1948... Never To Be Forgotten

“Massacre of innocent people is a serious matter. It is not a thing to be easily forgotten. It is our duty to cherish their memory”

Mahatma Gandhi (2 July 1947)

Today, 15^th of May marks the anniversary of Nakbah. Sixty five years have passed since the invasion of Palestine by Zionists. The horrific assault on Palestine displaced the Palestinian population, left them no land but the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, while Zionist annexed their land. 

In 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly UNGA approved a resolution to divide the British mandated Palestine to 56% Jewish state, and 44% Arab state. In 1948, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians began, and the notorious state of Israel was formed. From 1948 to 1967 Israel annexed larger parts of Palestine to become part of their state. Through this illegal process Israel occupied 78% of Palestine which caused many Palestinians to leave their land and become refugees. During the 1967 war Israel occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank. To this date the situation has not changed, meaning that the entire land of Palestine is currently occupied by Israel.

The annexation of Palestine is a systematic genocide aimed to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and replacing their land with a Zionist state. From the beginning of the invasion, countless crimes have been committed against the Palestinian population. With the U.S. support and funding, up until today, Israel is not only acquiring weapons to kill Palestinians but are also enjoying immunity against condemnation for their rigorous actions. Defence Minister Moshe Dayan who was in charge of the occupied territories after 1967 stated: “you Palestinians, as a nation, don’t want us today, but we’ll change your attitude by forcing our presence on you. You will live like dogs, and whoever will leave, will leave,”

Between 1948 and 1967 Gaza became a refugee camp. A million and a half Palestinian currently live in this city while Israel occupies the rest of Palestine. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world. In 1994 Gaza was circled with an electric fence which turned it into a prison. Palestinians are deprived of their basic human rights with Israel preventing human aid from crossing into Gaza, and since Israel also holds water and electricity infrastructure, Palestinians are left there to live in inhuman conditions.

From 2000 and later, Israel’s violence against Palestinians escalated dramatically. In June 2006, Israel launched the operation “Summer Rains”. Since there is no rain in Palestine during summer, these rains were meant to be F-16 bombs aiming to kill Palestinians and level their land. It has been stated that this operation was the most brutal attack since 1967. Just a few months later another operation “Autumn Clouds” was conducted in November 2006. 200 civilians were killed half of them were women and children.

In September 2006, an average of 8 Palestinians died daily. 660 civilians were reported dead during 2006 alone, 141 of whom were children. Since 2006, 4000 Palestinians have been killed. As horrific as these statistics may sound, it is shocking how the world is silent about these crimes. 

27 December 2008 marks an unforgettable date in the history of the invasion. On this day Israel launched operation “Cast Lead” committing air and ground assaults and dropping 1000 tons of explosives on the defenceless population of Gaza. During the Gaza massacre Israel used white phosphorus shells against Palestinians civilians. White phosphorus is a deadly substance that burns the human skin to the bones. Unsurprisingly, it was supplied by the U.S. without any doubt this is an act of terrorism and Israel deserves to be punished for violating international laws. But who is listening?

The assault on Gaza aimed at  “the destruction of all means of life” as officials warned, and indeed that was precisely what happened. In the first few minutes of the invasion 300 Palestinians were killed. Gaza was severely damaged due to the attack; 100,000 Palestinians were left homeless after the invasion. In addition, Agricultural land was destroyed, creating a major food crisis. An informal Israeli strategic analyst stated “the IDF, which planned to attack buildings and sites, populated by hundreds of people, did not want them in advance to leave, but intended to kill a great many of them, and succeeded.” 

The IDF issued a number of statements claiming that the army did its best to avoid killing civilians, that it only targeted Hamas military bases. IDF alleged that it “clearly discriminated between military and civilian targets”. Other statements claimed that the IDF even provided injured civilians with medical aid. All these statements are refutable, as none of them are true. A company commander told his soldiers before the attack “we’re going to war”. “I want aggressiveness. If there’s someone suspicious on the upper floor of a house, we’ll shell it. If we have suspicions about a house we’ll take it down… there will be no hesitation.” “When we suspect that a Palestinian fighter is hiding in a house, we shoot it with a missile and then with two tank shells, and then a bulldozer hits the wall, it causes damage but it prevents the loss of life among soldiers” a senior IDF officer told Haaretz.

