All Souls' Day: In honoUr of the palestinian souls

All Souls' Day is a Catholic event meant to remember and honor those dear to us who have already passed on. But let this day be different, today is All Souls Day. Let us not only consider the souls of those we know and love but let us also consider the innocent people who have lost their lives because of the ethnic cleansing in Palestine. Let us remember those who have suffered and those who are suffering, all because of a conflict that started on this very same date many years ago. 

Written by: Maria Althea Tirzah Ferrer

Layout by:  Beatrice Salvacion

November 2, 2023 | 6:00 P.M.

November 2nd has been widely accepted as "All Souls Day." It's a day—to not just mourn—but celebrate the lives of those we love who have already passed on. We light up candles, offer food and gifts, and send prayers for the souls of the dead. Yet, as we commemorate the death of others on the same day more than one hundred years ago, the Palestinians were unknowingly preparing for theirs.

It was on November 2, 1917, that Arthur Balfour, Britain's former foreign secretary, wrote a letter now called the Balfour Declaration stating that "His Majesty's Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." And so, ignoring the fact that the land promised by the British Government already had a population of more than 90% Palestinian Arabs, the Israeli population decided that they would stop at nothing just to claim it. This is where the genocide—yes, genocide, not merely a war—started. 

Since the British started their mass Jewish immigration to Palestine, the Palestinian population has not had a single day of peace. They were forcefully removed from their land, their homes, just to make some room for a population who was suddenly given rights to this so-called "promised land." But it did not stop there. Eventually, in 1948, British and Israelite forces eradicated the Palestinians by attacking their lands, skies, and seas; Cutting off air and water supply, and constantly bombing their land with white phosphorus that is known to be prohibited around the world, and this has continued, until today, on the Gaza Strip War. 

No one wins in war, but so many lose. A parent loses their child, a child loses their parent; Someone loses their friend, and someone loses a neighbour. A school loses a teacher, and a nation loses its people. At the end of the day, who will remember them? Who will remember the name of a withered old man who has suffered the same fate many other thousands have? Who will remember the infants in the ICU killed because the hospitals ran out of fuel? Who will remember the people whose skins got burned from the phosphorus bombs Israel continuously dropped? 

Who will remember Palestinians as innocent victims and not just another enemy that the all-powerful Israelites have defeated? The 34 year old man named Mohammad and his 30 year old wife, Zahra. The 19 year old med student Besan. Children: a 15 year old girl named Habeeba, 2 year old Aws, and 1 year old Janan were all actual people with lives, ambition, and a family; They are all victims of this devastating reality. They deserve to be seen as such.

We may not be able to directly help the suffering people in Palestine, but we can make sure that their loss is not theirs alone. We can exercise our unity, cry with them, celebrate with them, and most importantly, we can keep them in our minds. Is that not what the true essence of All Souls Day is? It's not just an event for Catholics but for every single brother and sister we have around the world. 

Today should not simply be for our loved ones but also for the victims of the genocide who have little to no one else left to mourn them. And as we do so, let us not forget to pray and support those who are still alive. Let us remember that today is a day for us to "Mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living."

May the victims of ethnic cleansing in Palestine rest in peace.