Original subtitles

(call for prayer)

(soft music)

¶

¶

- (B. Obama): For decades, the conflict between

Israelis and Arabs has

cast a shadow over the region.

For Palestinians, it has meant suffering

the humiliation of occupation.

And never living in a nation of their own.

Israeli settlement activity continues.

Palestinians have walked away from talks.

The world looks at a conflict that is grinded on and on

and on and sees nothing but stalemate.

The drive for a lasting peace that ends the conflict

and resolves all claims is more urgent than ever.

We see it in the actions of a Palestinian who lost

three daughters to Israeli shells in Gaza.

- (Man): Izzeldin Abuelaish is a trail blazing physician,

activist and peacemaker.

- (Woman): After he captured hearts and headlines,

in the aftermath of a horrific tragedy.

- (Man): Nominated for three consecutive years

for the Nobel Peace Prize...

- (Woman): A man who fights for all people regardless

of religious or political beliefs.

- (Man): Doctor Abuelaish has been referred to

as the Nelson Mandela of the Middle East.

- (Woman): He has said, "Darkness cannot drive out

darkness, only love and respect can drive out darkness."

He has said, "The dignity of Palestinians equals

the dignity of Israelis, it's time to live in partnership

and collaboration. There is no way backwards."

- (Obama): "I have the right to feel angry", he said.

So many people were expecting me to hate.

My answer to them is: I shall not hate.

"Let us hope, he said, for tomorrow."

That is the choice that must be made.

¶

¶

¶

- As a Palestinian refugee,

my life can't be taken in isolation from my family.

From their origin, from where they come and the tragedy

they faced.

¶

To be kicked out of your home,

of your land, of your heritage.

And the suffering of my parents

was transmitted to the future generations.

It's intergenerational.

¶

But what is more painfully clear now...

When I go back home to visit, my home, my people,

I see the same situation.

(airplane in the sky)

¶

In the Gaza Strip, it's supposed with time, the situation

to improve.

¶

But for the Palestinians, the opposite; it's getting

worse and worse.

¶

They wake up in the morning, the same as yesterday...

¶

Lifeless...

Jobless...

Helpless...

They are living, breathing, but they are dead.

And I blame the world, who was watching it.

- The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is

a conflict that has always been

under the magnifying glass of the world's attention.

And when it comes to Gaza,

no one talks about Gaza. No one cares about Gaza.

Most Israelis definitely don't care about Gaza.

They don't see the people who

live in Gaza as human beings.

If they would, they would be extremely disturbed.

If you look at the entrance, and I've been through it

obviously, I mean, you might

as well be at the Berlin Wall, really.

You know, the... the security is intense.

(crowd shouting)

- More than 15 years of a very cruel

siege that Israel has imposed on Gaza.

(gunfire and shouts)

Not allowing most people to go in or out.

(sirens)

- On the Israeli side of Gaza, they're blocked.

Egypt that is also blockaded.

Yes, it's on the sea coast, but that's also blockaded.

It's one of the largest open-air prisons in the world.

And in the past, they were of course,

suicide attacks that came from Gaza.

But the vast majority of the 2 million people living

in Gaza have nothing to do with terrorism.

They want to live their life just like any other human

being in the world.

¶

¶

- When I am in need to talk to my daughters,

I visit their graves.

To talk to them. That you are with us

and we came back to you.

When we say "refugee", refugee means he has a history,

he has dignity, he has a home.

And all of a sudden, man made actions to become exposed,

naked of their dignity.

My parents, they came from a village called Houg.

It was one of the most reputed families

in the South of Palestine.

They were living, thriving, free in their land.

(gunfire)

Until 1948, when my parents

were expelled from their village by the Israeli army.

- Between half a million and 700 000 refugees fled

or were deported in the 1948 war.

- My parents, my family, they thought they will move

to another village and it will take a few days to return

to their homeland.

But once they were expelled, the village in Houg

was completely demolished.

For many of the things they used at that time.

They tell the story.

- These refugees have reached the West Bank, Jordan,

Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.

And after three or four generations,

they have grown very much in numbers.

I was born, raised and lived in Jabalia Refugee Camp

as a Palestinian refugee.

