Welcome to Colorado Abdul Aziz!

Abdul Aziz and his uncle at Denver International Airport

His name is Abdul Aziz, a teenager from Gaza who lost his right leg in one of the Israeli bombing. His uncle, whom I happened to gbe standing next to related how it took him twenty years of work here in the USA to be able to build a  house for his family back in Gaza. Finished recently it was turned to rubble by an Israeli bombing.

There were 250 people – maybe more – to greet him as walking with two canes, he exited the International Flight Exit at Denver International Airport on a flight on Turkish Airlines that started in Kabul, Afghanistan, picked up Abdul Aziz in Istanbul and flew him to Denver. The Colorado Palestine Coalition members came out in force as did many members of the Colorado Palestine Community and supporters like myself.

We didn’t know what to expect on seeing such a crowd to greet him, to embrace him with love, affection, respect, many bearing gifts of food, flowers and other things. He has come to Colorado to get a prosthetic leg to replace the one the Israeli Defense Force had stripped him of in a bombing. On seeing the crowd as he exited the International Flight Exit Abdul Aziz broke out in a broad smile. He hugged his uncle and waved to the crowd.

Most of us were in tears. Cheers went up as the crowd cheered “Welcome to Colorado Abdul Azis!” “Free, free Palestine.” A youngish man standing next to me spoke of the great resilience of the Palestinian people, a comment to which I wholeheartedly agreed.  See the spirit of the people of Gaza in his face.

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Palestinian family in Colorado welcomes teen who lost leg in Israeli bombing of Gaza

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