{"id":138508,"date":"2019-07-29T12:01:23","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T11:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=138508"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:41:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:41:43","slug":"the-ongoing-dread-in-gaza-so-many-names-so-many-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/07\/the-ongoing-dread-in-gaza-so-many-names-so-many-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ongoing Dread in Gaza: So Many Names, So Many Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI felt shaky and uneasy all day, preparing for this talk.\u201d<\/em>
\n— Jehad Abusalim, a Palestinian from the territory of Gaza<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

23 Jul 2019 – <\/em>Jehad Abusalim, a Palestinian now living in the United States, grew up in Gaza. In Chicago last week, addressing activists committed to\u00a0breaking the siege of Gaza, he held\u00a0up a stack of 31 papers. On each page were names of 1,254 Palestinians living in Gaza\u00a0who had been killed in\u00a0just one month of\u00a0Israel\u2019s \u201cOperation Protective Edge\u201d attacks five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt shaky and uneasy all day\u00a0preparing for this talk,\u201d<\/em> he\u00a0told the group. He described his dismay when, looking through the list of names, he\u00a0recognized one\u00a0of a young man from his small town.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always friendly to me,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Abusalim\u00a0said. \u201cI remember how he would greet me on the way to the mosque. His family and friends loved him, respected him.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Abusalim\u00a0recalled the intensity of losing loved ones and homes;\u00a0of seeing livelihoods and infrastructure destroyed by aerial attacks;\u00a0of being unable to protect the most vulnerable. He said it often takes ten years or more before Palestinian families traumatized by Israeli attacks can begin talking about what happened. Noting Israel\u2019s major aerial attacks<\/a>\u00a0in 2009, 2013, and 2014, along with more recent<\/a>\u00a0attacks killing participants in the \u201cGreat March of Return,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0spoke of ongoing dread about what might befall Gaza\u2019s children the next time an attack happens.<\/p>\n

Eighty\u00a0people gathered to hear\u00a0Abusalim\u00a0and Retired\u00a0Colonel Ann Wright, of\u00a0US Boats to Gaza<\/a>, as they helped launch the \u201cFree Gaza Chicago River Flotilla,\u201d three days of action culminating on July\u00a020\u00a0with a spirited demonstration by \u201ckayactivists\u201d and boaters, along with onshore protesters, calling for an end to the siege of Gaza. Wright resigned from\u00a0her\u00a0post as a\u00a0U.S.\u00a0diplomat when the United States\u00a0launched the 2003 Shock and Awe bombing of Iraq. Having participated in four previous international\u00a0flotillas<\/a>\u00a0aiming to\u00a0defy\u00a0Israel\u2019s naval blockade of Gaza\u2019s shoreline,\u00a0Wright\u00a0is devoting her energies\u00a0preparing\u00a0for\u00a0a\u00a0fifth<\/a>\u00a0in 2020.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another organizer and member of US Boat to Gaza,\u00a0Elizabeth Murray, who\u00a0like\u00a0Wright\u00a0formerly worked for the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0government, recalled being in a\u00a0seminar<\/a>\u00a0sponsored by a prestigious think tank in Washington, D.C., when a panel member compared Israeli attacks against Palestinians with routine efforts to \u201cmow the lawn.\u201d\u00a0She recounted hearing\u00a0a light tittering as the D.C. audience members expressed amusement. But, Murray said,\u00a0\u201cNot a single person objected to the panelist\u2019s remark.\u201d This was in 2010, following Israel\u2019s 2009 Operation Cast Lead, which\u00a0killed<\/a>\u00a01,383 Palestinians, 333 of whom\u00a0were children.<\/p>\n

Abusalim\u2019s colleague at the American Friends Service Committee<\/a>, Jennifer Bing, had cautioned Chicago flotilla planners to carefully consider the tone of their actions. A colorful and lively event during a busy weekend morning along Chicago\u2019s popular riverfront could be exciting and, yes, fun.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But Palestinians in Gaza cope with constant tension, she noted. Denied freedom of movement, they live in the world\u2019s largest open-air prison, under conditions the United Nations has\u00a0predicted<\/a>\u00a0will render their land uninhabitable by 2020. Households get four to six hours of electricity per day. According to UNICEF, \u201csewage treatment plants<\/a>\u00a0can\u2019t operate fully and the equivalent of forty-three Olympic-sized swimming pools of raw or partly treated sewage is pumped into the sea\u00a0every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing cruel human rights violations on a daily basis, the organizers urge solidarity in the form of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions. U.S. residents bear particular responsibility for Israel\u2019s military attacks against civilians, they note, as the United States has supplied Israel with\u00a0billions<\/a>\u00a0of dollars for military buildup.<\/p>\n