I feel about my childhood; a child without a childhood.

Abject poverty, deprivation.

(call to prayer)

To wake up in the morning to go to Centres to collect

and to bring some milk in order to sell it.

And I realized the only way to get out of it is education.

And then, at the age of 11, I was admitted to the hospital.

I saw the doctors and how they treat.

I said, "I would love one day to be a medical doctor

in order to rescue my family from this miserable life".

(knock knock)

At the age of 15, I succeeded to work

with an Israeli Jewish family to help in their farms.

I spent there 40 days. I earned 400 liras.

So, I came back home. And one week later,

the Israeli Army came to Jabalia Refugee Camp.

They wanted to widen the streets for the Israeli

tanks to pass by.

The house that we lived in demolished in front of our eyes.

So, we went to my uncle's house for about a few months and

then we bought a new house where the 400 liras

I earned were very helpful in buying the new house.

As a Palestinian, to get my MD from Cairo University, to study

in London to specialize in obstetrics-genecology,

all of these achievements have strengthened

my faith that nothing is impossible in life.

¶

Nadia and our family, we lived in the same neighbourhood.

As Palestinian refugees living in the same camp,

we understand each other.

¶

She never thought of herself, she sacrificed for others

with a smile, with a laugh, with goodwill.

¶

We went to Southern Arabia when she was pregnant with Bessan.

And then, I delivered Dalal.

- My mother, she's a very nice lady. She's very quiet,

well educated, she's very family oriented.

I have lots of pictures of these days, yeah.

- Then she decided, we want to go back

to the Jabalia Refugee Camp to be close to my family,

to my mother, to her family.

And by 1996, I delivered Shatha, Mayar, and Aya.

- Aya and Mayar were very close to each other in age and

they were best friends always.

Spending their time together, playing and fighting,

and teasing each other.

We were close in age, but mostly, like we studied

together, we helped each other, we used to go to school

together. I don't know, I don't want to say we were like nerds,

but we were always just studying together; me, Mayar and Aya

helping each other.

- By 2002, Nadia blessed my house with six lovely,

beautiful, bright daughters and two sons.

- I was like the youngest. So, I was kind of treated like a toy

by all of them. They would always bring me candy.

I'd always spend the night with one sister and they would

be like, "No, come spend the night with me and hang out

with me." So, they would kind of like take me

and want to stay with me or whatever. So, yeah.

- At that time, our house, it was big, but we need

to expand. So, I thought of buying a piece of land

to build a building with five floors for each

of my brothers.

My mother's words, they resonate with me. I am a medical doctor,

I have the knowledge, I have the skills. I have the education.

So, I started my work to help the people who are in need.

I believe every couple can have children. But we need equipment,

advanced technology and the knowledge, which are not

available in the Gaza Strip. What can I do?

- I met Dr. Abuelaish the first time when he asked

for consultations for his patients from Gaza.

So, he would bring his patients after hours to provide medical

care to a population which was

not privileged like on our side of the border to receive

the state of the art.

- Then he said to me, "Why not?" to come to work with us.

To be the first Palestinian to practise

in an Israeli hospital.

- To go to work in Israel at the hospital in Beshiva

in an OBGYN hospital. A man who delivers Israeli babies.

- What is the difference between Jewish babies and the Muslim

babies or Christian?

They are the same babies. They are starting life.

- I saw the dream in his eyes and the willingness and

the enthusiasm and I thought,

he's made of the right... of the right material.

But for someone who comes from Gaza, and works in Israel,

there are suspicions.

- Again today, all over the West Bank in Gaza Strip,

young Palestinians rioted against Israeli occupation.

(gunfire)

- And if you heard that yesterday, there was

an incident where Israelis were wounded or killed, and here

comes an Arab doctor.

- Doctors are human messengers. And when we treat patients

inside the hospital, we treat them not based

on their ethnicity, religion, background, name. It's

according to the disease.

Why we don't adopt this approach to treat each other

equally outside the borders of the hospital?

Do we need to be sick in order to understand that we are equal?

When I used to work in Israel, Nadia used to wait for me

at the front gate of our house. When I am late, why is Izzeldin

late? What happened?"

- On one of his visits to us, she sent us a small souvenir,

which she had made for us.

