By Ana Hurtado on March 12, 2024 from Havana
Dr. Watan at Lenin School, photo: Ana Hurtado
This past Wednesday the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Pre-University Vocational Institute of Exact Sciences was privileged to receive a visit from Palestinian doctor Watan Jamil Alabed and two Palestinian medical students studying at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM).
In one of the rooms of the large school, students from the higher grades attended the lecture given by the Palestinian pediatrician, a refugee with his family in Jordan.
Watan Jamil has been living in Cuba since 2011. The Cuban Revolution has given him the possibility to become a doctor and specialize in pediatrics. A mission he could not possibly have achieved with such success from the Middle East.
Fidel created ELAM to give doctors to the world, always under the motto “Doctors, not bombs”, which is already known all over the world, as one of his maxims of solidarity and internationalism. Fidel’s thinking was beyond just sending Cuban doctors to assist in the third world but also to train young people to become doctors who are from there.
photo: Ana Hurtado
The meeting between the three Palestinian friends and the students took place in the context of the genocide taking place in Palestine. Cuba as a country has demonstrated its support for peace and solidarity with the Palestinians since the early period of the revolution and most recently there have been large rallies in most of the cities of the island calling for peace.
Peace to “Israel”, a settler state, since last October has meant massacring people, regardless of the requests of the UN, of the people of the region, and turning its nose up at the cry for peace that is ringing constantly throughout the length and breadth of the planet demanding an end to the genocide for the sake of the Palestinians; for the sake of humanity.
Dr. Watan explained to the students at the beginning of his speech that he was proud of the experience and teachings given to him by his teachers in Cuba and acknowledged that many of them passed through this pre-university school. An honor and responsibility, he said, to be at the required level of what young students need to be.
The content of the conference was a master class to contextualize the situation in Palestine and the origin of this merciless war that began its latest stage on October 7, 2023 by the Zionists.
The Palestinian doctor emphasized that in the last twenty years, the Palestinian leaders and militants of this human cause are not able to transmit their own history correctly and adequately. Adding to this fact is the falsification that imperialism makes on the concepts and the history to modify the truth in its own favor.
Watan explained to his audience that in order to defend a cause, the first thing that is needed is to be clear about its concepts.
As far as the cause of the Palestinian people is concerned, it is very important for him, and he let it be known, that this generation understands what is really happening. They know well the historical roots of this conflict, and its genocidal nature goes back many years.
He explained the meaning of the slogan that is increasingly echoed in the world: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. And why the Palestinians fight,as the original people, for a territory that was taken from them and continues to be that way regardless of the human lives that have fallen along the way. “ We are people who have lived through massacres, expulsion and violence for more than 75 years always living under one of the fiercest military occupations in history. “
The discussion also covered the Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails who are going through very difficult conditions including torture that has resulted in many martyrs within these ranks. And of course the focus of the talk centering on the right of the people to defend themselves after so much oppression, by whatever means.
At the end of his lecture, the students continued the exchange with Watan, who cleared any doubts and clarified some concepts. Especially on such a delicate subject as death.
In all the revolutions in the world there has been great sacrifice. In the liberation of a territory, freedom, has a price. And he said that his people are willing to pay with it their lives to conquer the longed-for freedom that has been taken from them. And for the new generations to live in peace.
In conclusion, Dr. Watan made it clear when he said “No revolution was made for free.”
Source: Cubadebate translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English