December 2023 marks nine hundred months since the inception of our ongoing Palestinian Nakba and resistance. We embrace life whenever we can. This story begins with our steadfast resistance against the bloodbath, the genocidal war, displacements, and ethnic cleansing orchestrated by the colonial apartheid regime against Palestinians for over 75 years. Despite their attempts, they have never and will never succeed; this land will forever belong to the Palestinians and will always be Palestine.
Typically, December illuminates Bethlehem, celebrating Christmas in the Land of the Birth. This year, we reflect on our families, our beloved ones, and those who have lost families, children, wives, parents, homes, and, most importantly, their sense of being human with equal rights. For over 75 years, we have not found equal justice in the international world. We have become the poppy flower, growing in the land, and dying for the land—a symbol of Palestinian martyrs, embodying the reality of Palestinian life.
In Palestine this year, we have 22,404 poppy flowers and thousands injured with no cure. We have over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners living in tombs while breathing, oppressed, martyred inside prisons. They cannot see the sun or move freely within a room shared with ten others. Of them, 472 have spent over twenty years in colonial apartheid prisons, and 559 face a life sentence for loving their land and resisting for their right to live in a free Palestine.
Since October 7th, the colonial apartheid regime has used Palestinian prisoners as a means to punish, oppress, and martyr them. Seven Palestinians lost their lives inside colonial apartheid prisons, raising the total martyred Palestinian prisoners since 1967 to 244. Yet, international governments grant the colonial apartheid regime the right to defend a claim they never had and won’t have while we breathe, live, and maintain our roots in this land.
Palestine has never been free from colonialism or occupation, but Palestinians have never given up the fight for justice. We are born for this and will continue to resist until every inch of Palestine is reclaimed.
Amidst this genocide and efforts to erase Palestinian history, Lajee Center emerges, with a mission to empower women and youth to build Palestine by understanding their rights, culture, and addressing community needs.
This month, we focused on allowing children and women in Lajee Center to express their feelings and thoughts about the situation within the center’s units.
Lajee Celtic
Unfortunately, training for youths and children within Lajee Celtic had to be temporarily halted due to the current situation and tear gas attacks by the colonial apartheid regime army directed at the Lajee football field.
ACLAI Palestine Gym
Throughout this month, we recorded 244 visits to the gym. Efforts were made to reinstate boxing training, which had been suspended for two months due to the situation in Aida camp and the boxing coach’s inability to reach the Bethlehem area.
Health Unit
This month, community health workers conducted 192 visits to various patients suffering from chronic diseases (such as hypertension and diabetes), totaling 118 patients from the Aida and Al-Azza camps.
Emergency visits were conducted during this month, with communication with Dr. Mohammed Abu Srour to develop an appropriate treatment plan, prescribing suitable medications, or ordering specific medical tests.
Two visits per patient were conducted during the month, focusing on controlling conditions by providing necessary medications, adjusting dietary plans, and encouraging physical activity. These visits aimed to provide psychological support alongside health monitoring.
A first aid workshop was presented to the first group of patients, consisting of 15 patients, with the presence of Dr. Mohammed Abu Srour. The topics included wounds, burns, fractures, choking, fainting, nosebleeds, high temperature, and seizures, presented by health workers.
Environmental Unit
- Harvesting tomatoes, cleaning the system, and sterilizing it.
- Daily monitoring of water levels, acidity, and ensuring an adequate supply of nutrients for each water system.
- Watering flowers and agricultural crops.
- Cultivating hydroponic systems in plastic houses with various crops such as kale, chard, cabbage, flowers, and onions in the new plastic house.
- Planting new seeds and maintaining them for germination.
- Rearranging plastic houses and preparing them for cultivation.
- Harvesting some crops and distributing them to patients, such as parsley, onions, and lettuce.
- Preparing plastic cups, crushing them for cultivation.
Zahrat al-Yasmeen Kindergarten
- Meetings with parents to discuss developments and address educational and academic matters concerning the children.
- Individual meetings for the kindergarten class.
- Distribution of evaluations to children on the last day of the first semester, accompanied by a simple activity for the children aimed at bringing a smile to their faces despite the challenging political conditions and the war that deprived our children of the simplest rights.
The Palestinian Flag Confiscation
The Israeli Occupation Forces confiscated the Palestinian flag from Lajee Center two times in December.
On December 10, 2023, Israeli Occupation Forces raided Aida Camp, forcibly entering Lajee Center to confiscate the longstanding Palestinian flag, a symbol of resistance and existence for the community. The soldiers used an electric saw to cut the 4-meter pole, taking both the flag and its support structure that were on the rooftop of Lajee Center.
Lajee Center raised the Palestinian flag once more following the first incident, only to have it confiscated again on December 22, 2023.
In response to the Palestinian flag removed from Lajee Center’s rooftop for the second time this month, Ireland raised the Palestinian flag and Lajee logo and chanted: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!
Our Message to the International World
We are not mere numbers; we are humans who deserve to live our lives freely. We are resilient people who have never stopped and will not stop until we get back our 27,009 square kilometres of land. We insist on our right to self-determination.
Don’t become accustomed to the genocidal war. Don’t become accustomed to counting Palestinians as martyrs. We have names, lives, dreams, and hopes for our future. Raise your voices, stage sit-ins in front of your governmental buildings, and demand a ceasefire. Call for an end to the genocidal war, the blockade on Gaza and Palestine, and the displacement of Palestinians.