And it's in Hebrew.

And it says that God will bless your home.

And down there is Izzeldin, Gaza, and a small depiction

of a house.

- In 1997, Hamas emerged as an offshoot of the Muslim

Brotherhood Chapter in the Gaza Strip.

And the Muslim Brotherhood Chapter was not a political

party. Its operations in the Gaza Strip were

actually granted licenses by Israeli occupying forces.

- Former Israeli official, Brigadier General Yitzhak Segev

said he was given a budget to help finance Islamist movements

in Gaza to counter Yasser Arafat and his Fatah Movement.

- So, the Palestinians had an election yesterday.

And it's a wake-up call to the leadership.

Obviously, people were not happy with the status quo.

- There were many political parties including Fatah, Hamas,

Popular Front, all of them.

So, I said, "I will try to run as an independent candidate."

As a medical doctor with all of my experience,

I thought of improving the standards of health

education on the social

services. So, I said, "I have something that I can give

to my people."

- Key issues for the voters, on the one hand, slow progress

towards peace and independence.

And on the other, a desire for change and the perception

that Hamas has the organizational strength

to deliver social services and govern transparently.

- And of course, the Palestinians' elections

are witnessed by the international community.

Jimmy Carter, many other organizations, they came.

- Led by former US President Jimmy Carter, the centre joined

with the National Democratic Institute to form an 80-member

observer delegation.

- Yesterday, the turnout was significant as I understand it.

And it was... there was a peaceful process as people

went to the poles and that's positive.

- After midnight, Wednesday election, the results started

to come out. I have about 6,000 or 7,000 votes.

And I realize that I am not elected.

(crows shouting)

- (Reporter): The surprise outcome was a majority

for Hamas, which took 74 out of 132 seats in Parliament.

- The United States does not support political parties

that want to destroy our ally Israel. And that people must

renounce that part of their platform.

- The siege was imposed immediately after

Hamas took over Gaza.

And the siege is enforced until this very day.

- (Reporter): Economic sanctions enforced by Israel

and the international community are further choking civilians

already struggling to survive.

- (Reporter): Israel controls everything and everyone

that goes out or comes in.

Human rights groups say nearly 40 critically ill patients

have died in recent months because they couldn't get out

for treatment.

(boom)

(gunfire and shouts)

- It's been just over a month now since Hamas, the militant

Palestinian Organization took control of Gaza, forcing out

the Fatah Opposition and assuming total power over

police and security forces. Although most of the world has

refused to recognize Hamas as a political structure

in Gaza, the group continues struggling to function,

insisting that Hamas was democratically chosen

by Palestinians to rule.

- (Reporter): Hamas took power by force and in its wake,

an appearance of calm has returned.

But for many Gazans, it's an illusion.

- Gaza Strip and Palestinians, all of them are traumatized.

In every five children, four of them are mentally ill.

And that's the impact of the environmental situation,

the context in which they live.

Unless we change the context in which they live,

it will continue.

So, I was thinking of my children. I want them

to succeed, to be happy. So, I left Gaza to explore

a few offers. I went to Kenya, to Uganda and then, to Belgium.

- So, you sent him an email about your mother.

Do you remember that? - Yes, yeah. Uh...

I don't want to talk about it.

- No, your mother, no. OK.

¶

- I received an email from my daughter Shatha telling me

that her mother is sick and they want to transfer

her to Israel.

She sent me the medical report to realize that she has acute

leukemia. It's an easy flight from Brussels to Tel Aviv.

Four hours, I will be in Tel Aviv.

But this is not the case for a Palestinian.

I have to book a flight to go to Germany to find

any other way to come back.

Immediately from the airport, I went to the bridge to cross

the borders from the Jordanian side to the Israeli side.

And at the Israeli side, they said to me, "Wait".

I am waiting.

Nadia's sister was with her at the hospital calling me.

Nadia's asking, "When are you coming?" That day,

they transferred her to the intensive care unit.

(sigh)

And then, at 3 p.m., they throw my ID and their permit

and say, "Go".

I arrived at the hospital to see Nadia was fully unconscious.

Telling her, "Nadia, I am here". Praying for her.

