In June, I noticed the ocean for the primary time for the reason that battle began, nevertheless it wasn’t a cheerful encounter. The Israeli military had simply issued a sudden order of evacuation for the realm the place we had been staying, so we needed to flee to the “protected space” of the seashore in az-Zawayda.
Within the rush to depart and stay, we didn’t take something with us other than our paperwork – no garments to vary, no blankets to placed on the bottom; no pans, pots or utensils to cook dinner with. We paid greater than $100 for plastic sheets so we might arrange a tent and tried to settle in, whereas feeling uncovered and susceptible.
The next weeks we spent on the seashore made me hate the ocean. What was as soon as a spot of leisure and pleasure turned a spot of unhappiness, anger and frustration, as we confronted the tough routine of our tent life. Every day was crammed with despair, starvation, and sickness. I got here to grasp that this genocide is destroying not simply human lives and our bodies but additionally no matter used to deliver us happiness and pleasure.
When the seashore was a enjoyable place to be
Earlier than the battle, I used to come back to the ocean once I felt pressured due to my research, exams, or an excessive amount of work. Typically, I’d stroll alongside the seashore at 7am, having fun with the chirping of the sparrows and listening to my favorite podcasts.
I additionally went to the seashore after work with my colleagues. We’d go to a restaurant by the ocean and have the perfect of occasions there. It was an important place to loosen up and benefit from the cool breeze.
Households additionally cherished the ocean. Going to the seashore on the weekend could be an elaborate affair. Youngsters would get excited the day earlier than a seashore journey, packing their swim gear and seashore toys. Mother and father would put together seashore chairs, towels and plenty of fruit and different snacks.
On the day of the journey, households would rise up early for fajr prayers after which depart as quickly as attainable on small buses or automobiles they might lease. Those that made it early sufficient would have the possibility to see the fishermen unloading their catch on the seashore: a great deal of sea bream, sardines, crimson mullet, and others.
Quickly after arriving, households would sit for breakfast on the seashore. The menu would at all times embody creamy hummus and crispy falafel, thyme, olive oil, inexperienced olives, heat pita bread, and steaming scorching tea. Such foods and drinks are scrumptious regardless of the place they’re loved. However there was one thing significantly particular about savouring them whereas gazing on the sea, respiratory within the contemporary air, and listening to the waves.
Youngsters would spend the morning enjoying within the water, flying kites, and constructing sand castles, letting their imaginations craft their very own little worlds. Mother and father would play with their kids or loosen up on their seashore chairs.
Round midday, preparations for lunch would begin. The odor of barbecue would fill the seashore. Scorching meat could be served alongside contemporary salads created from tomatoes, onions, inexperienced peppers, and parsley. In the meantime, distributors would tempt beachgoers with grilled corn and sweet apples.
Sooner or later camels and horses would present up, providing rides to kids and adults alike. There could be seashore volleyball, soccer, browsing (if waves permitted) and plenty of swimming.
The day on the seashore wouldn’t finish at sundown. At dusk, music, singing and dancing would begin. Some would take out tablas and rap up a rhythm and sing; others would play favorite tunes on their telephones or transportable audio system. Younger and previous would get pleasure from themselves till midnight earlier than heading house for a fast bathe and a restful evening’s sleep.
A camp of despair on the shore
After we reached the seashore in az-Zawayda, there was no pleasure to be discovered. As a substitute, we noticed pale, wrinkled faces crammed with sorrow and despair. The shoreline was crowded, however not with beachgoers. Starved, exhausted individuals who had misplaced houses, family members and hope had been residing in tents in inhumane circumstances. There was no laughter and music, there was solely grief and mourning. It was clear the genocidal battle had claimed not simply lives, however the very spirit of the folks.
Within the sweltering summer season solar, there was little aid from the warmth. Some folks would sit within the sea hoping to chill down. These camped in tents immediately dealing with the solar had been essentially the most liable to warmth exhaustion and sunstroke.
The seashore didn’t have nearly any infrastructure to maintain the 1000’s of individuals camped on it. There have been makeshift bathrooms that supplied nearly no privateness and that radiated foul odour, particularly at evening. Contemporary water was troublesome to seek out and we needed to stroll lengthy distances to get only a gallon. Ailments, together with diarrhoea, hepatitis, and flu, had been rampant – and so had been pests like flies and scorpions. The entire place was coated in rubbish.
Eating places had been changed with distributors in makeshift stalls, promoting falafel, espresso and tea, or bread at costs 4 to 5 occasions larger than earlier than the battle.
We might see fishermen, decided to supply for his or her ravenous households, courageous the ocean and the fireplace from Israeli gunboats and troopers, however they might come again with little or no catch from the shallow waters.
We spent two weeks on this seashore of despair, sharing within the distress of its different displaced residents.
A chilly, cruel sea
I left the seashore, however my ideas remained with the folks I met there. As winter approaches, I preserve pondering of the brand new wave of distress that the displaced on that seashore will face.
The summer season warmth, ailments and bugs shall be changed with winter illness and struggling. Not even the best drugs or nutritional vitamins can be found to assist remedy colds or flu, which could be a dying sentence for the exhausted and the starved.
The makeshift tents many individuals stay in is not going to defend them from the chilling winds and heavy rains. The nights deliver devastating chilly that seeps by way of no matter little clothes folks have, leaving many, particularly newborns and little kids, susceptible to hypothermia. Heating is extremely costly; fuel is sort of nowhere to be discovered, whereas wooden is offered however on the value of $9 for a kilogramme (two kilos).
It has been 4 months now since we left the seashore of despair. However I nonetheless keep in mind the sound of the ocean. The waves would crash towards the seashore with fury, the wind would blow however deliver no aid. It nearly appeared like the ocean too had turned on us.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
