Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان

Palestinian mother to a perfect little girl, a translator who co-founded with husband @amaninthesun , & a Birzeit grad student

[Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان @RiverToSea48]

Updated thread of campaigns for families I’m in contact with

[Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان @RiverToSea48]

This family had to dip into thousands of their evacuation savings to cover basic survival costs, and they need your help recovering that: Help Kariem's Family Survive Until Rafah Reopens https://t.co/OJT41IrusF

[Lina Abu Akleh @LinaAbuAkleh]

Today marks four years since my aunt, Shireen Abu Akleh, was killed by an Israeli sniper in Jenin.
An iconic journalist, and one of the most empathetic and sweetest people. This is who they killed. She loved life, but they stole hers from her.

[روني الدنماركي @aldnmarki]

Refaat Alareer's brother is still alive and he and his family are struggling to get by. Your support can save them. Donate what you can or share.

[Sana Saeed @SanaSaeed]

zero patience for the nonsensical discourse around these Synagogues and their active, willful and proud support for genocide and the theft of Palestinian land.

My religious community's entire political and religious trajectory was forever altered and manipulated through raids, entrapment, informants and CVE-programs -- we were made politically and spiritually impotent by design, making us a community today with zero political vision and power. Our charities were shut down, made criminal; our mosques became filled with deputized members of the community looking out for "radicalization" -- a nonsensical practice that still exists today. No one cared about the sacred nature of a place of worship then, no one cared about the protection of our young men then.

The problem isn't just one synagogue that sells stolen Palestinian land - it's every single one which refuses to ideologically and materially separate itself from Zionism, from Israel, from the extermination of a nation.

[روني الدنماركي @aldnmarki]

If "I'm sending money to a self-admitted former Israeli Unit 8200 operative for Gaza" doesn't immediately sound insane to you, I don't know what to tell you.

Don't waste your time. Check out @sameerproject and @gazafunds for vetted, regularly updated fundraisers instead.

[Maha Hussaini @MahaGaza]

I never really liked milk. All my life, I was in fact disgusted by it, even as a child. I remember that my mother used to bargain with my pocket money before school, telling me that if I didn’t drink my daily cup of milk, I wouldn’t get money to buy candies. Sometimes I didn’t mind going to school without pocket money, I just couldn’t bring myself to drink milk.

This continued for around three decades, until last July.

One morning, I suddenly woke up craving milk. At that time, Israel was imposing real starvation on Gaza, and milk was completely out of stock. There was none, not even in hospitals or pharmacies. Dozens of infants and toddlers were literally dying due to the lack of milk and baby formula.

For days, I kept inexplicably craving a sip of milk, fantasising about its taste, smelling it randomly during the day. I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. I couldn’t understand what was happening to my body, how it had suddenly shifted from disgust at even the smell of milk to craving it so intensely that I joked with my friends, saying it felt like I was having pregnancy-like cravings.

This drove me to search for an explanation, and I found that what was happening to me was, in some ways, indeed similar to cravings of pregnant women. When a pregnant woman craves something, her body is often signalling that it needs certain nutrients found in that item. That seemed to be exactly what was happening to my body as well. After long months of deprivation and relying mainly on carbohydrates to survive, it was apparently in desperate need of protein or calcium, needs that translated into cravings for milk.

For weeks, I roamed the streets, asking at every market and every pharmacy I passed, but I couldn’t find milk anywhere.

Then one day, a colleague mentioned in our work group that she had found an expired box of milk she had stocked for her toddler. She said she was so relieved to have found it that she immediately rushed to a pharmacy to ask whether it was safe to give to her child. The pharmacist told her it wasn’t safe for either children or adults.

But by then, my craving had reached a point that felt irrational. I asked her if I could have it instead. She agreed, and the situation quickly turned into a joke in the group. My colleagues accused her of trying to kill me. I laughed and told them I didn’t think it would do anything, but if I didn’t show up to work the next day, then maybe it had.

I did show up to work the next days, but I still resisted my craving a little longer, fearing that my body, already weakened by deprivation, wouldn’t be able to handle expired milk.

Thankfully, a few weeks later, small amounts of milk were allowed in as part of international aid, following international pressure on the Israeli occupation. At the time, a small box of powdered milk cost around 400 shekels, or about $120, because of its scarcity.

I didn’t buy an entire box, not because I couldn’t afford it, but because I knew there were tens of thousands of infants who needed it more. Vendors were selling milk in grams, and to satisfy my craving, I bought a few grams and made my first cup of milk since childhood.

I don’t exaggerate when I say it was the most delicious cup of milk I have ever tasted. I still remember that moment and the unfamiliar comfort I felt smelling and tasting it.

Since the borders were partially opened following the ceasefire agreement and milk was allowed in again, I have bought and tried all kinds of milk, as if I’m learning its tastes for the first time in my life.

