Palestinian in Indiana says Gaza in ‘very perilous situation’ in Israel-Hamas war
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday canceled his planned Wednesday meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden after the strike of a hospital in Hamas.
Abbas declared three days of mourning for the people who died and were injured.
Palestinians living in Indiana are facing a lot of fear as well as they wonder how the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war will impact Palestinians locally and abroad.
Already in Indianapolis, several peace rallies have happened on Monument Circle.
One Palestinian-American in Indiana says the chaos after the Hamas attack Oct. 7 on Israel has sent the region into a violent spiral. Hiba Alalami says it’s important to separate Hamas from Palestinians who are taking on a lot of the blow. While Indiana has been her home for nearly two decades, she can’t ignore the chaos and death happening in her homeland.
“Last week has been really really difficult week, just witnessing the many lost lives.”
Her heart, she says, is heavy. She says innocent civilian are taking on brutal punishment after the Hamas attack.
Grouping Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims as a whole she says will cause more harm.
She says headlines such as “Israel at war” don’t help. “It actually harmed us because it discounted us as communities. It discounted the Palestinians suffering,” Alalami said.
Days ago a 6-year-old Chicago boy was killed and his mother stabbed, police say, because they were Muslim. The 71-year-old suspect charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He had cited the “ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis” for why he targeted the mother and child.
“The 6-year-old, Wadea Al-Fayoume, was the victim of a heinous crime targeting not only his family but the whole community, the whole Palestinian-Arab-Muslim community, who has been painted with a wide brush.”
Alalami says Israel and Palestine have been at odds for 75 years, and opportunities for leaders to strike peace treaties hasn’t happened, so the people are again paying the price and their future looks grim. “Palestinians in Gaza right now are in a very perilous situation.”