Resilience lesson from Gaza

THE EDITOR: The WHO report on Gaza on October 2 showcased the effects of the two-year period of relentless cruelty being meted out to Palestinians on the ground, as it highlighted the grievous injuries and critical lack of healthcare access for the population. Two weeks prior, the UN accounted for some 65,000 Palestinians who had already been killed in its declaration that a genocide was taking place in Gaza.

According to the WHO report’s tally, 42,000 Gazans are living with life-changing injuries to the face, eyes, head, limbs, spinal column, and many suffer from thermal burns. The WHO recommended “medical evacuation” for specialist treatment of injuries outside of Gaza where healthcare equipment, artificial limbs, support devices and protection for healthcare workers could be secured.

But the feasibility of this recommendation remains uncertain at a time when Palestinians are being denied their basic rights, and humanitarian efforts to render assistance to them are being stymied, as food trucks entering Palestine continue to be blocked, and the activists on board the Global Sumud Flotilla, who aimed to end Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and provide humanitarian aid, were met with drones and detention.

Also included in the WHO report are pregnant women who face starvation and bombardment, and who birth premature and low birthweight babies outside healthcare facilities. Even if these children were to benefit from improved nutrition and ceasefire conditions, the new generation of Gazan children are said to be biologically inheriting the legacy of war.

Medical doctor and writer Haya Ahmed explains that environmental factors such as the exposure to toxic chemicals from bombs, malnutrition, severe psychological stress and chronic depression change the genes of subsequent generations. The immunity and brain development of these children are severely affected, which predisposes them to cancer and mental health illnesses.

Research has shown this to be the case of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors some 80 years later. The same is true of Vietnamese children whose genetic mutations and birth defects have been linked to the contamination of soil and water with Agent Orange, the poisonous herbicide which American troops used in the 1960s to destroy Vietnam forests.

On October 7, a sense of helplessness prevailed as we ordinary citizens wondered whether the efforts we have made to march, protest, write and speak out against the genocide in Palestine have made any dent at all. What has changed in Palestine, we now ask, since October 7, 2023?

And if the attacks stop, how exactly are Palestinians expected to literally pick up the pieces and start again? Their buildings have been levelled, their schools, health systems and infrastructure have been destroyed, and the physical and psychological trauma will require ongoing rehabilitation.

In spite of arrests, last week in New York, rabbis and Jewish peace activists protested the transfer of US arms to Israel and called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. And over the past few days, hundreds of thousands of Europeans marched for Gaza across major cities in Europe, protesting the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla, and calling for the release of detained activists.

The flotilla was named Sumud in Arabic which is said to mirror the Palestinian concept of resilience. It also translates into English to mean steadfastness and perseverance. Ordinary citizens around the world will continue to march, protest, speak out and lend humanitarian aid, even if, by so doing, they are arrested or detained. As world citizens we will continue to fight for the rights of Palestinians, who have taught us the meaning of resilience.

AMINA IBRAHIM-ALI (Dr)

The UWI, St Augustine