Gaza: Less than six nautical miles from the coast of the biggest open-air prison in the world, Gazan fisherman Jihad Sultan, 54, was surprised when a strange bottle caught his fishing net.
Gaza fisherman Jihad Sultan with the letter he found in a bottle that floated from the Greek Island of Rhodes. |
He noticed there were dry flowers and a letter inside written in English.
He asked his son-in-law to tranlsate the letter for him. It read: “Hello! Thank you for picking up this bottle! We are currently on holiday in the Greek Island of Rhodes and would love to know how far this bottle got—even if it’s just the next beach!”
The authors of the note—young British couple Zac and Beth—threw the bottle into the ocean on July 4th.
Speaking to Gulf News, the couple said that they were excited their bottle had been received—especially in a place like Gaza.
“When we found out the bottle was received, I teared up,” Beth said.
“Having it end up in Gaza made us emotional. It illustrated how connected, we, as God’s children, really are. Even if the countries we live in, don’t want us to be,” the couple said.
For the past eleven years, Israel had imposed a suffocating siege on Gaza denying its two million inhabitants access to the outside world.
The Israelis control the amount of goods allowed into Gaza, the border crossings and restrict. They have also restricted Gazan fishermen from venturing out further than six nautical miles.
Sultan himself was arrested twice by the Israeli navy. They also confiscated three of his fishing boats, just because he was trying to work and bring income to feed his children.
“When I found the bottle and I thought about the long journey it took to get here, it just reminded me of the freedom we are missing here in Gaza,” he told Gulf News.
-Abeer Ayyoub is a freelance journalist based in Gaza