Testimonies of the IDF soldiers also refuted these lies. “We didn’t see a single house that remained intact…. Noting much was left in our designated area. It looked awful, like in those World War II films where nothing remained. A totally destroyed city”, “there was a point where D-9s were razing the area, it was amazing. At first you go in and see lots of houses. A week later, after the razing, you see the horizon further away, almost to the sea”; “the amount of destruction there was incredible.  You drive around those neighborhoods, and can’t identify a thing. Not one stone left standing over another. You see plenty of fields, hothouses, orchards, everything devastated. Totally ruined. It’s terrible. It’s surreal.”

The massacre ended up not only with civilian casualties, but with horrendous devastation as well. Israel destroyed 58,000 homes, 280 schools and kindergartens, 1,500 factories and workshops, 80% of agricultural crops. The estimated cost of the damage was $660-900 million.

After the Gaza invasion many humanitarian organizations including the UN condemned Israel. However, with the U.S. support, it is nearly impossible to reach a condemnation on this matter. Though quite a number of reports have been issued what we can see after 3 years since the invasion is that nothing has changed. But do not worry; there is still justice in this world. One soldier has been sentenced to prison for stealing a Palestinian’s credit card.

It seems that every assault by Israel has a pretext to justify it. Israel forged a siege on Gaza Strip. Reason? Because Palestinians, during their first free elections, voted “the wrong way”. Palestinians chose Hamas as their government but they made a mistake by choosing someone whom the U.S. and Israel are not in favor of. Israel increased the attack on Gaza because Hamas captured a soldier of them. The irony is that Israel has a long history of kidnapping not just soldiers but also civilians and putting them into jail for years without a trial. Israel captured 8000 Palestinians political prisoners, 60 of whom are women and 390 children.

Another pretext is self-defence, because the primitive rockets launched by Hamas are threatening the safety of Israel. Also because Palestinians are terrorists who wish to put an end to Israel, therefore Israel must attack them before the Palestinians launch any attack.

More than sixty years living in oppression, the Palestinians are given the choice of either leaving or getting killed. Israel does not intend to end its assault on Palestine until Palestine is wiped out completely, while Palestinians refuse to leave their land and submit to the demands of Israel because even if Israel exists as a fact, it does not exist as a right.

Adventurer’s Journey

A human being is born with an instinctive passion for exploring and discovering. From the moment he steps out in this world an adventurer’s journey begins, a journey full learning and challenges.

During childhood a human being is in his maximum limits of wonderment. Learning becomes a necessity to him because it amuses him. How does the sun rise from the east? How do birds fly high in the sky? Why don’t snakes have legs? Each time he asks a question, he receives an answer, and he gains more knowledge.

As a human being proceeds in his life and gets older, a new concept is introduced to him: schooling. He starts going to school where he must be put in a classroom with kids around his age. He starts receiving text books about different subjects: math, science, literature, history and so on. He gets introduced to the person who will explain these textbooks for him, the teacher.

Now a person must give up on his adventurer’s journey and start a new one, a student’s journey. A student must sit in a classroom with his classmates; listen to a teacher standing in front of the class, explaining a textbook. A student must memorize information, because he is going to be tested in this information. A student must learn information from a textbook and then copy these information on an exam paper. A student must be obedient, follow the rules, bring his textbook to class every day, listen to what the teacher is saying, do homework, perform well in exams otherwise he will lose grades. Ah, grades, a student’s fuel in life. It is what motivates him to work harder; it is what inspires him to put a huge effort in school. It is what defines him in the eyes of his teachers, peers, and himself. If a student gets an A+ then he is an ideal student, a person who deserves to be clapped for. If a student gets a D or an F then he is a useless, lazy human being who is not capable of learning and producing.

You see in this schooling system a student’s passion for exploring evaporates year after year. He is now obliged to conform to this system. This system that turns everyone into machines, with no distinctions between them but grades. This system that wants students to abide by meaningless orders and rules, read books they do not want to read, learn things they have no interest in, instead of exploring in their own fields of interest and according to their own way of thinking.

Year after year a student’s adventurer’s journey is forgotten and diminished. In the end we are confronted with machines that are not capable of thinking analytically nor solve problems, but sit behind a desk and work.

