Desperate Measures
The Palestinians under the Occupation of Israel
By Hamzah Naseer
In the recent months we have witnessed a new phenomenon called suicide bombers. Suicide bombers are people who strap explosives onto their bodies and blow themselves up. The media has portrayed these individuals as mindless, barbaric people. How can young individuals who have full lives in front of them sacrifice themselves in this way?
For decades now the Palestinians have been encompassed by a wreath of evil. They have been robbed of their freedom; innocent men, women and children have been slaughtered like cattle. Israel has been practicing genocide on the Palestinian, like Hitler once did to them. Over 1400 Palestinians have been killed in the past eighteen months. The most recent example is the heinous massacre at the Jenin refugee camp. The Israeli regime has cut off aid to the Palestinians and forbidden organizations such as the Red Cross to assist them. Other organizations, which raised funds for the people of Palestine, have been banned and labeled as terrorist organizations.
While Israel has been bombarding Palestinians with tanks and guns, Palestinians have been fighting back with all they have left- their lives. Everything else has been taken from them: their dignity through strip searches; their leader, held under confinement; their jobs, terminated; and their homes, seized and demolished. Israel has destroyed all Palestinian towns and villages; it has not even left a wall standing for Palestinians to lean against for support. UN humanitarian resolutions and the demands of the European Union have been ignored by Israel.
We as Americans cannot even fathom living under foreign occupation, needless to say under one that is inflicting mayhem. It may be difficult to imagine why teenage girls are blowing themselves up in hopes of impeding the violence faced by their families. But as one of America’s great statesmen once said, “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”