BLOODY WATERMELONS

The master chefs of serving the bodies of dead victims on the table must be

laughing at the misery of the mourning majority. Their appetite must be feeding on the

cries of dying individuals with their diet so full of the souls who have left the world under

the rubble of bombed houses. The smell of blood streaming down the table of the once

free nation excites the cravings of the enemies, demanding more and more deaths,

savoring each life lost like it is the best meal of their life. The year 2023 did not reach its

end without a devastating event because on the day of October 7, the bloody war

between Israel and Palestine that had long begun was once more triggered.

The unexpected onslaught was due to Hamas fighters firing rockets into Israel

and attacking thousands of Israelis, which surprised the other party but mounted a quick

retaliation. With a long history of conflict that can be traced since 1948, the tension rose

higher between the two countries as a result of the attack. In these places, the

oppressors claim the thousand lives of the oppressed morning until night. The attack on

October 7 showed a merciless way to reject the movement towards a free Palestine, a

way that taints blood to the watermelons or to the millions of Palestinians.

The bitter relationship between Israel and Palestine is rooted in the division of

states bounded by religion. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was created and this

sparked the first Arab-Israeli War. This resulted in a win for the Israelis and three

territories of Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip. Since then, the hostility between Israel

and the surrounding countries continued to worsen. The Hamas attack on October 7 is

a mere act of resistance to the long inflicted war of the Israelis who have dodged the

blame of enabling genocide in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the killing of

countless Palestinians since the 19th century. Who is the terrorist, really?

Palestine’s freedom from the territorial struggles has been a clash of not just land

ownership, but a clash with sourness in different faiths. The conflict between the two

countries proves that no matter the peaceful sacred teachings the people follow, the atrocity due to contradicting beliefs will always play a huge part. Muslims face

discrimination and hostility from the Zionists in and out of the Palestinian area, and

those who stand with Israel exert such an attitude. Most recently, skunk water was

sprayed at Muslim worshippers near the Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli forces. The number

of innocent Palestinian lives increasing with each day becomes alarming and pushes for

the need of a complete end, not only a ceasefire. Newborn babies in incubators lose

their chance to live, children become orphans in a quick second, and chaos continues to

reign over Palestine.

To be neutral in genocide means to stand up for the ones who lit the fire. Several

innocent lives are being deprived of access to food and water, facing unpredictable

events one moment from another. The oppressors choose no one and kill anyone. The

families of Al Jazeera’s correspondents in Gaza, Moamen Al Sharafi and Wael

Al-Dahdouh, were dead after Israeli bombings. There have been over 22,404

Palestinians killed by Israel, with children and women owning the dominant percentage.

What makes matters worse is the alliance formed by different countries that help enable

the genocide happening between Israel and Palestine, such as the presence of Western

big ones. The US Government, led by President Joe Biden, has evidently expressed

support towards the Israel occupation. The US itself is a big force that can easily

triumph over the weak, over those who the false media presents as the terrorist.

On another side of the world, genocide is also being experienced at the

Democratic Republic of Congo and the mass ethnic killings in Sudan. The DRC

experienced mounting deaths due to civil wars and forced labor, while in Sudan, there is

war of the Sudanese army against the Rapid Support Forces. The victims of these

conflicts lose hope as each war carries on. The poorest living conditions are felt by

these innocent lives. The chances of dying due to being killed at a war is as worse as

dying due to hunger, dehydration, war shock or extreme anxiety, and other health

diseases caused by the war. Chaos becomes the darkest shadow of today, following

and haunting several parts of the world.

Watermelons are the symbol of Palestinian resistance. It has long been the

emblem of the Palestinians as the fruit grows in Gaza and the West Bank, but above all,

it shares the same color of the Palestinian flag. At times where Israel banned their flag,

the Palestinians used the watermelon as their voice amidst the oppression, their no

against the extrajudicial killings. Through the bloodbaths, the people of Palestine still

continue to resist the Israeli occupation and hold their heads up to protect what is

rightfully theirs, from the river to the sea. Other countries such as Turkey, Malaysia, and

Yemen have stood beside the Palestinian people, evidently refusing the force of the

Israelis. Some countries who stand with Palestine take actions like refusing to admit

people with Israeli passports, limiting any entrance from the enemy state.

In the midst of the cruelty of multiple wars happening at the same time, attaining

peace should not be the last resort, but remain as the first option. Country leaders have

the choice to choose peace over chaos and this should be the time where the world

speaks loud enough to stop the deadly attacks. Even with all of these conflicts going on,

so many powerful countries choose to stay silent because of the precaution not to

meddle with outside the country's affairs. However, this is not about who meddles what

when we begin to deal with the lives of the innocent. Leaders must not turn a blind eye

to what is wrong and right. Whatever is depicted by the media has long been the worst

product of a conflict, for truth will always be the first casualty of war. These manipulated

lies will paint the wrong ones right through mainstream media. It hails the killers as

victims while innocent lives continue to be lost for wanting to claim their homeland. It will

all boil down to a choice that decides what version of the truth will the public believe in.

World peace can only be achieved when countries come together to put an end

to such devastating wars. Peace is not an easy process, but it is better than cowardly

staying put and watching people suffer in the hands of oppressors. A table served with

meals that are filled with lifeless bodies, topped with airstrike shots, and minced with the

rocks from the rubble of houses, which will all be munched by the masterminds of this

conflict. These are not the dishes that the world wants to devour and the names of more

than 22,000 dead is not the menu that anyone would want to look at. The plates on the table must not be filled with watermelons with a syrup of blood, the blood of the

thousand Palestinians who only long for their home.