A bet on time

After the Israeli war on Gaza entered its fourth month and the withdrawal of divisions and brigades of the Israeli army from the northern Gaza Strip began, the displaced are still at great distance from their homes, which they dream of returning to, even though the vast majority were destroyed by the occupation with its brutal aggression.

There is no doubt that the issue of the right of return, the permanent, established and immutable right of the Palestinians, is very similar to the equation of the situation in Gaza today. The right of citizens to return to their homes is a sacred right after the occupation deprived them of all their life and livelihood rights. Even the bags of flour around which a number of displaced people who had no shelter, food or clothing gathered, the occupation insisted on dampening their joy with its arrival, so they opened fire on them, preventing the flour of life that the women of Gaza prepares from the remaining firewood from igniting a flame and placing the bread within the reach of the children.

The Palestinians are betting on a firm hope of returning to their homes. Even if the time factor is long or deceptive. They see their return as a revival of their heritage, customs and traditions, and a nostalgia for all the things they lost. No matter how long it takes, the Palestinian will not forget his history in the land of his fathers and grandfathers.

Palestinian suffering still dominates all images and scenes of life in the Gaza Strip. It will go through long paths of fear, sadness, panic, and pain, after experiencing the bitterness of displacement, murder, and isolation. The Gazans will be very determined to return to telling parents the most vibrant stories to their children.

At a time when there is a lot of talk about the day after the war and who will rule the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian people are the true standard for any ruling authority, as Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Ede said in an interview in Davos yesterday, Tuesday. He stated that Norway believes that the unified Palestinian territories should be administered by the Palestinian Authority, but “it must be what the Palestinians want before anything.”

What the Palestinians want is national unity in its finest form. But above all, they want the occupation that is sitting on their chests to leave, out of their belief in the truth and the inevitable coming victory. They want to see Gaza put on the clothes of revival from its stumble, to put the foundations of construction back into the long wheel of life and to overcome tragedies and disasters with will, resolve and determination.

Betting on time is an important factor. Through it, the people of Gaza increase their steadfastness and their sacrifices for the sake of a decent life after about 103 days of war of destruction, which will not prevent the Palestinian people from reaching their goals and realizing their dreams and ambitions.