“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”– roared the cries of the residents of grief struck Palestine. Being forced to flee their own land, their homes are being ruthlessly snatched by Israeli colonizers. Yet, they still stand strong in the face of this grave crisis: for so many of them, this crisis has been their whole life. They were born onto this, and they’ve struggled and dared to live unabashed through it so far, in hope that the ordeal ends before they do. Today, at Sheikh Jarrah, Muna, and Mohammed, the infamous al-Kurd twins, stand at the helm of the resistance effort.
In 2011, when Muna was twelve, her family built an extension at the front of their house. An Israeli occupant court deemed this construction illegal and gave it away to a bunch of settlers. Though this wasn’t the first instance where Muna had to experience Zionism first-hand, it was certainly the one that affected her the most growing up. Today, at twenty-three years old, Muna al-Kurd is a journalist and an activist. She uses her platform to shed a true, albeit painful, light on the events unfolding around her.
In April 2021, an Israeli court passed a judgement that ruled that nine Palestinian Families be removed from their homes and those buildings be given to Israeli settlers instead. One of these nine homes belongs to Muna al-Kurd. In a true sense, her efforts against Zionism had never stopped, but they picked up exponentially after this singular event. Coincidentally, soon after this, Israel started bombing Gaza and other Palestinian lands once again. And so, Muna became one of the leading voices in this fight for freedom. She uses her Instagram account to point and mock settlers, providing information and resources to educate oneself on the issue.
Within the past thirty days, Muna has been arrested twice by the police. The first time on charges of “inciting violence” and the second being when she refused to be abused by the settler trying to take her home away. Both times, her massive number of supporters came through and got relevant hashtags trending. It is a known fact that the one thing that truly scares the Israeli ethical cleansers is not a sense of morality or the love of a God they claim they devote themselves to: it’s the world’s eyes on their misdeeds. Social media notoriety pressurizes them and they are forced to do the right thing. And so, Miss al-Kurd was released both times, but not without any mistreatment at the hands of the Israeli police force.
It’s women like her who inspire so many to stand against their oppressors. Women like Muna al-Kurd are a symbol for looking at those who’ve wronged you straight in the face and yelled: “Your injustice will not be tolerated. I will not stand for it, and I will not rest till I take what is mine.”
Here’s to hoping her fight soars high and fate tips the scales in the favor of freedom, in the favor of Palestine.