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70
disabled Gaza men look towards a new life
Monday November 01, 2010 12:21:08 PM,
IANS
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Gaza:
Life will perhaps be a lot better for them now. Seventy men, left
disabled when Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza in
December 2008, have tied the knot in a mass wedding organised by
the ruling Hamas.
Sitting on his wheelchair, Omer el-Khouli was exhilarated as he
celebrated with his bride. He had been critically wounded and
became physically disabled in the military offensive.
The 70 young couples apparently left behind their suffering, while
they enjoyed the rituals and the Palestinian music and Islamic
anthems at their wedding.
"Despite my disability, I feel like I was reborn while I'm
celebrating with my new wife and sharing a mass wedding with other
young men who tasted the pain of their wounds but didn't lose
their aspirations," el-Khouli told Xinhua.
As'ad el-Nahal, another groom at the mass wedding, said he
expected to start a new life different from his previous painful
days.
"I hope I will pick up the flowers of happiness instead of the
suffering I had during the Israeli army strikes," Nahal said.
The al-Tayseer Association had arranged the mass wedding ceremony
with the theme "Despite the wounds we will continue happiness".
The 70 couples rode in a long convoy of cars around Gaza city's
main streets.
Sa'ed Abu Nada, executive director of Tayseer Association, said
the mass wedding achieved a lot, mainly "rewarding those who were
injured during the war and supporting them economically to begin a
new life".
"The idea was to help those who had a permanent disability to be
able to merge in our communities and rehabilitate themselves to
continue a normal life," said Abu Nada.
The deposed premier of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haneya,
blessed the couples in the ceremony.
"This mass wedding ceremony is not only to reward the heroes but
also to reiterate that resistance is the only choice of our
Palestinian people who want to liberate their homeland and
establish the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,"
said Haneya.
The wounded grooms "are sending a message through this ceremony to
the international community that shows Israeli crimes and
brutalities against our people", he said.
During the three-week Israeli operation, around 1,450 Palestinians
and 10 Israelis were killed and around 5,000 Palestinians were
injured.
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