Shelter. Safety. Security.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) data on internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Gaza, by yesterday, July 16, 2014, 371 missiles had been fired by Israel into the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, 231 rockets and 35 mortars had been fired toward Israel. Is it reported that 39 houses in Gaza were bombarded by Israel. The latest data confirms that 17,000 people have sought refuge in 20 schools in Gaza City and the north area operated by UNRWA as temporary shelters. The assault on Gaza has completely destroyed at least 560 homes, according to Sami Mshasha, UNRWA spokesman. The reported death tool is 224 Palestinians civilians. More than 1,000 are injured, including a high number of women and children.
The UN symbol marking the buildings gives people a sense of safety and security and the promise of protection from their homes, which are now the target of multiple attacks, missiles and rockets.
Safe infrastructures can protect civilians from harm, but people need to be protected and protect themselves from violence, aggression and deaths. How?
Malala Yousafzai, whom we have come to know through her tireless activism for the rights of women to education, can teach us once more a great lesson. Like her, millions of women worldwide can advance the cause and can act for achieving gender equality and access to education for all. As "life creators" in biological terms, women can far better understand the sacrifice required to give birth to a child.
By understanding sacrifice, you give more value to life.
The time and money invested in education is the time of listening, learning, understanding and processing historical, geographical, cultural, and scientific knowledge that can be used, as Nelson Mandela said, as the most powerful tool (or weapon) to change the world.
Fewer weapons and more schools (as a place for shelter and as a place for learning). More education and less war. #schoolsinGaza
Only by educating today's children we can perpetuate a message of peace and come to a peaceful resolution of the conflict. It is hard, but we must believe and act.
For actions and donations in Gaza, check out the UNRWA website's Gaza Emergency appeal.
Here is a book my brother gave me as a present some time ago. Although it is in Italian, I hope you can find it interesting and useful if you want to deepen your understanding of the topic:
Storia del conflitto arabo israeliano-palestinese, by Giovanni Codovini, Bruno Mondadori Publishing
Palestinian school children attend the opening of a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in northern Gaza Strip (AFP Photo/Mohammed Abed)