Home, and Resilience

It is said that a photograph is worth a thousand words. Looking at the live televised pictures out of Gaza these past two days, one can go further and say that the photos of tens of thousands of battered and bruised Palestinians trudging their way on foot to northern Gaza must be worth more than a million words.

The images of the land they called home before being bombed, gunned and brutally driven from it must still be in our minds. Northern Gaza has been turned into a colossal heap of rubble, dust and rotting flesh for the whole world to see. It is true that the ceasefire agreed upon has given the Palestinians the right to return home, but what is there to return to?

Not many people, certainly not if they have endured the genocide heaped on these hapless folk, would even dream of returning home. To face what? There is little in northern Gaza which would encourage embarking on human settlement, in fact any kind of settlement. In addition, the purveyors of the genocide, guns and all, are still present, ready to enforce their assault on the Palestinians, men, women and children alike.

So, when we see the Palestinians- old and young, starving and wounded-trudging their way on foot back to the scene of the slaughter, emotions must well up even in the most insensitive of us. Emotions of great courage, fortitude and resilience are obviously the most prominent ones. We use the word resilience a lot these days, but this, no doubt, is the most obvious demonstration of that quality among persons who have endured the worst.

There is more to the Palestinian reactions. What stands out above all, is what HOME means to some people. Houses flattened, basic services- including medical services- destroyed, no food, no water, no electricity, roads and communication no longer in existence, that is what Northern Gaza is- for us. However, for the Palestinians this is home and when one treasures home, no sacrifice is too great to undertake rebuilding it. If only we had such fortitude and commitment!

This is a call and a lesson to all underprivileged and embattled people all over the world. It is a challenge, not only to the Zionists in Israel but to the rest of the world which stood impotent in the face of the genocide. It is a clear message that, no matter what the odds, these people are prepared to exercise their right to their homeland and to provide a future for prosperity.

It is also a poignant call to the rest of the world for solidarity with the people of Palestine. Like the people of Israel who are still bruised by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, the people or Palestine too deserve to be extended the compassion and love which Christ modelled for all of us.