Palestinian week concludes with a vow to free Palestine [Archives:2009/1224/Last Page]
January 12 2009
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For The Yemen Times
“Gaza is not a gate of wounds; it is not a picture of pain, but it is a picture to display our triumph,” zealously stated a member of al-Waad, an Islamic music band.
Al-Waad band performed at the five-day solidarity festival with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that concluded on Thursday in Sana'a. The festival concluded with all the attendees promising to never accept Israel, never forfeit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and not to fear death.
Hundreds of attendees, including women, schoolgirls, and young boys, raised their hands and pledged that “Allah is our end, the prophet is our model, the Quran is our law, Jihad is our way, Hamas is our movement, Al-Qassam battalion is our army, and death for the sake of Allah is highest wish we seek.”
An art show for Osama magazine started the first day of the festival. It is about a chance for students and teenagers, in both public and private schools, to express themselves. “We ask students to express their feelings through drawing. In the last day, Saturday, we will select the best drawing to publish in the magazine”, said Ibtisam Jarallah, an artist for Osama magazine.
Jamilah Abdu, a Yemeni teacher in Al-Waseelah private school, said she wants to go to Gaza, even on foot, and fight with her brothers and sisters there.
“This festival is an opportunity for me, my friends, and students to renew our pledge to Allah. We will support families in Gaza with our blood, money, and prayer. Many teachers fasted this day to pray for Gaza,” Abdu added.
“I feel ashamed of the Arab governments' reaction towards this crisis, and I want to say these governments don't represent their nations,” Abdu said.
“We want to go to fight Israel,” said the ten year old Osama, Baynoon, and Abdul Rahman, while they were tying a green cloth around their heads. On this cloth it was printed 'There is no God but Allah'.
They were wearing symbols of Al-Qasam battalions. “We want to tell Palestinians that we are with them. We pray for them,” they said.
Umm Abdullah, the head of Palestinian women committee in Yemen, said, “With the beginning of 2009, the committee will be ten years old. Our main cause is to support Palestine. We promised Allah to continue to try to liberate Jerusalem with the assistance of Yemeni women. Today we see the fruit of this committee. The works of this committee expanded to different fields such as the security foundation for the Palestinian prisoners and the Yemeni foundation for Sponsorship of Palestine (Takaful).
“Palestine is a part of our creed (Deen) since Al-Israa' and Al-Mi`raj (the Night Journey and Ascension of Prophet Muhammad). The major issue Muslims should work for is to unite our efforts and win the victory,” Umm Abdulllah continued.
Azza Ghanim, Professor of Educational Psychology, agreed with Abdullah that the major solution for this crisis is to unite Arab efforts.
Sudanese ambassador's wife to Yemen, said Israel confirmed that it wants peace. However, the continuing massacres in Palestine that are supported and assisted by some of the world's most powerful countries prove the existence of the two different sides of diplomacy that faces the world today.
“Allah selected this nation to fight for His sake, and through the pain we see, we see victory looming,” Buthaina added.
Umm Hassan Yasin, the woman in charge of folk activities for the Palestinian Women's Committee, said that “Jerusalem is the capital of the nation's life, existence, and dignity. Gaza today makes us consider Gaza as a capital of steadfastness. They want to separate Gaza from the world, but its symbols compel all to look at it. Whenever we suffer more, we declare loudly that we won't leave this land, we won't surrender, and we won't accept their conditions. Therefore, what are they are going to do?”
Ghanim gave a historical background of the crime wars and massacres in Palestine since 1948. “These crimes are meant to annihilate a nation,” Ghanim said.
Ghanim pointed to Roger Garaudy, a former French Communist leader, philosopher, and convert to Islam who wrote 'The Mythical Foundations of Israeli Policy.' Garaudy said that America is the forefront of degeneration and that Zionism refers to the political movement founded by Theodore Herzl. This is a nationalist doctrine, which was not born out of Judaism but out of the European nationalism of the 19th century. Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, did not claim to belong to a religion: “I do not obey a religious impulse,” he said.
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