My Jihad

This Palestinian flag was drawn by Iman Mohammed, 12 years old, at UN school.

In the picture, a hand representing a tree comes up from the earth with a key. Many Palestinians kept the keys to homes they left or were driven out of in 1948.

In the background is a Palestinian flag and, inside the arm, a map of Israel and the Palestinian territories in a keffiyeh pattern.

More and more in the last few days I have been sitting my eyes glued on my laptop screen. I have got involved with several ways with the war on Palestine. I have cried, I have joined to different virtual groups, I have bought Palestinian goods ( of which the first ones came through my mailbox today), and I have spent time to explain people who don't quite know what is going on and why it is going on, the reasons why people of Palestine are angry.
Now, mostly I have been thinking of how to help Palestinians when all of this is over. I have ideas in my head, but I am not quite sure where to take them, how to get involved or who to approach. My idea of praying 24 hours never took off, no imam replied to my mails saying we will do it. So as they are condemning Israelis actions, they still very much stay in the back ground. Today people have gathered to London for the demonstration, like every where else in the world. I wonder if this still is going to lead anywhere. I am glad to hear voices from the Jewish community saying that all of us are not thinking this is right, but so disappointed to the US senate decision of supporting Israel on this blood path. Shame on the land of freedom!

So what about my ideas of the after math. I have been thinking how to get counselling to those children who have been seeing things that no child should be seeing. So this requires Arabic speaking councillors to get together and see if they can go to the war zone and help these little souls, not to forget, but to live with it. I am crocheting peaces to make some baby blankets, so if someone is going there, they could take them with them. And I told to husband that I do not want to have a holiday, but I am thinking to send my husband to Palestine to help with re-building Palestine. So I have noticed, this has become my jihad. I am not taking my battles with guns, but with shouting my opinion in the Internet by doing lots of different things. I have also put myself on the list of distributing Palestinian products with no profits. My husband has told me that there is too much news on the tele as Al Jazera is on all the time and believe me, he is the last person that you would expect to hear this from. So I am proud to have this newly found Jihad, which I know I share with lots of people. So I carry on to do what I have been doing all the way and hope that there are more and more people joining me and the others who find this war as a disgusting peace of showing off western "democracy" and justice.