Has the fire ceased?
After 467 days, will Gazan skies carry clouds and sun rather than bombs and death?
Will our martyrs get burials? Will food reach the mouths of children in Gaza? Medicine? Blankets? Will they get to reside in buildings rather than tents?
Has the fire ceased?
After 467 days, will we wake up tomorrow to something other than the latest count of the dead? Will the fog that has settled over our lives lift? Will we become recognizable to ourselves once more?
Has the fire ceased?
Will history rewrite itself? Will those who stood silent claim to have been there all along by our sides? Will our memories be enough of a witness?
Has the fire ceased?
Have the leaders of institutions that sanctioned our slaughter repented? Have the weapons manufacturers been seized? Have the halls of power been turned over to the masses?
No, the fire has not ceased.
For now, we have an ember. And while it burns low, let us — as always — take our cues from the children of Gaza and dance and sing.
Let’s build our strength back up, stock up on joy in victory. And tomorrow, let us get back to work.
Over the last 467 days, we have built strength and beauty out of the madness of a genocide. We have found each other and organized.
We will not stop until Palestine is free.
Eman Abdelhadi is an academic, activist and writer who thinks at the intersection of gender, sexuality, religion and politics. She is an assistant professor and sociologist at the University of Chicago, where she researches American Muslim communities. She is co-author of Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052 – 2072.
