I rode away on a camel with my grandmother, along a sandy road, and I started to cry. Ayish Younis is describing the worst moment of his life – he still regards it as such, even though it was 77 years ago, and he's lived through many horrors since.
It was 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war was raging, and Ayish was just 12. His family fled their home in the village of Barbara, famous for its lush agriculture, fearing for their lives amidst the chaos.
“We were scared for our lives," Ayish remembers. "On our own, we had no means to fight the Jews, so we all started to leave.”
The camel journey brought Ayish and his grandmother to the newly established Gaza Strip, where he lived in tents and faced the harsh realities of refugee life, which continues to this day.
Aged 89, he recounts how, after forcibly evacuating from his home in Rafah due to military orders from Israel, he now resides in a small white tent in Al-Mawasi.
Despite the hardships, Ayish dreams of returning to his native Barbara, a place where he hopes to taste the fruits of his childhood once more.
However, featuring elements of survival and tragedy in his narrative, Ayish's belief in a brighter future is clouded. He expresses deep skepticism over Gaza's capacity for recovery, stating, I don’t believe Gaza has any future. His hopes for peace are tempered by the belief that reconstruction efforts will be insufficient, given the magnitude of destruction his homeland has endured.
As the hostilities persist, the emotional weight of Ayish's story sheds light on the experiences of countless Palestinians caught in a cycle of conflict, displacement, and yearning for a homeland that is both a memory and a dream.
