Inter Natonal Soldirty with Palestine

 GAZA, Three Years Later, The Bombings Continue

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Considering the recent bombings of Gaza and looking back at Operation Cast Lead

Is there a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and how is the international community complicit? Was there, in fact, a breach of international humanitarian law and human right violations during Operation Cast Lead? With the use of US manufactured weapons being used on civilians, what is the role of the US and the responsibility of Americans in particular?

 -witness account treating patients in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, as one of the only two international doctors allowed in. He will also discuss the conditions of Gaza, three years after Operation Cast Lead.

WHO IS HANDALA?

 

WHO IS HANDALA

From approximately 1975 through 1987 Naji Al-Ali created cartoons that depict the complexities of the plight of Palestinian refugees. These cartoons are still relevant today and Handala, the refugee child who is present in every cartoon, remains a potent symbol of the struggle of the Palestinian people for justice and self-determination.

Naji Al-Ali wrote: “The child Handala is my signature, everyone asks me about him wherever I go. I gave birth to this child in the Gulf and I presented him to the people. His name is Handala and he has promised the people that he will remain true to himself. I drew him as a child who is not beautiful; his hair is like the hair of a hedgehog who uses his thorns as a weapon. Handala is not a fat, happy, relaxed, or pampered child. He is barefooted like the refugee camp children, and he is an icon that protects me from making mistakes. Even though he is rough, he smells of amber. His hands are clasped behind his back as a sign of rejection at a time when solutions are presented to us the American way."

Handala was born ten years old, and he will always be ten years old. At that age, I left my homeland, and when he returns, Handala will still be ten, and then he will start growing up. The laws of nature do not apply to him. He is unique. Things will become normal again when the homeland returns.

I presented him to the poor and named him Handala as a symbol of bitterness. At first, he was a Palestinian child, but his consciousness developed to have a national and then a global and human horizon. He is a simple yet tough child, and this is why people adopted him and felt that he represents their consciousness."