---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: UNITY <unity@ancient-news.com> When a small child dies for want of a pencil ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ By E.Yaghi It is not certain what the young boy had been doing when he was cut down so cruelly on 11 November. What is known is that the child had left his humble home to buy some pencils. He had been doing wonderfully in school. It was only a few days before that he had shown his mother his report card. His face beamed when she proudly studied his grades and said, "Son, I am proud of you! Keep up the good work!" Though the conditions of the Aida refugee camp (not too far from Bethlehem) where young Ali Jawarish lived, were crowded, and schools poorly equipped; he had developed a love for knowledge and his parents had hopes that one day the boy would be able to not only provide for his own needs successfully but that he also would benefit his country. He had not been taught to throw stones. He had not been taught to hate. But he had been encouraged inspite of his poor living conditions to love life. It was with this love of life that Ali had skipped to the stationary store that was just up the road close to Rachel's Tomb, which is an Israeli enclave where some 30,000 Israelis, mostly ultra-Orthodox, attended a ceremony. The boy wanted to buy some pencils so he could do his homework. The small child had no premeditated intentions of harming Israeli soldiers or of resisting the cruel and brutal occupation of his land, the same land that belonged to his forefathers long before the boy was born. And just how much damage can a small boy do anyway against live ammunition and soldiers armed to the teeth to protect themselves from the stones of young children? Soldiers who are intruders and aliens in a land not their own. Soldiers who implement the daily brutality and enforce the tyranny of the confiscation of Palestinian land and Palestinian lives. Soldiers who do not hesitate to shoot at small children with the intent to kill or maim in order to crush any form of resistance, even from tiny hands. It is such that young heroes are made. The blood of Ali has watered the ground of Palestine whose streets have become rivers of blood fed by the hearts and souls of Palestinians who have bravely struggled for their freedom from slavery. It is not certain whether Ali had stopped to join the other young boys who were throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers or if he was just caught in the trouble that ensued. What is certain is that the child, guilty of no crime, was cut down in cold blood by a rubber bullet shot from the gun of an Israeli soldier. The bullet struck the boy in the head. A man, who had witnessed the shooting of the youth, rushed to the child's side and evacuated him. He picked up the pieces of what was left of small Ali. As the rescuer stated, "The boy was on the ground, his head open, with brain and fluid running out." The boy remained in a coma in a hospital with severe brain damage and was kept on life support for four days until he died. Just before his death, his parents decided to donate his organs to save the lives of others. Ali's parents did not stipulate who the organs were to go to and did not care if the recipients were Arab or Israeli. As it happens, Ali's younger sister needed a kidney transplant because she suffers from kidney failure, but in the trauma of the tragic moment, Ali's parents, numbed by pain and loss, forgot the younger sister. The remains of Ali's body were carried to a grave newly dug near Bethlehem, just the size of the small boy. Some six hundred mourners kept the body of the boy martyr company on his last earthly journey from his home to the graveyard behind Rachel's Tomb. The child's face was uncovered showing the bullet wound that had fatally wounded him. Even as the small body was being lowered into the miniature grave, a group of youths began throwing stones at nearby Israeli soldiers and chanted slogans. Before he died, Ali's mother Laila, said, "I know we are enemies, the Arabs and the Jews-but he is only nine years old! I wish they had arrested him, I wish they had beaten him, but not this!" It is an ongoing tragedy that small boys like Ali are struck down, that their lives are ruthlessly cut so short, that an innocent child is killed just because he was on his way to buy pencils so he could do his homework. There is talk of peace, yet all around there is war and killing. How can there ever be peace when settlements continue, when Palestinians are prisoners in concentration camps, when Palestinian land is confiscated, when Palestinian homes are demolished, and when the streets of Palestine have become rivers of blood? Tyranny never breeds peace. Injustice can never be forgotten. A ruthless occupation can only expect resistance even if the Palestinians are unarmed and many of the clashes involve only small stones thrown by the hands of young children. A country such as Israel built on murder, theft of land, oppression, injustice, and brutal savage tyranny, will one day collapse for such foundations are not only against humanity itself, but violate the laws of God who watches and will not forget. Small Ali is now in heaven. He has found peace and will no longer suffer the pain of seeing death and despair all around him. The Israeli soldier who took his young life should hate himself and will never be able to wash the stain of little Ali's blood from his hands. When Ali's father, Mohammed Jawarish, agreed to donate his son's organs to those in need, he said, "I gave the organs as a religious deed. It doesn't matter who the children are who received them, just as long as they live." He then broke down in tears. Through his donated organs, and because of his martyrdom, Ali will live forever and be added to the long list of Palestinians who gave their lives for the freedom of their country. (UNITY) http://unity.arank.com/ http://unity.ancient-news.com http://www.ummah.net/unity/ |