In ‘regular’ times between denial and forgetting, we sit in Migdalor’s circle, meet ourselves and travelers happening to pass by, speak about ‘Gaza consciousness’, try to extricate from our circle mates’ consciousness memory, emotion and discovery of this space. We listen to people who, all of a sudden, without previous planning, while being served with coffee, have to relate to Gaza and say what it means for them – sometimes this is surprising, at times obvious and expected, and always making up a human puzzle that constitutes the larger picture of our living space.
Today, for the time in a long time, we could not physically reach the sulfur plant. The Israeli army spread barriers on access toads and prevented our entering the Migdalor site (we tried).
But consciousness cannot be blocked. For a short while, the awareness of Gaza’s space blows up for the whole world to see and hear, a big bang. For a short while only. Then Gaza will be forgotten again in a dark corner of one’s mind.
In this short interim, denial and forgetting blow up in our face in blood and fire, destruction and bereavement, rage and revenge. Humans who received a definite and timed lifetime, lose their lives. The criminals pad themselves in rights that were supposedly given to them by god and history.
On ‘regular’ days I add the list of participants in the circle. Today I wish to name the victims of this round of the Gaza wars. A very partial list, out of the Israeli press:
Ido, Omar, Amira, Abed, Bara, Nabil, Osmat, Raed, Zakariya, Moussa, Bashir, Mustafa, Saber, Mohammad, Moammad, Ibrahim, Yousef/Yosef, Rahaf, Yazin, Hussein, Ahamad, Salim, Sahumiya, Leah, Khaleel, Nadine, Nella.
Wrote: Oded