Gaza Teaches Life imparts lessons of courage and steadfastness

Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, Sheikh Abdelfattah Mourou from Tunisia, Al Jazeera anchorwoman Ghada Oueiss and Palestinian-Israeli Knesset member Dr. Ahmad Tibi received enthusiastic applause following each of their speeches during the first night of the 7th annual American Muslims for Palestine’s Conference for Palestine in the US: Gaza Teaches Life at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Thursday.

All four speakers touched the hearts of the audience in the packed ballroom as they discussed their personal experiences in Palestine and what they are doing to help the Palestinian people gain their freedom from Israel’s occupation.

Sheikh Mourou, who was removed from his plane in Tunisia Wednesday and nearly prohibited from entering the United States to attend the conference, took the stage a few hours after landing in Chicago. He was the first of the four to speak and he told the attendees about miracles from the time of the prophets and said that the Palestinians of Gaza not giving up on their freedom in the face of oppression is an extension of a miracle.

Dr. Tibi was next to address the hundreds of people who gathered to see these four speak. He received a standing ovation walking onto the stage and immediately after his speech was over. He has remained in ’48 Palestine to fight the occupation from within the apartheid state.

“I come to you from Al Jaleed, Al Nasrah, Haifa, Ramla, Um al Fahm, Taiba, Naqab, so we can all greet Gaza, the land of the proud,” Tibi said in Arabic during his speech.

Al Jazeera anchorwoman Ghada Oueiss followed him and acknowledged that following him up would be a difficult task. However, she held her own as she discussed what she witnessed in Gaza during Israel’s operation cast led in 2009. She went on to say that her colleagues at the news outlet told her that the assault that took place this past summer was much worse than the one she witnessed years ago.

That particular session, Gaza Teaches Life, ended with Dr. Gilbert, who treated the wounded in al-Shifa Hospital during Israel’s assault on Gaza last summer. He talked about how the Norwegian people stand with Palestine because they understand what it means to be occupied. He also said he would not be deterred by Israel’s move to permanently ban him from Gaza. He will continue to work for Palestinian justice, he said.