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Palestinian schoolboys sitting beside the empty seats of friends who were killed in Israel's December 08/January09 bombing raid on Gaza. (Photo by Mohammed Omer)
Moign Khawaja’s beautifully written piece in Foreign Policy Journal examines the notion of hope in the aftermath of Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza which claimed over 1,000 Palestinian lives (at least one third of which were children) and left thousands more injured and homeless – and all this in less than 30 days, compliments of the Israel ‘Defense’ Forces.
Debating Hope for the Forgotten — By Moign Khawaja
It was Amal’s last day at the university where she studies English language teaching. Despite being the last day of her academic career, the aspirant Gazan teacher is in no mood to take it lightly. She dressed modestly but smartly, grabbed her bag and set off for the university that is hardly 15 minutes away from her house in central Gaza. She insisted that the last day of the academic year would be wrapped up by a debate competition where she is leading a team of three women who are also aspiring to become teachers.
“So why study English and become a teacher?” I asked Amal when she was about to leave her home for the university.
“I want to help my country by expressing their suffering at the hands of the occupation,” Amal told in a firm tone. “Would you be able to do this by being a teacher? I interrupted to gauge her intentions. “I will teach my students English language. Despite all the miseries they still have great will power. They want to study, to struggle for their rights and want to return to their occupied lands. I believe in them. They have great powers,” said Amal resolutely.
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