My name is Tareq Abu Shindi. I moved to Sarnia Canada in 2012 with my Canadian wife.
I would like to share with Canadians my frustration and the injustice that happened to my family.
I was born in Jordan to Palestinian parents who were forced to move and leave their homeland in 1948 in what’s known as the Nakba (catastrophe) year.
Both my parents were born in a village called al-Qibab near Lod city in Palestine. My parents, their parents and the rest of their relatives were farmers who loved their village. When I was a child I would often hear my parents and uncles talking about the beauty of their homeland al-Qibab. The beauty of its weather, scenes and fruit trees. Even as a child I understood how much they missed their village and how sad they were to be forced to leave their country.
Unfortunately, that whole village was taken by the Zionists in 1948. They came from no where and stole the homes, farms and all their belongings. They killed some of my family members. Some of my family members have been missing since then. We don’t know what happened to them. One of them was my oldest uncle. My aunt was heartbroken and waited 60 years for him hoping to see him again. I remember many times sitting with her, hearing her talking about my uncle. I could see the grief in her eyes, and she would leave the gathering in tears.
My parents and family could never go back to Palestine, not even to visit, because the Zionists occupied Palestine and control the borders. This was really sad for us as children to hear their story and the injustice that happened to them. They really loved their village and were wishing to go back their one day. No matter where anyone goes, no country can be dearer to you than your homeland, where you were born and grew up.
In 1999 my older brother and I were very lucky to be chosen as soccer players for a Palestinian team. We got a work visa to Palestine, and we ended up living in a city called Nablus, which was only three hours away from my parents’ village.
Since we were so close we wanted to see our parents’ village. We travelled to Lod the closest city to al-Qibab village. When we arrived in Lod we asked people about al-Qibab village. Many people hadn’t even heard of it because Israel changed most of the cities and villages names. Somehow we were able to find someone who knew the village and he gave us the directions. Once we arrived close to the village, there was an inspection station. We told the officers, as it’s been almost 50 years and things have changed. We told them we are from Jordan, and this was our parents’ homeland. We just came here to visit it, and we would love to see where our parents were born.
Unexpectedly we were told with cruelty to leave immediately. We didn’t give up. We tried to convince them that we just want to visit the village for a short time, that we had no other intention. We thought that should be fair and normal. But surprisingly we were threatened to be shot with guns if we didn’t leave within five minutes.
Sadly, we were forced to leave without seeing our family homeland. I was really hurt and bothered at the cruelty of the treatment by the Israeli soldiers. I couldn’t believe their abusive treatment. They told us mockingly to go back to your country Jordan. They also said things in Hebrew that we couldn’t understand but our driver later told us that they were mocking us. I didn’t except to be treated that way and I couldn’t believe that I was so close to my parents’ homeland but couldn’t see it even for a moment.
Yet if someone else who is not Palestinian or doesn’t have a Palestinian background wanted to visit my family homeland they would be allowed. I was told by Palestinians who live there they can’t go anywhere they want as the Zionists won’t allow them.
This is just a small bad experience that I had dealing with the injustice that happened to my family. I can’t imagine how much oppression and abuse the Palestinians who live there have to deal with.
What happened is still happening until now in Palestine. It is unfair and it didn’t start on October 7, 2023, as many people think. People there have been facing oppression and apartheid since 1948 and the whole world needs to know that.
There is no Israeli Palestinian conflict in Palestine. There is a brutal occupation which must come to an end. There is a regime which is today by far one of the cruelest brutal tyrants on earth. This regime can only be defined as apartheid. Two people share the same land. One has all rights of the world, while the other, the Palestinians, have no right whatsoever.
I hope my message reaches as many Canadians as possible, so they learn more about the injustice happening to the Palestinians from the Zionist government.
I pray that God will delver his justice and free the Palestinians from the oppression.