Confessions of a human bomb from Palestine by Hujayra al 'Arabi
Dear Readers of the Free Arab Voice, We are proud to present to you a penetrating piece that goes into the personal and political makings of a human bomb. Hujayra al ‘Arabi portrays the role of a human bomb in the offing to deliver a simple, yet very eloquent, message.
She makes no apologies for the state of mind our people have been driven into. Rather, she seeks to drive the point home by avoiding the third person.
It’s is I, the human bomb herself, who speaks to you now… Thus began Hujayra.. The Free Arab Voice
========================================================
To all our Martyrs, past, present and future:
Your Light cannot be extinguished
Confessions of a human bomb from Palestine
by Hujayra al 'Arabi
Dedicated to my brothers and sisters in Resistance in Iraq and in the Arab Nation
I do not want to die. I am not in love with death. I am not even 'half in love with easeful death' like the English poet. I want to live. I want to have a home filled with children, and I still want to be a doctor. From the age of about six, I dreamed of becoming a doctor, of being able to save lives. I wanted to do something real that would save the lives of my people.
And yet, I see now that there are many ways of saving lives and that taking lives can be a part of the process of saving lives. That is where I am now, preparing to take lives in order to save my people.
The enemy tries to say that human bombs are cowards, that we want to die, that we do this in order to go to a paradise where virgins will fulfill our every wish. Well, for a start, I can prove them wrong on the virgin issue. I am a woman, and I have no interest whatsoever in being pleasured by other virgins, thank you very much. The fact of the matter is that this is nothing more than stupid propaganda, like so many of the enemy's lies. The young men who become martyrs for our cause are not doing so in order to win virgins in the hereafter. Nor do we do this out of hatred for the enemy, although the hatred is a thousand times deserved. We do it for love of the homeland and for love of our people.
The Prophet Isa, Peace be upon him, said that there is no greater love than the love of a shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for his sheep. I agree that this is a very great act of love, and this is the act of love committed by every human bomb. We give our lives for our people, for our future, to try to turn a tide of destruction that threatens to sweep away not only our identity and heritage, but our very future. Sometimes engineers will use a bomb to attempt to change the course of a waterway. That is what the human bomb is doing, using a bomb to try to change the course of a terrible flood that day by day continues to sweep away our homes, our families and our hopes for any future. If we can make any impression at all upon this flood, if little by little, we can slow down its progress, force it into a different path and ultimately stop its flow completely, then we will have succeeded in a very great act of love.
One human bomb may be no more than a voice crying in the wilderness, but many human bombs can change the course of history, strip it of a hundred years of lies and deceit and bring the vision of a future back to Palestine.
Those who listen to the enemy propaganda should ask themselves one question: what does it take to make an ordinary boy or girl into a human bomb? In a different life, in ordinary circumstances, all of us could have been quite ordinary boys and girls. Do not mistake the human bomb for anything other than an ordinary human being forced by circumstance to act in an extraordinary fashion.
It is not easy to become a human bomb. When there is a choice between the high road and the low road, most will opt for the easier of the two. It is often easier for human nature to make excuses for betrayal and collaboration with the enemy than to face reality and know that integrity often requires the ultimate sacrifice.
It is a sad fact that the Zionists continue to be successful in hunting down the leaders of our resistance only because they are betrayed by our own people, by people whose vision is limited to the immediate situation or threat that confronts them. Even though some collaborators may be no more than people who fear for the safety of their families, or who are desperate for food and a safe shelter, collaboration is the ugliest and most despicable crime against our people. To aid the enemy, whether out of fear or greed is to BECOME the enemy. Furthermore, collaborators and those who do nothing whatsoever, trying to maintain a low profile in order to remain 'safe', must realise that there is no safe shelter as long as the enemy triumphs in our land. I will say it again: the crime of trading the life of your brother or sister for your own illusive safety is one of the worst, whatever its motivation. The man or woman who betrays a freedom fighter for gold or to save his or her skin deserves the punishment of death, for he or she has more power to harm our cause than our avowed enemy.
Cowards and collaborators must learn that it is far better to take the high road and meet death on our own terms than to cower in the shadows until the enemy drags us out to to the slaughter. The result, in physical terms, is the same, but how different the result in its effects upon others and upon the future!
My fiance used to quote an old Roman saying: 'Media tutissimus ibis', which means that the middle way is best.
He believed it as well and lived according to that belief. He saw good in all people and wanted to believe that, at the end of the day, NO MATTER WHAT, good would have to triumph against evil. He was willing to wait patiently for that day. In that sense, he embodied the old myth of 'oriental fatalism' which the Westerners loved to pretend gave them carte blanche to tear down cultures and civilisations throughout the world and superimpose their visions of glory upon the fabric of the universe.
Well, my dear Muhammad, you waited patiently as Zionist metal entered your eye and lung and leg. You waited patiently for the time when you would be allowed through the chequepoint to hospital... a time that did not come, while the wounds festered and finally rotted your flesh with gangrene. Your death was anything but clean. It was a death that is sadly typical of those who allow themselves to become the victims of oppressors.
Patience may be a virtue, but it has to be patience coupled with determination to win this war. Without that determination, we will cease to exist. It is as simple as that. We can wait patiently while they pick us off one by one, or we can go out to meet them.
I choose to go out to meet them. That is what being a human bomb is about. It is the last resort of those who have exhausted all other avenues. Justice is on our side. The law is on our side. Why then are we victims still? The fact is that the world has not listened to the voice of justice, nor to the voice of international law. It has not listened to the voice of compassion nor to any pleas for humanity. So finally we come to the voice that cannot be ignored: the voice of Immediate Death. The human bomb targets both the lives and the pocketbook of the enemy. The enemy has proven that it will remain deaf to us unless we threaten loss of their lives and loss of their profits.
