[WCUSP] [womeninblack] From Lama Hourani in Gaza: I'm back to writing

Sat Jun 23 08:17:54 CDT 2007

 [womeninblack] From Lama Hourani in Gaza:  
> I'm back to writing
> 
> Dear, dearest,
> 
> Lama Hourani from Gaza (last week we saw an
> interview with her on YouTube & Al Jazeera) is back
> to writing.  "we are not super people" she says... 
> nobody of us is "super people" that is why it is so
> important the international community need to take
> thei responsability.  What happens in Gaza has all
> to do with the Israeli occupation and the
> internationals who let this happen, who deny
> Palestinians living rights...
> 
> Lama Hourani is a courageous woman, she now publish
> on her blog http://gazasunflower.blogspot.com which
> is very interesting because it also is a place we
> can dialogue with her, give support by giving
> reactions on her mails...
> Lama also invite to translate her letter into other
> languages !  When somebody of you want to do so,
> please sent her a copy of the translation, maybe she
> can put it in that language on her blog too, or at
> least it will be supportive to her if she knows
> about it.
> 
> lots of love
> lieve
> 
>
http://snellings.telenet.be/womeninblackleuven/women_against_violence_middle_east.htm
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Paula Abrams-Hourani"
> <paula.abrams at chello.at>
>  
> Dear all,
> 
> If you could circulate this information from Lama,
> received yesterday, I 
> would be very pleased.
> love,
> Paula
> 
> 
> Subject: I'm back to writing
> 
> 
>  Dear all,
> 
> Please have a look at my latest post to my blog:
>  http://gazasunflower.blogspot.com.
>  If you have any comment please send it to the blog.
>  Best wishes to everyone.
>  PS:   Those who want to translate it to other
> languages are free to do so.
> 
>  Lama Hourani
> Gaza
> 
> 
> 
> Friday, June 22, 2007
> We are not super people 
> I'm looking at Luai's eyes and my own are full of
> tears. I can hardly keep from crying in front of
> him. I've been trying to take him out of the flat
> for two days and he refuses, saying "I don't want to
> go anywhere, mummy, I love to stay at home". It
> seems that he is afraid to go out now because of all
> the stories he has heard from his friends during the
> past week about the killings and shootings.
> 
> Yesterday I went to Al Deereh Hotel, one of the nice
> places by the seaside in Gaza, to meet a journalist.
> I found that many people are on the beach, swimming
> and enjoying the calm sea. I felt so relieved that
> the people of Gaza are back to their normal life.
> 
> Many people have asked me why I am not writing. I
> stopped writing in December when I visited my mother
> in Syria. It was the first time that my mother, my
> two sisters and our children and I have met in
> Damascus at the same time since 1983. The joy was
> interrupted by the events in Gaza at that time, the
> assassination of three children as a result of the
> armed dialogue between Hamas and Fateh. I returned
> in January only to find out that I was unemployed.
> And the series of a lot of fighting rounds between
> Fateh and Hamas has taken place from January until
> now.
> 
> I became so desperate, like most of the
> Palestinians, but this time, it was not because of
> the collective punishment imposed on us by the
> international community, not because of the Israeli
> siege imposed on Gaza Strip, the big prison. But
> because of the fighting between the Palestinians
> themselves. I thought to myself, "What should I
> write to the people outside, that we are killing
> each other, that we are destroying our dream by our
> own hands?" Thus, I was unable to write.
> 
> The last round of fighting was the attack against
> the Palestinian Authority security forces last week
> all over the Gaza Strip, by Hamas and its Al Qassam
> militant group, which resulted in the control of
> Hamas and Al Qassam over the entire Gaza Strip.
> This time we had to stay at home from Monday till
> Friday night. I was so afraid - the bombing and the
> shooting I heard from my flat, which was in the
> middle of three fighting areas, was terrible. The
> result of the attacks was shocking to all Gaza
> residents. At first, we thought, "It is another
> round like those before it but it turned out to be a
> round that changed the lives of each one of us.
> Hamas controls Gaza. Politically, this has great
> implications for the Palestinian issue but I won't
> deal with this now.
> 
> What has made me decide to write is the fact that I
> feel so down today, so desperate, that I've been
> crying the whole day. I'm not afraid about my life,
> or my husband's or even my son's. I feel bad because
> I have discovered that we are not the "Super People"
> I thought we are. I discovered that we are normal
> human beings. I know that most of the people all
> over the world, especially the freedom lovers and
> fighters look at us as idols, as a people who cannot
> be defeated, as freedom fighters who are trying to
> achieve their liberty and live in dignity.
> 
> Now I have discovered that we are like any other
> nation, savage, brutal and looters.
> The looting scenes from inside the governmental
> buildings, the private houses and flats, reminded me
> of Baghdad after the American occupation and the
> collapse of Saddam's regime. We thought that we
> could never be like that. I know we did it after the
> settlers went out of their colonial settlements in
> the Gaza Strip, but these people were our enemy,
> those who had stolen our land, not Palestinians.
> The news about the different acts of violations of
> human rights against each other is shocking. It
> reminds me of the practices of the Israeli
> occupation forces in Gaza and the West Bank.
> 
> What are we doing to ourselves? Why are we trying to
> destroy our dream of a democratic, independent state
> for all Palestinians.
> 
> So, I think and I wonder, "Are we really like this?
> Are we really savages? Aren't we supposed to
> overcome our differences by peaceful means? Who is
> to blame for this happening to us? Isn't it the
> international community who denied us our legitimate
> right to have a state of our own? Isn't it the
> international community who denied us our right for
> democratic choice in our election and decided to
> punish us for that? Isn't it the international
> community, which has starved us and made us depend
> again, after 59 years. on humanitarian aid?"
> 
> Now I know we are not superhuman or super heroes or
> super people. We are normal people who will become
> savages when you put them in a cage with the minimum
> needed to survive.
> 
> I know everyone is waiting from me to tell personal
> stories about the events that took place. But I am
> sorry, I can't. It's too difficult to tell stories
> about what we've done to each other. I only ask the
> people to be objective when they look at the news
> and ask themselves why is it happening to the
> Palestinians?
> 
> As for me, now I'm planning to take my son to the Al
> Deereh Hotel and let him see the world again,
> whether he likes it or not.
> 
> I hope tomorrow I will be in a better mood. Maybe I
> can write some more details.
> 
> 
> Gaza City
> 22 June 2007
> > _______________________________________________
> womeninblack mailing list
> womeninblack at listas.nodo50.org
>
http://listas.nodo50.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/womeninblack
> this is the international WiB mailing-out list, for
> the INTERACTIVE WiB e-list, go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/interactiveWiB


____________________________________________________________________________________
No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go 
with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started.
http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail 
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
womeninblack mailing list
womeninblack at listas.nodo50.org
http://listas.nodo50.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/womeninblack
this is the international WiB mailing-out list, for the INTERACTIVE WiB e-list, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/interactiveWiB