Preparing. Not Exhaling.

Why we cannot let our guard down for a moment in the struggle for freedom

Preparing not exhaling

We have seen the Palestinians celebrating and making their way home. It is a beautiful sight to see their happiness after so much misery that they have endured.

We are all hoping for the best. We are hoping that the mass murder will subside. But we know it won’t stop.

During the last ceasefire we made the mistake of hoping that we had time. We thought the world had come to its senses and put a hard stop on the Israeli and imperialist war machine. We know better now.

We know that Israel will not stop in its quest to ethnically cleanse Gaza and will continue to commit genocide and whatever it can get away with because the world continues to allow it to do so. We see it in the rumblings from mainstream news, accusing Hamas of reneging on returning all dead Israelis (almost all killed by Israeli bombings). This condition that was going to be impossible to fulfill was a poison pill that would enable Israel to back away from its commitments knowing that it never once intended to honour them.

So we don’t breathe a sigh of relief like we did during the first ceasefire because we know better. We know that they will resume their war crimes in full force as soon as they feel safe to do so.

So what do we do?

We need to get as many people who need medical attention to receive it as soon as possible. We need to get those most badly injured out so that they can be treated in Jordan and Egypt.

We need to give as much as we can and hope that people are able to get whatever resources they can while it is relatively possible. Right now prices are, according to people on the ground, less expensive than they were a week or two ago. That sounds all well and good but the reality is that the people in Gaza have no money; they spent what little they had and so even if the food is half the cost it is still more than they can afford.

This means we need to front load as much money and donations as we can while we have this brief window.

And then we prepare ourselves to continue the struggle.

The worst thing you can do when you are still in an athletic competition is to sit down and relax. When you do that your muscles start to tense and cramp up. All of the wear and tear that your body was able to ignore during the moment comes to hit you hard if you completely stop and relax.

The best thing you can do at that moment is to lower your heart rate but keep moving. Keep limber and keep yourself physically and mentally ready to move again. That is what we need to do. We need to assume that this is just a breather and that we will need to move again rapidly.

For everyone who loves Palestine and supports the cause of freedom; we cannot relax. We have to be prepared to continue the fight that the Palestinians are more than likely going to have to take back up again very soon.

I wish I had a nicer message of hope but I don’t think I can offer that right now. We need to assume new levels of depravity will come and be prepared to fight them.

Lets give thanks for the pause. Lets recoup where we can. But most important lets keep an eye out and be prepared to resume the fight.

Even if this ceasefire holds longer than we expect, we have to remember, ceasefire is a step. We do not stop fighting until we reach liberation. Ceasefire is a start, but freedom is the end-goal, and we do not let up one bit until the world gives Palestine the freedom that it has struggled and resisted to achieve for the past century!

Until Palestine is free,

Hammam Farah, Executive Director and Founder, Elham Fund

Selim Tlili, Board Member and Volunteer, Elham Fund

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The Elham Fund is a Palestinian-led Canadian non-for-profit.

To date the Elham Fund has raised and distributed over CAD $155,000 in direct cash transfers, delivered needed supplies inaccessible through other means, and provided lifesaving chronic medications.

If you would like to make a gift today to support families existing and resisting genocide, please visit elhamfund.ca.