Situation in Gaza miserable

Gaza has become a 'prison' and many residents fear they will soon be overrun by the Israelis, said a Palestinian now living in Dubai.

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Gaza has become a 'prison' and many residents fear they will soon be overrun by the Israelis, said a Palestinian now living in Dubai.

Hanna Saba, a 23-year-old civil engineer, left Gaza two weeks ago to visit relatives in the UAE. "I heard about the Dubai Shopping Festival, and thought it might be a good time to visit my cousins," he said.

The journey was arduous, but not as arduous as it might have been, he conceded. The taxi ride to Rafa, which should have taken 25 minutes, lasted three hours due to the delays at the checkpoints.

"About 200 Palestinians pass through the checkpoint at Rafa every day. I had to wait there one night for my turn," he recalled. "I passed - no problem."

"But sometimes they don't let you pass. Sometimes they shoot you. You can spend the whole day at a checkpoint. It took me just three hours. I was lucky."

From Rafa, he took another taxi to Cairo, and boarded a flight to Dubai. If the process was difficult two weeks ago, Saba attests it is 'virtually impossible now'.

"I was in Dubai when the situation suddenly got worse, so I can't go back," he explained. Saba, who is in the process of looking for a job, painted a picture of the prevailing conditions in the occupied territories.

"Muslims and Christians - there is no difference. We are brothers, and we are all fighting for the same cause," he stressed. "We have lived together in peace for a long time. We are Palestinians, and they are Palestinians. We are the same.

"There are Christian martyrs, and there are Muslim martyrs who have lost their lives in the Intifada. We have nothing except our lives. It's the only thing we can use to perpetuate the struggle for our lands."

Saba's parents and two younger brothers remain in Gaza. Both his parents are employed, and he admits their situation is 'very good' compared with the majority of Palestinians.

"My family's situation is not so bad. My father has a job and my mother has a part-time job. We are better off than most people. But I don't know how the others manage," he said.

"The situation there is miserable. When I left, I wasn't working. There are no jobs for young graduates. No prospects. No future," he lamented. Saba graduated from Bir Zeit University in Ramallah last July.

"I had a job for three months working as a civil engineer for a local company. I was making $500 a month.

"But there were no new projects, and many of the engineers left the company. Even now, the company doesn't have any new projects. Life has stopped over there," he said.

"There is a huge problem of unemployment. People feel angry because of what is happening. And this was before I came here. Now it is even worse.

"People in Gaza fear they will share the same fate as Jenin. The West Bank is totally occupied now. My parents believe it will be their turn soon."

Saba relates there is an enhanced sense of community now among Palestinians. A fellow schoolmate of Saba's from Bir Zeit, 22-year-old Jihad Aloon, was killed in the early days of the Intifada in Nablus.

"He was taking part in a demonstration when he was shot by Israeli soldiers," he said.

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