Homes destroyed, lives lost: Listen to report of conflict from the view of a Palestinian
When the war against Ukraine started in February 2022, in a matter of days the G-7 — the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada — vowed to establish severe sanctions on Russia.
"The world will hold Russia accountable," said President Joe Biden in his White House speech. The U.S. was one of the first countries to support Ukraine and call for its human rights.
We heard stories from the Ukrainian voices, saw the heartbreaking pictures of bombed buildings and families fleeing, leaving behind loved ones.
There is no doubt that war is always inhumane and unjustifiable and it's always people who pay the price.
But when it comes to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, there are contradicting narratives and different opinions, depending on which side of the world you are in.
Palestinians have been in restless, crucial clashes since the Catastrophe (Nakba) in 1948. But unlike Ukraine, the world’s greatest countries act blind and deaf and refuse to recognize the massacres against the Palestinians.
In the past couple of weeks, Israeli forces launched a wave of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Around 300 Palestinians were wounded, including 17 children between the ages of 5 and 14, and the death toll is still on.
For the first time, Israeli officials admitted their responsibility for killing five Gaza children, as Haaretz news reported.
What about the houses they demolished, the crops and villages they burned and the ethnic cleansing of thousands of Palestinians? Who should take responsibility for the 2 million Palestinian refugees who are denied from returning to their homes?
No one holds Israel accountable.
Since last year, Israeli police have evicted several families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem to give them to Israeli settlers.
Later in May, Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot by Israeli forces while she was covering a military raid in the occupied West Bank area.
Even during her funeral where hundreds of Christians and Muslims mourned her death, Israeli police attacked and beat the mourners, while carrying her casket to the church.
Unfortunately, the U.S. failed to demand justice for Abu Akleh. The U.S. Department of State reported that the shooting was from the Israeli forces; however, it wasn’t intentional.
If we allow Israel to commit crimes with impunity, while we condemn Russia for attacking Ukraine, then we seriously need to rethink our human values.
The current right-wing Israeli government has no intention of living with Muslims or Christians, Israel Prime minister Yair Lapid said in an interview,
“You know my father didn’t come here from the ghetto in order to live in a country that is half Arab, half Jewish. He came here to live in a Jewish state,” he said to Time magazine.
If the prime minister of Russia or China said a similar thing, wouldn’t it be considered hate speech?
As Israel receives billions of dollars every year for military assistance from U.S. foreign aid, U.S. officials must take serious actions and investigate how this money is spent.
If you felt bad for the people of Ukraine and were touched by their stories, then listen to the Palestinians' narratives. They also, hold painful memories of war.
A 2016 Daily Record story shared an interview with Nahida Halaby Gordon, a Palestinian American who was living in Wooster.
She came to the U.S. with her family when she was 12 years old after her neighborhood was bombed.
Gordon contributed writing to the book "Palestine Is Our Home: Voices of Loss, Courage and Steadfastness." She also established a publishing house dedicated to Palestinian stories.
Like Gordon, there are Palestinian American voices telling their stories. Some through sharing their memories, culture or art.
Give yourself a chance to hear the facts without being influenced by false Israeli claims.
Shams Mustafa is a freelance journalist for the Wooster Daily Record. She came to the U.S. from Egypt and lives with her husband and children in Orrville.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: US government should listen to Palestinians' side of story
