“All of us, Jews and Arabs, are children of Abraham and want to live in peace on this land, but have been failing to do so for 75 years. 

Why did we need to reach October 7th for the world to understand the tragedy of the Palestinian people in Gaza? The people there are besieged and in a large prison, and only now the Palestinian narrative is clear to people. 

If Hamas is the problem, why is the Israeli government occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem, building settlements, expropriating land, and demolishing houses there? Israelis say that Hamas is using people as ‘human shields’ but don’t see the images of thousands of people, women and children, that are dying in Gaza. Was the arson attack on the Dawabsheh family because of human shields? Was Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed, a human shield? And was the burning of houses and destroying property of residents in Huwara also because of human shields? 

And still, despite all of this, I still have hope. 

We Palestinians exist, and we will not give up on our dream of living in peace and quiet. As long as the occupation doesn’t end and there is no independent Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem, there won’t be peace or quiet in this region. Even if Israel normalizes its relations with every Arab country, if it continues to ignore the rights of the Palestinian people, there will not be peace. When the current extremist government in Israel opts for militarism instead of diplomacy, it only pushes off the next big war instead of preventing it. 

I lost my brother as a result of this bloody conflict, and I still believe that one day the occupation will end and we will live together side by side, in peace.” 

-Adel, Bereaved Palestinian brother

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