It is really a world of many double standards; Israel is fighting for the protection of it’s (as they say). They have in their prisons around 10,000 prisoners as they always announce. We Palestinians believe that also we have our right to fight for and to protect our people from the attacks of the Israeli army (I think you remember Huda and her family), and you know what, we only have one Israeli soldiers imprisoned in Gaza. This means that we are on an equation of 1:10,000, one Israeli for every 10,000.
I think you know what I mean, and it is still ok for us until this moment, but what is coming is dark and difficult. Hundreds of tanks, lots of F61 aircrafts, many bombs and huge giant bulldozers are approaching the borders of Gaza to force the Palestinians to free “Gilad”, they are not giving no one any chance to talk, they are only letting their army talk loudly that they could shut my son Mohammed up, but you know what Mohammed talks now. He hates them more and wishes that all Israelis shall die. Is it my fault to make him hate the Israelis? I think they don’t need no body to do this for them, they have one of the strongest armies in the world that could make Mohammed and all Palestinian children hate them. I don’t have good words about peace and how nice are the Israelis to tell Mohammed, Mohammed is not a great politician to understand the difference between the Israeli army and the Israeli civil people. Mohammed is a 5 years old child who was born in 2001 and I think my Dutch friends remember that the first day of his life I spent with them on the Israeli checkpoint between Gaza and Khanunis. He hates the Israelis because he could not go to the beach and play with his toys, as the Israeli battleships are shooting every moment all over Gaza beach. He hates them because he can’t watch his best cartoon as we don’t have electricity. He also hates them because we don’t have enough water for him to play with his little brother into his little plastic pool. So how could I ease things up for him, believe me I don’t know. It is really impossible to find the logic for him to put the Israeli people into the frame of nice people. What is the picture of the future relationship between Mohammed and his Israeli siblings, I think it is really dark with the amount of fear the Israeli army is implanting into him. Last thing will be the question that Mohammed started speaking back with and I want you all to think about it. “Why They Are Doing This To Us?” Mohammed Asked.
(Ramadan met zijn zoontjes)
Dear Ramadan, it is very important you share this point about your son with us. A majority of us have no clue of the hatred of Palestinian youth’s for the Israeli’s, whether army or civilians. To make it easy they blame the schoolbooks, but indeed this hatred is feeded by everyday experience. You can actually say that the Israeli’s are feeding and creating the hatred by purpose. Not many people here like to hear that. It’s easier for them to think that hatred is inherent to the Palestinian people or islam. Please continue in sending your observations.
Ramadan, one of our friends sent a letter to the newspapers quoting you and your son. We will see if they print it.
Ramadan,
Yes, that is the question “Why they are doing this to you, Palestians?” It’s terrible to hear, to see and to read about all the trouble your are in now. It gives us the feeling to be so powerless… and WE ARE, that’s the reality.
And than, knowing the trouble the Dutch politicans make about nothing…..
The only thing I can do is hoping en praying for the best as soon as possible!
Alexandra.
Er is nogal te doen over haat kweken bij de Palestijnse jeugd door de inhoud van de schoolboeken. Ik ben van mening dat de schoolboeken zowel in Palestina alsook in Israel onderworpen worden aan een onderzoek op dit punt. Er zou een gemengde schoolboek commissie ingesteld moeten worden zoals dat is gebeurd met een Duits-Franse en een Duits-Poolse commissie.
Immers aan beide zijden is er verbetering aan te brengen.
Is allang gebeurd Peter. Kom ik binnenkort op terug. Haat wordt niet gekweekt door schoolboekjes maar door legers die families tot gort schieten op het strand. Hoe wou je daar met het mooiste schoolboekje tegenop kunnen?
Thank you very much for this precious contribution to Anja’s weblog Ramadan. For me, as an experienced Gaza traveller, this is nothing new, I know how much your children have to suffer from the ongoing occupation and how, in this way, hatred is fed. The horrible sonic bombing, to which one never gets used, the use of overwhelming violence. The so seldom mentioned ‘collateral damage’, innocent people being hurt by an attack, just because of the fact that they had the bad luck to be on the wrong spot on the wrong time. The attacks on schools. The shooting of little children who play football too close to the wall. The ruining of your agricultural ground, just ‘for the sake of security’. The imprisonment of their fathers without a fair trial. The demolition of their houses. Etc.Etc.
How can a child be raised with respect for people who are doing this to you, for so many years, day after day.
I feel very much shamed for what is happening in Palestine without anyone of ’the quartet’ (USA, UN, European Union and Russia) reacting openly. Even our own minister of foreign affairs, who calls himself a Christian (as is our Prime Minister) has never been more silent before.
For me, having experienced Gaza for almost 8 years now, it is even more difficult to explain what is happening in your country, i.e. I get impatient. Everyone has eyes, ears, has a mind. Has television and Internet. And so is a witness. What is happening in this rotten world?
Keep on sending us these messages Ramadan!
Hope to see you soon again!
Thank you all veyr much for the comforting feeling you are giving to me. I feel great when talking to you about my problems, it givesme a feeling of releif.
Ramadan
Hier is een oproep te horen van een bewoner van een bezet land:
http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/gazaupdate29jun.mp3
Did anybody see the Netwerk-item about the wall yesterday? Apart from the question whether it was balanced to put together a Palestinian teen-age girl and a retired, male, intellectual colonist, what struck me was a remark of that intellectual: why should I be kind to neighbours who try to occupy my home? I was thinking by myself: who is occupying whose land?
Peter,
In “De Brug” van maart 2005 op blz. 14 staat een artikel over de Palestijnse en Israelische schoolboeken. Op blz. 16, 17 en 18 staat een artikel met als kop: De legerofficier als docent voor de klas (In Isarael)
In tegenstelling tot de vaak gehoorde bewering dat de Palestijnse schoolboeken haatdragend zouden zijn jegens Israel en de Joden blijkt uit divers (internationaal) onderzoek dat daar absoluut geen sprake van is.
Uit het weinige onderzoek dat is gedaan naar het Israelische schoolmateriaal blijkt dat we ons beter zorgen kunnen maken over de militarisering van het Israelische schoolsysteenm, aldus Roger Avenstrup. Telkens weer komen onderzoekers, onafhankelijk van elkaar, tot dezelfde conclusie: nergens zijn er in de Palestijnse schoolboeken sporen van ophitsing of haat te vinden Ook de Europeese Unie zou dat verklaard hebben.
Roger Aventrup is een internationale deskundige op het gebied van onderwijs, die in verschillende landen heeft gewerkt in conflict en post-conflict situaties. Hij schrijft ook: terwijl Israelische tanks en soldaten buiten op straat schieten, houden de leraren voor de klas een pleidooi voor vrede.