Hi Anja
I miss you very much; This is a real experience that happened to me last week
I hope it would fit the weblog
Yours
Ramadan

Palestinian Meaning of Love

Everywhere in the world love has the same meaning and deals with the same
emotions. It is very clear for everyone in the world when to love and what
is it he or she are talking about. Actually, it is very very clear for us
as Palestinians what does it mean and how does it look like to love and to
be loved, but it has a special taste and takes lots of efforts to digest
this taste for non Palestinians. Because of this I choose to talk about it
and try to make it clear for the non Palestinians what is the definition of
love for us Palestinians. It is very clear in an experience I went through
last week. I went to visit a friend in Jabalia who lived very near to the
area that was attacked by the Israelis. This friend is one of my best
friends and we love each others, the Palestinian way. He is actually 6
years older than me, but we are still good friends. The first thing I
encountered in Jabalia was the black color that was covering all Jabalia
(black color means sadness). This time the black color was covering
everything in Jabalia, not only people were wearing black cloths. I went to
the area where the tanks had been acting; I had to walk due to the destruction
of the infrastructure of Jabalia. I walked around 2 kilometers and I was
there. No way, this was my first reaction, I was very shocked and I could
not hide my tears. Nothing was there. No houses, not trees, no roads, it
looked very much like a playground with lots of tanks marks. I tried to
recognize the area where my friend used to be living and the house that I
had spent lots of times in it, but it was impossible. My friend was not
there, I did not tell him that I was coming. I could hardly recognize a
piece of his car that was thrown away and covered by sand. I walked
towards it and there was a very big piece of wall also burried under the
sand. I moved it and tried to clear it, people asked me if I am looking for
something. I told them about my friend and they told me that I was exactly
standing on top of his house. I kept digging like crazy in a try to find
the doorbell and to reach the guests room where I used to meet with my
friend. It was a surprise for me, I found a very nice red rose coming out
from in between the ruins. It was looking for help to reach for the
sunlight. This was the love I was talking about, the love of life. This
rose wanted to live and fought against everything to stay in connection with
the land and with the sun. It showed me how great the Palestinian love is,
and the meaning of this rose to choose to live underneath the ruins. Oh my
God, would you expect to see a rose rising there. I stood there for about
half an hour trying to understand what was going on with this rose. The
only logical thing I came out with is that this is showing clearly the
meaning of the Palestinian love of life and of this land. I also
encountered another manifestation of the Palestinian love which was the way
Jabalia people acted after the attack. All people who lost their houses
are living now with their relatives or friends. Do you know how? Each
family in Gaza is on average about 7 members and the medium housing
condition is about three small rooms. I will let you imagine it. Is not this a
different taste of love?