I do not volunteer for this action to avenge my Muhammad. I do not do this to avenge any of our people who have suffered or died at the hands of the enemy. I do not do this for myself either. As I write this, I can see a letter written by my aunt in England, offering me a home and financial support for a chance to study medicine there. Unlike too many of my Palestinian brothers and sisters, my life is not restricted to the walls of the refugee camp. I have other options. In a way, it is precisely because I do have other options that I feel that my voice will be more emphatic when it explodes in the midst of the enemy. They cannot pretend that I have no reasons to live. They have not cornered me personally, but they have cornered us as a people and that is what counts at the end of the day.
Shall I go to England, to pursue my dream of saving the lives of some of our people, or should I stay here and pursue the reality of saving our future as a people? Being a Palestinian doctor is doing patchwork, darning and mending the rags of our existence over and over until, like all rags, they finally disintegrate and are thrown out onto the dustheap.
Our people must come to understand that the life of ANY individual must be subordinate to the cause of freedom from this Occupation. The value of any individual is not what is at issue; it is rather the value of our future as a people that must be supreme, overriding all other considerations in all of our hearts. What good is it to Palestine if any one of us prospers or survives if our people as a whole cease to exist? What good is the illusive freedom of one individual when the Palestinian people exist in conditions that are far worse than slavery? Unless we can act selflessly, for the good of the cause rather than pursuing individual goals and ambitions, our cause will fail.
The human bomb provides an example of that selflessness, demonstrating unequivocally that no life can be considered more valuable than the future of our people. The human bomb acts for all, not for himself or herself. 'Use me as a weapon of your will,' the human bomb declares. 'Let my life be sacrificed for the future of all our people.' This is emphatically not the act of some one committing suicide! Suicide is a selfish act, the act of some one who repudiates life and embraces death as a solution. The human bomb does not repudiate life at all. The human bomb embraces death as a comrade in arms, acting as a weapon for the cause of justice and freedom from Occupation.
Do I believe in the Hereafter? I honestly do not know what lies beyond this existence, because I am nothing more than a human being, whose understanding is limited to our life on this earth. I would like to believe. I do believe in God, and I believe that 'Inna lillahi wa inna illahi rajaoun' that we come from God and to God is our return, but as God is unknowable and unfathomable, so is His Will and any reality beyond this world is beyond my sight. As far as I am concerned, what counts most is what I do here and now. I want to perform the right action for the right reason, with honour and purity of intent. At this point in history, the best action is that taken by the human bomb.
Holy Qur'an states: 'Wa la taHsabanna alladhina qutillu fi Sabilillahi 'amwatan.' 'Do not think of those who are killed in the way of Allah as being dead.' To me, it is not of the hereafter alone that this verse speaks, but of the fact that the memory of a life sacrificed in the way of justice and truth never dies. It stands as an example to be followed, but more than that, it is an _expression of faith in our cause. If I and other human bombs are willing to die in this horrible fashion for our people, does that not prove that hope for our future cannot be lost?
To be killed 'fee Sabilillahi', 'in the way or path of Allah', is to die for selfless reasons, in my opinion. That is why the human bomb, along with our other heroic martyrs, is one who truly can be said to have been slain 'fee Sabilillahi', because he or she has been slain in the pursuit of justice and freedom from Occupation. Nor can it be considered suicide to launch oneself as a weapon AGAINST the enemy. The goal of the action of the human bomb is not his or her own death! The goal is to strike a resounding blow against the enemy. If our own deaths are required, then so be it, but we do not go out seeking our own deaths. Let that be very clear. The act of the human bomb is the ultimate act of protest against the extermination of our people.
If our people go to the slaughter without protest, we will cease to exist. Let the world look to the Zionist actions and see that, whatever fairytales they tell, their actions speak of the need to exterminate us, to wipe us off the face of the homeland. Their entire culture, religion and government is based upon a racist premise, that the Jew and only the Jew belongs on this land. Despite history, despite any reality that proves their premise unconscionable and unsupported by logic or reason, they do not falter in their goal. Look to it, World, for those who are not Jewish, be they Arab, Gentile or anything else, are not considered their equals and they are not by their morality or religion required to treat you as they do their fellow Jews. Until the Jew decides to join the human race, there can be no dealing of equal with equal. It is written in their Talmud.
Enough of them, though. I must prepare for the ultimate act of resistance against this Occupation and I will not go to my death with ugliness and brutality in my thoughts. I will think instead of the symphony of the sea beating against the rocks... of the perfume of wild thyme rising from sun-baked hills... of the olive tree heavy with fruit that my great grandfather planted but that exists now only in our memories... of my mother's smile, encompassing a world of hope veiled in tears... of the roses, vines and birds she embroidered on my throb... of the Tree of Life and mihrab door to heaven embroidered over my heart... the mystical homeland she created in red, white, green and black, the colours of our land Palestine.
They call us 'terrorists' but it is an absurdity to think that they, who hold the power of life and death over our entire people each and every day, could be terrorized by us. We have nothing but our determination and our willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice. Our bombs consist of a handful of nails propelled, along with our flesh and bones, by the crudest of explosives. They can and have shown that they are willing to reduce an entire city to rubble in a single day, and make thousands homeless. When they have all the technology that this new century holds, who is the real terrorist in Palestine or indeed, throughout the world?
