is crawling between two status of calmness and escalations, controlled by the Israelis despite of all our illusions of controlling it, in which the Israelis are moving us easily like a puppet. They start calling for a hudna (truce) whenever they want to enjoy some quiet times and at the moment they feel bored they send us their surprising gifts holding death with it.
Our life is also crawling between two governments, one in Gaza for Hamas and its supporters where Fateh members are oppressed and insulted, while the other one in Ramallah for Fateh and its supporters and where Hamas members are oppressed and insulted too, with their regular accusations, insults, and fake promises to their people, to the normal citizens who don’t care about each of these two governments definitions to nationality, and resistance and are lost in between.
The concerns of the normal Palestinian is seeking a normal life, in peace, and to afford his children a decent life; however with the changes that stricken the Palestinian society, these needs have totally changed, and controlled by both political and economical factors. I remember that once we the Palestinians were looking for our freedom, raising our cause-the Palestinian cause- to the international community in a way that draws their attention, and focus on our stolen rights, our stolen land, our grandparents and our parents’ sufferings since 1948 until present, keeping our dignity and unity as our mean to fight.
However, these demands changed according to the current situation in Gaza, the siege, and the changes that stricken the soul of the Palestinian society and broke it makes the ordinary Palestinian look for self demands. The more the siege is well reinforced by the Israelis the less people priorities become in Gaza, and the more we are divided, the more we are losing our power. From fighting for an honorable cause, we have started to fight for a job, for a ration card, or even for a place in the long cue in front of the bakery or a fuel station our aims varied.
To know how really this affected our life in Gaza you have to walk around, in the streets, the markets, the car blocks, and listen to the simple person who does not decorate his words, and who only tells what he really thinks, amazingly you will realize how broken we are from the inside, how defeated, and how desperate we become. You will realize how different it is to listen to these simple people and to listen to the leaders of either Fateh or Hamas. You will realize how life become so unfair, so difficult to the normal Palestinian who seeks to feed his children, and who does not think of planning to the future because he is not sure whether he will have a future to plan for it or not.
Writing these words, does not mean that I am supporting one party over the other, but mainly stating facts about the size of damage that both parties helped to create in our society, a damage that is not easy to be healed. However, stating these facts are not a reason to blame my people, it is a normal reaction to the injustice, and un-humanitarian way they are treated by the Israelis, the international community, the Arab world, and finally by our leaders who find it worthy to support their factional interest on the account of an ordinary Palestinian.
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April 15, 2008 By Najwa Sheikh Gaza 21.04.2008
URL: http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/04/29/life_in_the_sealed_gaza
