I almost gave the title of ‘Palestinian incubation, Palestinian revenge?’ to this heart-wrenching story of a young Palestinian boy who sleeps on the grave of his mother who died several months ago in an Israeli attack. In the ancient world, incubation was the religious practice of sleeping in a temple or another sacred place with the purpose of receiving a divine dream or a healing vision. In the instance I can recall, i.e., in Oresteia, the only surviving trilogy of Aeschylus, Orestes sleeps at the tomb of his father Agamemnon and receives a vision which prompts him to seek revenge. As I do not wish such an outcome for Zein, as it would perpetuate the cycle of reprisals leading to more violence, I decided to change the title of this entry.

Today, as I was trying to find the exact link to a quote of Francesca Albanese, the international lawyer who is the UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine, without having to open all of her tweets on X, I came across the following distressing story of a young boy who, heartbroken, sleeps on the grave of his mother somewhere in Gaza.

I am no fan of the Qatari government (Aljazeera is owned by the government of that country) because I suspect it to be instrumentalising the Palestinian issue for its own purposes, namely to avoid a new source of gas being exploited off the Gaza coastline by Israel (the Gaza Marine gas field). Of course, this would be to the huge detriment of Qatar given that the destruction of the Nordstream pipeline and the war in Ukraine have forced Europeans to rely on sources other than Russia, including Qatar. In spite of this, I could not avoid being highly disturbed by this very sad story and I have to hold back my tears whenever I watch the clip. This is why I felt compelled to upload the clip onto this blog and provide a transcript, even if I see it as kind of weaponisation of the suffering of the children of Gaza.




Please note that the Middle East Eye broke this story before Aljazeera:

‘I miss her so much’ says Palestinian child who went viral for sleeping on his mother’s grave
Middle East Eye
2 days ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJlEMoJX_g




Text over: This Palestinian boy sleeps at his mother’s grave in Gaza.

Father: Don’t I bring you here? I told you not to come alone. Right, son?

Text over: Zein Yousef was spotted at a cemetery, in the dark. Instagram\@saleh_aljafarawi

Voice of cameraman or reporter: What’s wrong? Why aren’t you asleep?

Zein: I want to sleep on my mother’s lap.

Voice of cameraman or reporter: What?

Zein: I want to sleep on my mother’s lap.

Voice of cameraman or reporter: I can’t hear you.

Zein: I’m sleeping on my mother’s lap.

Voice of cameraman or reporter: You’re sleeping on your mother’s lap?

Zein: Yes.

Voice of cameraman or reporter: This is your mother’s grave?

Zein: Yes.

Text over: His mother was killed months ago in an Israeli attack in Gaza.
                 He visits her grave everyday.

Zein: I come to this graveyard to sleep beside my mother. It makes me feel safe.
I loved her so much. I adored her. At our house, she would bring not one bag, but many bags of things for us, and toys.
I could not handle it so I came to her grave. I sit beside her grave.
Sometimes I sleep by mother’s grave and I dream of her.
She tells me ‘how are you Zein, tell me how you’re doing.’

Father: Zein, my son, is the youngest child. I come to him at the graveyard, asking him what he’s doing here.
He tells me ‘Dad, when I sleep on the grave, my heart calms down, the strong beating of my heart stops.’
I ask him if he is afraid, he tells me no, he feels relief.
This boy used to be bright. Always laughing and making jokes, with the old and the young.
After his mother died, just as I said, he started straying from the community.
He started developing anti-social tendencies, not talking to anyone.
So I was his father and his mother.
Still, the affection of his mother is now gone, it is not like the love of a father.
I will tell this to the world. Look at what is happening to our children.
I do not wish upon any human to go through what my son is going through.

Text over:
Before Zein’s mother died, he hoped to become a doctor to help treat her illness.
Now all he wishes is to see her again.

Zein: I tell her to come out a little from the grave so I could kiss her, only for five minutes.
If only I could see my mother for five minutes.

Text over:
Over 43,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza.
At least 17,000 children have lost at least one parent.
Doctors say children in Gaza are suffering psychological scars that could last for the rest of their lives.


70% of victims of Israeli genocide in Gaza are children and women: UN
Friday, 08 November 2024 3:19 PM  [ Last Update: Friday, 08 November 2024 5:29 PM ]
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/11/08/736860/Palestine-Gaza-UN-Gaza-Volker-Turk

8 Nov, 2024 14:28
Children ‘bearing the brunt’ of Gaza war – UNICEF
Thousands of babies have been left without life-saving care, a spokesperson for the UN’s children’s agency has told RT
https://www.rt.com/news/607365-children-gaza-war-unicef/



[موسيقى] انا بجيبك مش قلتلك ما تجي لحالك اه يابا مالك ليش نايم ايش مش سامع ايش بنام حضن امي تنامي بحضن امك اه هذا قبر [موسيقى] [موسيقى] امك وباجي هون بالمقبره بنام بعدد امي بحس بالامان كنت بحبها كثير كنت بعشقها كانت كانت ايام دارنا كانت ايام دارنا كان نجيب لك كيس اكياس حجات مش كيس كياس حاجات وكياس العاب بتحملش هيك انا بج بال المقبره ك انا بجي اقعد فوق جبرها مرات انام مرات بنام بقبر امي وبحلم فيها تحكي لي كيف حالك يا زين ش اخبارك ابني زين هذا اخر العنقود بجي لله على المقبر بقول له ايش بتسوي هنا بقول لي يابا انا لما انام على القبر قلبي بيقف الخبط طلع قلبي بيقف بقول له طب ما تخافش بقول لي لا بتريح الولد هذا فاكه كان يعني كيف دائما ضحك ومسخره وشو اسمه يعني تمسخر مع الكبير مع الصغير ماخذ علينا كل هيتنا اي بعد وفاه امه الولد صار اول حاجه قلت لك اياها انه اخذ انطواء اخذ جانب هيك انه ما حدش اسمه خلص انه في حد يكتنف صارت متوحد او شو اسمه ما يكلم حدا فانا صرت امه وابوه الولد برضه كمان حنان الام راح فقده مش زي حنان الاب انا بقول للعالم طلعوا اطفالنا ايش بصير فيها انا ما بتمنى لاي انسان الله خلقه يمر في حاله [موسيقى] قولها انها تطلع شويه من القبر ابوسها شوي لو خمس دقائق نفسي لو خمس دقاق اشوف امي [موسيقى] ا [موسيقى]

https://youtubetotranscript.com/transcript?v=38VubX2vzVc&current_language_code=en

PS: One can only imagine THE HELL THAT THE CHILDREN OF GAZA MUST BE EXPERIENCING DURING THIS WAR, WHICH HAS BEEN LARGELY WAGED UPON THEM FOR OVER 400 DAYS.

Lausanne, the above was published on the tenth day of the eleventh month of the year two thousand and twenty-four.