U.S. companies profit hugely from selling weapons to Israel. For example, Boeing, with headquarters in Chicago,\u00a0sells<\/a>\u00a0Israel Apache helicopters, Hellfire and Harpoon missiles, JDAM guiding systems and Small Diameter Bombs that deliver Dense Inert Metal Explosive munitions. All of these weapons have been used repeatedly in Israeli attacks on densely populated civilian areas.<\/p>\n

During the 2009 Operation Cast Lead, I was in Rafah, Gaza, listening to children explaining the difference between explosions caused by F-16 fighter jets dropping 500-pound bombs and Apache helicopters firing Hellfire missiles.<\/p>\n

Israel continues using those weapons, and Israeli purchases fatten Boeing\u2019s financial portfolios.<\/p>\n

On July 19,\u00a0young Palestinians\u00a0outside of the Israeli consulate\u00a0read aloud the\u00a0names<\/a>\u00a0of people who had, five years ago, been killed in Gaza.\u00a0We listened solemnly and then proceeded to Boeing\u2019s Chicago headquarters, again listening\u00a0as young people read more names, punctuated by a solemn gong after each victim was remembered. Ultimately,\u00a02,104\u00a0Palestinians,\u00a0more than two-thirds of whom were civilians, including 495 children,\u00a0were killed<\/a>\u00a0during the seven-week attack on the Gaza Strip\u00a0in 2014.<\/p>\n

During the Free Gaza Chicago River flotilla on\u00a0July 20, Husam Marajda, from the Arab American Action Network, sat in a small boat next to his\u00a0grandfather, who was visiting from Palestine. His chant, \u201cFrom Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go!\u201d echoed from the water to the shore. Banners were dropped from bridges above, the largest\u00a0reading,\u00a0\u201cIsrael, Stop Killing Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kayakers wore red T-shirts announcing the \u201cGaza Unlocked\u201d campaign and managed to display flags, connected by string, spelling out \u201cFree Gaza.\u201d Passengers on other boats flashed encouraging peace signs and thumbs up signals. Those processing along the shore line, carrying banners and signs, walked the entirety of our planned route before a sergeant from the Chicago Police Department arrived to say we needed a permit.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t permit ourselves to remain silent. Following the energetic flotilla activity, I sat with several friends in a quiet spot. \u201cSo many names,\u201d said one friend, thinking of the list\u00a0Abusalim\u00a0had held up. \u201cSo many lives,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Kathy Kelly is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>,<\/em> an American peace activist, pacifist and author, one of the founding members of <\/em>Voices in the Wilderness, and currently a co-coordinator <\/em>Voices for Creative Nonviolence<\/a>. <\/em>Three times since 2000, she has been nominated for the <\/em>Nobel Peace Prize. As part of peace teamwork in several countries, she has traveled to Iraq twenty-six times, notably remaining in combat zones during the early days of both US-Iraq wars. Her recent travel has focused on Afghanistan and Gaza, along with domestic protests against U.S. drone policy. She has been arrested more than sixty times at home and abroad, and written of her experiences among targets of U.S. military bombardment and inmates of U.S. prisons. She lives in Chicago.<\/em> Kathy@vcnv.org<\/em><\/a> – info@vcnv.org<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A version of this article first appeared in <\/em>The Progressive<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Join the<\/em><\/strong> BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em><\/strong>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

23 Jul 2019 – Jehad Abusalim, a Palestinian now living in the United States, grew up in Gaza. In Chicago last week, addressing activists committed to breaking the siege of Gaza, he held up a stack of 31 papers. On each page were names of 1,254 Palestinians living in Gaza who had been killed in just one month of Israel\u2019s \u201cOperation Protective Edge\u201d attacks five years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":123231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[772,120,1030,87,267,1029,260,487,866,504,88,263,234,767,291,771,444,86,1027,427,85,109,287,103,107,985,572,292,126,1026,118,172,1025,75,886],"class_list":["post-138508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-apartheid","tag-conflict","tag-fatah","tag-gaza","tag-geopolitics","tag-hamas","tag-history","tag-human-rights","tag-indigenous-rights","tag-international-relations","tag-israel","tag-matw","tag-media","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-nakba","tag-nonviolence","tag-occupation","tag-oslo-accords","tag-palestine","tag-palestine-israel","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-racism","tag-religion","tag-social-justice","tag-torture","tag-un","tag-violence","tag-wall","tag-war","tag-west","tag-west-bank","tag-world","tag-zionism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275129,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138508\/revisions\/275129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}