Gaza To Canada And Back To Gaza: Why A Family Chose To …
Posted By admin on July 24, 2015
Ihab al-Aloul (left) and his sons Abdel Rahman, 9, and Ahmed, 22, at the family's pool in Gaza City. The Aloul family left Gaza in 2008 and moved to British Columbia, Canada, but returned to Gaza in the fall of 2014. Emily Harris/NPR hide caption
Ihab al-Aloul (left) and his sons Abdel Rahman, 9, and Ahmed, 22, at the family's pool in Gaza City. The Aloul family left Gaza in 2008 and moved to British Columbia, Canada, but returned to Gaza in the fall of 2014.
What would make you move to Gaza?
The small strip of land along the Mediterranean coast is run by Hamas, the Islamist group Israel and the U.S. consider a terrorist organization. Earlier this year the World Bank said Gaza probably had the highest rate of unemployment in the world. It can be difficult to get into Gaza, and, if you are Palestinian, very difficult to get the necessary Israeli or Egyptian permission to leave.
Three wars between Israel and Hamas since 2008 killed more than 3,000 Gazans, the majority civilians.
But the Aloul family was living elsewhere during those wars. In November 2008, Ihab al-Aloul and his wife, Somaya, left Gaza City and took their six children to Vancouver, British Columbia.
Last fall, they moved back.
The benefits and drawbacks to that decision play out differently for each family member and provide a glimpse into life in Gaza.
One benefit for the Alouls in Gaza is a private swimming pool. On a recent afternoon, workers installed a new lawn around the pool patio. The squares of grass were grown on a local sod farm. One drawback: the irrigation water is salty; much of the tap water in Gaza is brackish. Aloul says it's not the best for the grass, but "it's not killing that much."
In Canada, the family's apartment had no yard, let alone a pool.
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Gaza To Canada And Back To Gaza: Why A Family Chose To ...
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