Yet it is true that the enemy fears Death in a way that we do not fear it. After all, why should we fear to meet the One who created us? The Christians have a beautiful prayer: 'Hatta idha ajtaztu wadi dhilali al mawt, la akhafu suwan liannaka turafiquni.' God is the Comrade who never abandons us, even in the valley of the shadow of Death. It is not Death that I fear, but the silence of extinction. Death does not extinguish the flame of our existence. The crown of the Martyr by tradition is Immortality. It is not my own immortality that I seek but that of the cause of our people.
We are a strong people. We are steadfast. That is not enough to prevail against the machinery of Death that has been set in motion against us. The fact that we have survived a century of genocide speaks eloquently of our strength and steadfastness, but how much longer can we endure? Those who robbed us originally of our land die peacefully in their beds of old age, having spawned another two or three generations of robbers and thieves. Those offspring convince themselves that they bear no responsibility for the continuing deprivation of our people as they invite more robbers into our homeland, while herding more of our people over the bridge to exile. They will not listen to the voice of justice. They speak of 'peace' when they have made the word an obscenity.
Salaam is not simply peace. Salaam is peace with justice. When true peace exists, all is right with the world. When true peace exists, justice has been served and people do not live as slaves or on mere sufferance under an oppressive and foreign occupation. Do not speak to us of your counterfeit Peace. Salaam is peace but it must be won now through sacrifice. I go now to win that Peace for Palestine.
Your Light cannot be extinguished
Confessions of a human bomb from Palestine
by Hujayra al 'Arabi
Dedicated to my brothers and sisters in Resistance in Iraq and in the Arab Nation
I do not want to die. I am not in love with death. I am not even 'half in love with easeful death' like the English poet. I want to live. I want to have a home filled with children, and I still want to be a doctor. From the age of about six, I dreamed of becoming a doctor, of being able to save lives. I wanted to do something real that would save the lives of my people.
And yet, I see now that there are many ways of saving lives and that taking lives can be a part of the process of saving lives. That is where I am now, preparing to take lives in order to save my people.
The enemy tries to say that human bombs are cowards, that we want to die, that we do this in order to go to a paradise where virgins will fulfill our every wish. Well, for a start, I can prove them wrong on the virgin issue. I am a woman, and I have no interest whatsoever in being pleasured by other virgins, thank you very much. The fact of the matter is that this is nothing more than stupid propaganda, like so many of the enemy's lies. The young men who become martyrs for our cause are not doing so in order to win virgins in the hereafter. Nor do we do this out of hatred for the enemy, although the hatred is a thousand times deserved. We do it for love of the homeland and for love of our people.
The Prophet Isa, Peace be upon him, said that there is no greater love than the love of a shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for his sheep. I agree that this is a very great act of love, and this is the act of love committed by every human bomb. We give our lives for our people, for our future, to try to turn a tide of destruction that threatens to sweep away not only our identity and heritage, but our very future. Sometimes engineers will use a bomb to attempt to change the course of a waterway. That is what the human bomb is doing, using a bomb to try to change the course of a terrible flood that day by day continues to sweep away our homes, our families and our hopes for any future. If we can make any impression at all upon this flood, if little by little, we can slow down its progress, force it into a different path and ultimately stop its flow completely, then we will have succeeded in a very great act of love.
One human bomb may be no more than a voice crying in the wilderness, but many human bombs can change the course of history, strip it of a hundred years of lies and deceit and bring the vision of a future back to Palestine.
Those who listen to the enemy propaganda should ask themselves one question: what does it take to make an ordinary boy or girl into a human bomb? In a different life, in ordinary circumstances, all of us could have been quite ordinary boys and girls. Do not mistake the human bomb for anything other than an ordinary human being forced by circumstance to act in an extraordinary fashion.
It is not easy to become a human bomb. When there is a choice between the high road and the low road, most will opt for the easier of the two. It is often easier for human nature to make excuses for betrayal and collaboration with the enemy than to face reality and know that integrity often requires the ultimate sacrifice.
It is a sad fact that the Zionists continue to be successful in hunting down the leaders of our resistance only because they are betrayed by our own people, by people whose vision is limited to the immediate situation or threat that confronts them. Even though some collaborators may be no more than people who fear for the safety of their families, or who are desperate for food and a safe shelter, collaboration is the ugliest and most despicable crime against our people. To aid the enemy, whether out of fear or greed is to BECOME the enemy. Furthermore, collaborators and those who do nothing whatsoever, trying to maintain a low profile in order to remain 'safe', must realise that there is no safe shelter as long as the enemy triumphs in our land. I will say it again: the crime of trading the life of your brother or sister for your own illusive safety is one of the worst, whatever its motivation. The man or woman who betrays a freedom fighter for gold or to save his or her skin deserves the punishment of death, for he or she has more power to harm our cause than our avowed enemy.
Cowards and collaborators must learn that it is far better to take the high road and meet death on our own terms than to cower in the shadows until the enemy drags us out to to the slaughter. The result, in physical terms, is the same, but how different the result in its effects upon others and upon the future!
My fiance used to quote an old Roman saying: 'Media tutissimus ibis', which means that the middle way is best.
He believed it as well and lived according to that belief. He saw good in all people and wanted to believe that, at the end of the day, NO MATTER WHAT, good would have to triumph against evil. He was willing to wait patiently for that day. In that sense, he embodied the old myth of 'oriental fatalism' which the Westerners loved to pretend gave them carte blanche to tear down cultures and civilisations throughout the world and superimpose their visions of glory upon the fabric of the universe.