Until the 16th of September, 2008, quarter to 5 p.m.,

she passed away.

¶

What can we do?

The main pillar inside the house is gone, Nadia.

- So, Bessan took over the role of being in charge

in the family even though she was young. She was

only 21 years old when my mom passed away.

- She was studying at the university in business

and administration, in her final year.

She used to go to university and come back to take care

of her siblings, to cook.

And she was not only my daughter, she was

my friend, my adviser, my manager, my treasure.

I saw myself in Bessan. She said to me, "You have to continue

your work. Don't give up".

So, I continued, but all of the time, my heart was

with my children.

- The war started with an attack on a police academy in Gaza.

(shouting)

- (Reporter): Under attack, Israel's Air Force unleashes

devastation on the Gaza Strip.

(shouting)

- And the first attack killed about 50 Palestinian policemen.

- Before the war, I went to visit my aunt and then,

the war started.

- (Reporter): A massive explosion as Israeli

air strikes pounded Gaza today.

(explosions)

- You can't leave your house. You might get shot.

- (Reporter): Airplanes, tanks, artillery and naval boats

pounding Gaza.

- And I lost connection with my family because there's

no phones, phones were not working, there is no power.

- (Reporter): The ground offensive started once

darkness fell on the 8th day of the war on Gaza.

- We could hear tanks moving...

people screaming on the streets.

All the shelling at night.

We didn't have water. We planned the showers, the washroom

visits. We didn't know what day it was.

We were just waiting for it to end.

- There is no safety or security anywhere.

The schools are attacked, most are attacked.

So, the safest place is our home.

(explosions)

No media was allowed to enter the Gaza Strip. So, most

of the media was located on a hill inside Israel.

- I'm standing less than two kilometres away from Gaza.

From here, you can see along the Strip, the scale

of the continuing bombardment.

- The war against the Palestinians in

the Gaza Strip was in darkness.

I am not a reporter, but I have to do my part

to expose what is happening.

So, I started to communicate, to talk.

And even, my message was this will never put an end

to this situation. It will widen the gap to have more

bloodshed, more people to be killed.

And suddenly, the door is knocking.

We thought it's the Israeli soldiers.

- She was screaming and yelling, "It's me! It's Noor!

Open the door!"

She was carrying a white flag.

And even though we are under attacks, she said,

"You are in paradise here, because you are with Bessan,

with Shatha, with Mayar, with Aya and Raffa".

So, she stayed with us.

Until the 14th of January.

When a tank approached my house, just 20 metres

from my... the main gate.

- I sometimes remember that moment and I feel

like it's unreal. We literally thought it was the end.

We were kind of planning what...

Like what corner each of us will take in the house

in case something happens at least some of us

will be safe.

- I felt it's the end of our life.

Because Palestinians during that time were waiting in line,

who will be next? They were just numbers.

So, I called Shlomi Eldar.

After the tank left. I said, "Now, they know our house."

I felt we are safe, at least safe for that moment.

So, Bessan, she made cake. And we celebrated.

And then, I told my children I got a few offers.

One of them was from the University of Toronto.

I told them, "If you want to leave, I will leave

because of you".

- We all got excited that there is another option

that we can leave.

We were just waiting for any way to get out,

and yeah, it was just perfect timing.

- On Friday, January 16th, I managed to contact them.

On that phone call, we were just talking about what they had

for lunch, how they're managing cooking the food, like,

what they are doing during the day. And then

my dad said, "Let's save the battery charge

for emergencies in case we need to call the ambulance

or anyone". Because we went on and on talking and chatting.

And then after, we took a break and our room and my cousin

Noor was with us in the room.

I remember, I was sitting close to her.

Mayar was sitting on the desk.

My sister Bessan was sitting on the bed with Aya.

(explosion)

(closer second explosion)

Then, the 16th of January, a quarter to 5 p.m.

Just seconds after I left my daughter's room,

the first shell came...

I don't want... anyone to dream or to imagine what did I see.

Where is Bessan?

Were is Mayar?

Where is Aya?

Where is Noor?

- I remember, my... I felt my uncle grab me and he took

me outside of the room. I saw that he was holding my fingers.

And then, he put his hand on my eye.

