Today, in the market, I saw “Dubai Chocolate” gleaming rudely among the other snacks. Nuts and coffee are now present here in a city where you cannot find a single pill of medicine. This made me feel very sad and oppressed.
Just a week ago, I went from one pharmacy to another in Khan Younis searching for medicine for my son, Zain. I only managed to get it through my network of relations. No medicine, no meat, no chicken, and no fuel here. Nothing that can sustain living for a single day. Basic and necessary food that the body needs is not allowed in yet. This is what is described as “famine designing”. “They” open the crossings for sweets, coffee, and nuts so that the the world thinks we are fine while “they” prevent what is important for us to survive.
It is a way to show that we are full; we are not suffering of hunger, however, it is a mean to push us towards silent death. How can a human being survive on snacks all the time? What a play they are performing! It is a well-studied starvation method that is being controlled by “pressing on buttons” from a distance. “They” decide when we eat and when we starve; when we live and when we should die!
What oppression is this! Which world is this that chooses to send us chocolate instead of medicine? This attitude has surpassed everything. Pain is deeply rooted in the heart, not in the stomach. We are surrounded by injustice; by a cold universe whose appetite is open to watching us die. Unfortunately, we are not on anybody’s mind.
Malek Al-Shinbari
03/11/2025
(Translated by the Palestinian Stories’ team)