Well, my dear Muhammad, you waited patiently as Zionist metal entered your eye and lung and leg. You waited patiently for the time when you would be allowed through the chequepoint to hospital... a time that did not come, while the wounds festered and finally rotted your flesh with gangrene. Your death was anything but clean. It was a death that is sadly typical of those who allow themselves to become the victims of oppressors.
Patience may be a virtue, but it has to be patience coupled with determination to win this war. Without that determination, we will cease to exist. It is as simple as that. We can wait patiently while they pick us off one by one, or we can go out to meet them.
I choose to go out to meet them. That is what being a human bomb is about. It is the last resort of those who have exhausted all other avenues. Justice is on our side. The law is on our side. Why then are we victims still? The fact is that the world has not listened to the voice of justice, nor to the voice of international law. It has not listened to the voice of compassion nor to any pleas for humanity. So finally we come to the voice that cannot be ignored: the voice of Immediate Death. The human bomb targets both the lives and the pocketbook of the enemy. The enemy has proven that it will remain deaf to us unless we threaten loss of their lives and loss of their profits.
I do not volunteer for this action to avenge my Muhammad. I do not do this to avenge any of our people who have suffered or died at the hands of the enemy. I do not do this for myself either. As I write this, I can see a letter written by my aunt in England, offering me a home and financial support for a chance to study medicine there. Unlike too many of my Palestinian brothers and sisters, my life is not restricted to the walls of the refugee camp. I have other options. In a way, it is precisely because I do have other options that I feel that my voice will be more emphatic when it explodes in the midst of the enemy. They cannot pretend that I have no reasons to live. They have not cornered me personally, but they have cornered us as a people and that is what counts at the end of the day.
Shall I go to England, to pursue my dream of saving the lives of some of our people, or should I stay here and pursue the reality of saving our future as a people? Being a Palestinian doctor is doing patchwork, darning and mending the rags of our existence over and over until, like all rags, they finally disintegrate and are thrown out onto the dustheap.
Our people must come to understand that the life of ANY individual must be subordinate to the cause of freedom from this Occupation. The value of any individual is not what is at issue; it is rather the value of our future as a people that must be supreme, overriding all other considerations in all of our hearts. What good is it to Palestine if any one of us prospers or survives if our people as a whole cease to exist? What good is the illusive freedom of one individual when the Palestinian people exist in conditions that are far worse than slavery? Unless we can act selflessly, for the good of the cause rather than pursuing individual goals and ambitions, our cause will fail.
The human bomb provides an example of that selflessness, demonstrating unequivocally that no life can be considered more valuable than the future of our people. The human bomb acts for all, not for himself or herself. 'Use me as a weapon of your will,' the human bomb declares. 'Let my life be sacrificed for the future of all our people.' This is emphatically not the act of some one committing suicide! Suicide is a selfish act, the act of some one who repudiates life and embraces death as a solution. The human bomb does not repudiate life at all. The human bomb embraces death as a comrade in arms, acting as a weapon for the cause of justice and freedom from Occupation.
Do I believe in the Hereafter? I honestly do not know what lies beyond this existence, because I am nothing more than a human being, whose understanding is limited to our life on this earth. I would like to believe. I do believe in God, and I believe that 'Inna lillahi wa inna illahi rajaoun' that we come from God and to God is our return, but as God is unknowable and unfathomable, so is His Will and any reality beyond this world is beyond my sight. As far as I am concerned, what counts most is what I do here and now. I want to perform the right action for the right reason, with honour and purity of intent. At this point in history, the best action is that taken by the human bomb.
Holy Qur'an states: 'Wa la taHsabanna alladhina qutillu fi Sabilillahi 'amwatan.' 'Do not think of those who are killed in the way of Allah as being dead.' To me, it is not of the hereafter alone that this verse speaks, but of the fact that the memory of a life sacrificed in the way of justice and truth never dies. It stands as an example to be followed, but more than that, it is an _expression of faith in our cause. If I and other human bombs are willing to die in this horrible fashion for our people, does that not prove that hope for our future cannot be lost?
To be killed 'fee Sabilillahi', 'in the way or path of Allah', is to die for selfless reasons, in my opinion. That is why the human bomb, along with our other heroic martyrs, is one who truly can be said to have been slain 'fee Sabilillahi', because he or she has been slain in the pursuit of justice and freedom from Occupation. Nor can it be considered suicide to launch oneself as a weapon AGAINST the enemy. The goal of the action of the human bomb is not his or her own death! The goal is to strike a resounding blow against the enemy. If our own deaths are required, then so be it, but we do not go out seeking our own deaths. Let that be very clear. The act of the human bomb is the ultimate act of protest against the extermination of our people.
If our people go to the slaughter without protest, we will cease to exist. Let the world look to the Zionist actions and see that, whatever fairytales they tell, their actions speak of the need to exterminate us, to wipe us off the face of the homeland. Their entire culture, religion and government is based upon a racist premise, that the Jew and only the Jew belongs on this land. Despite history, despite any reality that proves their premise unconscionable and unsupported by logic or reason, they do not falter in their goal. Look to it, World, for those who are not Jewish, be they Arab, Gentile or anything else, are not considered their equals and they are not by their morality or religion required to treat you as they do their fellow Jews. Until the Jew decides to join the human race, there can be no dealing of equal with equal. It is written in their Talmud.
