United Kingdom

Taking the first bus of the day, my wife and I arrived on the Israeli side of the King Hussein bridge crossing into the West Bank from Jordan. We explained that we were heading to Ramallah to visit my wife’s mother and brothers for three weeks. We performed the exact same procedure last year without incident. However, this year I was told to wait. Asa Winstanley writes from the UK.

We haven’t been able to get hold of my sister-in-law for a couple of days. It’s nerve wracking. Soul destroying. I find myself doing horrifying mental arithmetic. I don’t know why, I can’t seem to help it. The UN stated on Thursday that 758 people had been killed. That’s one person for each 2,000 in Gaza. What are the odds that one of them might be Nareman, or one of her family? Xen Hasan writes from the UK.

There is nothing worse in life than being glued to the TV screen, watching one’s nation being slaughtered on an hourly basis while able to do nothing. There is nothing more painful in this universe than hearing the tears and cries of one’s mother on the phone and be unable to hug her, to wipe her tears or to comfort her with any words or means. Ghada Ageel writes from the UK.

It was a very sudden moment when I realized that I was no longer a child. Occupation, intifada, Israel, enemy, Zionists, curfew, revolution, all these words were repeatedly spoken everywhere and I was very confused trying to understand what they all meant. Ahmed Abed reflects on what it means for children to grow up under occupation in the Gaza Strip.

Since being deported from Palestine in the summer of 2005, I’ve been living and working in London. Yet even here, Palestine doesn’t leave you. At dawn on the morning of Friday, 25 January, a friend of mine was shot and left to bleed to death by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank’s Balata refugee camp. When I read the email sent from a friend at 10:23am that stated “I don’t know if you heard, Ahmed Sanaqra was killed yesterday in Balata,” my fist clenched and hit the wall. Mika Minio-Paluello writes from London.

“Seasoned with announcements of house demolitions and human rights abuses, the news is doubly hard to read from London. I know from my experience in Palestine that reports which reach the media represent only the tip of the iceberg of catastrophes visited on the Palestinians. It was easier for me by far to be on the spot, to be immersed in events.” Nick Pretzlik reflects on his recent visit to Palestine and the steadfastness of those living under occupation.