The World I Live In!

Unfortunately, man-made violence is today frequent and spread across the world. Instead of combating this culture of violence, it is being encouraged. There are not enough real efforts exerted to combat the violence being perpetrated in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan & the Sudan…etc. children are glued to computers screens and the internet, waging electronic war games and learning how easy killing can be. Perpetrated from the cockpit of an air-plane, killing is represented as little more than the pushing of a button.

In terms of making or promoting peace and justice, efforts are scarce. Those who can and are able to make peace are reluctant, as war industries are more profitable for the industrialized countries and dollar-petrol nations. The word "justice" has lost its real meaning as powerfulness and forcefulness are now the determinant of what justice means.

The world in which we are living is confused rather than confusing; nevertheless, it might be regarded as confusing. Due to the exclusively destructive effects of humankind upon earth, such as swift-waning natural resources, threatening global warming and land desertification; the world is confused. As I said, the word is less confusing than it is confused in itself, because one cannot differentiate easily between good and bad, between terrorism and self-defense and between occupation and liberation; or humans' capacity for atrocity has become unflinching. Here is why I assume that the world is the victim of man's abuse, because all factors akin to the not-achieved justice & harmony, no matter what the world is, are of man's direct intervention.

The Middle East is now at an advanced stage of gravity, it is one of the world's most serious problems and insistent effort is required to terminate the conflict. Taking Palestine as a major part of this conflict; the truth is that we Palestinians have been occupied for more than forty years. Israel has stolen our land, practiced ethnical cleansing against the Palestinians, built Jewish settlements as part of its self-imposition policy and stolen Palestine's resources. To date, Israel has never been reluctant in its policy. On the contrary, it continues proceeding further implementing the ingrate's no-land-owner policy. But what I need to assert here is that solving the Palestinian problem would pave the way for solving any other related problems like those of Iran's, Iraq and Afghanistan; and if no practical solution is found, the situation is more likely to exacerbate more and more.

The Palestinians can no longer sustain occupation and suppression; we need our freedom now. In the West Bank is the apartheid wall, which has dismantled it, where the Palestinians are being treated in the most degrading and dehumanizing way. Shifting the ground to Gaza, where the Palestinians—of course I am one—are crippled as a result of the siege, the worst part of the overall problem.

Some of the Israeli official panjandrums regard us as worthless. Away from hyperbole, this is the reality of the Palestinians being treated wantonly. For example, an Israeli soldier can do nothing easier than dehumanizing the Palestinians; perhaps he get a bang out of this act of dehumanization!!

"the highest result of education is tolerance", said by the author of "The World I Live In", Helen Keller; education aims at teaching people how to tolerate one another and preach reciprocal understanding among people. Yesterday I read a report, released by Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, highlighting Israel's policies on students leaving Gaza and evaluating students' request to travel abroad. However I am aware of this, the report was a hit to the back of my head. It made mentions of Israel's encroachment on students' right of free movement and that hundreds of students who have been accepted by different academic institutions around the world simply cannot leave to pursue their studies. In addition, Israel's stringent endeavor to bar any Palestinian from getting in or out. Thousands of Palestinians who worked or studied outside were denied their right to return home only because of the termination of limit permitted. The precariousness of the situation is further worsened by Israel's menace that Palestinians exceeding the period of time given to them will lose their ID's and no longer be allowed to return home again. And due to the difficult conditions resulting from the occupation, many Palestinians have been at the end of their ropes. In other words, they have no other alternative but to travel outside for study or work.

To end this all, a strenuous effort should be exerted to force Israel lift the siege, ease the situation and allow free movement. Peoples of the world, especially the people in the West, need to be galvanized and therefore do their best to help end this problem.