In a world of so much suffering we need often pause to acknowledge & honor what it is about human beings that is so glorious--despite what seems evidence to the contrary. This photo is from the West Bank Palestinian village of Bilin (near Ramallah) featured in the Oscar-nominated film “Five Broken Cameras. Bilin is a flashpoint & symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli policies & occupation by its weekly protests against the apartheid barrier wall (which Zionists refer to as a “fence”) which cuts through Palestinian lands--amounting to an expropriation.
During the weekly protests, Israeli soldiers fire tear gas canisters, stun grenades, rubber bullets, & live ammo against Palestinian rock throwers. In 2009, a 29-year-old Palestinian protestor, Bassem Abu Rahmeh, died when struck in the chest by a tear gas canister; his 36-year-old, sister Jawaher, died nearly two years later from inhaling Israeli tear gas.
Over the years, residents of Bilin have gathered the spent tear gas canisters & planted flowers in them in a garden to commemorate those who have died & according to village resident, Mohammed Khatib, to show that life can spring from death. In this photo, a resident tends to the plants. If Palestinians on the front lines of such a barbarous conflict & in the face of wrenching loss can sustain such hope after 65 years, who are we to disagree?
Support peace & justice in Palestine by boycotting all Israeli products (barcode beginning 729), supporting the cultural boycott of Israel, & demanding “No US aid to Israel.”
(Photo by Majdi Mohammed/AP)
The world watches with proud admiration the tough, bitter resilience our people in the face of Isreali terror. The enemy may destroy houses and raze fields, but can never break the human heart.
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