Enough of them, though. I must prepare for the ultimate act of resistance against this Occupation and I will not go to my death with ugliness and brutality in my thoughts. I will think instead of the symphony of the sea beating against the rocks... of the perfume of wild thyme rising from sun-baked hills... of the olive tree heavy with fruit that my great grandfather planted but that exists now only in our memories... of my mother's smile, encompassing a world of hope veiled in tears... of the roses, vines and birds she embroidered on my throb... of the Tree of Life and mihrab door to heaven embroidered over my heart... the mystical homeland she created in red, white, green and black, the colours of our land Palestine.
They call us 'terrorists' but it is an absurdity to think that they, who hold the power of life and death over our entire people each and every day, could be terrorized by us. We have nothing but our determination and our willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice. Our bombs consist of a handful of nails propelled, along with our flesh and bones, by the crudest of explosives. They can and have shown that they are willing to reduce an entire city to rubble in a single day, and make thousands homeless. When they have all the technology that this new century holds, who is the real terrorist in Palestine or indeed, throughout the world?
Yet it is true that the enemy fears Death in a way that we do not fear it. After all, why should we fear to meet the One who created us? The Christians have a beautiful prayer: 'Hatta idha ajtaztu wadi dhilali al mawt, la akhafu suwan liannaka turafiquni.' God is the Comrade who never abandons us, even in the valley of the shadow of Death. It is not Death that I fear, but the silence of extinction. Death does not extinguish the flame of our existence. The crown of the Martyr by tradition is Immortality. It is not my own immortality that I seek but that of the cause of our people.
We are a strong people. We are steadfast. That is not enough to prevail against the machinery of Death that has been set in motion against us. The fact that we have survived a century of genocide speaks eloquently of our strength and steadfastness, but how much longer can we endure? Those who robbed us originally of our land die peacefully in their beds of old age, having spawned another two or three generations of robbers and thieves. Those offspring convince themselves that they bear no responsibility for the continuing deprivation of our people as they invite more robbers into our homeland, while herding more of our people over the bridge to exile. They will not listen to the voice of justice. They speak of 'peace' when they have made the word an obscenity.
Salaam is not simply peace. Salaam is peace with justice. When true peace exists, all is right with the world. When true peace exists, justice has been served and people do not live as slaves or on mere sufferance under an oppressive and foreign occupation. Do not speak to us of your counterfeit Peace. Salaam is peace but it must be won now through sacrifice. I go now to win that Peace for Palestine.
posted by Dalulla at 4:48 AM
14 Comments:
dallula, where did you get that from ??
OK, I have a strong opinion about resistance that way, check this:
http://freesoul83.blogspot.com/2005/08/minutes.html
and check this too:
http://freesoul83.blogspot.com/2005/09/10-rules-for-rightful-resistance.html
I believe many of what happen in palestine and irak belongs to terrorism for reasons that is related to the "target" not to the method and it hurts me to see innocent people being killed all the time, it hurts me to see this madness growing everyday without an end, both sides feed it with more hatred and things doesn't seem going to end up well
Losing hope, is no excuse for taking the hope of others.
Hope, like love is a cherished gift that should be shared, nurtured and cultivated. Even in the darkest hours, and deepest dread, there is hope, there is love.
Thank you for posting this letter. Admitedly it was a difficult read, but for me, it is a reaffrirmation of my beliefs.
free soul..
i read your opinion about the "Human Bomb" and what's not clear about it is, Are against the concept of Human Bomb or you are just against targeting the civillians by the Human Bombs?
emory mayne...
well, u don't live there...u 've never been there at all.Imagine being kicked out of
your home and all your family are cold blooded murdered (kids women, old
men) and u r forced to let go all that and let the killer of your family take
over your home...What 'd you do? will u let them have their 'HOPE' and live in
your home peacefully?!...
i wonder when ppl say words they don't really know the meaning of.U never lost
Hope after going through what pals went and are going through every day. u r
missing the "CREDIBILITY" in your words...
On another side If u read the post carefully u'd know that this Human Bomb has
Hope - or had actually - of living a good life but she chose to be a human bomb - Freedom Fighter - i say. i'd recommend that u read it again :).
Free soul, Emory Mayne, and Motaz :-)
I read the comments and your links Free soul.
Will comment soon, but not right now, have so many things to do before Iftar time (sunset time where we break our fast)..
peace till then. I would just like to add, the concept i am discussing here is the Palestinian case.. nothing else for now, so please lets just concentrate on the Palestinian case and not dwell into others such as Iraq or Afghanistan or where ever. Case by case ok...
Glad to see you all here.
Motaz, I am first of all against targetting civilians on any condition, no matter what the reasons or execuses, that is not permeitted by my ethics that i live with, and by my own understanding of my religion
seconly, I am against a "human bomb" unless there is no other way to achieve a mission, I mean when we plan to attack a certain military point, if we can reach it by direct attack like the operations of "hezb allah", then this would be the right way, when we can't reach it anyway with suitable success hope, then we can go with the human bomb thing, i don't think the one that go to direct fight with the enemy can be any less from the human bomb, both went willing and able to give their lives for their beliefs
Before you read my comments, I just need to make something clear.
We must all agree that any opinions set forth should be viewed as differences and not anything else. We should all agree that discussions should be carried out in an amicable manner. We do not all have to agree with one another. It is just a discussion and should be carried out with all of us respecting one another.
Should person x disagree with person y, person y should just try to understand why there is a disagreement in opinion. At the end of the day, no one can force any opinion on the other, and we can all still be friends and in peace with one another. Sometimes there are things that are viewed differently because of the information that is given generally about a certain issue. Sometimes you need to see what the other side has to say and give them a chance to clarify things. Some of these things are not known to people in certain countries.
