In devastated towns near Khan Younis, some return home, others fear Gaza truce is fragile

Date: 21 / 06 / 2008  Time:  17:04
Gaza – Ma'an –

With an Israel-Hamas ceasefire in place, an air of normality is beginning to return to the beleaguered towns east and north of the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

These towns have witnessed some of the worst of Israel's daily incursions and air strikes over the past year. Earlier in June, two eight-year-old girls, Hadeel Al-Sumairi and Aya Hamdan Al-Najjar, were killed in towns near Khan Younis within a week of each other.

Hundreds of residents fled their homes as a result of the violence, renting apartments in the city of Khan Younis and elsewhere. Some are now returning to their houses. They are hoping to rebuild homes that were shelled work on land that was overrun by Israeli bulldozers.

Yet, residents in areas like Al-Qarara, Khuza'a, Abassan Al-Kbira and Abassan Al-Saghira told Ma'an that they needed guarantees that Israeli forces will not invade their towns again.

Eighty-year-old Sulaiman Abu Daher owns a farm less than 200 meters from the Kisufim gate, where Israeli tanks and bulldozers enter the Strip. Although his land has been churned up by the bulldozers, Abu Daher made his decision to return home. "We will return home. Why not? Those are our homes and lands," he said. "If we leave them they will be lost."

"I only have to have patience for what the occupation did to my land. If [the occupation] returns and bulldozes my land I will work in it again … I have just this one option," he added.

Yet even members of Sulaiman's own family do not share this feeling. Sulaiman's son Yousuf, said "As for me I will not return. I am ready to pay the rent of a house that is far away to guarantee the safety of my nine children. What is the guarantee if the occupation returns to shoot and kill our children while playing in front of their home same as it did to our neighbor Hadeel Al- Seimeri… there no guarantee or trust them [the Israelis] for not doing that."

He added "they [the Israelis] seized me twice when they invaded Al-Qarara and arrested my father. When I told them, 'look he is an elderly man,' they said 'let him die.' I will not trust them and will not return."

Yousuf also claimed that the Israeli army violated the truce on Friday, opening fire on his Father on his way home to the farm, killing one of his sheep.

Abdullah Muhana, who lived next door to Abu Daher's family and works as a teacher in Al-Qarara, said, "I returned, leaving my children behind. [They are] waiting a signal from me. …If I feel safe I will bring my family." He added that "the Al-Qarara area was invaded twice. One of the invasions was a wide-range one. My nine-year-old daughter Razan screamed and asked me to leave home. When she started to feel the [recent] calm, she asked me, 'dad when will we return home.'"

Commenting about his neighbor's situation, he said, "He has the excuse of not returning. His home is the closest to Kisufim gate. It is true on Friday the Israeli soldiers opened random fire at the residents so that they will not get close to the electronic wall. But we optimistic and we wish to return homes which we left. We hope that this truce in effect will enable us to work in our land that was bulldozed repeatedly by the Israeli army."

Of those who returned to their homes in the "Eastern Area" of Khan Younis spent Friday night sitting in front of their homes, relaxing after weeks of being forced in doors at 8pm each night.

Umm Ali Al-Najjar, widow and a mother of two children, is happy that life is returning to normal to the village of Khaza'a. There, farmers are working the land again. Al-Najjar never left the village, saying that she would protect her children with her own body, or hide them under a bed with their toys.

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