This post is also available in: العربية (Arabic)
With flowers and candles spread all along the façade of the Théâtre municipal on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis, the central thoroughfare still pulsing with the spirit of the revolution, the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) and a group of solidarity activists paid tribute to and expressed their solidarity with Palestinians, in light of the continued crimes committed by the occupation against civilians since October 7, 2023.
Medfeminiswiya was present at this gathering which reflected the civil and feminist movements’ solidarity with issues of national liberation and decolonization. Various national organizations have spared no effort in supporting Palestinian rights and resorting to all available methods to put pressure to end the media blackout that aims to conceal the truth of the massacres the people of Palestine are being subjected to.
During this gathering, ATFD Head Naila al-Zoghlami said to Medfeminiswiya, “We are standing here today to express our support and solidarity and pay tribute to the women of Gaza whose lives were taken by Zionist bombing.”
When asked about the symbolism of the candles amid the crowd of people carrying Tunisian and Palestinian flags, Zoghlami continued, “We light candles as a symbolic gesture for the loss of life. This is the simplest thing we could do to commemorate the names of the victims and publicly express our unconditional and unlimited solidarity with all the women who continue to be steadfast, who gave their children and grandchildren to Palestine, who remain in their land and refuse to leave it to the occupation.”
Genocide… or a war to erase lineage
As usual, the massacres committed by the occupation were not devoid of war crimes. The bombing of the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City was the most heinous of these war crimes as it left hundreds dead and hundreds wounded, including patients and displaced persons who had barricaded themselves within the walls of the building seeking treatment or safety.
The scene was more like a Hollywood horror movie production than real life. Children were spread out in the green spaces in the hospital courtyard, playing with dolls and enjoying some of the nighttime hours with their mothers, when the specter of death descended and took the life out of them.
This cowardly operation shows that this is a different kind of war, one in which the occupation wants to erase entire lineages by attacking women’s fertility and eliminating life. It wants to consecrate death as the fate of Palestinian men and women to prove to the world how terrified it is by the birth of more children and the coming up of new generations of boys and girls who will form the nucleus of a resistance against the greatest entity of injustice, oppression, racism, and patriarchy.
Commenting on this horrific crime that shook humanity’s conscience, amid an enforced international blackout no less, Zoghlami said, “This hospital is a witness to these genocidal crimes. It is a war crime whose goal is to erase entire lineages, targeting a place full of premature babies whose mothers had to give birth to them because of the tragic effects of the raids and collapsed homes.”
“From Tunisia, I would like to express my solidarity, admiration, and strong resolve to all Palestinian women without exception, to all vulnerable groups in patriarchal societies. We stand against the barbarism and brutality of the occupation,” she continued, in a message to women who are still fighting death by clinging to life and their land.
Zoghlami also added with regret, “I salute the journalists whose lives are threatened by the bombing. We remember Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by the Zionist army.”
“Al-Mamadani Hospital is a witness to war crimes and a genocide whose goal is to erase entire lineages in a place full of premature babies whose mothers had to give birth to them because of the tragic effects of the raids and collapsed homes.”
Childbirth in Palestine as an act of resistance
Through systematic attacks, the occupation army seeks to achieve its plan to annihilate future generations of Palestinians, either by bombing hospitals or destroying Palestinian women’s ability to reproduce, even mutilating fetuses using internationally banned white phosphorus. Despite all this, Palestine continues to resist, challenging the brutal death machine with life and childbirth to achieve justice.
This method of justice that nature grants to women and bestows fertility upon Palestinians reminds us of the myths of ancient Egypt and of Isis, the goddess of fertility and Queen of the Gods. She became a symbol of fertility and life in myths of war, populating the earth and preventing emptiness and extinction. Such is the Palestinian woman, a legend in humanitarian giving for the right to land.
In this context, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) confirmed on October 13 that 50,000 women in Gaza are pregnant and that the number of expected deliveries in the West Bank and Gaza in the next month exceeds 13,000.
A Tunisian civil front to support Palestine
Feminist and civil movements in Tunisia uphold the right of Palestinians to self-determination and to defend their occupied land, through an alliance established at the initiative of the Tunisian General Labor Union (the largest trade union organization), the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, and ATFD. And these civil and feminist movements did not only organize solidarity campaigns and protests; Zoghlami confirmed to Medfeminiswiya that the National Committee in Support of Palestinian Resistance sent a strongly worded letter of protest in Arabic, French, and English to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union, and the League of Arab States, holding them responsible for remaining silent on this genocide and ethnic cleansing.
“50,000 women in Gaza are pregnant, and the number of expected deliveries in the West Bank and Gaza in the next month exceeds 13,000.”
The feminist leader emphasized that many different types of protest actions are being organized. “We protested in front of the embassies of some countries that support the occupation army in speech, advocacy, and mobilization because we are advocates of peace. In the coming days, we are heading to international organizations, but today we need to document,” Zoghlami explained.
With these words, Zoghlami thus confirmed the importance of documenting everything, a responsibility which falls on the vibrant civil and feminist movements in Tunisia. The crimes and violations must be recorded and called out through peaceful methods to expose the occupation’s crimes and capture the attention of the people who are victims of the media blackout and propaganda of the occupation army and Western media.
Because professional and humanitarian duty requires solidarity with journalists committed to covering the events in Gaza, the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists organized a protest on October 16 in support of the Palestinian people and journalists working from Gaza and the West Bank.
The Syndicate also lit candles in its courtyard to commemorate the martyrs of the Palestinian press who shed light on the reality of the barbaric aggression against Gaza and sacrificed their lives for the goals and values of journalism. The voice of Sheikh Imam, freedom chanter and supporter of peoples’ liberation, rang through the courtyard, singing “Palestine is a state built by struggle.”
