Gaza is part of you and it deserves freedom

Has anyone ever pondered the significance of a country's flag? What does it truly represent to each of us? Is it merely a piece of cloth adorned with various colors like red, blue, black, white, and green, or does it bear a more profound symbolism?

Let's shift our focus to the enduring situation in Palestine, which has remained a prominent issue since its occupation in 1947. Unraveling the pages of its tragic history could consume copious amounts of time and discussion.

Nonetheless, if today, the world's writers, intellectuals, storytellers, business leaders, and political figures fail to extend their support to Gaza in some way, it seems that they might lose a vital aspect of their humanity and one of the world’s wings, called Gaza. Will that be easy?

This is not the moment for idle analysis while Gaza gradually fades away. Instead, it is the time to promptly assess and safeguard it.

Gaza, at its core, embodies our shared humanity. It epitomises the countless innocent men and women who have perished, those who still linger on the waiting list for aid.

It signifies the children who have lost their lives, as well as those who are barely clinging to survival, witnessing their parents' half-lived existence.

The concept of leadership and its true role in such crises remains elusive to me. After all, how can one define themselves as a man or a woman unless they recognize "Gaza" within themselves today?

This composition is not about politics or business; it is about "humanism." In Gaza today, human lives are being extinguished, families displaced, individuals subjected to torture, and people forcibly uprooted from their homeland.

How can the world afford to ignore and let Palestine vanish? Consider the verses of Mahmoud Darwish, the renowned Palestinian poet:

Your eyes are a thorn in my heart

Inflicting pain, yet I cherish that thorn

And shield it from the wind.

I sheathe it in my flesh, I sheathe it, protecting it from night and agony,

And its wound lights the lanterns,

Its tomorrow makes my present

Dearer to me than my soul.

And soon I forget, as eye meets eye,

That once, behind the doors, there were two of us.

Mahmoud Darwish, in his poignant poems, continues to express:

I have seen you in casks of water, in granaries,

Broken, I have seen you a maid in night clubs,

I have seen you in the gleam of tears and in wounds.

You are the other lung in my chest;

You are the sound on my lips;

You are water; you are fire.

Gaza is an integral part of our collective identity, and it rightfully deserves freedom. The message emanating from Gaza may not be perceived the same way by everyone in the world, but I believe it serves as a resounding call for the restoration of Palestine's freedom.

A second message to the global community is to refrain from annexing land through force and usurping the freedom and individuality of nations.

The third message underscores the imperative need for new laws and regulations to safeguard the freedom of all nations.

The writer is lecturer and advisor at Oman College of Management and Technology. morwared@hotmail.com