Grapevine

Unspoken bonds: Gaza’s forcibly displaced and the homes they yearn for

Deir el-Balah, Gaza – An insight I gained over the past two decades is that trauma is not only experienced, it is encoded in our genes, passed down through generations, shaping our collective memory, identity and attitude.

About 17 years ago, I received my first laptop as a family gift. With it came a handheld black laptop case, among other accessories.

While excited about the gift, I asked for a backpack instead of the case because “it’s easier to carry in case I needed to flee”.

Back then, I hadn’t experienced displacement. Now, as I sit in my third shelter in Deir el-Balah, more than 10 months after I was forced to flee my home, it dawns on me that my request might have been a whisper from the past, echoes of my grandparents – expelled from their Jerusalem home to make way for the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 – reaching across the decades.

Lifelines to a distant home