Today, I drink milk every day, and somehow, it has become my favourite drink.

[Marwa Osman || مروة عثمان @Marwa__Osman]

Mila Abbas Zayat was three years old. THREE.

An age where the world is still soft, where joy is simple and immediate, where happiness can come from a balloon, a song, a mother's voice calling your name from the next room.

Mila did not know what an airstrike was. She did not know politics, borders, or Zionist wars of terror.
She knew her mother. She knew warmth. She knew what it meant to feel safe.

And in an instant, that small, bright world was shattered. There are no words that can truly hold the weight of a child's death. Especially not one so young, still learning how to speak in full sentences, still reaching for her mother's hand without hesitation, still believing that tomorrow would come like it always does.

Somewhere, there is a father, and an entire extended family, left staring at the silence she left behind. No footsteps. No laughter. No voice calling out. Just absence where life used to be.

If this were a child in a quiet American suburb, her name would be everywhere. Her photo would be shared across every screen.
People would speak of innocence lost, of a future stolen.

Mila is NO different. She was not collateral. She was not a number.
She was a child, three years of age,.who should have been allowed to grow, to laugh, to become.

Instead, she became a farewell because Israel exists and Americans nurture it.

[Workshops4Gaza @Workshops4Gaza]

Donate to Scalawag!!

[A-100 gecs @PinstripeBungle]

if this passes they do this and you are the midlevel bureaucrat working for the VA that leaks all their info to @HindRFoundation you will absolutely see Valhalla

[A Man in the Sun 🌞 @AManInTheSun]

Misleading.

There was an unofficial boycott by every Palestinian party outside Fateh, due to a law requiring them to sign onto the PLO's program and commitments with Israel.

Turnout in Gaza was unprecedentedly low, at 21%.

[shayma @roundthefurr]

Hey guys👋🏼She urgently needs ur support!

My sister’s uni is threatening to cut her off if her tuition fees of $2K aren’t paid. Our deadline is May 7th Any contribution can help keep her education on track Pls donate n share to help us reach the goal!🩷

https://t.co/Fdrpvk94Fn

[leila @ainiladra]

please go to https://t.co/6bAmW8ANWS & give directly families in need all confirmed to be in gaza, palestine

[Ir Amim English @IrAmimAlerts]

🚨 Israel Approves Major Plan for Religious Jewish School in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem

On Monday, April 20, Israeli authorities officially approved a major plan to establish a large ultra-Orthodox yeshiva (religious Jewish school), known as “Or Somayach,” in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Objections submitted by Ir Amim, alongside the Sheikh Jarrah Community Association, were formally rejected.

The Or Somayach project calls for the construction of an 11-story complex that will include dormitories for hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jewish students, as well as residential housing for faculty members. If implemented, the project would significantly expand the settler presence in the neighborhood, heighten security concerns for Palestinian residents, and further transform the area’s demographic and cultural character.

The plan allocates approximately five dunams of land at the southern entrance to Sheikh Jarrah, directly facing the Sheikh Jarrah Mosque. This land was originally expropriated from Palestinian owners for public purposes intended to serve local residents. However, in 2007, Israeli authorities allocated the plot to the Ohr Somayach institution without a transparent tender process. The site is situated near existing settler compounds inside the neighborhood, where dozens of Palestinian families are currently under threat of eviction and home seizures by settler organizations.

The approval of this plan represents yet another use of urban planning mechanisms to entrench settler presence in the heart of Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem.

[Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان @RiverToSea48]

Been focusing on this and continuing my master’s, I do miss being on here but I’ll be back soon enough once I finish Locking In.

[Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان @RiverToSea48]

It’s been an honor and a privilege to be working on translating this work by freed political prisoner Ahmad Qatamesh into English, and it’s exciting to be sharing all these lessons from the Palestinian left with the world. You can read the excerpt here: https://t.co/D17GznfODh

[Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان @RiverToSea48]

@cannibality Ah bittersweet the pride in them being independent but how fast their growing happens

[Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان @RiverToSea48]

@cannibality I’m ngl she sleeps in like she’s a teenager but I am really looking forward to getting her a floor bed and seeing if she’ll play on her own for a bit because THAT is sorely lacking rn it’s running as soon as my eyes open to put her on the potty

[Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان @RiverToSea48]

@cannibality Love this for you

[Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان @RiverToSea48]

@Sturgeons_Law We just started watching and we decided we had to skip that episode the second we saw the description

[Rima Hassan @RimaHas]

Cette Une est (malheureusement) représentative de la réalité.

[Rawan‏𓂆☭ روان @RiverToSea48]

Today’s Arabic - language webinar at 5pm Palestine time, 10 am DC time

Log in through this link: https://t.co/0kAyfLXZKu