COVER N. 548 - ALGERIA

Postmark: With Gaza FDC 29.11.2024

Posted on the 29th November; Received on the 31st December 2024

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On the 7th October 2024, a brutal, horrific, inhuman, absolutely horrendous and despicable terrorist action was taken by militants of Hamas against citizens of the State of Israel, during which, as it is well known, more than  200 Israelis were cowardly captured and taken as hostages of the terrorist group, while more than 1200 other were brutally assassinated.

Not long after that, Israel invaded the Gaza strip and began a military operation that will forever be remembered as another horror mark in the history of mankind. The brutal, barbaric and totally disproportionate actions of the state of Israel continue to this day, having already caused a total of more than 44,000 deaths  on the Palestinian side, 70% of which being of women and children.

Meanwhile the western world, that so justifiably is concerned and supportive of  Ukraine against the horrendous Russian invasion, turns a blind eye on a conflict that has raised to the ground  a territory with 2 million people blocked within, with no escape possibility, condemned to try to survive in the harshest conditions with no access to the simplest commodities or means to answer the more elementary basic needs.

I read that Benjamin Netanyahu underwent prostate surgery this week.... I would invite him to a simple empathy exercise.... I'm sure there are citizens in Gaza who must need prostate surgery too.... would he be willing to exchange positions with any of them?

Hate fosters but hate.... 

How many of those children now suffering the unthinkable, like the Jewish people once suffered in ghettos, will grow up to be heralds of peace? How many of them will grow up to be Luther Kings, Gandhis, Mandelas? Or will many of them  grow up to be easily brainwashed to tie a flag around the head, and pull the trigger of an ak-47 or the safety pin of an explosive belt tied to their chest? 

The few still living hostages suffer horribly as do their families, uncertain of their fate, while hospitals, schools, playing grounds are erased, as if empty, as if all the people taking meagre shelter in them or the children playing soccer to ward off their fears were but shadows or some sort of invisible beings.

An eye for an eye,,,, a terrorist for hundreds of innocents...., while God supervises the actions... on both sides...

Pope Francis and António Guterres... theirs the loudest voices calling for reason while the despicable spectacle of "negotiations" for a cease fire between Hamas and Israel continues, as if either party was really interested in it....

The day will come when Palestinians and Israelis will live together in harmony. Their two States, might even one day share a Capital city... the first steps were, in time,  taken... a giant leap for Mankind in a simple handshake between Arafat and Rabin... both later eliminated by their own (the later for sure, the former, presumably...)

When that day comes, no map like the one on the cover will ever more be shown. The colour section will also show the boundary lines between two sovereign States - Israel and Palestine - with their differences, their idiosyncrasies but also with all that they share. If not anything more, (and I’m sure there is plenty) the human condition of their citizens. 

It doesn't take much... just will, reason and commitment for justice and Peace.... And it has been done before… but it takes a totally different kind of actor from both sides…reasonable, tolerant, democratic persons, minds that are really interested in making the most of their own differences, isn't that right, Maestro Barenboim, Doctor Said, Mr. Kaufman?

The Postal Administrations of Arab countries were invited to create a joint issue expressing solidarity with Palestine during the  27th session of the Council of Arab Ministers of Communications and Information, held on January 18, 2024 in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates).

For this, and subject to the theme "With Gaza" a common stamp design competition was held, the Jordanian proposal having been chosen.

The selected project shows a child wearing the iconic Palestinian keffiyeh around the head, gazing anxiously through an explosion hole in the rubble through which a Palestinian flag and some white doves can be seen.

So far I could find information about this joint issue stamp having been released by  Syria, Jordan, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco, Oman and Tunisia, other Arabic countries being expected to follow suit. 

The Algeria issue, in the form of a single 120 Dinar stamp souvenir sheet, issued on 29NOV2024 was used on the First Day Cover that I received when the year was drawing to its end from Hoceine. Shukran, Hocine!