A Gaza Woman’s Nakba Story and Palestinian Rights

And I've never forgotten going to Gaza,

must be almost 30 years ago,

and meeting an older woman in Gaza.

And she told me about her life,

and it turned out that she was

pretty much the same age as my mother.

And so I sat down with her,

we had tea and talked, and talked for quite a long time.

And she said to me,

how's your mother, what does she do?

So I described my mother's life,

which had been a wonderful life

and very fulfilling in many ways.

And she had four children, I'm one of them.

She was able to work and she was able to pursue interests

and able to make a great contribution

for peace and sustainability in the world.

So in a sense, she had a very fulfilling life.

And then I said, look,

you don't need to know about my mom, what about you?

So she described growing up in Jaffa,

growing up in a lovely home,

orange trees, olive trees all around her,

lovely childhood.

She said, and then it happened.

I knew what had happened, but I said, what happened?

She said, the Nakba, 1948,

removed from her home, driven from her home,

and she ends up in Gaza.

And she's lived in Gaza ever since.

And I said, describe your life.

She said to me,

in reality, my life stopped in 1948.

Ever since then, I've lived under occupation,

I've lived under siege and I rely on the United Nations

for food, for water, and education for my children.

I said, what happened to your children?

One's dead, one's in prison in Israel,

and two have gone aboard.

So she was living there, her husband had died.

So she was just living there on her own with her memories.

And it just, it really etched my mind

how the brutality of global politics,

brutality of denying the aspirations

of the Palestinian people affected,

yes, this woman and others.

And so I've always had this determination.

And because we stand up for Palestine,

because we stand up against

the Israeli occupation of Palestine,

the accusations are made that somehow or other

it's anti-Semitic to do that.

My mother, in 1936, was in the East End of London

with the Jewish community,

with the Jewish people, opposing fascism.

And I'm with Jewish people

that also oppose the occupation of Palestine.

There is nothing anti-Semitic

in supporting Palestinian people.