Hearts united in sorrow at Gaza Requiem

Image: Amos Trust

Dr Husan Zomlot, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, said he found it hard to contain his anger and his grief, not least against those who could still justify and actively support 'History's first live-streamed genocide in Gaza.'

Dr Zomlot made his comments at the culmination of a hugely moving and harrowing 'Gaza Requiem' in Westminster Central Hall, organised by the Amos Trust on Monday, 21st October - and just a few hours after footage emerged of the carnage and destruction wrought by the Israeli army on a UN school in Jabaliya, northern Gaza, that was being used as a shelter. (The PM programme of 24th October, 2024, on BBC Radio 4, has a detailed report on this; ghastly images have been captured and witnesses interviewed.)

Dr Zomlot said he was "truly out of words" following the latest atrocity and following the words, music, images and poetry which had gone before. He was directly preceded by the musician Adnan Joubran who had played a searing lament on his oud - "not just a musical instrument but embodying the story of a nation," said Dr Zomlot.

"Thank you for your solidarity and your moral compass at this dark moment for humanity: a genocide," he continued. "We are here to remember the 42,000 dead, the 10,000 unaccounted for and the tens of thousands who have died or will die from related causes, from disease and starvation."

Dr Zomlot stated that, according to the medical journal The Lancet, the total death toll is projected to increase to 186,000, or eight per cent of Gaza's population. This would be five million civilians in UK terms.

Building on the appalling stories and poems of suffering delivered by Arab and British actors earlier on, Dr Zomlot mentioned an eight-year-old girl who had died from severe malnutrition, her flesh barely able to contain her ribcage. He recalled three retired sisters bombed in their home.

He paid homage to Dr Maisara Alrayyes, who had studied at King's College, London and, freshly graduated, had returned to Gaza to look after women and children in accordance with his specialist training. He had lost his life in an Israeli airstrike.

"We must not forget the men, killed in huge numbers," Dr Zomlot urged, before recounting how, only the day before, a five-year old member of his family had died from a shrapnel wound to her head.

"Whole families are being slaughtered in Israel's indiscriminate bombardment and senseless killing," he said, lamenting the "inescapable trauma and deep, deep pain."

"17,000 children are now orphans," he added.

"We draw strength from our shared humanity and values, and our love for one another - from each and every one of you here tonight."

Dr Zomlot, hailed "a global movement for justice, unrivalled since the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s, whose epicentre is here in the UK."

"You cannot deny a people's desire to be free. You cannot bomb away the principles of basic humanity," he asserted, before concluding:

"We will support each other and guide each other. May the memory of what has happened push us towards the light."

The Ambassador was given a standing ovation.

Earlier in the Requiem, the tales of terrible suffering had been accompanied by superb improvised playing on the violin by Bassel Ustavi, while a low musical drone, provided by the musician Brian Eno, continued throughout.

Stark statistics, projected onto a screen, punctuated the spoken testimonies which, themselves, served to personalise the grimly impersonal nature of the numbers.

Projected photographs of Palestinians of all ages from before the current onslaught - generally smiling and full of joy - emphasised the horror and tragedy of what has come to pass.

Requiem derives from the Latin word to rest but for those caught in Gaza there is no rest - unless it come by death.

The statistics are reproduced here from the slides.

7th October, 2023

In an early morning attack, the military wing of Hamas launch thousands of rockets and break through the security fence that surrounds Gaza.

1,143 Israelis killed

3,400 Israelis injured

251 Israelis taken hostage

10.45am Israeli forces begin striking targets in Gaza

198 Palestinians killed in Gaza

War crimes and crimes against humanity were committed

The Hamas attack did not occur in a vacuum

1948

750,000 Palestinians are displaced

520 Palestinian villages destroyed

1967

The Israeli occupation of Gaza begins

1st January, 2008 - 28th September, 2023

16 years of blockade

Four previous major conflicts (2008-9; 2012; 2014; 2021)

Palestinians killed: 6,399 in total; 5,359 in Gaza

Israelis killed: 310

Palestinians injured: 152, 232 in total; 62,887 in Gaza

Israelis injured: 6,350

Zero accountability for war crimes

26th December, 2023

80 days of assault on Gaza

20,624 Palestinians killed

8,200 children killed

306,500 housing units destroyed

310 healthcare workers killed

97 journalists killed

Zero accountability for war crimes

13th February, 2024

130 days of assault on Gaza

27, 947 Palestinians killed

12,150 children killed

360,000 housing units destroyed

124 journalists killed

1,900,000 Palestinians displaced

Zero accountability for war crimes

11th May, 2024

217 days of assault on Gaza

34,904 Palestinians killed

14,500 children killed

243 mosques destroyed

3 churches destroyed

78,514 Palestinians injured

1,100,000 facing famine

Zero accountability for war crimes

1st August, 2024

300 days of assault on Gaza

39,480 Palestinians killed

16,314 children killed

165 journalists killed

500 healthcare workers killed

91,128 Palestians injured

Zero accountability for war crimes

7th October, 2024

365 days of assault on Gaza

41,965 Palestinians killed

17,000 Palestinian children killed

97,590 Palestinians injured

10,000 missing presumed dead

719 West Bank Palestinians killed

1,454 West Bank settler attacks

10,000 amputees in Gaza

986 Palestinian aid workers killed

32 of 36 hospitals partially operational

67.5% Palestinian cropland destroyed

117 schools, universities destroyed

322 schools, universities partially destroyed

430,000 housing units destroyed

206 heritage sites destroyed

2,000,000 Palestinians displaced

Zero accountability for war crimes

Sources: We Are Not Numbers; Human Rights Watch; Government Media Office, Gaza; UN OCHA

These are the titles of the narratives and the poems, together with their authors' names, that were read out. They can all be found online.

The Place Where We Are Right, by Yehuda Amichai; Every Child, by Mosab Abu Toha; Attack, by Weam Abu Daqqa, Shine Like a Diamond, Ahmad Sultan Wuhidi; A Medics' Story, Faress Arafat; Displacement, Aseel Al-Balaawi; Gaza's Night; Hiba Abu Nada; The Blue Fighter, Nowar Diab; Yara's Story (A Childhood Paused), Israa Mohammed Jamal; Rascal Children, by Khaled Juma; A Mother's Journey Through War, Al-Oriwan Shurrab; The Flour Massacre, Ahmed Dader; Rafah Is Closed, Faress Arafat; Dying From Starvation Is Worse Than Dying From Bombs, Ahmed Dremly; and:

If I Must Die by Refaat Alareer

If I must die,

you must live

to tell my story

to sell my things

to buy a piece of cloth

and some strings,

(make it white with a long tail)

so that a child, somewhere in Gaza

while looking heaven in the eye

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze-

and bid no one farewell

not even to his flesh

not even to himself-

sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above

and thinks for a moment an angel is there

bringing back love

If I must die

let it bring hope

On 6 December 2023, Alareer, an academic and poet, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, along with his brother, sister, and four of his nephews.

On 20 October 2023, the poet Hiba Abu Nada (author of Gaza's Night above) was killed by an Israeli airstrike while at her home in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

LINK

Amos Trust's Gaza Emergency Appeal - www.amostrust.org/give/emergency-appeal-for-gaza/