From our side things are so different, we are more exposed to information that has been hidden for years in many different parts of the world, and if given, only given from a certain perspective and sometimes is bias. All we need to say hear us out. Put yourselves in others' shoes.. Be creative with your imagination and feelings and logic. Sense the anguish we experience. Sense the discrimitaion in rights. Try to feel how it is for us truly and what are the reasons that may lead things to go so far.
I just felt it is important for me to say so, because I dislike anger filled discussions. They never get anywhere.
Emory Mayne,
Can you please explain what you meant by: "it is a reaffirmation of my beliefs". Kindly elaborate if you do not mind, I would appreciate it. I prefer to understand more what your beliefs are because it enables me to have a better picture. Don't like to jump into comments before every thing is clear.
Free Soul, u mentioned to Motaz the following: "I am against a "human bomb" unless there is no other way to achieve a mission".
How do you see the picture in Palestine? Do you feel that the ammunition and weapons in possession of the Israelis are in any way compatible to what the Palestinians have? Do you have any clue what happens behind bars to the Palestinians who are in prison? Have you ever watched documentaries of what happens especially to the women there?
How come you are so against attacks on Israeli civilians whilst Palestinian civilians are targeted all the time unannounced. And how about the attacks of the Israelis on the Palestinians? And what about the none shameful assassinations, as if it is so normal. As if the Palestinian blood is so cheap and worthless in comparison to that of the Israelis'!
How would you feel if one day you were at work, went home and found your family on the street and are told too bad, we have power and we occupied your home and you can't do anything about it? How would you feel if your land was taken from you and you were even deprived the right to own a weapon to defend yourself? How would you feel if you wanted to go for worship in a Mosque in your own country and were not allowed to do so? How would you feel praying whilst being watched by Israelis Soldiers with weapons in their hands? How would you feel if someone used weapons that have been banned worldwide, except with the Israelis, like the rubber bullets? How would you feel if your infant was shot with one of those and you saw her dying slowly in front of your eyes?
So many questions you must ask yourself. Free soul is your nickname. We are all supposed to be free souls, we all have the right to have dignity, we all have the right to have identities, which is the least human right any one should have. The Palestinians are deprived of that! Omar Ibn el Khattab (Radya Allaho 3anhou wa arda) said "Mata Ista3batom al nasa wa waladat-houm Omahatouhoum a7rara???!!!" How could you enslave people whilst their mothers born them free"?
The Palestinians have reached to a "no other means" road Free soul. With all the events since 1947, and much much earlier also, since the Turks and the British decided to pave the way for the Zionists to occupy Palestine, what positive action has been made? What rights have those people had? Oppression, oppression and oppression.. Year after year, month after month, day after day, Minute by minute, second after second. Mothers loose children so often, and yet cope. Where do you think they get their strength from? They are The RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF THIS LAND! They have been oppressed for so long and even the Arab leaders do nothing really serious to stand up and help them. We rebuff, or we protest against the current events is all we hear from leaders around the world! They have been pushed to a corner, not only by the Israelis, but by all nations world wide.
I cannot forget farce (el mahzala,) when Arafat (Allah yer7amo) was under siege!! I really cannot believe that was happening to a President of State and was normal. Where was America then? What did the Americans do to stop it from happening? Was that not terror against a president? And worst of all not a single Arab Leader took serious action either!
What options do you think the Palestinians have. What is remarkable about the latest human bombers is they are not at all suicidal or hopeless like many people think they are and Hujayra wrote it herself, and so did Ayah el Akhras and there were others as well. El Kassam, Amr I think was his name whom Kata2eb el Kassam were named after. He was the son of an influential and rich Palestinian, educated, young had his whole life ahead of him...
Why those people choose to do so? It is clearly mentioned in the letter posted. A point needs to be made. The Israelis will not be allowed to live in peace. Let them keep looking over their shoulders all the time. Let them taste their own medicine. Only still they are living in luxury, but as parasites over other people's lives.
dalulla, you missed my point :(
let me answer it by the priority, first, about "How come you are so against attacks on Israeli civilians whilst Palestinian civilians are targeted all the time unannounced" :
I was thinking the same way until i stopped once and asked my self a simple question:
"what if my neighbor kill my son, will i kill him, or kill his son???"
that is the case we are against in the civilians thing, they kill our civilians, should we fight their army or fight their kids ?
what is the fault of the kids? we are not gods to judge them by what they "might" do in the future, besides you yourself wrote a long post before that not every jew is with occupation, many of them are against occupation
I strongly disagree with targeting the civilians, kids, women or old, one of the human bombs blew herself in an 80 yaers old man!! that was a bad choice of course in a country that each corner has soldiers like israel
Second, I must confirm that I am totally with the right to resist based on the rules you saw on my blog, moreover, I see it a duty and not an option
secondly,About "How do you see the picture in Palestine? Do you feel that the ammunition and weapons in possession of the Israelis are in any way compatible to what the Palestinians have?"
