A New Year’s Message to US President Joe Biden
Dear Mr President, as we end the year, do you look back on it and think about the Palestinian people in Gaza? When the clock hits twelve, and the New Year's fireworks sparkle in the sky across the United States, will you think of the citizens of Gaza who have been looking at the sky—a home for Israeli bomb-filled warplanes—and fearing for their lives?
Do you know Mr President, how many and who exactly were killed by Israel in Gaza? Just to remind you, twenty-one thousand people have been murdered so far, with the death toll rising indefinitely. Among these were eight thousand children, excluding all the fetuses who died in their mothers' wombs. Young and old, male and female, writers, historians, poets, journalists, engineers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, farmers, teachers, artists, builders, ambulance and taxi drivers, and athletes who excel in all sports—uncountable talents and dreams have been murdered in Palestine in 2023.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. You continue to veto ceasefires saying Israel has a 'right to defend itself.' Against what? We all know that phrase is a deadly rhetoric—deadly, because it has led to mass murder. On that note, Mr President, we refuse to believe you 'support' Israel, where the citizens are protesting to end the war too. Instead, you encourage Israel to proceed with the dual killing of Palestinians and Israelis.
These people, Mr President, built civilisations when the means of life were available to them. Unfortunately, Mr President, you covered their killing and provided the perpetrators with the latest means of lethality produced by factories in your "great nation." Perhaps you do not know that among those being killed, there are brothers of scientists who contributed to building the United States and relatives of professors who teach in your universities. They number in the thousands, teaching your children in your educational institutions, are cousins of Palestinians who gave you their votes, the same votes that helped you reach the White House. These are the people who are categorically killed by your warplanes and missiles.
Mr President, you have been tepidly calling for the establishment of a state for the Palestinians, but what is actually happening is the killing of the citizens of this state before its birth. If the situation continues as it is, then this state that you speak of, will be a prison for orphans, widows, disabled, children, whose memories will forever be tarnished with the terrifying sounds of explosions, the roaring of warplanes, the scenes of the mass burials of their loved ones, and the screams of those stuck under the rubble.
Mr President, why can't you and the United States—the so-called guardian of democracy and human rights—extend the same values and compassion to the persecuted Palestinian people? You were quick to express outrage and immense sadness when you accepted the Israeli propaganda about beheaded babies without any evidence, only to be proven wrong later on. Now, you have seen clear proof of your planes and missiles turning the bodies of thousands of Palestinian children into pieces. Where is that outrage now?
You continue to veto ceasefires saying Israel has a "right to defend itself." Against what? We all know that phrase is a deadly rhetoric—deadly, because it has led to mass murder. On that note, Mr President, we refuse to believe you "support" Israel, where the citizens are protesting to end the war too. Instead, you encourage Israel to proceed with the dual killing of Palestinians and Israelis. You use your "veto" in the United Nations Security Council to prevent any glimmer of justice toward the Palestinians, to shamelessly play political games at the cost of lives.
These vetoes, Mr President, are responsible for the continuation of endless death and destruction. It is responsible for Israel sinking itself in the burning sea and sands of Gaza.
With US funding, Israel continues to perpetuate a "war" with genocidal objectives. It is most disappointing, that after defeating your predecessor Donald Trump, calling him an "existential threat" to democracy, you have stood behind a fascist leader in Israel. Not only is Netanyahu morally wrong, but his objectives are unrealistic in nature too. Netanyahu has no chance of achieving his sadistic quest to demolish the people of Palestine. It is delusional to believe that, after 76 years of resistance, Palestine and its people can be erased.
This letter, Mr President, is a message on behalf of 15 million people who, despite being subjected to the worst kind of horrors taking place in recent history, still fight for freedom, peace and justice. Our Palestinian sage and poet Mahmoud Darwish wisely said: How large the revolution, how narrow the journey, how grand the idea, how small the state. Regarding the Palestinian people, he said: We love life whenever we can; wherever we settle we harvest a murdered man. Palestine will never be erased.
So, Mr President, as we are on the cusp of a new Gregorian year, we wish to bid farewell to the year 2023 with all its tragedies and woes and begin a new year that will bring hope and freedom for the people who have suffered and suffered and suffered. When the fireworks sparkle at the dawn of this new year, we hope you ask yourself: How long will the US remain a ruthless enemy of humanity and how long will you continue to deny us the right to freedom?
His Excellency, Yousef SY Ramadan, is the Palestinian Ambassador to Bangladesh.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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