My grandma's family heard that aid organizations were giving tents to families in refugee camps in Gaza. They signed up for a tent because they didn't want to overburden her uncle. Not before long, her uncle helped 1 person from each family get a job & they got their own home.13/
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One day, the soldiers started firing & ordering all the Palestinians in my grandma's town to leave.
The men, including my great grandpa, met at the mosque to decide what to do.
Some vowed to stay & protect their homes. Many realized they stood no chance & weren't equipped. 3/
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The gunfire intensified & soldiers starting going house to house, attacking, murdering, forcefully displacing & violating families.
This same scenario was simultaneously unfolding in many towns & villages in the Northern and mid-Northern regions of Palestine.
Which led to....4/
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The Nakba.
The Great Catastrophe of 1948.
Forced mass exodus of over 750,000 Palestinians from the homes they had inhabited for many generations...to the southern parts of the country to become refugees.
Sound familiar? We are witnessing a second Nakba in Gaza now.........
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My grandma, a little girl, quickly threw on a few layers of clothes, grabbed her siblings & helped her mom wrap their gold savings in a cloth. Her dad locked the door & kept the keys. They started their grueling journey on foot, believing they'd return when the gunfire ended. 6/
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They walked for hours towards Gaza City- the hub of the south. Part way there, my grandma got separated from her family. She'd managed to get ahead of them & lost sight of them among the walking crowds.
She was scared. But she was smart. She decided to stay put under a tree. 7/
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She jokes that when her uncle finally found her, he said to her, "Where've you been, you little troublemaker! Your parents are worried sick looking for you!"
And she said to him, "Where've YOU been? I've been here all along waiting for you to catch up. You walk too slow." 😅😌8/
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In Gaza City, her other uncle, who was well-established, heard about the tragedy that had befallen his family. He called out to the radio stations & told them he was searching for his family. And that if anyone saw them, they should tell them he's coming to find them. 9/
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Someone from the towns on the way received the radio message. And through some luck & some Almighty planning, they managed to get a hold of each other. My uncle sent up carts to retrieve his family. He welcomed them all to his home in Gaza. And they were a large number... 10/
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Eventually, he started putting up tents in his yard to help accommodate all the families.
My grandma brags that her family got to stay inside the home because they were the caregivers of her grandma & grandpa, who of course got the main room in the house, out of respect. 11/
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Back in the North, the fighting continued. Massacres took place. Towns & villages wiped out. Settlements and forced displacement to accommodate the newcomers...at the expense of the native inhabitants. Entire Palestinian families perished.
Our hearts have never healed.... 12/
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My grandma joined a local workshop for girls that taught them seamstressing & embroidery. She quickly picked up the skills & tells me her teacher always used her work as an example. She got requests to make custom pieces for clients & often made beautiful gowns for herself. 14/
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In her late teens, her family introduced her to my grandpa. A young Gazan man from a good family with a good job.....in Saudi Arabia.
In the 50s & 60s, the gulf countries were booming. Oil industry had picked up. Jobs were plentiful. And my grandpa was a man of opportunity. 15/
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He moved to Saudi Arabia with my grandma, where he worked in sheet metal & other trades, and she opened up her very own business! A stitching and embroidery shop that became so popular with local Saudi women that she could barely keep up with the demand from clients! 😊 16/
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In the mid-60s, when my grandpa tried to renew his Palestinian passport, he was denied. War, displacement & catastrophes persisted in all of Palestine. Israel exerted its power & began to take away the independence of Palestinians. It also began banning their return. 17/
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Instead, my grandpa was given a refugee travel document from neighboring Egypt. Several countries, including Lebanon, Egypt, Syria & Iraq began issuing these documents to displaced Palestinians. They were meant to be a temporary measure until Palestinians could return...... 18/
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My grandpa, a man who loved travel & adventure, heard of another opportunity in Qatar. My grandma agreed to the move. They relocated, now with a family in tow.
They worked hard & made a home in Qatar. They sent my dad to University in Egypt to earn an Engineering degree. 19/
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In Egypt, my dad fell in love with a beautiful Alexandrian woman...my mother. 🥰 He married her in his final year of studies & moved with her back to Qatar, where he became a partner at an engineering firm. They started a family & did their best to integrate in the gulf. 20/
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Fast forward to the late 80s.... a very important era in this story. Yours truly, Ortho PA, was born at Doha General Hospital on a calm and very ordinary Wednesday.😅
I have always been an attentive & curious girl. I would watch the world around me & take in the happenings. 21/
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I listened as my family talked about horrors unfolding in Palestine.
I memorized songs about our beautiful homeland that my dad would play in the car.
I saw the atrocities on the news.
I heard my dad weep in the middle of the night watching footage of massacred families.💔22/
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Remember how I told you my grandpa was a man of opportunity? This time, he had heard that they were issuing passports to immigrants in the US. The Egyptian refugee document was barely good for anything. And Palestinians were never allowed to claim citizenship in the gulf... 23/
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And so, he set off to America. Eventually, my dad wanted to follow to North America to give us better opportunities and a sense of belonging through citizenship. We got selected through education & income points to immigrate to...Canada. 24/
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The dream of return to Palestine faded as Israel became increasingly dominant, increasingly violent & increasingly restrictive on Palestinains.
Though my grandpa left Gaza, many of his relatives never did. Today, I have over 100 relatives in Gaza who share my last name. 25/
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And that little girl who watched her father weep over his people...has never forgotten.
Now, I am a wise, strong & capable woman.
The internet helped me connect to my family. I know them all by name. I care about every single one of them. And I'll never abandon them...
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As I watch the massacres & genocide of my people, my family, my loved ones.. before my eyes...
As I recall every detail of my grandma's story and the horrors inflicted on the people of her town...
I will never forget. And I promise...I will never give up on my people.
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