I agree with you here that in many cases they can't attack them using traditional ways, but sometimes they can, and when I hear of an operation that took months of design and planning and was done fully clean without a single loos in the palestinian side I get happy and proud of them, really proud that in the face of all this power, they still could beat it with successful attacks
I want them safe as much as possible, that is all, i am not against the attack but I want to preserve them
finally, I spend the last 7 years collecting information about palestine and israel, long history, we as a family have long history with them as we were part of all wars 1956,67,73 and sure I feel what they suffer from but to win we must think in the right way
Ok I understand your point wallahi ya Free Soul. I did not miss the point or any thing, but come on, do you think that any of those bombers actually go out with the intention of killing children? And besides, how many casualties amongst the Israelis were kids verses those amongst the Palestinians? I am with you all along the way about not killing women, old people and children, because that is what Islam orders. But please tell me how many casualties have there been from them that were kids? Again, do not forget the intentions…
And besides, most of the civilians you speak of are mostly from the Israeli Military. Or are connected and if not, it is enough that they even live there. Living on that land alone means they are in acceptance of the Occupation. When earlier I posted about Neutri Karta, I was speaking of the non Zionist Jews who do not even support the idea of the existence of the state of Israel in the first place! Those who are against the mass murders and torture of the Palestinians. Those who do not accept to be parasites or build their lives on the destruction and misery of others.
Those settlements are built on account of Palestinian lives and blood. How does that sound? None of the Palestinians tortured or beat kids from Israel. On the contrary Palestinian women get kicked and hit by them, the kids are terrorized by tanks and heavy machinery, the elderly are treated with disrespect. Many adolescent Palestinians are taken to jail and experience un human treatment… The Quraan has been Stepped on for God's sake. Churches have been burnt and violated! Name it, it all takes place there! Amongst the Zionist the term human rights only applies to them and no one else! They believe they are superior to all and all others are trash!
The idea is, the intention and please do not even imply that kids are intended as targets…
How many 80 year olds were killed from the Palestinians? How many women killed and tortured and beaten up and insulted. Do you know that in some check points they made the women undress ?????????? What kind of treatment is that? How would you feel if your mother or sister or daughter had been put into similar situations? Over and over again?
Do you know that in jail a woman is not allowed to use sanitary towels while they have their monthlies? Do you know that some of the cells are less than one meter wide and one meter height? Do you know that some of the prisioners who have been for years in prison are given the same food every day for years? Do you know that they are denied proper medication? Do you know that some of the prisoners are hung on wires from their arms in the freezing cold? Please… Allah al Aziz al hakeem ordered us not to be aggressors, but in the case people are attacked and pushed out of our lands we can resist and fight back. Again, whatever casualties those so called people have experienced are nothing in comparison to what blood has been lost and still is being wasted from the Palestinians' side.
Finally, we are here. They are there. We only hear and see via the media, which gives us bits and pieces that are already horrifying, much more is hidden, but with all the gruesome scenes that have been portrayed, I can imagine there is worse!
We may cry for a while, sympathize for a while, but never shall we feel the pain those people go through day by day. Injustice is what pushed those people that far.
By the way, I think one of the reasons those bombers do what they do, is to convey a message… And that message is clear in Hujayra's letter. That they will stop at nothing to drive them out of their land even if it means to die.
Many Israeli citizens are becoming discontent living in Israel. Could you guess why? And since when has this feeling really began? If you recollect, it started seriously happening after the rising of those human bombs.
In all cases, I like you, do not wish for any one to yastash-hed in this fashion. But I do know for fact, if the fight was fair, none of this would have happened.
Posting this letter was just to let people know how one of the martyrs was thinking. And that it will not end till the land is back to the Palestinians, whether we or others accept it or not. As long as there is injustice prevailing, people will go to desperate measures gallantly and with no shame to set themselves free of tyranny and bigotry.
Those people are in a STATE of SELF DEFENSE. I had doubts and did not know what to make out of the human bombs in Palestine, till I heard many explanations from well respected Scholars such as Yusif El Karadawy and A well respected and known Neurologist and psychiatrist, Dr. Adel Sadiq.
I am not convinced that those people will end up in Hell though, but at the end of the day, Allah is the all knower, Allaho a3lam. I would not go about saying they will end up in hell or heaven.
I do however find what they are doing is for very good reasons. Injustice and tyranny is very abusive Free Soul, especially when it is with the extreme that the Israelis are very good at displaying and practicing.
By the way I know a story that is very important with regards to the human bombers. But I first need to track the source to present something credible for you and for the readers, which was one of the examples used by Yusif El Karadawy to prove that those people are not suicidal. I hope I can find it soon insha'Allah..
Dalulla,
I believe in non-violent struggle. To read this young girls story, and her tragic actions only reaffirmed my belief that non-violence is better than violence.
Some comments here support the notion that it is okay to kill some people and not others. I don,t suscribe to that thought. I don,t believe in killing of anyone.
Hope, like love is universal. It knows no religeous belief, but is believed in most religeons.
And no I haven't been to Palestine, but I think hope and live are present there too.
Emory,
I do understand fully what you are saying and i am for it. But the issue here is not a matter of mere killing. Those people are not living under normal circumstances, nor are the children that have been growing up are normal children living under normal circumstances. What Israel is doing is breeding people like her. That is the point. You even said so yourself non violence is "definitely" better. And I totally agree. No one wants violence.
And yes hope is all well and good. But it is very obvious that hope is not something allowed for the Palestinians by the Zionists where the Palestinians are concerned. There are psychological factors emory that none of us can exclude out of the circumstances those people are living.
Why is that so difficult to understand. If a child is brought up in a violent and bloody environment where his/her people are treated with no respect, with degradation and humiliation. A place where almost every day they come across Soldiers carrying guns and tanks are a normal scene. Where in their own country they must go through so much to simply live. IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY EMORY.. NOT a foreign country. What would you expect.
By the way, i am also totally against violence and i am not for the idea of the Human bomb, but i will not say That they are wrong either. I feel they have been and still are being pushed to the extreme.
