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Home Demolition in Rafah Camp May 9, 2005
Khaled, a young journalist from Rafah, describes in his own words the life of a family who are newly displaced. All 10 members of the Al-Lahwani family are living in a tent. Rafah: The Al-Lahwani Family, Between Displacement’s Hammer and Poverty’s Anvil! In front of a simple tent that they had erected in the middle of a small plot surrounded by walls on all sides, refugee Ahmed Al-Lahwani sat with his eight children. He was talking to them in an optimistic tone, a way of trying to ease their suffering caused by the demolition last May of their house in Al-Shuaa’t Refugee Camp on the southern edge of Rafah Camp. “Our displacement won’t be for long, and we will build a new house and make it more beautiful than our house that was demolished by the Israeli bulldozers,” Al-Lahwani said to his family. “And every one of you will get a separate room, we will get some peace and comfort which we have missed in the past few months,” he added. Al-Lahwani’s talk was interrupted by his 12-year-old daughter Hanin, her anger readily apparent on her face, when she said in a loud voice, “Since the demolishing of our house, you keep saying that you will build a new house instead. We get frustrated from living in that tent; we need a house with walls to protect us from the summer’s heat and winter’s coldness, why are we not living as the rest of the people!”
Al-Lahwani kept silent for few moments, then continued talking, “Sufficient unto us is Allah, but I promise you that I will build the house that you dreamed to have, and will comfort you from the suffering of displacement,” he said. It was clear that those oft-repeated words and promises hadn’t satisfied 12-year-old Hanin, 12-year-old Yusuf, and 11-year-old Amira, as they left him talking and went in the direction of the rubble heaped near the wall. They sat down and began collecting and lining up stones, and after working for almost one hour, Yusuf yelled, “We have finished...” “I have built a wonderful house for you,” he said, indicating towards the stones that he had lined up to make a sort of a house.
“This room is for you Hanin, where you can put your bed and desk and treasury to save your books and clothes, and I will give that small room to Amira, and I will get that big one for myself,” Yusuf said. Through their make-believe, a simple smile is drawn on the faces of the children, a game which continues for some hours. As the father was standing and observing his children’s behavior a few meters away from him, tears began escaping from his eyes. Then he asked his wife, Umm Ashraf, to come and see her children. When she came and saw her children’s play, she wept too and raised her hands to the sky praying in a loud voice mixed with sorrow, “Allah ease building the house for us, and punish those who treat us unjustly.” Then she hugged her children, saying, “We will build a house, and we will never leave that land.” A History of Tragedy
Al-Lahwani lived as a refugee for 25 years in the Canada Camp, located on the Egyptian side of the town of Rafah, but was moved into Palestinian Rafah following a re-housing project specified in the Egyptian-Israeli agreements (editor’s note: Rafah is split between Palestinian and Egyptian territory). The Al-Lahwani family left Egyptian Rafah for the Palestinian side. With the money received as compensation, they were able to buy a house in Al-Shuaa’t Camp in the west of Rafah, what they describe as a happy and caring community of neighbors before the Israeli bulldozers separated them. “My 10 children, my wife and I, were living in a happy house, but that didn’t last for long; the first disaster that was waiting for us was a fault in the electricity system of our house that caused the death of two of my sons.” (Editor’s note: Lack of money and investment in the community means that many refugees are living in appalling conditions which fail to meet even basic safety standards.)
“But we were satisfied in Allah’s faith and were determined as we continued life in the absence of happiness, and a life full of sorrow and the pains of separation” Al-Lahwani said. The suffering had begun.... Al-Lahwani continued, “When the Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted four years ago, our house, located close to the Egyptian border, became a direct target for the bullets of Israeli soldiers positioned all around with heavy weaponry.” For three years, Al-Lahwani’s family lived a life of horror and fear, as bullets targeted their house day and night, changing the life of his children into a “living hell.” Life went on in a daily routine like that until 30 April 2004, the day which he describes as the “turning point of his family’s life.” April 30, 2004
As Al-Lahwani began to describe the night that his house was demolished, all his family went silent. “We were sleeping when the Israeli tanks and bulldozers approached our house and one of the bulldozers began demolishing the outside wall of the house. We all began screaming, but the bulldozer driver didn’t take any pity on us, ignored our screams’ and just continued demolishing the walls one after another. At that time, we realized the danger, so we began to escape from the back of the house from a small hole that the bulldozer had made. It was only seconds between our escape and the collapse of our house.” The suffering has continued since that moment. Al-Lahwani now has to rent a small 200 meter plot of land, and he has set his tent in the middle of it.
Sick, with high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer, Al-Lahwani is unable to work. He cannot pay even for the basic needs of everyday life, especially as his children get older and their demands increase for new clothes and school books, tuition, and of course food and the rent for the plot of land. Al-Lahwani says he only gets $400 every 6 months from UNWRA, not enough to cover even the basics. He is waiting for the time when UNRWA can re-house the homeless families, but that seems to be difficult at the moment, as the waiting lists of homeless families increase and the process of re-housing slows down. In spite of all the difficulties and tough circumstances they are living under, he is continually trying to provide the basic needs of his children, in order to keep them in school and also, in the future, in college. Is There Anyone to Hear?
Al-Lahwani and his family are appealing to UNRWA and all relief organizations to support him and homeless families like him, in order to provide the needs of everyday life. He also appeals to the Palestinian Ministry of Health to provide medical services, especially psychiatric help. His children are suffering from psychological problems, particularly as a result of the demolition of their house, and the situation they have lived in since that time. He is sure that the continued attacks and sounds of shelling and shooting during the nights have left psychological scars on his children and is the cause of their insomnia, night screaming, aggressive behavior, and bedwetting. “Up until this moment, though our tent is far away from the border, the bullets of occupation are still chasing us. The shooting and shelling is random and everywhere the evidence is clear. Wherever you go throughout Rafah Camp, you will find martyrs and injured people.” His difficult economic situation prevents him from taking his children to psychologists, and he is afraid that this behavior might continue and develop into even more serious psychological problems in the future. There is no escape from the situation. The family, like all others, is trapped in Rafah, owing to road blocks between all camps and cities. The humiliation and insults to dignity at the checkpoints are too much for anyone to bear. Al-Lahwani and his children expect that their difficult situation will go on for longer because the re-housing projects need more time. There are hundreds of families whose houses were demolished before Al-Lahwani’s and who still have not received housing. These homeless families consider UNRWA and similar organizations the only hope to somehow ease their suffering. Click here to give financial support to the homeless of Gaza. Resources: For further information about the home demolition in Gaza:
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