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Araiza, Fatima
<br />From: Laila El Hasan <
<br />Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2023 3:08 PM
<br />To: eComment
<br />Subject: Regarding Gaza
<br />Dear Councilmembers,
<br />I write regarding the ongoing bombardment campaign in Gaza by Israel. In 1948, Zionists ethnically cleansed
<br />over 750,000 Palestinians in the Nakba, and it has displaced many more in the past 75 years. As a consequence,
<br />there are over 150,000 Palestinians in the United States, many of them being Orange County residents.
<br />The majority of our elected officials are not representing the Palestinian American community. They are also
<br />not representing Arab Americans and American Muslims, or their safety interests, as hate crimes against
<br />Palestinians, other Arabs, and Muslims rapidly increase, including, but not limited to, the brutal stabbing to
<br />death of Palestinian American six -year -old Wadea Al-Fayoume by his landlord in Illinois, the stabbing of his
<br />mother, the murder of a Muslim woman, Dr. Talat Jehan Khan, in Texas, and the shooting of three Palestinian
<br />college students in Vermont, Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmed, and Kinnan Abdalhamid. As a result of the
<br />shooting, Hisham Awartani is reportedly paralyzed from the chest down.
<br />Aside from the violent hate crimes, members of these communities have experienced regular harassment and
<br />threats in racist incidents in their daily lives. Palestinian Americans, as well as other Arab Americans, American
<br />Muslims, and allies of Palestinians, have been harassed and threatened at universities, and lost their jobs for
<br />advocating for the recognition of human rights for Palestinians, and speaking up against Zionism, a supremacist,
<br />settler colonial project that was realized through the killing of over 15,000 Palestinians in over 70 massacres,
<br />and the destruction of 531 Palestinian villages by Zionist settlers.
<br />Many Nakba survivors are still alive, some of them living in Gaza. Gaza's population is one largely comprised
<br />of refugees, with roughly three-quarters of Gazans being indigenous to other Palestinian villages that were
<br />ethnically cleansed. These refugees were ghettoized into what is now known as the Gaza strip, with the
<br />remaining Gaza population comprised of Palestinians indigenous to Gaza.
<br />The Zionist settler colonial project is ongoing, with Palestinian communities in the West Bank and East
<br />Jerusalem facing frequent attacks from Zionist settlers who terrorize, assault, and often kill Palestinians to either
<br />steal Palestinians' homes or destroy them to build over them. The Israeli government not only enables, but
<br />supports these actions by settlers, with the Israeli army supplying bulldozers to facilitate this ethnic cleansing.
<br />Since October 7, there has been a spike in the frequency and severity of settler terrorism against Palestinian
<br />villages. Palestinians are unable to defend themselves against Israeli violence because the West Bank is under
<br />military occupation by Israel, which forbids Palestinians from owning weapons.
<br />This has all been happening while in Gaza, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Israel has killed at
<br />least 21,022 Palestinians, 19,660 being civilians, 8,312 children, 4,270 women, 212 healthcare workers, and 76
<br />journalists as of today. Over 37,000 Palestinians have been confirmed to be injured. However, Palestinians are
<br />unable to account for a complete death toll, with telecommunications destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, electricity
<br />cut off by the Israeli government, and 126 health facilities destroyed in the shellings. Thousands more have
<br />likely been killed, many being trapped under the rubble.
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