The sound of the Palestinian popular song rises at the gates of joy in a school classroom, while a beautiful young woman stands in front of a mirror with some of its edges broken, and places a rose ring on her head to complete her decorations in preparation for her wedding, the drums of which will beat in a few minutes in the same school courtyard.
Isn’t this scene strange? Why does the young Palestinian woman decorate herself in a classroom? And why does joy take place in the school courtyard? No, this is no longer strange. All of this is happening in the Gaza Strip, which has been facing a fierce Israeli war for about 100 days. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have had their homes destroyed by Israeli planes and tanks, and have been forced to flee to schools and tents, most of which are in the city of Rafah, in the far south of the Strip.
On this earth what is worth living
With her story, the Palestinian bride, Afnan Jibril, broke every restriction imposed by the Israeli war on Gaza, and decided with her groom to bring a touch of joy to the harsh life of displacement that they have been living for 3 months, and this touch affects hundreds of those displaced with them in the Al-Salam School in the city of Rafah.
That scene in which the young Afnan was adorning herself had in its background the sounds of ululations made by her mother and the displaced women with them in the same school, and in the farthest background there was another sound that the Palestinians in Gaza had become accustomed to, as it had accompanied them for years.. It was the sound of Israeli reconnaissance planes known locally as the buzzards. .
The bride’s decorations were complete, Afnan, which was nothing more than a crown of red and white roses and a traditional Palestinian dress embroidered in pink and decorated with popular patterns expressing joy, including drawings of the famous daffodil flower in the Palestinian winter. This was an alternative to the bride’s white dress, which war conditions prevented from providing.
The classroom, which had become a place for the bride’s Palestinian family to live, erupted in applause from Afnan’s sisters and her displaced neighbors in the same school, at a time when the sounds of music and popular songs were rising and the women did not stop ululating with joy.
The bride, Afnan, tells her story, saying, “It started two days before the war when Mustafa got engaged to me, and I was very happy, and we decided on Saturday that my fiancé would take me to his family’s house to introduce me to them and I would spend my whole day there.”
“But on the morning of that day, the war suddenly broke out, and has not stopped to this day. We were displaced several times from the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood (southeast of Gaza City) until we arrived several weeks ago at the UNRWA Al-Salam School in the city of Rafah, and we are still living in harsh conditions that are not available.” “It has the minimum requirements of life,” the Palestinian bride continues.
Life amidst the signs of death
With a smile that she tried to maintain throughout the short wedding, the bride, Afnan, added, “My fiancé’s family agreed with my family that we would consummate our marriage until the wheel of life turns. There is nothing on the horizon about the end of this devastating war, and so we decided to hold a simple wedding, despite the difficulties and tragedies we are experiencing.”
In a tone that carried many meanings of insistence on joy and the search for a glimpse of life amidst all the signs of death witnessed by the stricken Palestinian city, the young Gazan woman continued her speech, “Even missiles and war will not prevent us from our joy. God willing, our lives will be better.”
The young woman describes her wedding: “It was a simple joy. The school gathered for a party and sang for me. We played songs and made the school happy and changed our psychology and the psychology of the displaced people here. I used to be happy like any young woman and wear a white suit, but circumstances prevented us from doing so, so I bought this dress so that the party would be distinctly Palestinian and let us pass through.” About our love for Palestine and our pride in being Palestinians.”
Not long enough moments of joy passed before the groom, Mustafa Shamlikh, came to pick up his bride from the classroom to celebrate her with his family, her family, and the rest of the displaced to the tunes of Palestinian popular songs and music.
Temporary housing
After completing the wedding ceremony, the bride moved to her temporary residence until the end of the war and her return to Gaza City, a hope that still resides in the hearts of more than half a million Palestinians who were displaced from the city to areas south of the Gaza Strip.
The new home for the Palestinian bride is a tent made of cloth and nylon, which the groom set up in an area near the school, which can no longer accommodate the displaced.
The Palestinian young man did not want to talk about his experience, but his father, Fayez Shamlakh, spoke with a message confirming the Palestinians’ insistence on searching for life, peace and joy. He said, “Mustafa is like the rest of the young people. He established a life for himself, built a house, and his wedding date was in mid-October.” In the past, war broke out.
Shamlikh added, “We were displaced a few days after the war. Our homes were demolished and the Israeli planes destroyed my son’s new home. We ended up displaced in these tents. The war has been prolonged, and we do not know when it will end.”
Shamlikh continues, “We found that the most appropriate solution is for this marriage to take place, and for the newlyweds to reside in a tent until this war ends. The bride’s father welcomed the idea, and we completed the wedding, thanks to God. We have martyrs and the bride’s family has martyrs, and the wound is the same, but this universe must be reconstructed.” We must live with these painful circumstances, and, God willing, the war will end and life will return to normal.”
Since last October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that, as of Saturday, left 23,843 martyrs and 60,317 injured, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Gaza Strip authorities and the United Nations.