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| Mohammed El-Kurd |
The following is a letter written to U.S. President Barack Obama
by Palestinian teenager Mohammed
El-Kurd.
I spotted it shared on Facebook dated January 3. I couldn't find in what context the above photo was taken or the letter written, but I had to share it.
The question is, will President Obama hear?
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Dear President Obama,
I am 14 and live in the Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Almost four years ago my family and I were evicted from part of our home by Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli court decisions. The process has made life almost unbearable for me and tens of thousands of Palestinians. Settlers are working towards Jewish control of all of East Jerusalem, at times using violence against Palestinians.
This was once a beautiful neighborhood. Everybody was so close, and before part of my house was evicted, I was never afraid of going to sleep. We used to have no worries. Now it doesn't feel like a Palestinian neighborhood any more. All the signs are in Hebrew, and the music too.
The people who've been evicted have
lost financially and emotionally. My father has stopped going to work for
almost a year, because it was so crowded and dangerous and every day there was
tension and violence, so he couldn't just leave us alone in the house with the
settlers. The little kids wet their beds. My sister couldn't sleep. The
settlers have a dog in our house and every time it went past, she wet herself.
This thing that happened tore us
apart. We were one big family, and now everyone lives in a different city. We
are extremely uncomfortable and uncertain about what is going to happen here.
Children my age and much younger are regularly arrested, interrogated and
beaten by Israeli police, and violently attacked by settlers. For most of my
life I have felt unsafe and threatened in my own neighborhood and even in my
own home.
Mr. President, you have the power to
change that. The most simple thing you could do is see our situation for
yourself and speak out about it, to see the reality and talk about what you
see. It's not like you don't know what's happening here. I'm sure you know
everything.
On this trip I hope that you will
speak out against the Israeli government's role in supporting the settlers and
pressure the Israeli government to change its policies. U.S. military aid to
Israel is used directly against unarmed Palestinian demonstrators. I hope in
the future you will stop giving military aid to support Israel's illegal
occupation of my people.
I also hope that in the future
justice will return to the people. I hope the world will begin to speak out
against the oppression we face in my neighborhood and [the oppression] against
all Palestinians. That you and others will not remain silent while our homes
are taken, children are arrested and injured, and our future threatened.
Mr. President, we want our houses
back. And our pre-1948 land. It's not fair what's happening here, and most of
the world doesn't realize it. So if I had one wish I would get everyone's
rights back. From a little ball they stole from a boy in the street to a big
farm they stole from a grandfather.
Mohammed El-Kurd
