making Gaza Real

by Jeff Hackman

The horrific events in Gaza these past three weeks have been hard to ignore, yet easy to ignore.  But I came across a story that hit me hard. 

Suleiman Baraka is a Palestinian astrophysicist.  He works here in the US.  He had an 11 year old son named Ibrahim.  I love astronomy, and I have an 11 year old son.  This helped me see the humanity of the suffering.

His house in Gaza was hit by the Israeli war planes on December 29, and his son died of his injuries on January 5.

Suleiman was not able to go to his son’s funeral.  His house was destroyed, his wife and three remaining children are now homeless.

In his interview with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, he emphasized one of the worst parts of this tragedy is the loss of his telescope.

Here is an excerpt from his interview:  “I used to take my children on the roof and show them Venus and Jupiter and the sky, because typically, if you ask any Palestinian children, a child, ‘If you look at the sky, what you see?’ he will say, ‘I will see Apache and F-16 jet fighters.’ So I wanted just to show them that there is something beautiful behind these stereotypes. I wanted to help not only my children, but the Palestinian children. And I did lots of public lectures on astronomy just to create a sort of hope and expanding the imagination of our children that there is something beautiful than this cocoon, what’s called Gaza, which had been closed for two years.”

I too have a small telescope.  I too have shown Venus and Jupiter to my children.  I can’t imagine what Suleiman is going through.  But hearing this father’s story helps to see the common humanity.

It is time to tell both sides, but especially Israel since we finance them, that the time for posturing and the unending cycle of violence must come to an end.

Please pray to that end.  Please write your member of Congress.  Please pray for Suleiman–this mourning father who is just like you and me.  And please pray for the other 1,100 families–many of whom can tell stories like Suleiman’s.