Haniyeh and his Israeli sisters: wartime tales from Gaza/Israel

[Mosby]

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has three Israeli sisters. They live in a Bedouin town near Beer Sheva, which is within range of Hamas’s rockets. Back in the 1980s, when a Palestinian from the occupied territories could become a citizen by marriage, the sisters were married off to Israeli Bedouin. They are widows now, but they still live in the village with their grown children. Some of their neighbours - also Bedouin - served in the Israel army. In a January 4 interview with Yedioth Aharonoth’s Nir Gontarz, the sisters expressed fear of the incoming Hamas rockets and worry for their brother Ismail - who is hiding in a bunker somewhere in Gaza. They called upon both Israel and Hamas to cease firing. “Hamas must stop firing rockets at Beer Sheva, but so must Israel stop attacking Gaza. If our children are afraid, then it must be very difficult for the children in Gaza,” said 59 year-old Khaldia Abu Rakik.

Last week I called Gaza, which has the same local dialing code as Sderot, to check on my friend “Musa,” a journalist in Gaza who regularly files reports for Israeli media (all the Israeli media have local correspondents in Gaza). Speaking in his still-fluent Hebrew, he insisted that he was fine - working hard, busy all day, no time to think. “And your children?” I asked. “Well, my 6 year-old daughter lost the ability to walk - it’s a symptom of trauma - so she spends all her time in bed. We only have electricity for a couple of hours a day and school is canceled, so the other kids have to sit around in the dark doing nothing all day. We can’t let them play outside because of the bombings. Anyway, they are too afraid to go out. There isn’t any water, because you need electricity to pump it. We have enough food, although my wife could not find bread yesterday. She said there were about 200 people queued up at the bakery. It’s cold and we don’t have heat, but we have to leave the windows open so they won’t shatter from the booms. But I am fine. You haven’t told me about yourself! How are you?” Musa was always like that - overdoing the stiff upper lip, even when circumstances would justify some complaining.

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http://lisagoldman.net/2009/01/07/haniyeh-and-his-israeli-sisters-wartime-tales-from-gaza-and-israel/