My beloved mother passed away on December 1, 2023. I hold President Joe Biden accountable for my family’s extremely tragic loss.
I consider myself most blessed that my mother agreed to live in my own house after the death of my dear father in 2006. For years, a very genuine emotional intimacy developed between her and my nuclear family. She was generous, kind, and wished good for all people. Our special memories of her include weddings, birthdays, and even trips to the sea, zoo, and the park.
In September 2023, my mother fell ill and was admitted to Al-Wafaa Hospital, a specialized medical rehabilitation and surgery center in Gaza. She underwent a successful operation, and after a few days, she was discharged to continue special treatment at home. Following medical advice, I bought her a nebulizer machine; she was getting better.
When Israel began waging its brutal war on Gaza in October 2023, it severely attacked thousands of civic Palestinian buildings, inflicting very heavy casualties. My own house, along with many others in the neighborhood, was attacked and reduced to rubble; consequently, I transferred my mother to my brother Eiad’s house, and sought refuge for my family at an UNRWA school-shelter. Although it was risky to move around, we still managed to visit my mother at her new place.
Very sorrowfully, the conditions in Gaza kept getting dramatically worse. Israeli military forces targeted Gazan hospitals and health care centers, causing severe damage to the ambulances and vital equipment, killing and injuring some staff members and patients, and forcefully evicting the others. In addition, due to Israel’s vicious, illegal blockade on Gaza, economic sectors entirely collapsed, resulting in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. It was extremely difficult for Palestinians to find their simplest needs, such as food, water, electricity, telecommunication, fuel, and medication. For example, it took very long hours of hard work to get some water; therefore, less water meant less cleanliness and more diseases. In order to operate certain electric devices (e.g., mother’s nebulizer and battery chargers), we purchased a generator, but unfortunately, the great scarcity of fuel made using that almost impossible. Moreover, the medications that my mother had been taking were no longer available in drugstores. Consequently, her condition was markedly deteriorating.
Indeed, we were having a time fraught with great depression and frustration. We managed to call a specialist doctor to examine my mother; he said that she urgently needed intensive hospital care. As all hospitals and health care centers in Gaza had gone out of service, we were rendered completely helpless. On the morning of December 1, 2023, my brother’s neighborhood came under heavy Israeli bombardment, causing serious damage to his house. Around 8:30, he called and bitterly cried with the most devastating news I ever heard, “Our mother has just passed away!”
Mr. President Joe Biden,
As the leader of the United States of America, you are held responsible for my mother’s tragic death. This accusation has, in fact, several reasonable grounds.
First, you blatantly provided the full political support of the American government to Israel since the first day it launched its brutal war on Gaza. You unquestionably adopted the Israeli narrative of events, which turned out to be filled with barefaced lies. On the other hand, you deliberately ignored Palestinians’ ongoing suffering over the past 76 years. It is outrageous that you have had a double-standard attitude towards occupied Palestinians and Ukrainians. The Israeli atrocities against Palestinians since 1948 are well-documented. Sir, even several top officials in the world spoke honestly about the conflict. For example, Antonio Guterres, UN General Secretary, recently said, “History did not begin on October 7, 2023.” And Ayman Safadi, Jordanian Foreign Minister, commented, “Hamas hasn’t created the conflict; the conflict has given rise to Hamas.” My mother’s own life serves as an illustration of how Israel has been oppressing Palestinians for decades. Here are some of her ordeals:
– When Israel was established on 78% of historic Palestine in 1948, my mother was just a child living in luxury and peace with her family at Kofakha Village, a few miles away from Gaza. However, Israeli soldiers brutally devastated the village, and my mother’s family left their property and only just escaped with their lives to Gaza.
– As refugees in Gaza, my mother’s family lived in grinding misery. She could not go to school, and she learned needle-knitting to support her blind father, ill mother, and her only brother, Salah. Unfortunately, her mother had no access to necessary medical care and died shortly after they arrived in Gaza. In 1965, her brother Salah traveled to work in Kuwait to support the family financially, but a few months later, her father died.
– In 1967, Israel invaded and occupied the remaining Palestinian territories of historic Palestine (namely, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem). As Uncle Salah was abroad at that time, Israeli occupation regulations denied him the right to return and live in Gaza, which was a gross violation of human rights. As stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” Oddly enough, Israel allows any Jewish person worldwide to immigrate and settle in historic Palestine! My mother was broken-hearted when my Uncle Salah died in exile ten years ago.
– In addition to the 1948 and 1967 wars, my mother had first-hand experiences with very traumatic consequences during five other aggressive Israeli wars (in 2008/09, 2012, 2014, 2021, and 2023/24). In the 2014 and 2023/24 wars, my beautiful house, where my mother lived after my father died, was destroyed by Israeli military aircrafts, resulting in severe injuries and devastating homelessness and displacement hardships. Now deceased, my mother will not suffer more Israeli wars and genocidal acts against Palestinians. God rest her soul.
Second, in addition to your political support, you have also offered unwavering military support to Israel. You have approved of the American government’s sending Israel hundreds of tanks and aircrafts, and thousands of tons of extremely destructive weapons. This support cost billions of dollars, but Israel has received it for free and has been using it in the indiscriminate destruction of Gaza and the slaughter of so many Palestinian civilians.
Finally, during Israel’s violent assault on Gaza, the U.S. representative in the Security Council from your administration used vetoes to block the proposal for a ceasefire, against the will of the international community. These vetoes meant a call for more killing, harder destruction, and a more severe siege on Gaza.
By January 11, 2024 (Day 97 of the war), the official toll of Palestinian casualties reached 23,708 (killed), 60,005 (injured) and 7,000 (missing, mainly trapped under the rubble). Most of these victims were children and women. I wonder how many more Palestinians must be killed by Israelis (with American weapons!) before you, Mr. President, consider supporting a ceasefire? In fact, the Palestinian people are eager for more than a ceasefire or temporary truce intended for humanitarian aid (bandages, drugs, etc.). They do not like war, and they do not like occupation, either. The Palestinian people have an irrepressible sense of hope to live like all other nations in freedom and peace.
That you have been backing Israel’s war on Gaza is legally recognized as a complicity with Israel in its unrelenting violations of human rights and international laws. This has provoked mass demonstrations all over the world, including the United States. Many American human rights activists have even frankly admitted that they feel ashamed of their government for deliberately supporting the Israeli attack on Gaza. As stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.” During Israel’s war on Gaza, my mother, as well as so many innocent Palestinians, was denied these rights. Her tragic story bears a worthy testimony.
Dear Mr. President,
You celebrated your 81st birthday in November 2023; happy birthday to you. The celebration joyously took place while many Palestinians were grieving the death of their beloved relatives and friends, the victims of Israel’s massacres in Gaza. You were eating delicious birthday cake while many Palestinians were dying of starvation and inaccessibility to medical care. You were receiving lovely birthday presents while many Palestinians were receiving deadly Israeli bombs and rockets produced and paid for by the USA. Is this fair, Mr. President?
All humans are mortal, and you, too, will die, Mr. President. I strongly believe that before you die, you can still rectify your injustices against Palestinians, including the tragic death of my dear mother, by stopping your evident complicity with Israel in its atrocities against Palestinians. The Palestinian people are strongly determined to live like all other nations independently and peacefully. I strongly believe that, as the President of the USA, you can still compel Israel to respect human rights laws and United Nations resolutions. This, of course, will also help create stability and peace for all nations in the region. By doing this, you will earn your place in the history books as a truly great leader, and most probably you will be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace and re-elected president. May occupation and oppression stop, and may justice win in the end!
