They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom

by Ahed Tamimi

Even though I was a child, I understood that my life had to be devoted to a cause greater than myself. My parents instilled the notion in me and my brothers that if we didn’t do anything to benefit our homeland, then we didn’t do anything to benefit ourselves. If I was successful in life but my success didn’t help Palestine, then it wasn’t truly a success.

Mandela, by contrast, was a legendary leader. In 1997, he even affirmed his people’s support for Palestine in a famous speech, saying, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Flagrantly and in an astonishing number of circumstances, Israel was failing to meet its obligations under international law. The question that everyone in the course inevitably always came back to was: Why was the international community letting Israel get away with it? Khalida explained to us that while it was very important for us to use international law and international humanitarian law as a mechanism to advance our cause for self-determination and equality, we had to understand that our fate ultimately depended on politics. Many politicians around the world were willing to sacrifice the rights of people and turn a blind eye to violations, especially when it came to Israel’s occupation. She reminded us that international law had been created by colonial powers and was disproportionately applied to serve their interests. It frustrated me to realize the limitations of international law we faced as Palestinians seeking justice. I now understood that it would never serve as a silver bullet for our cause, given how countries like the United States shielded Israel from any sort of punitive measures. Holding Israel accountable via international law would have to be accompanied by other strategies, like boycotts and divestment.

At the same time, as Palestinians, we have to be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that our problems won’t be instantly resolved once we end the occupation. That’s why we have to tie our national struggle for liberation to our societal struggle for equality. We must ensure that when we finally do achieve liberation, we’re not left with a society that’s full of corruption and inequity.

The occupation has brainwashed them, both the men and the women. It threatens to rob them of their humanity and their conscience, and once you’ve lost those two things, you’ve lost everything that matters in life.

Nothing built on injustice and might lasts forever. Eventually, the oppressed find a way to liberate themselves. May we all one day break free from our oppression and imprisonment. Until then, the struggle continues.