What does it mean to be a Palestinian father? - Gaza Almost no Palestinian in Gaza have slept well over the last two weeks, especially parents who care about their children’s mental, psychological and physical safety. I am one of these parents who have 5 sons and one girl. To have 6 children is the average number of a Palestinian family in Gaza. Last night, while I was sitting with my 9-member family, including my wife and my father, 94 years old, a heavy rocket fired by an American-made Israeli war plane leveled one of the houses located about 200 meter away from my home and damaged unknown number of neighboring houses. My house was shaken for seconds and some of the windows were smashed and my car alarm system was sounded. Looking at the terrified faces of every member of my family and trying to comfort them and ease their fears, I hugged the youngest son and exchanged smiles with them all. But it seems that the deafening sound of the aerial bombardment triggered a series of comments and questions that are challenging to every Palestinian father and mother. Their questions revolved around two major questions that need volumes to answer well. What does it mean to get your home destroyed in seconds? What is the mental, physical, social, psychological and economic suffering of such collective punishment on thousands of families in Gaza? Feeling under powerful stress and unlimited worries fostered by the 24-hour buzz of drones, the continuing random of artillery shelling of homes and the Israeli policy of escalating destruction and killing of civilians, I began to encourage my youngest son, 8 years, M............. to start release some of the questions in his mind In a whispering shaky voice, M.............. began shooting questions that many Palestinians Parents face daily and nightly: Dad, what will happen to us if an Israeli war plane throws a bomb on our house?
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 22:03:01 +0000
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