I came back and I saw... they were bringing them outside

of the room and I saw them...

- They were drowning in their blood.

I can't recognize them. Mayar was decapitated.

Their brains spreading everywhere inside the room.

Then my brothers, they came, each of them. They entered...

And after a few minutes, the second shell was coming.

At that moment, I lost faith in the humanity.

And what can I do in this situation?

- He was looking for something to stop, something, somebody,

to stop the carnage. And this somebody was Shlomi Eldar.

- And then, I remember, I had to walk. I think it was

my uncle. He grabbed me and we walked a few streets down

and there was an ambulance.

- What came to my mind, what can I do to manage this situation

and to save lives? In particular the lives of those who were

wounded.

- I could hear a lot of voices.

My dad, I could hear him trying to coordinate things.

My cousin Ghaida, she was almost dead. And she would not be able

to be treated in Gaza hospitals.

- Many people were expecting us to collapse, to be broken

or to be drowning in hatred.

But hatred is a destructive disease. And it's contagious.

It spreads.

No one is born with hatred.

It's not by nature. It's by nurture. It's the result

of exposure.

In order to prevent hatred, we need to seek the triggers

of hatred. What we call the social endemic diseases;

poverty is one of them, violence, racism,

discrimination, superiority, exploitation, colonization,

occupation, they are completely linked, inseparable from health.

We need to speak loudly that we, as Palestinians, and Israelis,

we have no other way other than to live together.

As equal citizens.

I was believing, fully believing that health can be a bridge

for peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

- Thousands of Israelis, which he didn't know, called him

to apologize, to express their feelings, to express

their grief, but on the other hand, like thousands

of Israelis were crazy with anger because of us.

Because we gave him the stage to express his tragedy.

- I remember it vividly because I saw it on TV.

It was a chilling moment. And this horrific event was

playing out around the world.

- It's one of the better known tragedies of the attack.

In part because it unfolded live on Israeli television.

This was a war story played out on primetime TV.

It outraged some, inspired others and introduced

to the world a remarkable man who sought peace through

extraordinary adversity.

- At least, what satisfied me was when it was broadcasted

live and the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to see it.

He announced unilateral ceasefire.

¶ Happy birthday to you ¶

¶ Happy birthday dear Shatha ¶

¶ Happy birthday to you ¶

Shatha, we love you!

When I saw her at the time of the tragedy with her right

eye on her cheek, two fingers were torn, just attached

by skin tags and she said to me, "If I can't see with my right

eye, I have my left.

If I can't write with my right hand, bring me papers, pencils

to practise with my left".

The high school exam is early June, which is a national

exam for all of the Palestinian people.

- I don't know, I think it was the only way for me to...

To be distracted.

- When I was there, Shatha was there, in her hospital bed

in this Israeli hospital.

And I think... I mean, I asked her a bunch of questions.

But I think I also asked her, "Do you hate?"

Do you feel any hate in your heart?

- Hate for whom? - Hate for whom...

It's a good question.

That's extraordinary. She could have said, yes and I do hate

those people who sent a shell for no good reason into

this civilian neighbourhood, but he didn't. She just said,

"Who?". Where does that come from? That's humbling.

- She spent four months at the hospital and the high

school exam, she succeeded 96%. And she proved by example,

I am Shatha Abuelaish, saying the antidote of hatred,

revenge, anger, is education.

- For me, I didn't go the exact next day after the ceasefire.

I was still scared to go back.

A few weeks later, we did go back to our house.

It was all destroyed, the room.

I saw all our clothes, everything, our furniture,

our toys, our books... everything destroyed.

And you could still see some body parts

shredded on the walls.

- When I went to his apartment, I was stunned, I mean it was

still as is.

You saw young girl's toys and colours and curtains

and bedspreads, which young girls would have anywhere

in the world. Everything just destroyed, demolished

by an Israeli shell, which I think is undisputed.

It was disputed at the time.

- He was very naive. He thought that Israel would be happy

to acknowledge, apologize.

I think again because of his experience with Israelis,

he thought, you know, when people know you,

they respect you. And if they do something wrong,

they say, "I'm sorry".

- There were a few announcements

from the speaker of the Israeli Army

about what happened there. And it was obvious that

they were all lies.

