Dr. Abed Shokry (*1975) teaches Business Engineering at the Islamic University in Gaza. He settled in Gaza 2007 after 17 years in Germany. He writes frequently to friends and acquaintances in Germany about the situation in Palestine. Here is his latest letter, translated from German.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,
Gaza today 14 May 2021 - (1948, 73 years of occupation).
- There is no electricity as the only electricity plant is almost shut down because there is no fuel. The fuels come from Israel and the PA or Qatar pay for it.
- There is no tap water. And if there is, it is only suitable for flushing the toilet, otherwise not. The water is very salty.
- There are hardly any medicines in the hospitals. Patients have to buy them themselves. In case they should be available in the pharmacies.
- There are no mineral resources. And the gas reserves offshore the Gaza Strip are NOT for us.
- There is hardly any work. About 300,000 people have at least bachelor's degrees and are looking for jobs. They are very very well educated.
- There is hardly any life in Gaza. And the little bit of life that there is, it passes by many and also us.
- BUT THERE are brave men and women in GAZA who are willing to do anything to protect their homeland. They don't care if they live or die. Because a life must either be lived properly or not lived at all.
Since the beginning of this latest military round, we (my wife, our children and I ) have hardly slept. It is also very bad for us at night. These nights have been the worst since we started living in Gaza again. Worse than the nights from 2014....
The intensity of the Israeli airstrikes is very noticeable. The house is shaking and shaking as if the airstrikes were next door. This is insane. This is unbelievable, this is unbearable and unimaginable. This is indescribable. I have the feeling that the Israeli pilots hate each and every one of us, including the children. I can't otherwise explain how they purposefully bomb an apartment even though they see that there are children sleeping (have been sleeping, because they are dead now). Number of people killed, most of whom are civilians, has continued to rise. Today on Friday night there are 122 dead, of which 31 were children. Were the children Hamas fighters? There are about 800 injured who would have to be treated in addition to the many suffering from Covid19 - if there were enough medicine, doctors, and beds
Last night the attacks were more violent, stronger, and somehow different. For the house shook and shook and shook. It shook and shook and shook as the bombs fell in the neighborhood. And the sounds are very, very scary. It's totally creepy. I thought it was a US action movie. But it is unfortunately very real. The fourth night with no sleep, neither me nor the kids and neither my wife. Then poison gas shells were dropped on different neighborhoods in Gaza City and in the north of the Gaza Strip. Our eyes were burning last night and we had bad breathing problems.
This is a horror movie and we are in the middle of it. Without wanting to be. We adults are afraid and can hardly hide it from our children. They are also indescribably afraid. I can hardly put all this into words.
We thought that the Day of Judgment would now become reality. Because sometimes there are 80 and sometimes there are 160 airplanes that simultaneously bombard the 365 Km2 Gaza Strip with hundreds of missiles. The navy joins in and the tanks on the ground right on the border give us the rest. This is so horrible and so inhumane. What we are experiencing surpasses anything you can imagine. At 6:00 a.m. yesterday, there were 80 bombardments within two kilometers in five minutes. Our children were screaming in fear. And I hoped so much that the bombs would not hit too close: because splintering windows and collapsing walls would cause injuries very quickly.
I hardly can continue writing. My stamina and strength can't take it anymore. I feel it physically.
But through the many emails I have received from you, I feel a little stronger and try to write you everything that is on my mind, on my soul.
The mutual shelling continues. The state of Israel, which has one of the strongest armies in the world, and the Palestinian fighters, with their homemade rockets are NOT equal opponents.
Just weeks ago I had used the term fireworks missiles, I revise my remarks, because they can also hurt.
While there are shelters on the Israeli side, we have no such shelters. So we are at the mercy of the Israeli air strikes without any protection. There are only a few large buildings with a basement. Even the apartment building where we live has no basement. So where are we supposed to go when it is announced, as the Israelis usually "kindly" do, that they will be bombing an apartment building in the next 60 minutes?
Supposedly, Hamas fighters live everywhere. If you live in an apartment building, do you know who your neighbor is? Do you know all of them? So does that justify killing whole families as collateral damage, so to speak?
Meanwhile, 122 people were killed in our strip, including 31 children and 20 women, and the rest were also mainly civilians. This is because, according to local media reports, only a few activists have been killed in the attacks.
Rockets were and are also fired from Gaza. There have been nine deaths so far. I also do NOT want to compare suffering with suffering. I am NOT doing that. Nevertheless, the numbers also speak for themselves.
I hope that a ceasefire can be reached immediately to stop further bloodshed. From the media, including the German news, we hear that Israel has rejected the ceasefire specifically proposed by Egypt. The proposal was certainly coordinated with Hamas, but Israel wants to continue bombing Gaza.
Israel does not specify what is actually the objective of this annihilation of people, of civilian men, of women and children.
I hate violence and I am against the use of violence to resolve conflicts. I absolutely believe that violence only brings suffering and nothing else is achieved with it.
We don't want to live under occupation. We want to be free. We want to have control over our lives. We want to be treated equally, like all people in a free world.
And how is it possible that not only Israel, but it looks like the whole world does not grant us that. We Palestinians have been deprived of land. We have been expelled and imprisoned. Not Israel. My family has been expelled from what is now Israel to Gaza. We are not to blame for what was once done to our neighbor. Why doesn't the world recognize that? Doesn't want to recognize it?
Thoughts on the reasons for the escalation: the continually forgotten and ignored facts that we live under an occupation.
The first thing to do is to end the occupation once and for all. Without ifs and without buts. The 1967 borders we all accepted as Palestinians (Hamas too by the way), with East Jerusalem as the capital. We have been living under an occupation for 54 years now. No people and no human being can endure such a thing. There is also not much reported in many German media about the violence of the Israeli army against the Palestinian society and the violence of the Israeli settlers. I ask the provocative question: will this current bombardment bring about the longed-for peace?
With absolute certainty, my answer is NO. I ask another question: what does Israel want from us? We have been living in hostility for more than 70 years, what has it brought us? Nothing! Also ultimately nothing for Israel. In the long run, you cannot oppress your neighbor, the Palestinians, and think that this is the way to live in peace as Israel.
I could show you many pictures of destroyed skyscrapers, streets, schools, banks, of stolen childhood. I will leave them out. There are also pictures with corpses of children. I'll leave those out, too. These were all mainly the targets of the Israeli Air Force. I forgot to list the security centers and all the police stations. They were almost all destroyed. Even the cemetery was bombed.
Yesterday was the festival after the fasting month, Eid-Elfetr or Eid. For families here, the feast has a similar meaning as Christmas in the Christian world. The feast did not happen for us. My children were so looking forward to it.
My oldest daughter is studying for her high school diploma. Hopefully the exams can take place. She wants to be a doctor if everything works out. I wish her so much that her plans will come true and that she, as well as my younger children, can live in peace and freedom. I wish that for all the children in the world.
I'll stop for today and remain with the hope that this will soon have a good end. I apologize if I may have repeated my thoughts at times. It is just hard to write down everything that moves me and what I want to share with you and yours. All this also just makes me so tired.
With sad greetings
Abed Shokry
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