A Reflection:
I have waited to share about my time in Palestine.
Not because it did not move me. But because I have struggled to find words that feel honest enough to carry what I witnessed.
We use words like occupation. We use words like apartheid. But even those feel too small and too distant from the daily reality of a people living under constant control, dispossession, and surveillance. What I saw was not abstract. It was not human. It was relentless.
I walked through hospitals stretched beyond capacity. Schools doing everything they can with less and less. Refugee camps where generations have grown up without ever knowing freedom. Soup kitchens feeding families who once stood firmly on their own feet. All of it made more fragile by the loss of critical support from UNRWA and UNICEF. Systems meant to sustain life are being stripped away, and yet life continues.
And the people.
A people of insurmountable faith.
They speak of their reality with a calm that unsettels you. Stories of checkpoints, home demolitions, arrests, land confiscation, and humiliation told without spectacle. Without anger. Often without even a change in tone. Just a quiet “Alhamdulilah” and a deep trust in Allah’s plan.
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It is not that they do not feel. It is that they have been forced to carry so much for so long that resilience has become second nature. There is a numbness, yes. But beneath it is something far more powerful. A dignity that refuses to be taken. A faith that refuses to be shaken. A people who continue to exist, to love, to build, even when the world debates their humanity.
This is not a conflict. It is not a dispute between equals. It is a system of control imposed on a people who deserve freedom, safety, and self determination.
And still, they rise every day with sabr. With iman. With hope.
So I ask myself, and I ask all of us.
What does it mean to witness this and remain unchanged?
What does it mean to see clearly and still hesitate to speak clearly?
Palestine does not need our pity. It demands our courage. Our consistency. Our willingness to name injustice for what it is and to stand firmly on the side of liberation.
May we be worthy of the stories we have been trusted to carry. More to come inshallah.
Alhamdulilah for the people of Palestine. And may Allah grant them justice, freedom, and ease.
Sincerely,
Mohamed Gula, Interim CEO for Emgage Action
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