- It's shameful. They are the perpetrator,

the investigator,

and the judge.

But that motivates me to keep moving forward.

And to see tomorrow different from today.

- So, when we came to Canada, I remember, it was in 2009,

summer 2009, I was 12 years old, 13.

It was a big change; different culture, different language,

far away from your cousins, your friends.

- Yeah, Abdallah was the youngest.

He was in grade one, 6 years old when we moved to Canada.

- I think when I first same, the main thing that was

different that shocked me was

like how much greenery there was here, like all

the trees, it was very different.

- Raffa, who puts the crown... on head...

- It wasn't easy as a single parent with five children,

the youngest was 6 years old.

With the trauma they have, the loss of their mother,

their sisters, moving to Canada in a strange country for them.

- Internally, you are going through all of this,

but you need to kind

of introduce yourself to start making those

relationships. But people don't know what's going on inside.

We're not at the same level.

- I remember that my daughter Raffa one time, she said to me,

"What are we doing here? If anything happens to you,

who is going to take care of us?"

- So, it wasn't an easy beginning, but for me and Dalal,

we started university, we started studying right away.

So, that was a good distraction at least like immerse ourselves

and kind of get used to the new life.

Juggling between doing my studies and helping

my siblings get ready to go to school, pack their lunches.

So, it was a struggle, yeah, at the beginning.

¶

¶

- It's not about someone going to jail.

It's about acknowledgment, it's about an apology.

- I have my critical opinion about the legal system

here in Israel. I don't believe in it

as a just and fair tool for Palestinians.

But every time that I hear him, I am astonished again and again.

How this person can be so confident that he will succeed

to seek some apology from the Israelis?

From the very beginning, he told me that any compensation

that could be given by ruling, I will donate it for scholarship

program for Palestinian and Israeli girls

for academic studies.

- Daughters for Life Foundation in memory of my daughters

for education of girls and young women from the Middle East.

Not based on ethnicity, religion or background. It's about

young women who are succeeding from hardship.

Because I know the meaning of hardship.

I see in you both the dreams, the plans, the hopes, the spirit

of Bessan, Mayar, Aya and Noor. And that's the message.

We are living and the spirits are transmitted.

And their hopes can be achieved.

It's not about biology. It's about the humanity.

- There are extraordinary peopl in the world. And many

of them are found in the midst of conflict and war.

Many of them are found rising from the ashes of the worst

kind of devastation. And he's obviously one of them.

(shouts)

- (Reporter): Now living in Toronto, a Palestinian-born

doctor has an objective to help the children of Gaza. He's

attempting to raise enough money and support to take in

100 wounded children from Gaza to Ontario for medical

treatment.

- It's the collective effort. One can't do everything,

but each of us can do something and I urge all to come to show

the beauty and the greatness and the human face of Canadians.

(applause)

- So, I Shall Not Hate is... well first of all, I've got

a Japanese version, which is amazing. It's in 33 languages.

- It's in 23 languages. - 23 languages that this book

has been published in.

- This is an emotional moment for me, to say Bessan, Mayar,

Aya and Noor and others. They are not just numbers!

And will never be numbers!

They deserve an apology!

- It should never happen to anyone.

And you should always follow them and ask them to take

their responsibilities so this does never happen again.

- Are you angry?

- I'm angry because we have to fight for this. This is...

This has become abnormal, we have for this.

The victim has to ask for justice.

- After that, they were creative. In creating a new

scenario to deceive the public.

The first fake scenario; they said that they were

snipers on the roof of the house.

- They saw a person on the roof and they saw somebody else

and all kinds of issues were brought up.

- If they were on the roof of the house, kill them,

shoot them, you have the most advanced technology.

Afterwards, they said that they took shrapnel from my niece's

wound. And they examined it and it's coming from

the Palestinians rockets, the Hamas rockets.

- The army, they claimed that dark smoke was seen after

the attack on the house of Doctor Abuelaish. And this

heavy dark smoke is not natural for the Israeli attacks.

You can judge a case fairly and in due process according

to the colour of the smoke?

- What we found there, and in a lot of cases, were secondary

explosions caused by Hamas.

- But what if there was no secondary explosion?