However, the reason i posted this was to show people what state of mind the young men and women of Palestine have reached. When you speak of hope, this one had hope, she had a way out, she could have had it all, but chose not to, she explained why, won't go into that.
Whether we agree or not, this won't stop.
As long as there is violence it will stimulate more violence. Right?
Children there are not like my son or someone elses living normal lives. We are living on secure grounds (so far) but they ... no. Nothing close to normal at all!
I think this post was a very good thing for you to do. As I said in an earlier response, it was difficult for me to read (and re-read.) There is no doubt that this young girl was put in a position to were she felt she must strike back. I don't think people (any people) just wake up and decide to this.
I do understand the plight of the Palestinian people. I do not understand it completly because I do not live as a Palestinian, any more than i will ever to be able to understand racism here in America, because I am not a African American.
Although most people do not understand the situation completely, they do, and can understand it objectively.
My hope for the Palestinian people is that a leader and practioner of Non-violence emerge from within them. Bomb for bomb, bullet for bullet, death for death simply does not work. Why is that so hard for people to understand?
The Israeli's are not going anywhere, they are not going to suddenly decide that non-violence will work, they don;t have to. To your point they have more bombs.
So...If not the Palestinians, then who? If not now, then when?
No one (in their right mind, that is) likes or wants violence. No one wants this bullet for bullet...etc as you mentioned.
The violence will end only when the Israelis decide to leave. But matter who says or what is said; nothing will change the current situation till the robbed are given back what has been unjustifiably taken from them and still is to the day.
It's not that I like it, but this is the way peace will be established. The entire situation is simply all wrong from the day the Israelis set foot on Palestine. Why in the first place did that take place anyway? Who would ever accept this or even settle for any agreements to someone barging into their homes? Who would accept sharing their home with a total stranger, just because they are a bully? And why should they? I personally would rather die! It is a matter of principle Emory.
Emory, there will come a day when Palestine will be free of Zionist presence. When exactly? I don't know, but I do know it will happen.
The Palestinians are the ones who have a right and will keep fighting for it, and believe me the coming generations will be more persistent because the children growing up are experiencing continuous oppression. By the time they've grown up, they will be so filled with fury and persistence to get back what was taken from them even more than the ones available now.
And that is what the Israelis are doing unknowingly. They are the ones breeding those oppressed souls. They're filling them more and more with strength and persistence to take what has been taken from them more than they even know it.
I do hate bloodshed and violence. But I also extremely hate and despise injustice. Whether it be in Palestine or else where.
I say this because I was in a similar situation. I was once deprived of something, and I sought every peaceful means to get it back, but it was like I was talking to the deaf and dumb. An entire year of anguish, pain and injustice. At the end of the day, after I knocked every door for help to solve the issue amicably and after all the doors were slammed at my face, I had no choice but to fight for what was my simple right. In other words I was forced to resort to means I never wanted to, it was the law, nothing bad just for your info. It was My own home! I went back one day and was told I cannot get in!
Only my fight was so painful because it was with someone who was so close.
I was alone in this. But you know what made me strong? I had a right. God knows what I went through during that year. Tears, pain, humiliation, etc...It was all so shocking... name it, i've been there!
I also used to pray asking God to help me to do what was right, and never to resort to any thing that would be taken against me in terms of religion, ethics and morals and to close open doors if I were seeking something not my right.
God answered by opening all closed doors in a world where the powerful amongst mankind were... opened against the will of my powerful and well connected oppressors. But I did have to go through so many difficulties. I had to run here and there, even after midnight sometimes to meet an official on duty! Here in Egypt it was odd, but I earned respect and I got people to hear me out. I even helped others on the way to get signatures over papers that were stalled for months in similar cases. I became a known issue amongst the district attorneys' building and in court. I was told that if every one did what you were doing injustice will keep a watch before moving towards anyone. People will be ware of doing injustice because they will know that those who have a right will not give in to injustice and will fight back.
I could have hired an attorney, but I choose not to. I choose to do it myself.
Today, I got back what I fought for and moreover was also able to win the close ones whom were in dispute with me back again.
There are many negative memories still living within me, but I manage to continue living. Very long and complicated story and unfortunately I cannot share it on a public sphere, although I sometimes wish to, but I guess I do not have the right to since it touches other people's lives that are close to me.
It was my right and I did not go ahead till I was reassured by so many trusted and ethical people that what I was doing was my right.
The Palestinian case is not a negotiable case Emory. Palestine should be ruled totally by Palestinians and no other. Should they agree to the presence of any other people from any other country should be their choice willingly, not forcefully.
Doesn't any country have that right? Why should they be deprived of it? Or even negotiate it?
"The violence will end only when the Israelis decide to leave."
"It's not that I like it (violence,) but this is the way peace will be established."
"I personally would rather die! It is a matter of principle"
Once the Palestinian people come to the realization that the Israeli's are not leaving, and I assure you that they are not. Then they will begin to see that their violent struggle will not work, and has not worked.
I think you agree that violence is deplorable. Again the Isreali's are not going to leave, so by the use of violent struggle, peace will never be achieved.
Dying for principles creates new cemeteries. Living for your principles creates lasting change. I would prefer to live my principles, than to die violently knowing that change will not be effected.
It is why peaceful protest is the way to freedom. It may not be the total freedom the Palestinians demand, but it will be freedom nonetheless.
Again, non-violence does not mean giving up your principles or your struggle, it is an affirmation of your principles and struggle. It is why I believe the Palestinians need a non-violent practitioner like MLK, Mandela, or Gandhi.
Call me a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
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