KARAMA
Gaza, Dignity Under Siege
by Adriana Zega
Empty fields surround their piece of land. No houses, no cultivations, no one left.
Only three automatic military towers stand aligned, a few hundreds meter away in the middle of the buffer zone.
What remains of their house is on a hill, the ruins are overlooking the no-go-zone area and the military towers.
During the war, Nasser and Azeiza could see the land incursion starting.
Before the war they were living 300 m from the border. Their house was demolished during Cast lead and since then they cannot access their land.
They know it will be impossible to return.
As usual all of them sit on the ground on a “farshe”, a thin matress.
Their eyes are smiling, they are bright and full of life despite the difficulties.
Four shacks are attached one to the other around a small backyard. Somehow, the assembly of some plates, bricks and fabric stands upright on the bare sand, assuming the shape of a shelter.
Their life close to the border had been hard. They suffered many military incursions and daily shooting.
Until the day the war started and they had to escape and leave everything.