Once I was a faculty scholar, each morning, we’d collect within the schoolyard and sing songs devoted to our land, Palestine. Lots of our courses would educate us about our tradition and traditions deeply rooted in Palestinian land.
Each March 30, we’d mark Land Day. Women would put on embroidered clothes and boys would put on white shirts and keffiyeh. We might sing below a raised Palestinian flag and commemorate the Palestinian land battle.
I absolutely realised the true that means of what I used to be taught about this battle solely after I confronted displacement from my dwelling, after I confronted the very actual risk of shedding my land.
I used to be born and raised within the Shujayea neighbourhood on the jap flank of Gaza Metropolis. It’s a centuries-old neighbourhood, the place farmers and merchants settled. Over time, it turned one among Gaza’s most densely populated neighbourhoods, recognized for its robust neighborhood ties and historical past of resistance. It’s no coincidence that one among its most distinguished individuals was Dr Refaat Alareer, a poet, a scholar, and my professor in English, who impressed me to put in writing and resist.
My household has lived in Shujayea for hundreds of years. They constructed dwelling after dwelling in the identical space till they created a protracted avenue referred to as Mushtaha Road. This isn’t only a identify; it’s a testomony to only how deep our roots run on this land.
We not solely have our houses in Shujayea but additionally our farmland. I grew up enjoying on my grandfather’s olive grove, which he had inherited from his ancestors. The olive timber taught us how one can love our land, and how one can be steadfast like them.
I’ve by no means thought, even for a minute, of leaving my dwelling, my neighbourhood. As a baby, I by no means dreamed of residing elsewhere, I needed to remain the place my ancestors had fortunately lived, to inherit the land, to are inclined to the olive timber.
The primary time we needed to flee our Shujayea was when Israel attacked in 2014. I used to be very younger at the moment, however I bear in mind each single second of our evacuation. I bear in mind the missiles and shrapnel flying round and the sound of the screaming and crying. It was a traumatic expertise, however all through it, I used to be certain that we’d quickly return.
Then, it occurred once more nearly 10 years later. All through the genocide, my household and I needed to flee our dwelling greater than 10 occasions. The longest we needed to keep away from our neighbourhood was three months. However we by no means went too far. Regardless of the extraordinarily tough situations, we didn’t flee to the south; we stayed within the north.
Shujayea endured two invasions throughout this battle, the primary in December 2023, and the second in June 2024. The second got here all of a sudden, with out warning, on a summer time morning whereas residents have been nonetheless of their houses.
When the Israeli tanks reached Shujayea, they focused markets and outdated eating places, electrical energy poles and water pumps, levelling many areas till they have been unrecognisable. The once-busy streets turned gray with destruction.
My household dwelling was bombed and partially destroyed. My grandfather’s land was not spared both. The timber that stood for generations, that gave fruit numerous seasons, have been uprooted and burned.
The lack of his olive grove proved an excessive amount of for my grandfather. Inside three months of listening to the devastating information, he handed away.
Immediately, we face the prospect of being displaced as soon as once more. Individuals from the jap a part of Shujayea have began fleeing below threats from the Israeli military as soon as once more. We have no idea what’s going to occur subsequent. Individuals are afraid however are nonetheless hoping there shall be one other ceasefire.
This 12 months, marking Land Day carries a distinct that means: Regardless of the persevering with genocidal battle, we’re nonetheless right here, we’re nonetheless standing, and we’re nonetheless holding on to the land that we inherited from our ancestors. We won’t hand over.
On this present day, I bear in mind Dr Alareer’s poem:
O, Earth
Hug me
And maintain me tight
Or devour me
To undergo no extra.
I really like thee
So take me.
Make me wealthy.
Make me dust.
Gone are the times of serenity.
Weapons are the phrases of humanity.
I’ve no meals however a thorn,
No sport however a sigh.
For a soldier must really feel excessive.
O, Earth,
If in life I’m to harm
Let my dust in you give start.
O, Earth.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
