The Electronic Intifada 25 March 2024
Displacement amid mass destruction in Gaza.
APA imagesMy friend Hussein wanted to export strawberries.
He is well qualified.
As well as coming from a farming background, Hussein studied agricultural engineering at university.
His plan confronted difficulties right from the beginning. Putting it into effect would cost a lot of money.
But he kept working on it. He contacted organizations that could provide funding and advice.
He tried to find tools that he needed. Some were unavailable in Gaza so he tried to get them from abroad.
That caused further delays to his project.
Gaza was under a blockade long before the current genocidal war began. That meant there were severe restrictions on goods entering and leaving, including raw materials.
After a long wait, Hussein managed to get the equipment he required.
He rented land in northern Gaza for his project. And he began spreading the message that his crops were available for export, particularly to European countries.
Hussein had borrowed for his project. And he set out to earn money so he could pay his debts.
After a while, Hussein succeeded in exporting to Europe. His business was doing reasonably well – given all the constraints that he faced.
His dreams were coming true.
And then Israel declared its current war on Gaza.
During this war, Israel destroyed Hussein’s project.
Hussein’s plans – on which he worked so hard – have collapsed.
My friend Alaa is in the same situation.
Last year Alaa set up a digital marketing firm with other members of his family. He had found clients in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere.
The building in which Alaa’s firm was located has been completely destroyed.
Like so many others, Alaa is now living in a tent.
“I have lost everything,” Alaa said.
Palestinians call the ethnic cleansing of 1948 the Nakba – Arabic for catastrophe.
The war which began in October 2003 is a new Nakba. The destruction is incalculable.
Yousef al-Hallaq is a law graduate from Gaza.