An educational system should mentor students on how to continue in their adventurer’s journey. Open the doors for them to go beyond what they have dreamed of. To explore, discover, learn, solve, and produce new materials to the world every day. Help them realize how valuable knowledge is, and how valuable they are in building a better world.

Better education = better societies, better societies = better world.

Inside Afghanistan

Afghanistan has always been a target for invasion due to its strategic position relative to Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. After more than 30 years of war, Afghanistan still suffers from fissures and instability. 

The most drastic event which turned the situation in Afghanistan upside down occurred in 1978. During that year the Saur revolution sought to overthrow the current government and implement an atheist regime. The revolution succeeded and a Marxist-Leninist government, supported by the Soviet Union, was installed. in reaction to this the Mujahedeen started to form an opposition force mainly from Pashtun tribes. Their aim was to overthrow the atheist government. In order to stop the Mujahedeen the atheist government requested help from the Soviet Union.

 In 1979, the Soviet Union army started crossing the borders of Afghanistan, fighting the Mujahedeen. Afghanistan then fell into war for 9 years between the Soviet Union and the Mujahedeen. Mullah Mohammed Omar a distinguished man who fought the Soviets with the Mujahedeen became a popular figure that was to play a key role in shaping the future of Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union had all kinds of weapons to fight the Afghans and win the war. But the Afghans kept on fighting. The US took advantage of the war and supported Mujahedeen to defeat the Soviet Union (their primary rivals), a tactic which they though would weaken their army and lead them to an economic crisis.  

The Unites States had to perform its plan quietly, using Saudi Arabia for money and Pakistan to pass the aids through its borders with Afghanistan. The plan proved to be successful; in 1989 the soviets finally retreated from Afghanistan. 

 After the withdrawal of the soviets, what seemed to be the end of the war was in fact a beginning of another much longer war. Due to the fact that there was no government to rule the country, in addition to the Mujahedeen who were divided after the war each group wanting to rule the country. In 1996 the Taliban movement was formed under the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar. Taliban fought to conquer the country and gain the rule. They managed to join many Afghan cities even the capital city Kabul under their rule. That is when Taliban declared itself the official government of Afghanistan. Taliban were initially recruited from madrasas (religious schools) were they have been trained and that is where the name comes from as these students were called Talibs or Taliban. Eventually they have been called and known of Taliban.

Taliban lasted from 1996-2001. During that period the most strict sharia law ever known was implemented in the country. Women were not allowed to go out without a chaperon and without fully covering their bodies and wearing burqas (a face veil). Girls’ education was banned, so was music, movies, TVs. Having a beard and praying in a mosque was compulsory for men. Whoever violated their laws was sentenced to receive the appropriate punishment. Only two countries recognized the Taliban regime: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. 

The Taliban  gained recognition from a well-known wealthy Saudi figure, Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden, who previously aided the Mujahedeen during their war against the Soviets, joined Taliban and became very close to their leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Soon Bin Laden started his own organization and named it “Al-Qaeda” with a vision of uniting the Islamic world under one sovereign. 

On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda was accused of launching the attack, even though there was no clear evidence of who was behind the attack. Bush declared a war on terror (which ultimately ended up being a war on Afghanistan) to fight Al-Qaeda and capture Bin Laden.

On the same year, The United States backed by Britain launched air strikes on Afghanistan in retaliation to the 9/11 attacks which Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda was held responsible for. A new war was waged on Afghanistan which has not ended till today. During the years of the war with the United States, many innocent civilians have been either killed or displaced. It was also reported that opium trade increased. 

Hamid Karzai was installed, by the United States, as the president of Afghanistan. Many NATO countries joined the United States and UK in their attacks including France, Germany and Italy. in 2001, Taliban government collapsed and many of them fled to near country Pakistan. However, since 2006 Taliban has been back to the scene with an increased level of insurgency. During the Obama administration 30,000 troops were sent to Afghanistan. It has been decided that by the end of 2014 the US troops will withdraw and control will be shifted to Afghan Security Forces.

Up until today Afghanistan is still suffering from the wars that had been fought on its land. More than two million people have died through over thirty years of war, and over one million people have been displaced. Up until today the current government of Hamid Karzai is failing to restore order in the country and in dismantling Taliban. The devastation that the Unites States invasion has caused in its war in Afghanistan is one of the most brutal crimes committed to a nation. 

To the brave people of Afghanistan, the brave generations that has only known war as a meaning of life.