Pam Bailey
As the media headlines swing from the growing death count in the Gaza Strip to fitful truce negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, a growing number of Americans are becoming aware of the eight-year-old blockade that has prevented the 1.8 million people of Gaza from living a normal life. However, it still seems like a distant battle; most Americans don’t realize that the conflict is fueled by billions of dollars of US military “aid,” or that there are Palestinians from Gaza living among them, fearing for their loved ones’ lives from afar.
Separated from their parents, siblings, children and spouses after leaving the Strip to study or work, they have watched news of the Israeli assault with horror. Some have lost homes, relatives or both.
“I’d rather be with my family than be abroad,” says Minna Albarqi, who, like most of the few Gazan students studying in the United States, managed to earn a full scholarship so she could pursue a higher academic degree – in her case, at Hollins University in Virginia. “Whatever happens to them, I want to happen to me. It’s too painful wondering what is happening to them.”