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Reports From Palestine

by N'zingha Tyehemba
photos by Eddie Aung

 

Discrimination/Humiliation
The occupation is the vehicle by which Israeli solders discriminate and humiliate the Palestinian people. Coughlin describes one instance when as she was waved through a checkpoint on entering Hebron, masses of Palestinians waited to show their Ids.

Miller describes a similar humiliating experience for Palestinians on entering Gaza. In the middle of a dusty field that had once been an orange grove, four hundred vehicles waited to be let through. Miller describes “the hand.” The hand of the soldier that usually hangs limps is what might motion after a few hours for perhaps five cars to pass through. This whole procedure appears to be for nothing as these cars or their drivers are not searched and seems to be for the sole reason of humiliating the Palestinian people.

Perseverance
A number of the group expressed the sentiment of the unfailing perseverance of the Palestinians. Despite their unreliable livelihoods, they press on with a deep love for their land and liberty. Faraj states, the “Israeli soldiers can’t destroy our love for Palestine and our freedom.” In response to a question posed by another reporter on how she has the willingness to speak out, Faraj says, “because I have a message for all around the world and I hold in my heart the hopes of the people in my camp.”

“The emotions that I left with wasn’t of defeat and desperation—I came away with a feeling that people in Jenin will never be defeated,” said Rowley. When asked whether he was ever kept from filming, Rowley comments that he was “unable not to film— sort of forced.” Palestinians want the larger, global community to see what’s going on.

The Real Press
Though you might be thinking that turning to the daily news in America would give you some insightful info on what’s happening in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Coughlin would say that “hospital stays are really good because by talking to the doctors and nurses you get to really see what’s happening in the area because they see everything.” If more reporters went to the hospitals to find their information about Israeli/Palestinian conditions and reported their findings to news media around the world, perhaps we would know what’s going on. Among many things that these medical people see is the younger age of people checking into the cardiac unit.

Coughlin reports that a doctor in Hebron said, “It isn’t surprising to see someone have a heart attack at twenty-three years of age."
Coughlin herself comments that, “living under occupation is so stressful that there is always pain” and the same people are constantly checking back into
the hospital.

Faraj, says up front and clearly that a “big world” lies “between my dreams and my reality.” Many young people can relate to the thousands of leagues that often lie between the life that they live and the dreams they conjure. While a number of young people hold similar convictions, many Palestinians as Faraj clutch to a chance/hope for peace. Rowley’s video clip ends with children waving “the peace sign”. The question is, will this well-known symbol become a well-known reality?”

In Conclusion
Lastly, it is important to say that while hopefully the above article has given you a better idea of the Palestinian side of things, it goes without saying that there is more to this conflict on their side. This over fifty-year old conflict lies between Israel and Palestine, virtulally the same land. The occupied territories that were discuseed in this article are the areas of land where Israel has made settlements on and where Israeli soldiers enforce curfews and other means to keep Palestinin people inactive.

While many might say, “Palestinians do not deserve any land or anything because of the numbers of suicide bombers that are killing Israeli civilians,” this also must be taken a little further. I must say, "what can you expect from people that have been robbed of their homeland, and in effect robbed of much of their culture and heritage, and not to mention their dignity.” Though it is true that the effects of these suicide bombers are great in magnitude and inhumane, it also seems as if the Israeli government actually goads these own. When Hamas leaders said they would work toward a ceasefire, the response from the Israeli military is the killing of fifteen Palestinians, including nine children between the ages of two months and thirteen years.

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