Honest Opinion.

Hello there,

Are you a Palestinian?
Who are you with?
Fateh?
Hamas?
etc.

The other day or actually a few days ago, I was sitting in an ordinary coffee shop where an old man noticed I was an Arab from the way I was talking to my father on the phone. As I finish my call, I look to my side and I see him coming over to sit in front of me and asked me a few questions.
He looked at me and said after starting a short conversation, "Ms. Farah, as a Palestinian who do you see is right, Fateh or Hamas?" I gazed into the space and wondered. To be quite honest, I have always been a great fan of Hamas but when he asked me for the first time I thought deeply before I answered and I wondered.
Our land (Palestine) was stolen from us, I live in a country where no relatives are around. I never got the chance to meet my grandparents (From my father's side) and I rarely talked to them on the phone. I was denied the right to enter my country; my land.
So I think... Should I say Hamas or Fateh, and honestly I had this fear in me that this old man sitting right in front of me may be siding with the opposite option of whom I am going to choose; I didn't want to upset him. Should I blame all this on Fateh or Hamas. I am from Gaza and currently Hamas took over Gaza so should I blame Hamas for denying me that right? Should I blame Egypt? Or maybe I should blame myself for yelling at the officer at Rafah's border.
Thoughts take me far away... On usual days, I wake up in the morning and turn on my computer and read the news, keeping up with what my country is going through. This is the only thing I can do since I don't live in Palestine. I read news from various sources and try to find the right source of information; the true source of information. but wait, what does this have to do with what the old man asked. Well, I think the media has effected our lives greatly. People blame each other based on what they read in the news. No wonder I see pro-Israelis around North America supporting Israel, perhaps they have been reading the news that doesn't deliver the full story. I am sure if they see what the Palestinians go through every day because of the occupation, I wouldn't find any pro-Israelis. But oh well, thanks to some "beloved" channels that brainwash our brains with false news.
No wonder I see people siding with Fateh or Hamas and forgeting about their real enemy.
HELLO! Fellow Palestinians, fellow people why do we side with Fateh or Hamas? Why do we favor one over the other? Why do we side with one and not the other?
Hamas and Fateh are in conflict. Let's face it, they are in conflict. They hate each other, and despise each other. Unfortunately, civilians are caught in the middle. This is sad, I find this sad. I bet you do as well.
Palestinians over the years have forgotten their real enemy. You have Palestinians that hate Hamas and hate how they treat Gazans. You have Palestinians that hate Fateh and the way it deals with Israel. You have Palestinians that have made their neighbouring countries their enemies, such as Egypt. I bet you can find one Palestinian at least that hates Egypt for what they have done to the Gazans. Let's not deny it, there are haters out there and they hate for the wrong reason. Forgive me, I am not defending Egypt or defending anyone, I just stating my opinion.
Let's go back to the old's man question. He asked what I think of the Palestinian political image, let's say.
I as a Palestinian have one enemy, one target. Not to mention I do highly dislike the propaganda Fateh is using against Hamas and vice versa. But I am a Palestinian Muslim, shouldn't hate other brother's and sisters in Islam. I am not going to gain anything from hating another Palestinian, he's already facing a whole lot of misery to deal with, this is just going to add more. Why would I want that?! I mean, I always like to put myself in the person's shoe before judging him. So I see that I should hate another Palestinian, no matter what the religion is, at the end we are all Palestinians and we all want our land back. Let's all agree to this point: We as Palestinians want our land back; the land that was stolen from us almost 62 years ago.
Dealing with this point, I am not going to give up now and let the blood and the souls that died from my country go to waste. I shouldn't side against another tribe or organization that also represents Palestine. I should not side with a group of people against another group of people, when we all at the end probably come from the same ancestry. Having said that, we as Palestinians should unite.
Unite?! lol, haven't we been TRYING to do that for many many years? Well, yes we have but we can't lose hope. I have faith in my people; in the Palestinians.
One day we'll realize that we are only harming ourselves by siding against each other. We Palestinians should start taking matters in hand wisely and seriously. We Palestinians SHOULD have a common target; an enemy.
Who have we been fighting for the past years?! Iraq? Lebanon? Egypt? NO!
There is a dirty tribe of people that have stolen and settled in our lands without our permission. They robbed us our lands, demolished our houses, cut down our beloved olive trees, killed our loved ones and denied us our basic rights! Isn't that enough to make this tribe an enemy and an only enemy? Do we really have to go around killing each other instead of spending the time together trying to plan and act on killing the enemy that robbed us our lives...
Suddenly, I am awakened by the nodging hand of the old man on my shoulder and I leave my little world of thoughts and look at him with warm eyes and smile. He looks amused and asks why I am smiling. I tell him: Dear uncle, I have no opinion on what Hamas or Fateh or any other Palestinian party is doing right now in Palestine. they are both wrong. In fact, I think this question is very stereotypical and shouldn't be asked. We are all Palestinians at the end, and we all have one enemy in mind; the Zionists.
The old man smiled and placed his hand over mine and said: Thank God you're mature enough to realize the wrong that has been done in the past. We are all Palestinians at the end. We weren't born to be with Fateh or Hamas. We were born as Palestinians and we should stay that way for the years to come. The Zionists are only our enemies. Nothing more and nothing less.
In conclusion, what I was trying to say is that we Palestinians, no matter whom we side with; Hamas, Fateh..etc. We should always always ALWAYS have one enemy in mind; one target. The Zionists that stole our land almost 62 years ago, they should be our ONLY enemy. Let's not be fooled, We should be Palestinians nothing more. We should always have one goal in mind. Crush those dirty Zionists.


Farah Said.