21 July 2024
To the Dear Children of Palestine and thus to all Dear Children.
To the Dear Children of Palestine and thus to all Dear Children.
David Halpin FRCS on Sunday the 21st of July AD 2024
At tea time yesterday, Sue had a message from Mahmoud Baroud PhD who is in Gaza with his wife Mona, and their 6 children of age - about 33 down to 23 years. We know them well because they spent 3 happy years here in England whilst Mahmoud read for a thesis at Exeter University. I can ‘see’ the family playing on the lawn here in sunshine about 14 years ago. There was great happiness and that was made greater because Tim Williams and Andi his wife had made the family so welcome and done all to help. You see that many mothers and fathers throughout our most wonderful world believe and follow that command of ‘love thy neighbour’. You have heard of Moses perhaps?
Whilst Mahmoud and Mona rejoiced quietly in seeing their children thrive in freedom here they would have had their return to the wickedness heaped upon them in your land of Palestine in their minds. Palestine was named Filastin early on in the Arabic language, and Palaestina by the Romans in a previous occupation. They had conquered many lands before the birth of Jesus/Issa, including most of Britain! I had to read the account made by Emperor Julius Caesar as a schoolboy.
All children like being happy and feeling secure in the love of their Mums and Dads. Sadly there are adults in our world who are powerful and evil. They destroy families in many lands and cause great unhappiness, nowhere more so than in Palestine.
A ‘dark has fallen over our world’. The suffering of you and your families in Palestine has never been greater and many have been killed or wounded. You children especially have been terribly frightened - as now. This message from Mahmoud is here - “Hello again. Shelling is everywhere in the middle of Gaza. Please tell brother David that Dr Khamis is fine.” Sue replied "David says the poorer people of the world know, and Allah is watching. Love from David and Sue"
Khamis is Khamis Elessi MD. He is a dear friend whom I first met in Gaza in 2005. He speaks perfect English having been educated in medicine in Manila by US doctors. During a smaller holocaust in 2008 he interpreted for over 500 TV and audio interviews. He and his family lived in Shujeiya. I remember him telling how his little ones were afraid to go into the stairways in the dark of night – fearing that there might be Israeli soldiers hiding there with guns!
Your Mums and Dads could no longer live as prisoners in their own land and know this most terrible time would come. You want to live and you love life. And so you will live – and be happy again, with all the beauty of your land round about you.
These children at the Friends’ School in Ramallah sang this for you all, and all dear children world wide.
Our Song to the World https://youtu.be/ZsEbIVJy0Gg
From Ramallah Friends School to the world, we share our version of the timeless “ Little Drummer Boy.” Our hearts come together in prayer for the safety of the children in Gaza. May our shared prayers echo for peace and justice, weaving a tapestry of hope that goes beyond borders, embracing the shared humanity we all hold dear.
Love from David and Sue at Haytor, in Devon, in England 0044 1364 661115