Idlib, Syria – In a small home in northwestern Syria, Muhammad Haninun is glued to his cell phone, following the newest Israeli assaults going down in Gaza.
For greater than a month, he has watched movies of the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and the displacement of civilians making an attempt to flee the bombing. All of the whereas, the occasions convey again clear recollections of what he endured 75 years in the past.
The 80-year-old can not assist however take into consideration the similarities between what he’s seeing in Gaza and what he skilled when he and his household have been displaced throughout the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, in 1948 when Israel was created and greater than 750,000 Palestinians have been forcibly uprooted from their land and 1000’s have been killed.
“The Palestinian tragedy is happening again,” Haninun stated. “The people in Gaza are facing war without receiving any help the same as we did before.”
‘A cracked record’
Since October 7, when the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, breached the separation wall that surrounds Gaza and attacked southern Israel, Western international locations, led by america, hastened to sentence the motion that has been working the besieged Gaza Strip since 2006.
The condemnation was adopted by Western monetary and navy help for Israel, which has been relentlessly bombing Gaza, one of the vital densely populated areas on the earth, for 35 days. Since October 7, no less than 10,812 Palestinians, together with 4,412 kids, have been killed in Israeli assaults on Gaza. Greater than 1,400 folks have been killed in Israel.
Equally, throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Britain supplied navy help within the type of safety and weapons to Zionists, inspired Jewish immigration from Europe to Palestine and allowed them to displace a whole bunch of 1000’s of Palestinians from their properties as they constructed a brand new state for themselves.
In November 1948, Israelis used plane to bomb the northern village of Tarshiha within the countryside of Acre, destroying three homes – together with Haninun’s household residence – and killing seven of his family.
“Before that, we had evacuated our homes several times for two or three days and returned. We did not take anything,” he recalled. “We thought we would return, especially since we were not able to recover the dead from under the rubble.”
However they by no means might.
Haninun, then 5 years outdated, and 4 members of his household have been compelled to maneuver between seven cities in Lebanon and Syria earlier than they have been allowed to remain in a refugee camp in Aleppo, a “tragic” setting with a small room for every household, no kitchen, toilet or working water and shared bathrooms.
He remembers Arab radio stations and governments promising Palestinians a fast return – after seven days, then after seven weeks, then after seven months, till greater than seven a long time had handed.
“This cracked record has been playing since 1948, when people were fleeing from one village to another, only to face massacres afterwards, because the enemy viewed ‘others’ as animals, and killing them just like killing cattle – and this logic is still the same today.”
Haninun moved to the Syrian capital, Damascus, to review historical past. After this, he labored as a trainer in Aleppo, residing within the camp there, till the Syrian conflict compelled him to flee to Idlib in 2014. However what he nonetheless longs for is the possibility, in the future, to return to Palestine – and to his roots.
“There is still hope,” Haninun stated. “If I die before I return to Palestine, I will tell my children and grandchildren that you have a right to that land and we are its true owners.”
Strengthening the Palestinian trigger
On Thursday, the Ain Jalut Scouts and the Syrian Personal Scouts marched by way of downtown Idlib, simply one of many many actions held within the space over the previous few weeks in help of Gaza.
Ayman Muhammad, 40, a displaced Palestinian residing within the northwestern Syrian metropolis and the scout chief of the Ain Jalut group, advised Al Jazeera that the injustice that Palestinians have endured for 75 years is the motivation for staging protests in addition to fundraising and offering help by way of social media.
Israel’s conflict on Gaza has strengthened the Palestinian trigger, Muhammad believes. “Today, the West and the East, from one end to the other, stand with the Palestinian people against the aggression.”
Throughout October, main cities around the globe witnessed demonstrations with a whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals collaborating to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and freedom for Palestine.
Palestinians in Idlib can not stand by and watch, Muhammad stated. Regardless of the troublesome financial and safety circumstances in Idlib, he added, members of the Palestinian group and Syrian supporters right here have managed to gather about $400,000 in donations for Gaza.
Syrian activists additionally participated in demonstrations in help of Palestine regardless of bombing by authorities forces and Russian warplanes concentrating on gatherings within the nation’s final insurgent stronghold.
For Palestinians in northern Syria who’re residing by way of Syria’s conflict, the Syrian revolution and the Palestinian trigger at the moment are inseparable, Muhammad believes. “Victory will come for both causes because the right will not be lost as long as we demand it,” he stated.
