Published today (updated) 20/02/2010 12:40
Gaza – Ma’an – Israel's siege can't stop Gaza's children from gazing at the sky, thick with warplanes and missiles as it sometimes appears.
Dozens of children will soon engage in stargazing under the supervision of Gaza-born astrophysicist Suleiman Baraka, a former employee of the US space agency NASA. Baraka's group will have the help of a telescope imported to Gaza with the help of the French Consulate General in Jerusalem and the French Cultural Center.
He said he wants to get children interested in astronomy in order to help them overcome what he calls a "stereotype" of the sky as a source of death, with its Israeli unmanned drones, helicopter gunships and fighter jets.
Baraka told Ma’an, “When we ask a child here, ‘what do you see in the Gaza sky?’ He would say he sees Apache [helicopters] and F-16s and all of the causes of death and destruction.”
Despite these fears, he says, “The Gaza sky is beautiful with all of its stars and galaxies.”
Baraka studied at French universities and later worked with NASA at Virginia Tech in the US. He was at work in Virginia when Israel launched its three-week war in Gaza in late 2008.
On the third day of the war, his 11-year-old son Ibrahim was killed on in an Israeli airstrike that destroyed his home in Khan Younis. Seventeen members of his family were left homeless by the same bombing.
He told his story to the US television and radio show Democracy Now: “I was in my office. I received a call that there was a bombing in my area, and then, after a while, the bombing was my house, and then I lost communication with the family for ten hours. It was really very hard, at the emotional, psychological level, because I had known that there something happened, and I cannot follow up.
“Ten hours later, I knew that my son Ibrahim was critically injured and my mom was moderately injured when they bombed my house with a one-ton bomb and destroyed the house, injuring my son and my mom.” Ibrahim was moved to a hospital in Egypt where he died on 5 January 2009.
“My house is not a military base. Ibrahim is eleven years old. He doesn’t need F-16 jet fighters to kill him. My house roof was there for me and my children to use my telescope, not anti-aircraft missiles or rockets,” he told his interviewers on Democracy Now.
Baraka says he returned to Gaza after the war in part out of the sense that his country needs him. “What would happen if I stayed at NASA with an excellent salary and carrying out research? If you are qualified then it’s better for you to stay in your homeland,” he told Ma’an.
Now back in Gaza, he is brimming with ideas for projects, saying he intends to establish an observatory and establish astronomy programs in Gazan universities. He is also interested in setting up a facility to study the earth’s magnetic fields. He says his friends in the world astronomical community will help him bring telescopes into Gaza despite the Israeli-led border closure.
Baraka’s idea is that by gazing at the sky, Palestinian children will not feel as confined in tiny Gaza.
“The universe is wide and the globe is bigger than having Beit Hanoun and Rafah as your only surroundings. Seeing the Gaza sky is an attempt to break the siege in all of its educational and political aspects, in belief that the Palestinians capable of greatness in science.”
Dozens of children will soon engage in stargazing under the supervision of Gaza-born astrophysicist Suleiman Baraka, a former employee of the US space agency NASA. Baraka's group will have the help of a telescope imported to Gaza with the help of the French Consulate General in Jerusalem and the French Cultural Center.
He said he wants to get children interested in astronomy in order to help them overcome what he calls a "stereotype" of the sky as a source of death, with its Israeli unmanned drones, helicopter gunships and fighter jets.
Baraka told Ma’an, “When we ask a child here, ‘what do you see in the Gaza sky?’ He would say he sees Apache [helicopters] and F-16s and all of the causes of death and destruction.”
Despite these fears, he says, “The Gaza sky is beautiful with all of its stars and galaxies.”
Baraka studied at French universities and later worked with NASA at Virginia Tech in the US. He was at work in Virginia when Israel launched its three-week war in Gaza in late 2008.
On the third day of the war, his 11-year-old son Ibrahim was killed on in an Israeli airstrike that destroyed his home in Khan Younis. Seventeen members of his family were left homeless by the same bombing.
He told his story to the US television and radio show Democracy Now: “I was in my office. I received a call that there was a bombing in my area, and then, after a while, the bombing was my house, and then I lost communication with the family for ten hours. It was really very hard, at the emotional, psychological level, because I had known that there something happened, and I cannot follow up.
“Ten hours later, I knew that my son Ibrahim was critically injured and my mom was moderately injured when they bombed my house with a one-ton bomb and destroyed the house, injuring my son and my mom.” Ibrahim was moved to a hospital in Egypt where he died on 5 January 2009.
“My house is not a military base. Ibrahim is eleven years old. He doesn’t need F-16 jet fighters to kill him. My house roof was there for me and my children to use my telescope, not anti-aircraft missiles or rockets,” he told his interviewers on Democracy Now.
Baraka says he returned to Gaza after the war in part out of the sense that his country needs him. “What would happen if I stayed at NASA with an excellent salary and carrying out research? If you are qualified then it’s better for you to stay in your homeland,” he told Ma’an.
Now back in Gaza, he is brimming with ideas for projects, saying he intends to establish an observatory and establish astronomy programs in Gazan universities. He is also interested in setting up a facility to study the earth’s magnetic fields. He says his friends in the world astronomical community will help him bring telescopes into Gaza despite the Israeli-led border closure.
Baraka’s idea is that by gazing at the sky, Palestinian children will not feel as confined in tiny Gaza.
“The universe is wide and the globe is bigger than having Beit Hanoun and Rafah as your only surroundings. Seeing the Gaza sky is an attempt to break the siege in all of its educational and political aspects, in belief that the Palestinians capable of greatness in science.”
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