Catherine Cook

The distance between Hanan and I depends on what gauge you use to measure it. In terms of physical distance, 10 miles separate us. In terms of occupation distance, she is two checkpoints away.

Today was an exciting day. My colleague from work made it into the office from his home in Dheishe refugee camp. The atmosphere in the office was one of celebration, rightly so.

How ironic is it that the only ‘democracy’ in the Middle East, places the residents of its ‘eternal capital’ under curfew for an undetermined period of time, while it celebrates its glorious 54th anniversary as a state?

Day sixteen of the siege. The phone and this internet connection are my keys to the outside world. They are my grasp on sanity at this point. My body aches from lack of movement and my soul aches from so many images of carnage and destruction.

It has been about two hours since my electricity came back on. The electricity to my neighborhood was cut around 9:30am on Friday. Since then, I have relied on word of mouth and the occasional transistor radio for information. Comparatively speaking, this neighborhood has been relatively unscathed. We have tanks posted across the valley from us and every now and again they make their way towards our building, but as of yet, it has been quiet, save the occasional outburst of gunfire.