Huda Naim Naim
Posted on | October 28, 2008 | No Comments
Member of Palestinian Legislative Council (Hamas party), Gaza
I live like one and a half million Palestinians imprisoned in Gaza Strip. We suffer poverty, hunger, killing, destruction, darkness, and a lack of medicine and fuel. We wake to the sounds of artillery and bombing from fighter jets. Our children are killed and deprived of their basic needs. Their fathers cannot provide food, their mothers die from lack of medicine. The occupation has destroyed the basis of our life.
What is the most difficult for you?
Most difficult is when someone asks for help and I cannot provide what they need. As a member of the PLC, I have a responsibility to ease people’s suffering. I cry when I see the torn bodies of children and their mothers kissing them goodbye.
I worry for my children and the people I love. Israeli aggression has escalated. Shelling of residential areas has damaged my home several times. How can I erase the negative effect of the killing and destruction my children experience?
Do you feel targeted as a Hamas legislator?
All Palestinians are targets for the occupation’s military machine. High percentages of those killed in the past eight years were children, women, and civilians who had nothing to do with resistance.
What attracted you to Hamas?
Hamas is a noble resistance movement defending the rights of its people. It tries with the little it has to fight the aggression of the occupation. Hamas ideology supports dialogue and accepts the Other. It believes in democracy as the way for governance and authority. The Hamas movement loves peace and life, but the occupation imposes a death on Palestinians. The Israelis occupied our land, colonized our homes, and displaced us in the world.
I grew up in a conservative religious home and became a Hamas supporter in the mid-80s when I joined the Islamic bloc of the Muslim Brotherhood, which combines patriotism, adherence to the values of religion, and respect for women.
An Israeli woman in Sderot says she worries about what happens to you.
Does she know the town she lives in is built on the remains of the Palestinian village of Najd? I would say to her, “You are the aggressor. You kill our sons. You have forcefully taken our rights.” If she wants a good life for me, she must pressure her state to recognize our rights and end its aggression. She can end this tyranny.
I want each Israeli woman to think about the Jews who lived in Palestine before 1948. Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived as brothers in one homeland. They liked each other. The Jews were a minority, but no one hurt them. Our animosity is because you occupied our land and have continual aggression against us.
What gives you hope?
What gives me the most hope is the resilience of the young generations of my people, their awareness of their just cause, and their belief and adherence to their rights. They are adamant to regain their rights regardless of the cost.
Na’eem, an activist in the Hamas movement, was elected as a PLC representative in 2006. Na’eem advocates for women’s rights and human rights. She holds a BA degree in social service and is chair of the al Thuraya Media Institution, a women’s media organization and publisher of a home magazine. Na’eem lives with her husband and children in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
