Seeing Red: Dr. Mads Gilbert's journey in Gaza

Norwegian Doctor Mads Gilbert met with Palestinians in his twenties in 1981 when the Israelis besieged and bombed West Beirut. Mads Gilbert expressed his experiences of those days with the words: "Israel first cut off electricity and water to besiege the city. Thus, they prevented food and medicine from reaching the city. Then they bombed the city day and night. While doing this, they targeted not only military targets but also schools, residential areas, hospitals, ambulances, and even people trying to rescue the wounded. It was a terrible sight." And after witnessing the tragedy of the Palestinians under occupation in 1981, he devoted his life to this cause. We're talking about 43 years ago.

Mads Gilbert, upon hearing the news of Gaza being bombed while on vacation with his children for Christmas in 2008, bid farewell to his children and set out from Norway with his doctor friend. After the invasion started in 2008, he realized that there were no journalists in Gaza and that the Palestinian people were alone. In his book where he wrote about his experiences in 2008-2009, he describes this situation with the following words: "My friend and I were able to enter Gaza through Egypt on the fifth day of the attack before the New Year of 2008. In addition to our medical services at Shifa Hospital, we had undertaken to convey our experiences to the world." Israel imposed an embargo on Gaza due to the Hamas government elected by the people of Gaza in 2007, and banned the entry and exit of humanitarian needs to the region. Arbitrarily, they attacked public institutions, hospitals, schools, and houses, and continued to do so. The Gaza Strip, which is five square kilometers, was home to about two million people. More than a million of its population lived in refugee camps. Jabalya, Gaza, Beit Lahya, Beit Hanun, Dir al-Balah, Khan Yunis, Rafah, and Abasan Kebir were refugee camps where people fled from bombs without homes. We're talking about 2007. That is, 17 years ago.

The bombardment in 2014 lasted fifty-one days. Dr. Gilbert announced this to the media with the following words: "According to a UN report, Israel used more than five times the bombs used in the 2009 operation in the operation they named Protective Edge. Three thousand five hundred children were injured in the attack. Normally, they should have been protected by organizations like the UN and the Red Cross. But nothing was done. Israel enjoys a terrible impunity." That is, ten years ago.

Dr. Mads Gilbert, born in 1947, is now 76 years old. Since 1981, that is, for 43 years, he has been a witness to the genocide in Gaza. Witnessing the inhumanity suffered by the people of Palestine in Palestine, Mads Gilbert is a good person who values people not by their race, color, language, or religion, but because they are human. Just like Rachel Aliene Corrie, a 24-year-old American peace volunteer who was crushed to death under an armored bulldozer belonging to the Israeli Defense Forces in Refah in the southern Gaza Strip in 2003. Just like 25-year-old Aaron (Harun) Bushnell, an active-duty member of the US Air Force, who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington on February 25, 2024, saying, "I will no longer participate in genocide. My action is not a big deal in the face of what the Palestinians are experiencing under the occupiers." Rachel, Aaron, and Mads, two of whom are martyrs and one of whom is still alive and struggling, are the three heroes of Gaza. None of them are Muslims, but they are human. Didn't you have to be human to be a Muslim anyway? It was necessary, but we forgot it. Our current misery is because of it.

As for us; We continue to think we're lucky to be born to Muslim parents. We continue to watch the genocide. We continue to break our fast with cola during Ramadan. Black or yellow? Red.