Credit: (Taylor Jung/NJ Spotlight News)New Jersey’s sizable Palestinian community is working to process their anger, fear and more in “healing spaces” provided by licensed clinicians that allow men, women and children to share their thoughts and feelings surrounding the ongoing conflict.
“We’re definitely feeling an immense level of grief,” said Lana Mustafa, 35, a resident of Clifton who attended a community gathering on Friday. “I’m happy to be here because being alone is definitely not the answer during this time. You tend to be stuck to your phone waiting for the next update, which I’ve noticed is definitely not good for my mental health,” she said.
In public, residents have gathered to protest Israel’s escalating war against Hamas. In quieter, more private spaces, they have gathered to grieve, heal and support each other as the war enters its second week.
The event, “A Collective Space for Community Healing & Empowerment,” took place at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton. The center is near the border of Paterson, which is home to some 20,000 Palestinians. Healing spaces were among many services offered at the event.
Watching the toll
These gatherings come during an escalation in war being waged by Israel in the Palestinian Territories. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, the majority from Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, with at least 222 people taken hostage. Israel has responded with repeated airstrikes and cutting off Gaza’s electricity, food and water supply. More than 5,000 Palestinians, including some 2,000 minors and around 1,100 women have been killed, according to The Associated Press. That includes the disputed toll from an explosion at a hospital last week.
Additionally, a third small aid convoy from Egypt entered Gaza, according to The Associated Press, where the population of 2.3 million has been running out of food, water and medicine under Israel’s sealed border. With Israel still barring the entry of fuel, the United Nations said its distribution of aid would grind to a halt within days when it can no longer fuel its trucks. Gaza hospitals, flooded by a constant stream of wounded, are struggling to keep generators running to power life-saving medical equipment and incubators for premature babies.
The news coming out of the region continues to take an emotional toll on Palestinian Americans in Passaic County, one of the largest such communities in the country.
Over the last couple of days, Mustafa said she had fallen off her own “self-care wagon,” by not eating, not drinking and having terrible nightmares.
“Being here in community gives us the opportunity to connect with one another … [and] celebrate our culture, remember the beauty and also it allows us to kind of hold each other a little bit closer, which feels a lot safer than doing it alone,” she said.
‘A connection with the community’
“This is meant to be a connection with the community to reground everyone, especially since hearts are really heavy right now,” added Mariam Bsharat, 24, a Clifton resident. “[We] don’t know what to expect right now with things getting worse by the hour, and just meant to show people that we’re here for each other.”
Friday’s event was a bustling community fair, that featured booths with children selling books, baked goods, bracelets or even the opportunity to pet a turtle. Some kids planned to donate the money they made to charities supporting Palestinians in Gaza, in the hope that aid would eventually reach the occupied territory.
‘Right now, as Palestinians in the diaspora, we’re very helpless and hopeless with all the images that we see every day.’ — Mona Mustafa
At one booth, 11-year-old Haya Manna sold 3D printed items she made to also donate to Palestinians in Gaza. Manna beamed proudly in front of her creations — from a banana cutter to a heart-shaped dish to an intricate cup with a dragon carved on the outside and a maze on the inside.
Credit: (Taylor Jung/NJ Spotlight News)“I’m also giving Gaza all the money [I make] because they don’t have any electricity or water, or really anything,” she said.
Another booth sold “Free Palestine” friendship bracelets. Mona Mustafa, a mother of one of the kids selling the jewelry, said her family was inspired by the bracelets traded at Taylor Swift concerts. She said she wanted her family to feel like they were “part of the solution.”
“Right now, as Palestinians in the diaspora, we’re very helpless and hopeless with all the images that we see every day. And we’re like a collective family. So when we see the death and destruction that’s happening to our brothers and sisters, that makes us helpless as if we were there,” said Mona Mustafa.
Mustafa recalled when she was her daughter’s age, she grew up seeing similar images to what’s in the news today. Her family would go to protests and buy Palestinian items, so she wanted her children to “honor” those actions.
“So that they can grow up and understand that there’s more to life than just our own selves. There’s always the collective and that we want them to grow up with this idea that they have to be humane,” Mona Mustafa said.
