Edited excerpt for Today’s Insight News by Carolyn Bennett
Gaza is a place deprived … No hope, no life, no work, no employment … nothing is there. One NO is there ─ No giving up their rights to live equally in this world as others!
I am coming from Gaza with what happened this winter…this war, this craziness that resulted in more than 1,500 innocent civilians killed. More than 20,000 demolished houses, tens of thousands homeless. Rubble left is more than half a million tons. These are consequences of this craziness.
The 16th of January 2009, I experienced a terrible tragedy I don’t want anyone to experience … I lost three precious daughters and one niece. I don’t want anyone to see what I have seen: bodies disconnected from heads, drowning in blood, body parts on the ceiling. For what ─ for nothing they did ─ being full of love, hope and dreams… In memory of my three daughters, a foundation [has been] established for only girls and women, for health and education.
The 16th of January 2009, I experienced a terrible tragedy I don’t want anyone to experience … I lost three precious daughters and one niece. I don’t want anyone to see what I have seen: bodies disconnected from heads, drowning in blood, body parts on the ceiling. For what ─ for nothing they did ─ being full of love, hope and dreams… In memory of my three daughters, a foundation [has been] established for only girls and women, for health and education.
It is time for women to lead and to take the upper hand!
One NO is there [in Gaza] –
No giving up their rights to live equally in this world as others!
I assure you that this tragedy has strengthened [me] and I am more determined to continue my efforts for the sake of humanity. I also want you to know that willing is not enough. We must act. We know that all it takes for evil to survive is for good people like you to do nothing. It is time to do, and to act.
Life is like riding a bicycle ─
In order to keep your balance you must keep moving.
We have to look forward.
Darkness can’t drive out darkness, only love and respect can drive out darkness.
We need to prevent tragedies, not to treat tragedies.
To have a better world free of violence, diseases and injustice
is to have big and open hearts, minds and eyes.
All of us are human beings and all of us are equal.
We have to understand and respect each other.
No giving up rights to live equally in this world!
Sources and notes
The war on Gaza that occurred in the winter of 2008–09 (December 27, 2008 - January18, 2009) Israel Defense Forces called “Operation Cast Lead.” Others called it the “Gaza Massacre”
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish received the 2009 Niarchos Prize for Survivorship for his courageous voice during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is a Palestinian obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN) who treats both Israelis and Palestinians. During the war in Gaza, his media appearances provided the Israeli public with a rare glimpse of the human cost suffered by residents of Gaza during the attacks. The edited excerpt is from Dr. Abuelaish speech on accepting the prize. http://www.survivorcorps.org/netcommunity/niarchos/abuelaish
Tragedy and reconciliation, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, February 6, 2010, “Israel’s Operation Cast Lead left as many as 900 Palestinian civilians dead in 2009. Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish’s house in Gaza was shelled twice by an Israeli tank. Three of his daughters were killed. Yet his message is resolute: non-violence is the only path and peaceful reconciliation the only goal,” http://www.rnw.nl/english/radioshow/enlisting-god
Dr. Abuelaish’s foundation for girls and women in Gaza and the Middle East in memory of his daughters: Daughters for Life, http://www.daughtersforlife.com/
Author Spotlight: Izzeldin Abuelaish, MD, MPH, is a medical doctor and infertility expert who was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. He received a scholarship to study medicine in Cairo, Egypt, and then received a diploma from the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of London. He completed a residency in the same discipline at Soroka University hospital in Israel, followed by a subspecialty in fetal medicine in Italy and Belgium. He then undertook an MA in public health (health policy and management) at Harvard University. Before his three daughters were killed in January 2009 during the Israeli incursion into Gaza, Dr. Abuelaish worked as a researcher at the Gertner Institute at the Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv. He now lives with his family in Toronto, where he is an associate professor at the Dala Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. http://www.randomhouse.ca/author/results.pperl?authorid=113726&view=full_sptlght
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