Lessons in solidarity

This week saw simultaneous Israeli attacks against Syria and Gaza, with more lives being claimed by zionism.

Palestinian students at the Latin American Medical School (ELAM) in Caracas again had reason to give thanks to the revolutionary solidarity of the Hugo Chavez administration as they watched with ever increasing concern for the safety of their families.

Ties between Venezuela and Israel have been strained since the Israeli attacks on Palestine in December 2008, when Chavez threw out the Israeli ambassador.

Many across the globe clamour for their governments to take measures to help the Palestinians. President Chavez is leading the way by implementing practical policies to improve the conditions of its people.

The Caracas ELAM is the second of its type, following on from the success of its precursor in Havana in Cuba.

The university gives scholarships to students from poorer countries such as Angola, Haiti, Honduras, Mali, Mozambique and Nicaragua, who come to study medicine and then return to their communities to practise as "integral community medics."

The university currently works alongside the Foreign Ministry to establish educational accords to receive students from 42 countries.

The ELAM has received Palestinian students since 2010 and currently trains 26 Palestinian medics.

For Palestinian students Mohammed Abdalghani, 20, and Mahmoud Mohammed Alimoor, 21 from the Gaza Strip, and for Ahmed Qaraqra, 20, from Jerusalem, currently in their second year at the ELAM, this has been a life-changing opportunity.

One which gives them the opportunity to materially help their compatriots - and one which demonstrates the internationalism and the solidarity of the Bolivarian revolution.

All three were keen to stress that this is a chance to fulfil a dream. Mahmoud told us: "Since childhood it was my dream to be a doctor, someone who makes many sacrifices to cure people.

"When I finished secondary school I knew that my father couldn't pay for me to go to university as it costs a lot, and we don't have enough. We only had enough to eat - we're a large family, six boys and four girls, and he couldn't pay for university for all of us.

"But now I am very close to my dream."

Mohammed, whose house was destroyed in the 2008 Israeli assault, told us how he "almost cried" when he heard he'd been approved for a place at the ELAM.

"One of the clear problems in my country is the lack of doctors," he says.

Getting to Venezuela wasn't easy though, even after the scholarship and placement had been approved.

"It wasn't so easy to leave. In Palestine we don't have an airport, so from the Gaza Strip we had to cross the border into Egypt with a car and afterwards leave from the airport in Egypt."

Mahmoud adds that he didn't even have a passport when his placement came through - and that the border was frequently closed.

Yet when they arrived "we were given a warm welcome and I felt excited and very curious as to how our lives would be in this beautiful country," Mohammed says.

These future doctors come from a country described by Ahmed as one "where you really feel the damaging results of imperialism, the humiliating impression of being the victim of the carcinogenic zionism which always tries to destroy the patriotic and cultural principles of the Palestinian cause."

Ahmed, whose father died of a heart condition, explained that "the word 'Bolivarian' is becoming more common in Palestine thanks to the great support from Venezuela."

"It's very normal to see the Venezuelan flag in the houses and streets of Palestine," Mahmoud chips in. "Even the children know President Chavez."

The students, who underwent a Spanish course on arrival before starting pre-medicine and finally embarking on their four-year integral community medicine courses, are taught mostly by Cuban doctors - who are "example of solidarity, dignity and perseverance," according to Mohammed.

The students are instructed not only in the biological causes of illnesses but in the social and political causes - as well as "solidarity and social conscience."

"It seemed strange to me that there were many politics classes in our course, so I asked myself: 'What relation does politics have with the medicine which they are trying to teach us here?'" he says.

So a bad stomach may be due to a bug, or a poor diet as a result of poverty. But a bad diet might also be due to eating unhealthy or processed food as promoted by capitalist advertising.

Ahmed calls the course "the human face of medicine.

"They teach us medical science but also the social values applicable in our communities. They teach us to think about everyone else, to love our country and appreciate cultural integration, to sacrifice ourselves for humanity."

The three are adamant in their support for the Bolivarian socialist revolution. In Venezuela "there is a socialist government which worries about its people, for the poor, the excluded people.

"It is a free country, independent and socialist, with a lot of economic resources, which helps poorer countries," Mahmoud says.

"The Venezuelan people open the door to the revolutionary youth, who try to confront the aggressive capitalism which is punishing our people," Ahmed points out.

"Chavez awakens in us those revolutionary sentiments hidden in our human consciousness."

Venezuelan solidarity is enacted "without wanting anything material in return. It's expressed through education, diplomacy and international politics."

Mahmoud eloquently emphasises the need for more doctors in Palestine, where "the people suffer, struggle, die and cry."

He describes his homeland as "a disaster. Full of death and injury, full of misery. Where one doesn't live, but survive."

Venezuela's assistance during the 2008 war was particularly poignant for him. "No other country did anything. They left Gaza to die alone."

When he returns to Palestine Mohammed dreams of "opening a clinic for free medical treatment, helping to improve the quality of life for my people."

The nature of their schooling has made them "more responsible, more mature," Mahmoud adds.

And Ahmed remarks that simply living in Venezuela has made him feel different as a human being.

He feels free - "and this feeling, which is lacking in the hearts of my compatriots, would make even the saddest of them feel joy.

"When the Palestinians look for reasons why our Venezuelan brothers are helping us, they won't find anything but love and honesty without any hidden intentions. That's how love is born."