I grew up in Gaza. The Biden administration must call for a ceasefire | Opinion
I was born in Gaza, that narrow strip of land bordering the Mediterranean, Egypt and Israel that has the dubious distinction of being the most closed off place on earth. Roughly three times the size of Miami, it is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, most of them refugees driven from their homes during the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 just outside of modern day Gaza.
It has been under a suffocating siege and naval blockade since 2006, and subject to some form of closure and military occupation by Israel for decades longer.
I grew up living the daily struggles of my people for our long denied dignity, freedom and justice. I witnessed the daily horror of living under Israeli occupation: the suppression of our basic rights, the control over our movement, the mass house demolitions, the arbitrary raids and arrests, the routine bombardments and killing, the trauma and systemic violence that has scarred generations of Palestinians.
As I watch from a distance, Israel continues to unleash its brutality on Gaza. The images and stories of innocent lives lost, homes demolished, children orphaned and wounds inflicted weigh heavily on my heart. I am overcome with terror and helplessness and fear for the safety and well-being of my family and friends who are forced to live under constant uncertainty and the looming threat of death or displacement.
While people were reveling in the holiday season’s joy this past month, Palestinians in Gaza have been engulfed in fear as they mourn the loss of over 20,000 of their brethren, the overwhelming majority of them women and children killed in the most brutal of ways.
We mourn not just the death of our families and friends but the deliberate destruction of our schools, universities, mosques, cultural institutions and churches. We mourn the annihilation of our memories and the Gaza of our childhood and teenage years, whose streets now exist only in fading memories.
We mourn as Israel calls for Palestinians to be uprooted once again, this time to Sinai.
Our sick, hungry and hopeless families are confronting one of the most powerful war machines in the world with American support and complicity in isolation. They endure regular telecommunication blackouts, leaving us in the dark about whether they are alive. Safety remains elusive.
The ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza are not an isolated incident, but part of a longstanding and unresolved struggle against a violent, discriminatory and oppressive system of Israeli apartheid that has denied the Palestinians their right to self-determination and freedom and stripped them of their basic rights. This system aims to maximize control over the land while pushing Palestinians into isolated fully controlled ghettos, Gaza being the largest.
In Gaza, there are human beings with dreams, hopes and rights. They deserve to live in peace, security, and dignity. They deserve to have their voices heard, their grievances addressed, and their aspirations heard.
The silence that has shrouded Gaza’s struggles for more than 75 years now echoes louder than ever. The Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish once wrote: “When you fall asleep counting planets, think upon others who cannot find a place to sleep. And as you search for meaning with fancy metaphors, think upon others who have lost their right to speak.”
These verses resonate deeply as we confront the catastrophic realities of Gaza today. The Biden administration must act with urgency to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and resolve to bring a lasting and just peace to the region. We cannot go back to a situation in which Palestinians are forced to live like prisoners in their own land. As a virtual witness to the atrocities committed by Israel against my people in Gaza, as a human being, and as an American, I implore those with a conscience and a sense of justice not to turn a blind eye to Gaza.
Hakeem Basheer is an Florida based researcher and a community activist from Gaza.
