Watching the massive crowds in Damascus, Daraa, Homs, and other cities and villages across Syria on television in Malaysia in December, I felt an overwhelming yearning for freedom. The joy on people’s faces after years of oppression was profoundly moving.
As a Palestinian, I understand all too well the depth of the Syrian people’s joy. I hope they cherish it, holding it close to their hearts without letting it slip away.
When you witness your people enduring displacement, starvation, relentless massacres, imprisonment and torture, life becomes engulfed in darkness. This is the essence of true suffering. It feels like being suffocated, slowly and relentlessly.
Physically, I am now far from my family in Gaza. Yet, my heart remains there, wandering among my people and my loved ones. Israel’s genocidal war has devastated us mentally and emotionally. For those of us who have watched from afar, we are expected to carry on with normal life. But how can life ever feel normal in the face of such immense suffering?
I cannot fathom that in Gaza during genocide, every day, a mother lost her child, a wife lost her husband, and thousands of children were orphaned. ….more
