Tag Archives: First Intifada 1988

“We have nothing…”

Gaza 1988 Intifada (August 28 2014)

Poetic tribute to the children of Gaza, August 2014 by Musab Iqbal:

we have nothing
but wall of words to lean
we have nothing
but sky of promise to look for
we have nothing
but blood stained land to learn history
we have nothing
but flesh of our father in this plastic bag as inheritance
we have nothing
but some empty gaze for meaningful dialogue
we have nothing
but stock of precise smile between two airstrikes
we have nothing
but a soulful resistance against mournful silence
we have nothing
but a dream of being bird and butterfly
we have nothing
but songs of despair and broken jaws
we have nothing
but timeless echo, tireless eyes, deceitful shadows
———-

Photo is some “rascals of Gaza” giving the “V” sign, from the annals of the First Palestinian Intifada, Gaza 1988.

(Photo by Robert Croma)

Women in the First Intifada, Gaza 1988

First Intifada Gaza 1988 (August 28 2014)

From the annals of Palestinian Intifada, Gaza 1988: this is the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza where the women are confronting Israeli soldiers about assaults & arrests of children. The injury rate of children was sky high because under Israel’s “Iron Fist” policy, Israeli soldiers were ordered to break the bones of kids caught throwing rocks.

After this photo was taken the women were assaulted & dispersed with truncheons & tear gas.

(Photo by Robert Croma)

From the annals of Palestinian intifada: Gaza 1988

Intifada 1988 (August 28 2014

From the annals of Palestinian Intifada, Gaza 1988: when Israeli tanks entered Gaza on their murderous mission in July 2014, soldiers gave the “V” sign long associated with peace, not ethnic cleansing. We think now it must have been an unintentional sarcasm. This young boy is from Intifada 1988 in Gaza.

What is called the First Palestinian Intifada lasted six years between 1988 & 1993 when Palestinians rose up en masse against Israeli occupation & it’s “Iron Fist” policy of repression including curfews, murder & assassinations, mass incarceration, land expropriations & house demolitions, forced mass migrations & deportations.

Israel targeted children during that rampage also; 241 of the 1,204 killed were children but hundreds of kids were beaten, tear gassed, shot at, & jailed. One NGO estimated “23,600 to 29,900 children required medical treatment for their beating injuries in the first two years of the intifada”. One-third of these were children under the age of ten.

Images from the First Intifada show many children giving the “V” sign. The photojournalist who took this photo said “”Wherever I went in the West Bank & Gaza Strip in 1988, Palestinian children spontaneously gave ā€˜Vā€™ signs in response to my camera.”

It’s this tough-minded resolve that makes the Palestinian struggle a beacon for suffering humanity everywhere & an inspiration to those who have not yet acted in solidarity.

Boycott all Israeli products (barcode beginning 729); demand “No military aid to Israel!” Keep the pressure on!

(Photo by Robert Croma, Gaza 1988)