Gaza: Am i not human enough?

The difference between you and me : I stood up and
fought for my lost land and for everything that is
dear to me .
I remember when I attended a three - day workshop
on international law and human rights by the ICRC in
Gaza , one of the attendees asked the trainer : " What
do I do to be qualified to obtain those human rights?"
The trainer replied without much thought : " Nothing.
You should be a human, that's all" .
The question now is , what am I supposed to do/be to
be qualified as a human ? As far as I can tell, I live
like normal humans do. I love , I hate, I cry , I laugh, I
make mistakes , I learn, I dream, I hurt, I get hurt, I
love pizza, I watched Titanic 6 times , I have a crush
on Bradly Cooper , I get sick , I sometimes tell lame
jokes to which only I laugh and last time I checked
myself in the mirror I very much looked human .
The only difference is that an occupying nation came
from nowhere to claim exclusive ownership of my
land on which an endless chain of my ancestors
lived , and they started to ethnically cleanse my
people .
My only sin is that I stood up and fought for my lost
land and for everything that is dear to me .
The world accused me of terrorism just because I
refused to be killed like an animal . But , even an
animal will fight for its life .
I obeyed the US and went to elections ; I voted for a
party which met my expectations . But then I was
punished for practicing the very democracy they
taught me. I didn't realize that the modern definition
of democracy is to elect a party approved by the US ,
not a party that the majority of voters want .
As a result, I was put under severe blockade and
was subject to systematic starvation , locked in a
tiny patch of land isolated from the rest of the world
for years.
I finished my university degree in that period ,
studying for my finals by candle light and writing
entire research papers by hand . I often spent the
long school days without having enough money to
buy food because my father, an engineer , had
nothing to build with .
Within four strenuous years I graduated with big
dreams. Unfortunately, they were bigger than my
reality.
I remained jobless despite the huge potential I have.
I stood up and fought for what I perceived as my
basic rights but what the whole world calls
terrorism . My Gaza that has been exhausted by
poverty and isolation was also subject to three
deadly wars within less than a decade by the Israeli
occupation whose forces are armed to the teeth with
weapons of mass destruction , paid for by US tax
payers .
And the world again blames me for fighting back with
my very humble and often - laughed-at, hand- made
weapons .
Tens of my people are being killed on a daily basis
and I 'm watching my childhood and youth wasted in
pain and utter misery and the world is still labeling
me a terrorist.
I am a terrorist because I fight for my basic rights
which everyone else is taking for granted without
shedding a single drop of blood and without being
dehumanised.
Twenty - seven days of my short life were robbed
from what are supposed to be the most beautiful
years of my life. I spent them watching my loved
ones getting killed because they were not human
enough in the eyes of the world and I will spend
many more years recovering from the war trauma
instead of building my career.
If I don 't survive this war, I would like the world to
know that I have never seen a rocket nor stored any
in my house .
Rest assured that I was not used as a human shield!
As I am writing this article, my mother told my father
that we are out of cooking gas , knowing that we have
been out of water and power for days now.
I still have not figured out what crime I have
committed to endure this kind of wretchedness . I
wonder what being human feels like .
Maisam Abumorr is a graduate of English Literature,
a current student of Translation ( high diploma) and
Political Science and Media (BA ) in the Islamic
University of Gaza , a blogger and a body language
trainer .