Hosted by Kwangu Liwewe
Featuring Abeer Ayyoub
Produced by Finbar Anderson
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Despite having left Gaza many years ago, Abeer Ayyoub still feels very much a Gazan. “Gaza is a place, surprisingly, that people feel attached to, even when they leave,” she tells New Lines’ Kwangu Liwewe. “I lived in many different places but I still define myself as someone from Gaza, because that was the place where I always wanted to live, but I couldn’t.”
That dislocation is being felt by more and more Gazans as they flee the conflict that has killed over 40,000 Palestinians in the enclave. Many, including Ayyoub’s sister, have fled across the border to Egypt, where a growing community of refugees has developed. Ayyoub recently visited her sister in Cairo and found the experience to be heavy with sadness.
“I still define myself as someone from Gaza, because that was the place where I always wanted to live, but I couldn’t.”
“Seeing Gazans outside Gaza, because they wanted to protect their children or to protect themselves from the killings and from the war and from all that happened … it was sad,” says Ayyoub.
“Maybe it’s good for them to have a community, but at the same time when they meet, they only talk about the war, their memories in Gaza and who else was left,” she tells Liwewe. “It’s not a happy atmosphere at all.”
Palestinians in Egypt are allowed to stay legally for only a month and a half. While many end up staying longer out of necessity, it means they are unable to access basic services or work. “It’s a life that’s full of struggles,” says Ayyoub.
Given the difficulties they might face as refugees, many Gazans, including Ayyoub’s parents, have chosen to brave the conflict and stay at home. Her father, a cancer survivor, has what the family fears is a tumor on his back, which is growing daily. “We cannot send him to any hospital because there is no free bed for him in the north,” says Ayyoub. “He just takes painkillers. This is the only thing that we are able to offer him.”
Despite this, Ayyoub doubts her parents will ever choose to leave Gaza. “They don’t want to leave their home,” she says. “Gaza is where they want to die.”