19/12/2005
stampa
invia
Theater of war, signals of peace. Less than fifty years total between the two, twenty of which were spent on the
edge of a razor, facing directly the military pressure and the consequences of
the occupation on the Palestinian civilians: first, during and after the terrible
incursions of the Israeli army in Nablus over the past few years. The scene sharpest
in the minds of the two come from three years ago, "I decided that the moment
had arrived to do something concrete for my people after the big invasion of 2002,
when hundreds of armored vehicles entered the main points of access to the city
to occupy streets and homes, forcing the population to three months under fire,"
explains the youngest of the two. Both have for years been with the volunteer
paramedic service Medical Relief and giving aid and assistance to the victims
of the fire fights and from the violence linked to the occupation that has earned
them the respect of their fellow citizens. Nablus was under siege when Wajdi and
Ashraf decided, together with a group of local volunteers, to dedicate a large
part of their energy to the most vulnerable victims of the war: the children.
Eternal suffering. As such in 2003 Human Supporter was born, an association which now everyone
recognizes and through which they bring forward their projects of direct action
and awareness in the field. This objective has inspired their last work, a documentary
on the effects of the occupation on the civilian population. The call of the two
to international public opinion is well synthesized in the title of the video:
Eternal Suffering. The filming was born out of the desire to bring awareness to
European civil society putting forward a perspective of the Palestinian reality
normally neglected by the mass media, that of the innocent victims of war. Through
a series of interviews, some youths that have remained injured by way of firefights
in recent years provide their testimony. "It was not simple to involve them,"
emphasizes Wajdi and Ashraf, "from one side for motives of timidity, from the
other by way of a state of diffuse resignation where they lack the compotent health
infrastrucure to support them."
The tour of Europe. Like the same authors recount, the restriction of the freedom of movement of
the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories has influenced even more the original
ambitious idea to document the reality of the check-points and the violation of
the human rights of the population, which faded due to reasons of personal security.
Theirs remains a risky decision, seeing as what counts is the diffusion of this
work as much as possible, bringing a testimony directly to Europe. Nevertheless
they affirm with determination that the danger to which they have decided to expose
themselves does not scare them. They know that they are doing nothing wrong in
the peaceful struggle for their Palestine, "The message that we want to pass along
is that, through the military occupation, Israel is doing terrible things to our
people on our land, but we don't want to repay them with the same money. We want
to prevail with peace." Solidarity becomes a protagonist in an event in which
the contributions of youth coming from all parts of the world are woven with those
of Wajdi and Ashraf who have had the chance to meet them in Nablus. "A spanish
friend, a journalist by profession, loaned us the camera," explains Wajdi, underlining
the independent character of an auto-financed project that would never have been
able to see the light of day without the logistic support of people that made
available their time and energy to liberate the energy of the non-violent Palestine.
stampainvia
Ashraf and Wajdi, two young Palestinians recount their undertaking
Written for PeaceReporter by
Alice Colombi
Alice Colombi
"I know that it is difficult to understand and accept the sense of the phrase
'we were never born' for who hasn't seen life from our eyes, but I believe it
is so. Everyone has dreams and hopes, when you don't have them it is like if you
were never born." These words of Ashraf, a young Palestinian from Nablus in the
West Bank, are heavy. Despite the bitterness, one understands right away that
he and Wajdi, who are best friends, like many, many other Palestinians, have never
resigned themselves to the grip of the Israeli army that has occupied the land
in which they were born for 57 years. For years they have been working on different
projects of solidarity and awareness on both the local and international level.
Theater of war, signals of peace. Less than fifty years total between the two, twenty of which were spent on the
edge of a razor, facing directly the military pressure and the consequences of
the occupation on the Palestinian civilians: first, during and after the terrible
incursions of the Israeli army in Nablus over the past few years. The scene sharpest
in the minds of the two come from three years ago, "I decided that the moment
had arrived to do something concrete for my people after the big invasion of 2002,
when hundreds of armored vehicles entered the main points of access to the city
to occupy streets and homes, forcing the population to three months under fire,"
explains the youngest of the two. Both have for years been with the volunteer
paramedic service Medical Relief and giving aid and assistance to the victims
of the fire fights and from the violence linked to the occupation that has earned
them the respect of their fellow citizens. Nablus was under siege when Wajdi and
Ashraf decided, together with a group of local volunteers, to dedicate a large
part of their energy to the most vulnerable victims of the war: the children.
Eternal suffering. As such in 2003 Human Supporter was born, an association which now everyone
recognizes and through which they bring forward their projects of direct action
and awareness in the field. This objective has inspired their last work, a documentary
on the effects of the occupation on the civilian population. The call of the two
to international public opinion is well synthesized in the title of the video:
Eternal Suffering. The filming was born out of the desire to bring awareness to
European civil society putting forward a perspective of the Palestinian reality
normally neglected by the mass media, that of the innocent victims of war. Through
a series of interviews, some youths that have remained injured by way of firefights
in recent years provide their testimony. "It was not simple to involve them,"
emphasizes Wajdi and Ashraf, "from one side for motives of timidity, from the
other by way of a state of diffuse resignation where they lack the compotent health
infrastrucure to support them." The tour of Europe. Like the same authors recount, the restriction of the freedom of movement of
the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories has influenced even more the original
ambitious idea to document the reality of the check-points and the violation of
the human rights of the population, which faded due to reasons of personal security.
Theirs remains a risky decision, seeing as what counts is the diffusion of this
work as much as possible, bringing a testimony directly to Europe. Nevertheless
they affirm with determination that the danger to which they have decided to expose
themselves does not scare them. They know that they are doing nothing wrong in
the peaceful struggle for their Palestine, "The message that we want to pass along
is that, through the military occupation, Israel is doing terrible things to our
people on our land, but we don't want to repay them with the same money. We want
to prevail with peace." Solidarity becomes a protagonist in an event in which
the contributions of youth coming from all parts of the world are woven with those
of Wajdi and Ashraf who have had the chance to meet them in Nablus. "A spanish
friend, a journalist by profession, loaned us the camera," explains Wajdi, underlining
the independent character of an auto-financed project that would never have been
able to see the light of day without the logistic support of people that made
available their time and energy to liberate the energy of the non-violent Palestine.
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