Israel-Gaza War: Kamala Harris Urges More Aid For Starving Gazans
Survival in Rafah, Palestine.
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04.03.2024
The woman who disturbs me the most is the woman in the corner - I will probably end up having to talk to her. There is something about her face - something unusual, stretched in the wrong direction, like bedsheets that have been tucked in too tightly. Not that anybody here has known bedsheets for weeks, but that’s besides the matter.
I myself have been here for several days, and it appears I am going to stay for some time; as long as the fighting remains in the north of the city, I am happy to take my chance here. Who knows, I may catch some awful disease. But in all honesty, I have always been quite resistant towards things - very rarely sick, as a child - although I am now older and, if I am being completely honest - my legs are tired. There is nowhere else worth walking to, and besides, I appear to have gained a sufficiently spacious area of concrete - that is, I can lie down on my side in my sleeping bag. Until at least tomorrow, if possible, I will remain here - which is precisely why I am sure I will end up speaking with this woman.
What concerns me most is her movement. From a distance, she looks still, violently still - head cradled against the wall, knees folded in front of her hips. Closer, though, and you notice vicious trembling, and some kind of fabric held in her lap - the objects she is cradling over.
People like her make me wonder about hunger. I myself am starving. Some days, I feel my stomach shrink - it pulls at my ribcage. I am afraid of her because I am always hungry, and she is a woman with no appetite.
I am beginning some strange obsession. I am sure I will speak with her soon.
07.03.2024
… and that is why I find myself trapped, as always, between a world that thinks me an animal and an animal that thinks it can conquer the world.
Also, I returned from queuing for beans again today, and the woman I spoke about had disappeared.
I wanted to use this final opportunity to continue my thoughts on the matter of war…
12.03.2024
I thought of her again today. I am not especially sure why.
19.03.2024
I was in the queue for beans today and immediately recognised the woman in front of me. If it was anything like most early mornings, we could expect to wait here for several hours, which meant I had suddenly the perfect opportunity to examine this person who so captured my attention. Was such stillness not reserved for characters of fantasy? Elves of middle realms, and monks of ancient origin? I discovered, during the course of that wait, that it was not.
The first thing to note was her posture. There was nothing particular about it, but the hordes of children and people seemed to be avoiding her, like water on either side of a rock. There was a point at which we were all pressed together, and that was when I learned most of what I needed to know.
As we fell towards the fence, the woman I have been quietly observing thrust her hand through the metal grate, into the enclosure where they keep the remaining goats. She hit her shoulder forcefully against the iron railing; for a moment, I thought she had dislocated it. But what I really noticed were the handkerchiefs in her clenched fist, and the approaching donkey.
"حمار!" I shouted to her, pushing myself up from the fence. "حمار!"
The woman did not turn over her shoulder to look at me, but looked helplessly towards her twisted arm, which still held tightly onto the pair of handkerchiefs, and the donkey, whose nose was now brushing the edges of the fabric, its knees bent and leaning away from the people gathered at the fence.
It was at this moment I reached through the grate myself and snatched the handkerchiefs from the woman. She let out a dismal cry, but I am not sure if it was due to my action, or due to the sudden relief of pain from unlocking her arm. I carefully withdrew the pieces of fabric, but not before glancing at them in my hands. Each was marked with makeshift embroidery.
Naeim + Wissam Abu Anza
12.10.2023
I immediately passed them back to the woman, and she took them from me without looking at me, at first. She stood up, slowly, and rolled her arm repeatedly, forcefully, until a loud pop was heard and even the gentleman behind me in the line craned his neck to look. But the woman had gone back to her original posture.
She said nothing more to me until it was clear we were to be served, and she took for herself her helping. As she turned towards me, she looked into my eyes -the same stretched skin, which startled me momentarily. In this light, she looked remarkably human. For a moment, I was almost scared of what she was going to say.
She stared into my eyes, with a large bowl of steaming beans, thanked me, and then asked:
“Are you hungry?”
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Read the original article (BBC News):
Israel-Gaza war: Kamala Harris urges more aid for starving Gazans - BBC News
Also inspired by Orla Guerin’s fantastic work for the ten o’clock news this evening.
Articles & Sources:
Israel-Gaza war: Kamala Harris urges more aid for starving Gazans - BBC News
Israeli strike in Rafah kills baby twins woman spent 10 years trying to conceive - NZ Herald
Israel-Gaza war: US carries out its first aid airdrop in strip - BBC News
Born and died during Gaza war, infant twins are buried in Rafah | Al Arabiya
disclaimer:
The views expressed in this publication do not reflect the views of the author. The stories themselves are based on imagined events. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is fictitious and should not be taken as representative.
Dark times indeed.
If you read the MARK CURTIS book called WEB OF DECEIT you shall see the EVIL in UK/USA politics and they always aided by MSM! UK/USA created the conflict where Gazans are suffering etc. Just like the UKRAINE was an orchestrated conflict but that is old news now !-----How many died between 2014 and 2021!?!?--
----------Giulietto Chiesa, an Italian journalist since 2014 too, was talking about West intervention and the coup probably organised by the US. He also added that Ukraine is where War World Three could start (or started).
Bill Blum----So why are you and others like you in mainstream media creating the same mentality that started the First World War (and the Cold War)?…….That is, demonizing Putin and Russia instead of showing the history and motivation of Western invasion and interference in Ukraine. Then ask why NATO even exists in a post Cold War world.------------------Late Bill Blum wrote a book called the ROGUE STATE. He had worked for USA government but left and became a writer etc!?!?