Mohammed Rabah Suliman

As the Palestinian Authority approaches the United Nations to ask for full membership for the “State of Palestine,” many young people in Gaza are highly doubtful the move can secure Palestinian rights.

Despite its many severely negative results, Israel’s siege of Gaza has offered Palestinian youth a service none had offered before. It offered new paths for us in our struggle for freedom, deepened our patriotic sentiment and finally created an environment that fosters a collective sense of selflessness and cooperation. It has created a young generation that truly cares.

On 30 March 1976, while thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel were protesting against the expropriation of their lands, Israeli security forces shot and killed six of them and injured many. Thirty-five years later, Mohammed Rabah Suliman writes about the significance of Land Day for Palestinians.

The revolution underway in Egypt is being closely watched by Gaza’s youth who see it as a source of empowerment and inspiration. It has stirred our sentiments and has moved us to take to the streets to show our solidarity with our neighbors in Egypt. We attempt to absorb every minute event so as to carry it through the years when we will be able to tell our children how proud we were to have lived through one of the greatest and most inspirational events in the history of the Arab world.