Let's start this chapter with a poem made and recited by nour. elassy.
Black sky, red ground
Children are crying
It feels so surreal
'I can't see
I'm alone
Pull me out'
A child crying from under the rubble.
Forgive me, my child
My hands are short
I tried to call for help
Turns out the help needs help itself
I tried to scream for the filming cameras
Turned out the whole world was watching
Staring with helpless eyes
I tried to shout as loud as I can
Turned out they were deaf
Forgive me, my child
My hands are short.
The shortest khutbah ever given was given by a Palestinian imam. Khutbah is a speech delivered on Fridays in a mass gathering at the Masjid. The Imam said, "If 37,000 martyrs, 70,000 wounded and 2 million homeless Palestinians couldn't wake up the ummah, what is the meaning of my words? What shall I say to whom? Straighten your rows and let's perform Salah".
An Imam is a leader for all the Muslims. He gives khutbah on every Friday and other important days. This important lecture motivates the followers to go ahead in life. An Imam is he who leads the prayers every day for the Muktadi (the one who follows). And if an Imam has given up, what can we expect from the rest?
Many people know about the incident where the Israeli Defense Force tried to pressure an elderly woman in Palestine to leave her home. And when she refused to do so, they let a huge dog attack her. This incident was a horrifying and traumatizing incident for the elderly woman. Up to this day I still don't know if she survived this brutal attack.
Recently it has been shown on the news that 81 people in Palestine had been shot. There are so many things that are unseen and unheard by us but they are still happening in Palestine. Dr Afia Siddiqui was raped two times by the jail security guard. These officers forcefully take the innocent people as their hostages and imply these types of punishments on them.
More than 9 months ago Israel cut off Gaza's water supply. The United Nations Office for coordination of hunanitarian affairs say that 67 percent of the water infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed. Because of this millions of people have to consume contaminated water or die out of thirst. After some days someone fixed some pipes resulting in people having the chance to get some clean water. The next morning, Israeli occupation bombed their since of engineers including their general director of water and environment Anwar Al Hindi. Him and four other engineers were killed on duty doing humanitarian work. Seven others were injured along with them.
Now let's talk about the universities that were destroyed in Gaza. University is a place where students go to gain higher education. After completing their studies they try to achieve a good job. Having a great job is everyone's dream. Education is a basic right of all. And being deprived of it can make a person jobless in the future. The students of Gaza are not able to dream of a good job due to the situation that they are facing right now. They are just like us yet they are going much worse.
The first university and the oldest university of Gaza is the Islamic University of Gaza. It was founded in 1978. By 2023 it had more than 17000 students. The Israeli occupation destroyed it on the night of 10th October of 2023. Among the university buildings that were targeted was the national Museum that contains about 3000 artifacts that were looted then blown up.
Then comes Al Azhar University. It was established in 1991,located in the South of Gaza city, it offers 74 bachelor programs, 26 masters programs and doctoral programs. On 6th November of 2023 Israeli air forces bombed this University campus. There were 16000 students studying at this university.
Al Quds Open University was established in 1991. It was the first open learning institution of Palestine. It has branches in Gaza City, Khan Yunis, Rafah and Jabalia. It had 60,000 students studying over 19 branches and centres throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, making it the biggest non campus University in Palestine. Israeli forces turned University buildings into military barracks before bombing the Gaza branch on 15 November of 2023.
Then we have Al Aqsa University. It started as a teacher's Institute in 1955 under the administration of the Egyptian government. In 1991 the Institute developed as a college known as the Governmental college of education. At the beginning of 2000 or 2001 academic year ,the college was transformed into Al Aqsa University. On 22 January Israeli forces shelled Al Aqsa University which at the time was a shelter for the displaced people.
After that we have University College of Applied Sciences which was founded in 1998. Its main campus was in Gaza City and 8500 students were enrolled in 2023. It included a donor funded non profit start up incubator which supported entrepreneurs in the Gaza Strip and helped aspiring entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into successful businesses. On 22 January Israeli forces shelled UCAS. At the time the university was sheltering displaced Palestinian families.
The second last university is the university of Palestine. It was established in 2005 in the South of Gaza City as a Palestinian private Institute for higher education. It has been used to shelter displaced families during this genocide. On 17 January Israel denoted more than 300 mines at the university.
The last university is Al Israa University. It is the youngest university of Gaza which was established in 2014 in Gaza City. It was scheduled to mark it's 10th anniversary this year with the opening of a public museum on Palestinian history and culture. It's main building was occupied by Israeli soldiers for 70 days and then destroyed by exclusives on 18th January of this year.
These are some of the universities destroyed by the Israeli forces. Education, food, water, clothing, right to healthcare and shelter are basic rights of all human beings irrespective of their race, gender and colour. But why doesn't this apply to the people of Palestine?