What I’m about to write…it’s all inspired by the courage of those peace activists who were murdered mercilessly by the oppressors who are oppressing the people they aspired to help.
In loving memory of the peace activists who were killed along their journey in pursuing their pure-hearted dreams of saving the oppressed and striving to earn justice for them~
In the name of the One and Only God, I ask of Him to help me write this article without stating any wrong facts or misunderstandings or even insults that may result in any uneasiness or create a commotion among others.
I was recently feeling extremely upset and disturbed because of the death of the 9 peace activists who were, if I can use this word, ‘slaughtered’ onboard the ship ‘Mavi Marmara’, while on a mission to transport humanitarian aid to the needy people of Palestine. I would like to highlight once again that they were PEACE activists.
I found out that the youngest who was killed on the list was a 19-year old Turkish-American young man. He was shot with 5 bullets, I’m not so sure how because the information I’ve been hearing from said there were 4 bullets to his head and one in the chest, while another source said a different story, but they were both similar about the fact that he was shot 5 times. It suddenly upset me… I didn’t know why, but I found it heartbreaking – the fact that he was so young, and he was different from most of the youths today by being determined to achieve his dream of helping his distant brothers and sisters despite the fact it was obviously a great risk. He was also the son of an associate professor at a university, he hoped to become a doctor and was awaiting his results for his university entrance exams, and he was undeniably good-looking.
Furkan Dogan.
I found myself admiring him – his courage, and the changes he would have made if it wasn’t his fate that his life was to be stolen away by the heartless soldiers, God knows what happened at that point of time. Plus, what saddens the most is the fact that he didn’t even reach there. In addition to that, the possibilities that the humanitarian aid will reach the intended recipients seems so unlikely now.
In fact, the feeling I felt that time, almost made me want to take back my words in my previous article that seemed to be defending Israel, by saying that not all are bad, but no, it’s still true. It’s just that the bad ones can be so evil it consumes you with hatred. Even commonsense are sometimes overlooked. The good ones are still innocent and the actions of the evil in fact have got nothing to do with them.
Does the public know that so many peace-activists were killed or seriously injured along the way? The famous heroine Rachel Corrie, who was killed while trying to prevent a Zionist soldier from bulldozing a Palestinian home, she was and she still is a very inspiring person who aspired to help others and had dreams of preventing starvation among the impoverished dying in third-world countries ever since 5th grade. She died at 23.
Rachel Corrie.
Rachel Corrie attempting to cease the intended demolition of a local home.
Brian Avery, was shot at his face, while he and his few friends were trying to prevent the soldiers from shooting the Palestinian children who were throwing stones at the armored tanks.
According to an article of his friend’s recount on the incident, 6 of them, International activists, made themselves visible on the road so as to let the soldiers see that they weren’t the Palestinians, so that they wouldn’t shoot. However, unexpectedly out of a sudden, they started shooting, and Avery’s friend ran for cover, but then he sensed something wrong and turned around, and that’s when he found Avery lying still on his stomach with his hands on his face. Avery’s friend recalled the tank passing by as if nothing had happened when they were all panicking and trying to get the ambulance.
Avery recovered fast and remarkably, 2 days later, and had to write down his thoughts as his mouth was distorted… One of the first sentences he wrote was: “I feel more Palestinian than ever before.” The day he was shot in the face was a week before his 25th birthday.
Extracted from the article on what happened after that; ‘Today he is back with his family in North Carolina. The Israeli Army has yet to take responsibility for his shooting. They sent out a press release the same day saying he was caught in crossfire between armed Palestinians and Israeli soldiers returning fire and that it was most likely a Palestinian bullet. I know that no gun besides the Israeli machinegun opened fire. I know we received no warning before the bullets started coming. I know the soldiers didn’t stop to help. Is that how it feels being Palestinian?’
Another heartbreaking incident… Tom Hurndall, a young photojournalist and an activist, part of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was shot at the back of his head, while trying to save some traumatized Palestinian children who froze at the spot when the soldiers started shooting. He was in a coma for nine months until he died. He was 22.
Tom Hurndall was shot at the back of his head when he tried to save traumatized children from being shot.
Lastly, James Miller, a Welsh film-maker who was killed during the time he wanted to shoot a documentary on the Palestinian farmers and children. That night, he and his translator and colleague, went out of the villager’s house, to tell the soldiers, who were bulldozing the place outside which was claimed to have a tunnel underground where weapons from Egypt were smuggled, that they were foreigner television crew and not to shoot. They were wearing vests and helmets which had the word ‘TV’ on them, and were waving white cloth. Suddenly three shots were heard; the second shot hit Miller in the neck and killed him instantly. No one was held responsible for his death. The documentary named ‘Death in Gaza’ was released after that.
Of course I don’t believe this is all. There are many others out there who were sacrificed in this endless battle of trying to retrieve justice for those who have been waiting for so long for it… and peace of course.
So now I’m sure we all can see just how ugly, hideous and disgusting inhumanity is… Killing without a thought, just like that. They have no value or care for life. Every soul has their own personal life and others who love and depend on them. So when a person is killed, it IS a very huge thing. Life, love, family and many other things destroyed… I don’t have to elaborate on this. We all should know how terrible slaughter is.
And what happens to Palestine? It seems so helpless… To think that the people who have power to condemn and stop this oppression is not doing anything…but again I’d like to give this thought a chance; maybe the politicians could be threatened seriously or something…but still, this on-going conflict must be interrupted.
I tend to think that the oppression in Palestine is quite similar to the global-warming of Earth…
Problems arisen by mankind, where rescue attempts have become in vain…
But always remember, the ones we condemn are the oppressors, not the Israelis, not the Jews, not anything else, but the oppressors, who have no mercy for others.
The Holy Quran clearly declares that killing an innocent person is equivalent to killing the whole humanity. (5:32 Al-Ma idah) There is also a Hadith on oppressors and the oppressed. A ‘Hadith’ is the reports of the sayings and activities of Prophet Muhammad peace upon him, and his companions.
The hadith: Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
“Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is oppressed.” The Prophet was asked: “It is right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” He replied: “By preventing him from oppressing others.”
{Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Hadith 624}
Allaah Knows Best~
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