Palestinian siblings to share their experiences
PALESTINIAN youth activists, siblings Mohammed and Sameeha Huraini, are visiting South Africa to participate in the first Global Anti-apartheid Conference for Palestine.
The activists are part of the Youth of Sumud (YOS) Movement based in the Masafer Yatta area of South Hebron. They hope their experiences and struggles will help educate others.
The YOS organises and participates in peaceful protests against Israeli action, land seizure, systemic settler invasions, army violence, home and school demolitions and illegal Israeli settlement expansion. They also accompany children vulnerable to harassment, intimidation and violent attacks when walking to school.
Mohammed Huraini, 20, from Twani in Massafriyatta, South Hebron Hills, was reported to have been arrested eight times by the age of 18 and subjected to brutal assaults, interrogation and ongoing harassment.
He is pursuing an undergraduate degree in English Language and Literature at Birzeit University.
“I joined Youth of Samud when I was a child as an opportunity for me to defend our rights and to be with a group as youth leaders for the new generation of the Persian resistance, South Hebron Hills. To defend and to stand against the daily policy of the Israeli occupation, who’s trying to evacuate our people from their land, and also the immersion of homes of the Palestinians, denying the Palestinians
from having their basic human rights,” he said.
He said his main motivation is his family.
“My family has a long history with the occupation, so I will continue that path in fighting occupation, to have our land back.
“This group decided to stand against all of this injustice, the apartheid policy by the occupation, as we are denied our basic human rights as a human. We as Palestinians are facing extreme injustices in our communities. They have been blocking all entrances, which makes Palestinian life harder and harder, they denied the freedom of the Palestinians. The children have been denied school because of the dangerous and risky roads.”
He hopes by telling his story at the conference, he can educate South Africans on their struggles.
“I hope to shed light on our cause as Palestinians, not just in Mesafriyat but also in the West Bank and Gaza. The genocide and the war in Gaza, the West Bank and the Jordan Valley have all been facing heinous crimes on account of the Palestinian land.
“I want to educate South Africans because their history is our present. What we are facing now is what South Africa has faced in the past. We are now facing the worst policies, just as apartheid had done. Many South Africans can understand our struggle because they have a long history with the apartheid government and the war crimes that have been committed
against them.”
He feels it’s time for the world to care about what is happening to Palestinians.
“In my community, I witnessed the shooting of my cousin in the middle of the village by the settlers with impunity. They also burned the Palestinian houses destroying their agricultural land and killing their flocks.
“We have been witnessing atrocities of crimes by the Israeli settlers and the army, who’s even protecting the settlers to commit these crimes against us. It’s time the world hears our stories,” he said.
Sameeha Huraini, 24, takes a leadership role in the community, organises activities for village women and is involved in a wide range of advocacy programmes, coordinating field activities for young activists in the area. She has been detained and faced judicial harassment. She joined the YOS in 2017 to encourage and develop the rule of women.
“I wanted to raise awareness about human rights violations that are happening daily in our area in Massafariat.
“Women are facing the most violent conditions which go against their human rights. As a young woman, a pregnant woman or a mother, they are being threatened and don’t feel safe going to hospitals, which means there are no health services around the area,” she said.
She wants to use the Global Anti-apartheid Conference as a platform to make the world understand and pay attention to the problems women are facing in Palestine.
“I want the world to know and to put their eyes on Palestine and see how our women and children get treated. I want all the world to know the truth, what’s going on on the ground, that there are people living in caves and tents, that there are people living without water, electricity and no basic needs.
“The world has to see how much people are suffering. The killing of our people is happening every day. People have to know the genocide in Gaza and how we as human beings deserve to live in peace, dignity and security,” she said.
The Global Anti-apartheid Conference for Palestine will take place from today (Sunday) until Wednesday, May 15, at Al Ansaar Hall, Overport.