Akashma Online News

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Omar Karem, from Gaza, edited by Marivel Guzman

Opinion

Gaza City, photo by Omar Karem

Thanks to all Palestinians that turned out today for the great March 15 March that markes the beginning to demand for a united Palestine.

The protesters were oppressed by the government forces. Was a little set back but the battle is not lost.

The youth, the women, the men, came in big numbers to demand unity and they will come out again; tomorrow, next week, until unity is achieved.

Battles are not easy to win said Leila Khaled, the Palestinian heroine that fought with Yosef Arafat during the 70s. She will tell you is not easy.

Today was a great day for Palestine, no matter what the outcome, it is a change, for first time lots of women are taking charge of the affairs of their land. Thousands of women were mixed with the crowd of men.

They know they must not be afraid, they are all Palestinians. Hamas, AFLP,FATAH, every one no matter the party they follow, they are all Palestinians, we are all Palestinians.
One Palestine Nation united to fight against the common enemy, ‘The Occupier’, ‘The IOF’ ,’Zionism’,’Ignorance’,’Division,’ those are the real enemies of the people.

Gaza City, photo by Omar Karem

Today the turn of events are only a show of the government to exercise power over the people, “Intimidation won’t work with us,” said a Palestinian, “We are feed up with Israel, even without uniform we know them, they can beat us and incarcerated us, but we wont stop,” he said.

They (Palestinian police) need to stop and unite with us. This fight is not against our government, it is against the division.

The security forces of Gaza are shooting to the air, shooting  to the feet of the crowd. The government is afraid, of course they are afraid. Every government should be afraid of its people not the other way around. They need to prove themselves worthy to stay in power and if they have not done it the people is speaking loudly and demonstrating in the street and demanding unity.

It is not going to be easy for Hamas or the PA to contain the discontent because now we know that the power is with ourselves. If tomorrow, we all come to the streets, they won’t be enough bullets, or sticks to scare us. Today we celebrate that we can gather together, I don’t see it as a defeat to the people, No..it is a lesson, for us, for the government, to take notice that the actions are all recorded in history in our land. We must continue to work together to bring us as one Nation, we won’t stop.

We Palestinians are resolved to bring Palestine Unity.

“To really respond to the practices of the occupation, there should be unity behind the leadership that can address the world with one voice, to once and for all end the occupation and establish a Palestinian State as a strategic option for peace” – Issam Samour-Coordinator of Christian Relieve in Gaza, Palestine

The day’s events both exposed Palestinian divisions and underscored the popular desire for political reconciliation between Gaza, controlled by Hamas, and the West Bank, controlled by the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas amd his Fatah party. -The New York Times

Naji Shurrab, a political science professor at Al Azhar University in Gaza, which is unofficially affiliated with Fatah, said on Tuesday that ending the Fatah-Hamas split was beyond the capacity of the youths to correct. “The division is like cancer; the later you are in treating it, the more it spreads,” he said. –New York Times

The main stream media is ready to blame the set backs of the youth of Palestine on the people. They are mute when Israel is bombing our cities or killing us but as soon as the occasion arise they are ready to make headlines. We should ignore them all along, until they bring us the Truth.

We could feel the joy in the last few days in Palestine, all the videos that we shot in Palestine, people in the streets talking about March 15, Unity Day, Reconciliation day. It euphoria was overwhelming, the talks of a nation ready to emerge.
The people is what it make the nation not the leaders. Palestine is One, One land. The Holy Land is Only one. “We the People” make it.

Please stop the fights, come with us, all the fathers, and sons, that work for the respective governments, see us we are you, you are us. We are Palestine.

Palestinian youth at the Unity March photo by Omar Karem

Abu Yazan and other youth leaders, however, insist that unity is required to effectively resist the occupation and that political reform would significantly improve quality of life in the meantime. The slogan for the March 15 event is “End the division. One people against zionism.”

Ali Abdul Bari, a 24-year-old leader of Esha (Wake Up), a liberal, secular group devoted to promoting human rights, tells a story to illustrate just how deep the divide is. His group posted a sign demanding elections near the destroyed Palestinian Parliament building in downtown Gaza City. It was removed by Hamas 90 minutes later, despite the permit they had obtained. Later, many group members were interrogated or had their backgrounds checked. Pam Bailey

We must have high hopes that this movement wont stop, that today was a minor set back, but tomorrow a new day will come, bringing hopes. Specially that we will be commemorating Rachel Corrie day.

Come tomorrow March 16 to the streets to remember her memory, her martyrdom, we will celebrate her life, praise her memory for her sacrifice to our land.

Rachel Corrie

Please come with no banners, no flags, no colors, security forces please do not give bad image to the world. Do not copy the practices of Israel, we are tired of repression and oppression. Support us, in the new Palestine Nation that we all try to build.
Tomorrow is a new day, to rectify the errors, to take lessons of the past. Inshallah