Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Palestine – Based on a wooden rod, Fathi Abu al-Saeed, 72, sails in the garbage streets in the Al-Katiba district of Khan Younis-a daily ritual since its return from the trip to the Al-Mawasi coastal region After January 19, 19 ceases from Gaza. Carefully passing the debris left by 15 months of implacable Israeli bombardment, he lifts his cane, pointing to a demolished house.
“Do you see this pile of unnecessary rubble?” he said. “It’s more precious than the United States and everything it contains.”
Its audience – a group of children, including some of its 50 children and grandchildren – listens carefully, not discouraged by forecasts of heavy rain and strong winds. Others join them – children of displaced families who also returned, not in intact houses, but to the ruins of what was in the past. With nowhere where to go, they rebuild their lives among the wreckage.
Each morning, Abu al-Saeed exchanges resilience words with the neighbors. But that day, the recent recent remarks of American president Donald Trump on Gaza – his fantasy of cleaning his Palestinian population to build a “riviera in the Middle East” – offer fresh equipment for his sarcasm and his challenge.
“Trump speaks as if he were a king distributing land,” says Abu al-Saeed. “Maybe he should move his Israeli friends somewhere outside Palestine and leave Gaza quiet.”
Trump’s comments, who aroused a general conviction, described a plan to reinstall the Palestinians in Gaza elsewhere while the United States “would take over” and “owned” the territory. Standing next to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Gaza – Trump said that the Palestinians deserved better than their supposed “bad luck”.
‘An award -winning illusion’
Throughout 15 months of Israeli bombing, more than 60% of Gaza infrastructure was destroyed, including hospitals, universities and schools. Washington, under the previous American administration, was the largest funder in Israel, sending $ 17.9 billion in military aid during the first year of war – the highest annual total of all time .
“This is the speech of a madman,” explains Abu al-Saeed. “And like us, the Arabs, say:” If the speaker is a madman, that the listener is healthy. This man knows nothing about the fatherland, the struggle, the challenge, the pride – or the Palestine. »»
By rejecting Trump’s comments as absurd, Abu al-Saeed shakes his head. “It is the best fantasy ever imagined by a world leader,” he says, moving between disbelief and laughter. “Any healthy person who knows the Palestinians understands that leaving our homeland is like death itself. Has Trump really thought that we would make packaging and that we were going to go after all this?
For Abu al-Saeed, the idea of mass movement is personal. His father was forced to leave Jaffa – who is now part of Israel – by Zionist militias in 1948 when Israel was formed, and his mother’s family was expelled from the neighboring village of Sarafand. He grew up on stories from this first disaster – the Nakba – and now lives through another.
“We already know what it means to lose everything,” he said, signaling to the ruins. “But we also know what it means to keep.”
The war moved 90% of the 2.3 million people in Gaza. Many have returned, not in standing houses, but to wreck – clean the debris, recover what they can or the installation of tents at the top of the ruins.
“Even under the genocide, we have not left,” said Abu al-Saeed, his stable voice. “It is not a question of having nowhere to go – it is our homeland. Our land. Each brick is more for us than anything that the United States can offer. »»
For a week, Trump put pressure on Egypt and Jordan to absorb the population of Gaza, presenting its redevelopment plan as a job creation project. But even his allies in Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and beyond have rejected the idea.
“Trump must think that we live in a hotel that he can close,” said Abu al-Saeed. “But Gaza is not a real estate project – it’s our land.”
He hits his cane against the rubble. “This earth is mixed with our sweat and blood. No one here will leave – whatever threats or promises. »»
“Is it crazy or just stupid?”
Sitting on a bunch of debris, surrounded by impatient children, Abu al-Saeed turns to his 10-year-old grandson, Mohammad, smiling.
“Trump says that we should leave Gaza and move to Egypt or Jordan. What do you think? “
The boy laughs. “Is it crazy or just stupid?” Why are we going? Gaza is part of Palestine!
The other children go, their voices rising: “Who leaves their house?” We will stay, rebuild and beat for that. »»
Abu al-Saeed laughs. “There’s your answer, Trump. Even our children know better than you.
Throughout the war, the bombing of Israel, famine tactics and attacks against hospitals killed more than 17,400 children, obtaining thousands more.
“What kind of logic is it?” Abu al-Saeed requests. “They will hinder us, bomb us, then act surprised when we refuse to leave?”
Citing the unbreakable ties that the Palestinians feel with their land, he adds: “Do you know what will never happen again?” We leave.
Trump, he believes, does not understand the Palestinians or their struggle. “Israel was built on the lie of a” land without people, “he said. “But we are here, and we stay.”
His eyes shrink. “For Trump, as for Netanyahu, the only solution is that the Palestinians disappear.”
Straightening his back despite his age, Abu Al-Saeed says: “But we will not do it.”
This play was published in collaboration with EGAB.