As little kids, we grew up with many dreams, wishing we can fulfill them all. Becoming a doctor, longing for a love story with a future partner, sleeping between the warm arms of your kids, traveling around the world, or even becoming renowned media personalities. Dreams that seem so legitimate and doable for many, but not for Palestinian children. Growing up in an environment where a sense of security ceases to exist and threats of violence that you hope will pass by peacefully, teaches you to have simpler dreams..dreams that include not becoming another casualty on the way to school or being evacuated from your home, whose walls have hold all your years of childhood and adulthood. And yet, even that benign and basic wish of theirs, is ultimately denied, as is the case currently in the Sheikh Jarrah district.
Palestinians are living with a constant threat that one day they can wake up to find other people sleeping on their bed, playing with their favorite toy, and replacing their 50 year old furniture they’ve cherished and protected for years. Currently, the Sheikh Jarrah district is living this nightmare, and an ongoing danger for its residents continues to be present as they are being evacuated from their homes. They have been fighting over and over again, for as long as they have been living, but will this ordeal ever end? Will Palestinian children ever get the chance of fulfilling their dreams, besides that of finding a safe home?
Since Sunday, Palestinian families have been protesting and chanting against the decision to expel residents of Sheikh Jarrah forcefully from their neighborhood, stripping away their lifetime residence and allowing Israeli settlers instead to unrightfully claim possession of their homes. Brave Palestinians vowed to protect and sustain their right of living in the district they were meant to stay in, for they too, deserve to have a permanent place they can call home. Arab citizens too have a duty in sharing their plea!
The situation has only escalated back in the small neighborhood, where civil resistance is adamant on protecting their homes, as well as their neighborhood. Facing one of the most horrific policies of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem, citizens have been aiming at intensifying solidarity with the rest of the Sheikh Jarrah residents, taking a steadfast and defiant stance in the face of Israeli forces. The Palestinian Red Crescent has announced two injuries so far during clashes that took place with the Israeli forces, and both have been admitted to the hospital.
The hashtag #SaveSheikhJarrah has been circulating all over social media, showing solidarity and support to the audacious residents who are risking their lives for the sake of justice, and protecting one of the very few dreams they can wish for at the moment, keeping their homes.
