[News] Three Years After the War: Gaza Youth Speak Out

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/08/three-years-after-the-war-gaza-youth-speak-out/ 



  Three Years After the War: Gaza Youth Speak Out

by Ramzy Baroud <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/cet6s/> September 
8, 2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------

“At bedtime, I am afraid to turn the lights off. I am not a coward, it 
is just that I worry that this bulb hanging from the ceiling is the last 
light that remains (shining) in my life.”

Soon after he penned these words, Moath Alhaj 
<https://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/news/2017/08/24/1078104.html>, a 
young artist from a Gaza refugee camp, passed away in his sleep. After 
disappearing for two days, Moath’s friends broke down the door of his 
house, and found him huddled with his blanket in a place in which he 
lived alone for 11 years.

Moath lived in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, one of Gaza’s most crowded 
camps, a name which is associated with historic hardship, war and 
legendary resistance. Raised in the United Arab Emirates, Moath returned 
to Gaza to join the Islamic University, but remained there, experiencing 
three wars and a decade-long blockade.

Somehow, the young man maintained a semblance of hope as expressed in 
his many drawings and emotive commentary.

Moath learned to live in his own world ever since he was young. The 
outside world to him seemed unpredictable and, at times, cruel.

When his mother passed away, Moath was only 1-year-old. He father died 
of cancer in the UAE and, due to circumstances beyond his control, Moath 
lived alone. Keeping him company were his friends in the neighborhood, 
but mostly it was his self-effacing, yet profound artistic expressions.

“Smile, may the war feel shame,” was one of his cartoons. In it, a 
little girl with a flowery dress turns her back at the reader, looking 
the other way.

Moath’s art characters always had their eyes closed, as if they refuse 
to see the world around them, and insist on imagining a better world 
inside their own thoughts.

After his body was thoroughly examined, doctors concluded that Moath 
died as a result of a stroke. His heart, heavy with untold personal and 
collective miseries, had just given in. And just like that, one of 
Gaza’s finest young men was buried in an ever-crowded graveyard. Social 
media buzzed with statements of condolences, made mostly by young 
Palestinians from Gaza, devastated to hear that Moath has died, that his 
last light had been extinguished, and that the young man’s life had 
ended while the siege and state of war remain.

In that same week, Palestinians commemorated the three-year anniversary 
of the end of Israel’s devastating war against the Strip. The war had 
killed over 2,200 Palestinians, the vast majority amongst them 
civilians, and 71 Israelis, the majority of them soldiers.

The war left Gaza in ruins 
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-war-2014-israel-palestinians-rebuild-recover-hamas-idf-a7911161.html>, 
as over 17,000 homes were completely destroyed, and thousands of other 
structures, including hospitals, schools and factories destroyed or 
severely damaged.

The war fully shattered whatever semblance of economy the Strip had had. 
Today, 80 percent of all Palestinians in Gaza live below the poverty 
line 
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170826-anti-siege-committee-chief-calls-for-un-emergency-fund-for-gaza/>, 
the majority of whom are dependent on humanitarian aid.

There is a whole generation of Palestinians in Gaza that grew up knowing 
nothing but war and siege 
<http://www.jordantimes.com/news/region/un-chief-calls-lifting-gaza-blockade>, 
and have never seen the world beyond Gaza’s deadly borders.

These are the voices of some of these young Gazans, who kindly shared 
their tragic personal stories, hoping that the world would heed their 
calls for freedom and for justice.

*Isra Migdad is an Islamic Finance student:*

“After our house had been partially damaged during the 2014 Israeli war, 
it took my family about a year and a half to rebuild it, due to the 
delay in construction material being allowed into the Gaza Strip and 
because of the prohibitive prices of such material, when it is 
available. I lost my Master’s degree scholarship back in 2014 due to the 
closure and due to my family’s difficult financial situation after the war.

“I have spent the last three years applying for scholarships, only to 
learn that many universities in Europe know nothing, or very little, 
about the Israeli siege on Gaza and the continuous closure of the 
borders. I attained another scholarship, only to lose it again, since I 
hadn’t enough time to complete my travel procedures and negotiate an 
exit from Gaza.

“Yes, I want a better life, but I also love Gaza. Yet, the situation is 
becoming more difficult with each passing day. It is hard to find a 
stable job and, even if one gets an opportunity elsewhere, it is nearly 
impossible to get out.”

*Ghada, 23, studied English literature, and currently works as a 
translator:*

“Day by day, the situation in Gaza becomes more complicated and even 
worse than before. Since the last war to this day, nothing seems to get 
better. Nothing at all.

“During my work at the Palestinian Trade Center (Pal-Trade) which 
focuses on Palestinian economy, every day I see people struggling in all 
economic sectors. The electricity crisis is destroying businesses 
everywhere. The agriculture sector is in ruins as farmers cannot export 
their products, and cannot even access the Palestinian market in the 
West Bank.

“Despite substantial donor pledges to support reconstruction following 
the 2014 conflict, the situation for Palestinians living in Gaza has 
never been worse. Moreover, people in Gaza are facing a dire shortage of 
drinkable water and adequate and an equitable sanitation system. Even 
the sea has become polluted because of the sewage that is dumped daily. 
There is little hope on the horizon for better conditions.”

*Banias Harb is a teacher:*

“The unprecedented closure and blockade imposed upon Gaza has created a 
feeling of helplessness. The most frustrating problem that youth have 
been suffering from is the closure of Rafah crossing border. Gaza youth 
constitute about a third of the Palestinian population, yet less than 10 
percent of all youth have been able to see what’s beyond Gaza. We feel 
abandoned. Alone.”

*Kholod Zughbor has a degree in English Literature from Alazhar 
University in Gaza:*

“The siege on Gaza has been in place since 2006. The situation has been 
terrible here, even before the wars started. Unemployment among Gaza’s 
youth is estimated at 60 percent.

“I have witnessed three wars. I saw life gradually worsen, especially 
after the last war. Three years after the 2014 war, the situation is 
getting harder and more miserable. The Gaza Strip is still far from full 
recovery, and what has been built is only a drop in the ocean of 
destruction.”

*Sondos has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. She is a social 
worker:*

“As a social worker, I have visited over three hundred and fifty 
families who are impacted by the war and its aftermath. They are 
burdened by deep psychological scars and are constantly overshadowed by 
the feeling of an impending catastrophe. In every house that I have 
visited, there is a heartbreaking story of poverty, unemployment, fear 
of the future, fear of another Israeli war.

“Without outside pressure on Israel, Gazans will continue to relive this 
nightmare in their open-air prison. They can neither reconstruct their 
demolished homes, import their basic needs nor have access to 
electricity and clean water on a regular basis.

“But Gaza will continue to hang on to life and will not fall into 
despair. Our youth will continue to pursue higher education and will 
labor to achieve their goals, no matter the odds. They will continue to 
use their imagination to overcome all hurdles, as we have done for many 
years. Courage and determination are our most prized qualities.”

/– *Yousef Aljamal, a writer and PhD student from Gaza, contributed to 
this article.*/

/*Dr. Ramzy Baroud* has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 
years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media 
consultant, an author of several books and the founder of 
PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom 
Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London). His website is: 
ramzybaroud.net/

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20170908/bf26cf9a/attachment.htm>