Gaza- In an instant, Dr. Raed Qaddoura turned into a mere “number” monitored by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which counts around the clock the victims of the horrific war waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip, since the seventh of last October.
But listening to the testimonies of Qaddoura’s acquaintances, as well as the rest of the martyrs, reveals that behind every number, there is a story, the story of a “dream” whose owner worked very hard to achieve, and a story of pain, hope, and great ambitions, which the occupation did not allow to see the light.
For 8 years, Qaddoura worked hard to achieve his dream of obtaining a doctorate degree and winning a good job opportunity, and to do so he made many sacrifices.
But the Israeli occupation eliminated Qaddoura’s hopes and aspirations on November 20, when it bombed his family’s home in the town of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, and killed him along with about 55 of his relatives, including his four children, his parents, and most of his brothers and sisters and their children, while his wife was seriously injured. .
Suffering and dreaming
Qaddoura earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 2011, and the following year he won the opportunity to work as a “translator” at a study center in Gaza City.
But Qaddoura’s ambition and his desire to improve his living situation and social standing prompted him to travel to Malaysia in 2013, on a long journey that took 8 years, during which he obtained a master’s degree from the University of Malaya and a doctorate from the National University of Malaysia (UKM).
Although his ambition caused him to lose his job in Gaza, which was his only source of income, he insisted on realizing his dream and continued his academic studies. He had to balance the requirements of study with spending on his family.
After Qaddoura began to reap the fruits of his labor, and obtained a job opportunity in the State of Kuwait as an English teacher, he came to Gaza before the war to visit his family, without being able to leave, and was killed by occupation missiles.
Dr. Youssef Al-Jamal, a personal friend of Qaddoura, says that he was “self-made and self-reliant, as he lost his job 6 months after his arrival in Malaysia, and searched for other job opportunities in the field of translation, research, and humanitarian work.”
Al-Jamal continued, “Raed continued to study and work for 8 full years, and after obtaining his doctorate in international relations, he was able to obtain a job opportunity in Kuwait, in the field of teaching the English language, to begin a new phase of his life.”
During the war, and two weeks before his martyrdom, his wife gave birth to twin girls in extremely harsh conditions, as she underwent a caesarean section without anesthesia at Kamal Adwan Hospital, due to the blockade imposed by Israel on the entry of medicines into the Gaza Strip.
Document the horrors of war
Dr. Norma Hashim, a Malaysian social activist and editor of three books about Palestinian prisoners, met Qaddoura for the first time in 2012, when he translated for her – via the Internet – some stories for the book “Prisoners’ Diaries” (Palestinians), which she published in 2013.
In an exclusive interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net, Hashim describes Qaddoura during his graduate studies in Malaysia, saying, “He was a very diligent student, and his doctoral thesis supervisor was very happy with him, because he always followed his instructions and did the work well,” and she adds, “I want to remember Raed as a person.” Kind, with a kind and pure heart, he was loved by all who knew him.”
Hashem reveals that Qaddoura communicated with her on a regular basis during the war, and sent her letters documenting the brutality of the occupation. He wrote to her on October 11, a few days after the start of the war, saying, “Yesterday, my house was subjected to direct and severe damage as a result of bombing.” A house next to my house was bombed without warning, and a massacre occurred in which all the residents of the house were killed, including 5 Palestinians.”
On November 11, Qaddoura sent Hashem a picture of his twin daughters, Sama and Lama, and told her that his wife had given birth to them by caesarean section without anesthesia because he was not available in the hospital. This message struck Hashem with “extreme terror, because that would have been very painful and difficult,” she says. In the same letter, Qaddoura told Hashem that “bombs are falling everywhere,” then he returned to tell her that he could not find milk for his two daughters, because “it is not available due to the war.”
It is clear from Qaddoura’s letters to Hashem that he has become an expert in identifying the type of missile that is falling around him, whether it is a reconnaissance aircraft missile, an F-16 warplane, an F-35 warplane, artillery shells, or bullets from an Apache helicopter.
Qaddoura added in the text of one of his messages, “We can now hear the whistle of the missile before it fell on our neighbors’ house, just as happened to us yesterday, when an apartment was targeted only 30 meters away from us, and the windows of our house were shattered, which terrified the women and children.”
Turn into a “story”
After Qaddoura was telling Hashem the news of the war, its woes, and the stories of the martyrs, suddenly he himself became news, after she received the news of his martyrdom last November 20. Hashem says about this, “I received news of his killing, along with 55 members of his family, by the occupation bombing his house. We were all crying and speechless.”
Hashem says, “The Palestinians should not turn into mere numbers, and the West’s own version of what is happening in Palestine should remain dominant. The world must hear from them.” She believes that Qaddoura is just an example of the thousands of martyrs who were killed by Israel, and whose stories have not yet been told, as They are registered as “numbers” in the register of victims of this war.
She adds, “I want the world to hear the voices of the Palestinians, and this is what my three books about Palestinian prisoners hope to achieve. The West will continue for a long time to present its own version of what is happening in Palestine. We want to hear from the Palestinians what is really happening, and how their lives are affected by the occupation of their lands.”
The activist refers to a saying she heard from her Palestinian friend, professor of English literature Dr. Rifaat Al-Arair, which says, “Until lions are able to tell their stories, hunting tales will always glorify the hunter.” Hashem concludes her speech by saying, “By the way, the occupation also killed Al-Arair during the war by bombing his house.” In Gaza, it should also not become just a number in the register of victims.”