Political Quotes

“This is from Baha, a Palestinian from the West Bank: My name is Baja Ebdeir, and I am from the occupied village of Beit Nattiff. Now I live in Beit Jala. This past Ramadan, Israel refused to issue permits for Palestinians to observe prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque. However, my father was one of the few luckiest to be issued a permit for a medical appointment he had at the hospital in East Jerusalem. It was not the medical appointment itself that got my father all excited and happy, but the fact that he could use it to observe the holiest night of Ramadan, Laylit Al-Qadr, the night of decree, at Al-Aqsa Mosque, where our destiny is determined by God for the whole year. Before he left, my father told us, ``After all, I have a permit, what could happen?'' Actually, a lot happened in the two days my father spent at Al-Aqsa. As the evening went by, an army of Israeli soldiers began to increase in number. As soon as the Imam uttered ``Allah Akbar,'' God is the greatest, to start off the holiest night prayer, Israeli soldiers threw gas canisters at worshipers. As a result of the excessive amount of gas my father inhaled, his severe coughing continues until today and his eyes are as red as blood. Usually my father never shares his fears with me, but this time he opened up and I listened with awe. With every cough, my father vividly remembers Al-Aqsa Mosque as a war zone where Israeli soldiers shot rubber bullets and threw gas canisters at Palestinians.…”