Walid Hajj

One October day in 1948, a little boy packed his and his family's belongings into two carts and fled the bloody war in Palestine to Lebanon.

On the way, bomb shrapnel hit his little cousin who began bleeding heavily. The boy carried him on his back and walked all the way to Lebanon. That border crossing was open.

The little boy thought he would return to his home, his land and his people within days. He thought he would see Palestine again soon. That was the last day he saw his beautiful Palestine. That boy was my father.

My dad learned one very important lesson over the decades, and after watching war after war: nothing feels more bitter and painful than injustice.

What is happening in Gaza today is just another extreme form of injustice. Innocent civilians die for no reason under the fierce, one-sided attacks. Children become a target or accepted collateral damage. All basic human needs are non-existent; water, food, medicine.

What kind of a world do we live in that would allow the only occupying force in the world to commit such atrocities in the name of fighting terrorism?

What logic would accept labelling Israel as anything less than an apartheid nation, built over and protected by terror? What else can we call these atrocities in Gaza? How do I respond to my children when they see pictures of badly hurt children on TV and ask what happened and why?

Public opinion shows the world is disgusted by what is happening in Gaza today. People have had enough of Israeli propaganda and its arrogant, murderous actions. Demonstrations across the world called to end the war.

Yet US president George W Bush calls it an action of self-defence. This is an insult to our intelligence. What self-defence? I am not defending Hamas in any way, but this war has nothing to do with Hamas. It is an all-out war on the Palestinian people. This is ethnic cleansing by all and any means.

It is very hard to see anything positive in these events today. I see no light at the end of the tunnel of violence and killings. The language of power is short-lived, because all it will do is create more enemies and more hatred.

As an optimist, I hang by the thread of hope. Right now the only hope to me is spelled: O-B-A-M-A. I may be naïve, but the only hope is that US president-elect Barack Obama comes to the White House with a 180-degree change in the way he approaches the Middle East.

Obama is not expected to be pro-Palestinian, but to look at this conflict as strategically important globally, and to America. The only superpower and the biggest ally of Israel should force a just solution to the Palestinian issue. Without it, I see no hope - at least in my days.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Them...
Posted by Kal, Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 13 January 2009 at 08:27 UAE time

"And which of the Prophets did your fathers not persecute..." St Stephan.

This is Prophets... how do you expect these creatures to have mercy on poor Palestinian widows and children in Gaza?

To Walid #2
Posted by Ira, Israel on Tuesday 13 January 2009 at 08:00 UAE time

Dear Walid: You are making a lot of judgments about me without knowing me or what I feel in my heart. Yes, I do care that innocent Palestinians are suffering and dying. I am also a father and know what it means to love children and want to protect them, and I cannot imagine how frightening and infuriating it must be for parents in Gaza. I am not claiming that the situation is symmetrical, but can you also try to imagine how frightening it is for parents in southern Israel now, or in any of Israel's cities when buses were exploding regularly?

Answer to Ira #2
Posted by Walid Hajj, Dubai on Monday 12 January 2009 at 19:59 UAE time


It is appalling, but not surprising, that in neither of your comments you have shown the littlest of sympathy for the innocent lives that is being lost as we have this discussion. If you truly want peace, you would feel with the sufferings of the Palestinians which will eventually blow up in the face of Israel! I think what you want is peace with NO Palestinians around!

Yes, Palestinians want peace. They want to have the basic living standards. They want to go about their lives. Palestinian kids want to have the basic necessity of lives: have (living) parents and be able to go to school peacefully.

Palestinians will never accept to live under siege and be expected to accept the situation! They will never accept (internationally illegal) occupation and be expected to accept it! Israel has taken land by force, and should leave it and end occupation immediately. They should give Palestinians their rights- their very basic rights.

To Taleb and Walid
Posted by Ira, modiin, Israel on Monday 12 January 2009 at 11:52 UAE time


Thank you for responding. I am sure if we sat together and talked we would find a lot of common ground - and respectfully agree to disagree on some things. Let me just say now that most Israelis would like nothing more than to live in peace and quiet, and have no interest in bombing schools or hospitals, or seeing pictures of children killed, injured or traumatized. (And I also believe that most Palestinians would also like nothing more than to live in peace and quiet, provide a better life for their children, etc.)
Most Israelis responded very warmly to Sadat's initiative in 1977 and would do so today too I think if Assad were to make a similar gesture to reassure their fears. If Hamas were to declare a hudna of 10 years, I think it could also lead to calm and progress. But as long as there are rockets and suicide attacks, it will be hard to build the trust necessary for compromise.

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