The Washington Post has a very interesting and beautifully illustrated article dated Feb. 27 with fourteen sections written by Gazans who reminisce about places they have loved in their land. Edited and introduced by a Post editor, Negar Azimi, it begins:
Home. Park. Zoo. School. Bakery. Mosque. These are just some [fundamentals] of Gazan life that have been blasted, bombarded and bulldozed since the Israeli siege began this past October. As of this writing, more than two-thirds of the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes.
Architectural historians have come to refer to infrastructural devastation at this scale as “urbicide,” or “violence against the city.” Sometimes, it can be hard to imagine what this place was like before the war.
The editor calls Gaza “an ancient trading city” on the Mediterranean, now “a hodgepodge of coastal villages, cities and refugee camps, home to 2.1 million people who live and work, study and worship, vacation and play. Despite everything, life goes on here.”
In the article, people share memories of places they have lost. The editor says:
The result is an oral history of buildings and locales that are at once iconic and sentimental. Some of these are many centuries old, built and rebuilt after earlier devastations. Some are new, emerging only in the past decade.
Dr. Deena Kishawi writes about Al-Ailat Bakery, the largest bakery in Gaza.
Al-Ailat is more than a bakery; there’s a cafe with cute bistro chairs where you can eat sweets and drink coffee. The place is famous for its ka’ak, a kind of sesame-covered biscuit, as well as the mouajanat, a bread pie filled with spinach or cheese. When I was younger, we’d buy steaming hot pita bread there and then run across the street to Abu Talal, the popular hummus shop. The combination was heaven.
The bakery was bombed on Nov. 4 and Nov. 9 and is now inoperable.
Hooda Shawa, a writer, remembers the Gaza corniche.
When I was a kid, the mishwar al bahar (seaside car ride) was a highlight of the week. My father would drive along the narrow meandering coastal road, flanked by dusty dunes carpeted with trees and shrubs, lettuce beds and the wild white beach lilies that emerged from the sand like ghostly exoskeletons. We would stop to take in the sea air, digging our bare feet into the beach as paper kites with sinewy tails filled the skies.
But the best part of our Friday mishwar was the final stop at Kazem Ice Cafe on Omar al-Mukhtar Street.
Parts of the Gaza coastline have been repurposed as Israeli military stations. Countless cafes and homes have been destroyed.
Mohammed Ghalayini, scientist, recalls seeing
a production of
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Rashad Shawa Cultural Center.
I remember the lush set design, depicting the forest world and its magical creatures, fairies and nymphs. As a teenage boy, I was especially taken with Titania, the fairy queen — and also, perhaps, inspired by the tale of a young couple rebelling against the dictates of a ruling and imperialist power, even if only for a single, magical night.
The Rashad Shawa Cultural Center was bombed on Nov. 25. Hundreds of people were sheltering there at the time.
Journalist Rawan Yaghi tells of the Islamic University of Gaza.
Gaza had no institutions of higher education until the late 1970s, but by the time I studied there in the early 2010s, it was enormous, with faculties of medicine, education, sharia, the arts and much more. I was encouraged to study English literature by Refaat Alareer, the poet and Shakespeare scholar with whom I took classes during high school. At his urging, I memorized the monologues of Hamlet and was introduced to Pirandello, Petrarch and Dante.
Israeli forces bombed the university on Oct. 11. On Dec. 2, the university’s president, Professor Sufyan Tayeh, was killed along with his family in an airstrike on the Jabalya refugee camp. Five days later, Refaat Alareer and his family were killed in a targeted strike.
The mayor of Gaza City writes about the Gaza Zoo.
The Gaza Zoo opened in 2010 on a repurposed garbage dump. It was where Palestinians of every age could get acquainted with more than 100 species of animals. Within its bounds are a small amusement park, gardens and a cafeteria. Among the animals were foxes, wolves, turtles, pheasants, peacocks, lions and a camel.
As the aggression against Gaza began, zookeepers had to abandon the premises. They were able to return only in late November during a pause in fighting — to find that 90 percent of the animals had starved to death.
Aya Rabah, doctor and writer, describes the Great Omari Mosque.
Visiting the Great Omari Mosque, the oldest mosque in Gaza, was like going back in time. You could smell history there, the air perfumed by the wares of spice sellers and butchers. In ancient times, the site, not far from the gold market, is said to have housed a Philistine temple honoring Dagon, a pagan god of prosperity. In the 5th century, the Byzantines built a church there, which in turn was transformed into a mosque after the Muslims arrived in the 7th century.
El Omari was a place where people went to pray or take a break from their stressful lives. Interestingly, it wasn’t segregated by gender as Gaza’s other mosques are, so men and women prayed together in the same hall.
On Dec. 8, an Israeli airstrike leveled the mosque, leaving only its damaged minaret standing amid the rubble.
Salma Shawa tells of the Friends Club for horse lovers.
I’ve been riding horses since I was in the 8th grade. A lot of people in Gaza ride, especially along the Mediterranean Sea. My horse was named Tiger, a gentle orange-brown horse that loathed crowds. As I got better, I desperately wanted to take part in international equestrian competitions, but that was impossible because of the blockade. Still, the Friends Club served as a sort of community center for horse lovers, a sanctuary for me and for so many others.
The Israeli military has bulldozed the club.
Shahd Abusalama, academic and writer, describes Al-Azhar University
I was born in 1991 — the year that Al-Azhar University opened its doors. I studied at Al-Azhar, graduating in 2013 with a degree in English literature. The university is a short walk from the sea, so in our off hours my friends and I would stroll down to the beach.
In my classes, I read books that changed me, including George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” which felt as though it had extra relevance to our lives as Palestinians. Remember the line “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”?
Al-Azhar University facilities have been destroyed by Israeli missile fire.
Deena AbuShahla, community worker, writes of the AbuShahla family orange farm.
This orange farm has been in our family for generations. The oranges in Gaza are unique: at once sour and sweet, and always juicy. They taste better than oranges in the West Bank, which are overly sweet, if you ask me. Every Friday morning, the family would gather in the garden to drink fresh juice and eat pastries laced with za’atar.
My father is a nephrologist, but the farm has always been our primary source of income. Over the years, every time there’s been an aggression by Israeli forces, and there have been many, my father would start over, replanting the groves again.
The farm was struck by missiles in November, while the family house was bombed the previous month, on Oct. 9. Seven members of the AbuShahla family were caught inside; all were able to crawl out from the rubble.
Other memories of Gaza in the article include:
the Al-Amal Institute for Orphans by Aiman Abu Anwar, tennis coach
St. Porphyrius, the oldest church in Gaza, by Hadi Hakoura, proprietor of Hakoura Jewelry
the Italiano pizzeria by Ola Edwan, pharmacist
al-Shifa Hospital, by Lana Zakaria, academic
Jundi Park, by Laila Elhaddad, writer
As their stories show, for all of these people Gaza has been a much-loved home.