- There were on many occasions. And a lot of the incidents

have the most destruction. They were secondary explosions

caused by the... massive amounts of explosives being stored

in these buildings.

- You understand what it means? It means that you are

responsible for this crime.

Not the army and you are responsible for the death

of your daughters.

- I know it's hard. Sometimes, I felt I want to collapse.

To breakdown...

Moments to give up.

But I will never collapse, I will never give up.

- Gaza has become a place that recurrently, every several

years, we launch a vicious attack on Gaza.

Attacks on Gaza are not only about destroying

the capabilities of the Hamas to shoot missiles. But every

time we also, at the same time, shatter completely the civilian

infrastructure of Gaza.

- (Reporter): Despite calls for a ceasefire, Israel said

it's still has more targets to hit and did overnight.

- We target universities, and schools. As far as I can

tell, Israel is violating harshly the laws of war.

That it does not distinguish between civilians and

combatants.

- Israel is doing everything possible to protect our

civilians and keep Palestinian civilians out of harm's way.

- Another strike on a three- story building in the Shati

Refugee Camp has killed 10 members of an extended family.

- That's why you don't hear of casualties from these

collapsing terror towers because we take special care

to avoid these civilian casualties.

- Thank you all, thank you so much. That we came

as a human, as parents, to speak in the name of those

who can't speak for themselves. Bring us justice! Recognize

our human face. The truth that we are victims.

I wanted them to be buried close to their mother,

but they were not because the cemetery was

controlled by the Israeli Army at that time.

So, they were separated even in death. These are

the basic, basic human rights.

Now 13 years have past in a flash. That's why

we need courageous people who can say the truth

and to take responsibility. Not to live in denial.

The lies will never last forever.

I asked one thing from my lawyer. I asked just to give

me the opportunity to advocate in front of the judges.

It's very touching and very painful to be here to speak

in the names of my daughters.

This is during the war. My daughters were studying

on candles.

It's very painful this home, which was full of love

of education.

I appeal, I bleed to you. Don't kill Bessan, Mayar,

Aya and Noor again and again!

I would love your hearts to be wide enough to listen

to me. As parents, I don't want to speak to you as judges.

But as a human.

I came here and chose to come here because I still believe

in you and that the truth and justice must prevail.

If I could know that my daughters will be the last

sacrifice in the peace between Israelis and Palestinians,

then I will accept it.

About three months after the death of my wife Nadia,

I took my children to the Gaza Beach.

- I remember, it was cold. It was the beginning of winter.

- And we walked to the beach. Everyone was playing

with the water at the beach.

To see the happiness prevailing on their faces.

I took photos of them.

And they started to write their names in sand.

When I reviewed the photos, only Bessan, Mayar and Aya

wrote their names.

My daughters, they are not dead, they are only far away from me.

And I say to them on a daily basis: "I didn't give up.

I will do my best, the maximum I can do to bring you and

to transform this tragedy into positive acts, for them

and for others and not to forget them.

- It's such a special experience to become a mother

to my beautiful son Waleed.

I would wish for him to meet my mother, to meet his aunts.

And one day, I'm going to teach him about

how... what has been done in the past. And I know he will

grow up in Canada. He's going to still be a true Canadian,

but I won't let him forget his Palestinian roots.

I even agreed with my husband that I'm not going to change

my last name because I wanted it to be attached to my kids

in the future, to know the story of the killing of my sisters

and what has happened to them.

- (Reporter): Israel caught off guard after the largest

and deadliest escalation of violence in decades.

At dawn, local time, Hamas militants launched

an unprecedented and large-scale surprise attack targeting

dozens of locations in Israel.

- (Reporter): The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate.

With the World Health Organization calling

the besieged territory a death zone.

Israeli attacks continue on mosques, shelters,

health facilities and humanitarian aid sites.

The United Nations is warning a quarter of all Palestinians

are one step away from famine.

- War is futile, it's a waste.

To treat violence with violence, doesn't solve any problems.

We can't manage killing with killing.

Suffering with suffering.

There is another alternative way.

We need courageous leaders, with moral courage, risk takers

who think of the human goal and the future, not of staying

in power, because history will never forgive them.

And the people will never forgive them.