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Palestine: “Gaza wanted to greet you as victors”

· Written by Mays Dagher

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Israel, Palestine, Disaster, Human Rights, Humanitarian Response, War & Conflict

People throughout the Middle East [1] – and around the world – have been shocked and outraged at the news of the deaths on board the Freedom Flotilla [2] early on Monday.
Palestinian bloggers reacted immediately to the news of Israel's raid [3] on the Gaza-bound aid ships.

Freedom Flotilla - On The Way [4]

Freedom Flotilla – On The Way (photo by FreeGaza, reproduced under Creative Commons Licence)

The students writing at Life on Bir Zeit Campus (Birzeit [5] is a university in the West Bank) are astounded at Israel's actions [6]:

What they have done in the early hours of today is unfathomable. It is senseless. It is horrific, unnecessary, and brutal. […] The worst feeling is that of desolate hopelessness, knowing that you can't do anything, while these good souls on the flotilla have suffered death and injury and terrorizing at the hands of mentally challenged state.

Mutasharrid is a blogger from Gaza who is currently studying in the West Bank, and he writes about his feelings towards the passengers of the flotilla [7]:

أحرار العالم، أيها الارهابيون بتصريح الجيش، لا لم تكسروا الحصار، ولم تتعمّد أناملكم برمال شاطئ طُهرها المخضّب بدموع هُدى وبدماء أخوتها ولا بنيتم قلعة الحريّة الرمليّة هناك، لكنكم كسرتم – روحي فداكم – شيئاً أكثر عصياناً، كسرتم الصورة الكريستاليّة للدولة القائمة على الماكياج والتزييف، نزعتم ورميتم عرضَ البحر قناعها المزوّر، كشرتم عن أنياب أسطول حربي كامل يقف في مواجهة علبة دواء وكرسي مُتحرك!
Free people of the world. Terrorists with an order from the army. No, you didn't break the siege. Your toes did not reach the shores, fertilised by Huda's tears [8] and the blood of her sisters. You did not built the sand castle of freedom there. But you broke – may my soul be sacrificed for you – something bigger. You broke the crystal image of the state built on make-up and falseness. Into the sea, you threw its fake mask, and showed the fangs of a naval fleet, which was on full alert for a box of medicine and a wheelchair.
Freedom Flotilla - Banner [9]

Freedom Flotilla – Banner (photo by FreeGaza, reproduced under Creative Commons Licence)

Ola, who blogs at From Gaza, writes in a post called Pirates of the Mediterranean [10]:

لمن كان يعتقد أن عصر القراصنة قد ولّى ..
أو انه اصبح مقصورا على الخيال في أفلام هوليوود
فكر مرة أخرى !
أما أنتم يا شهداء أسطول الحرية ..
أردات غزة ان تستقبلكم كفاتحين .. فاستقبلتكم السماء كشهداء
تبكيكم امواج البحر والنوارس وشمس الغروب ..
For those who thought that the age of pirates had passed…
Or that it had become confined to fantasy in Hollywood movies…
Think again!
You, the martyrs of the freedom flotilla…
Gaza wanted to greet you as victors…but heaven greets you as martyrs…
The waves of the sea and the seagulls and the sunset all mourn for you…