“Louisa”

By Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj

Most of the taxi drivers in Brussels are from Morocco. Therefore, I was surprised that the driver that took me to the European Parliament was a Palestinian.

Like many Palestinians, “Muhammad” complained and expressed his feelings of frustration at the past and apprehension about the future. His opinion on the Palestinian Authority was harsh. My Italian friend and I tried to reduce the severity of his attack.

My Italian friend said, “This talk about the Authority doesn’t help the Palestinian cause. On the contrary, it depicts them as unable and not ready to build their state.” She turned to me saying, “Your continuous, public criticism of human rights violations and corruption puts us, your friends, in a difficult situation.” She continued, “As much as I share your principles, I ask you to reduce the severity of your tone and concentrate on internal building without public criticism, which hurts you.”

My Italian friend has spent her life fighting for justice, always taking the side of the oppressed. She has adopted the issues of the Palestinian and Kurdish peoples, and is currently leading a campaign to lift the sanctions against Iraq. Like other friends of the Palestinian people, she is disappointed in the stumbling performance of the Palestinian Authority. Nonetheless, she continues to campaign for support of the Palestinian issue. Lately, she organized a trip for about one thousand Italian youth to visit Palestine. Representing all Italian municipalities, they visited different places including Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Hebron, and Gaza.

My friend, Louisa, thinks that many of these youth went back to Italy with a clear picture of the Palestinian question, the oppressed people, and their right to justice. They will be new messengers informing their people and friends of what they saw. She whispered in my ear, “Unfortunately, some Palestinians wrote critically of the trip without fully understanding its meaning and consequences.”

Then, she jokingly said, “You Palestinians and like Italians in the south. If three meet to discuss an issue, they come out with five opinions.”

One of her campaigns is undertaking a decision by the European Parliament to boycott of products of Israeli settlements. She informed me that after the decision was adopted, it came to her knowledge that these products are still exported to Europe. When she declared this in Parliament, one of the members asked her for evidence. Charles Shammas, an activist, conducted a quick tour in Europe and came back to the Parliament carrying products of settlement sold in different European capitals. And so, Louisa presented the evidence.

“We are fighting a battle in Parliament and in the street for the rights of the Palestinian people and against occupation and racism. We do it out of belief in our human duty and in line with justice.” Another time, she whispered in my ear, “We miss Palestinian Ambassador Afif Safia. He was great with his contacts with members of Parliament, the EC, politicians, and intellectuals. He was full of energy like your Ambassador in Paris, Layla Shaheed.”

A few weeks ago, my friend was in Sabra and Shatila raising a monument for the martyrs of the massacre. Tomorrow, she will lead a demonstration in Prague against global economy. And after a week, she will lead a European delegation to Baghdad to break the embargo against Iraq and to challenge American policy. A few days ago, she opened the doors of Parliament to a Palestinian artist to show his work about the homeland and exile.

We have many friends like this great lady, especially in Italy. They are very valuable to us in supporting out just cause. I just wish that some of the Palestinian officials carried the same eagerness, commitment, and willingness to give.

When I said goodbye to her after a few days full of meetings and discussion, she said with clear determination, “You have an opportunity to reach a peace agreement and build a state. Do not waste it and let Israel confiscate your land and livelihood. Grab the opportunity before the whole area is overwhelmed by radicals on both sides.”