OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, June 3 (IslamOnline) -All aspects of life in Palestine has been affected by the state of war, including weddings. Marriages are now held in low profile settings and the bride’s prince charmer has become he who best demonstrates courage and resistance in face of the enemy.

Most Palestinian weddings now last no more than two hours.

“I did not wear the white gown that is every girl’s dream,” Manar Awad, a bride told islamOnline. “I was told brought instead the news of my brother being shot by Israeli gunfire.”

“A day before the wedding,” Manal went on, “my brother, Emad, called me to congratulate me and told me to be happy no matter what happened to him. I couldn’t stop my tears, feeling my he was bidding me farewell, and hoped to Allah He would extend my brother’s life.”

Emad worked with the security forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah and for several months, the Israeli checkpoints refused to let him visit his family. On the day of his sister’s wedding, an Israeli sniper shot Emad. A few days later, he died.

“Emad died and did not see my in my white gown. I couldn’t wear it after he died,” the sad bride said.

Another bride from Gaza, Huda, said that the checkpoints barred her groom, Mamdouh in the Deir Balah military camp from coming to her.

There was a car that Huda planned to take, as she wore a black cloak over her white gown. She was going to walk on the Gaza coast for nearly 200 meters until she crosses the Netzarim checkpoint south of Gaza to be taken by another car in the opposite side.

“I think I’m going to reach my bridal home the following day. In the past, couples used to go to the beach and take pictures with guests. But now, I am forced to walk on the beach for 200 meters without my groom and get my gown all soiled just to save our lives.

“Even then, I may never go back to my father’s house without crossing the checkpoints controlled by the mood of the Zionist soldiers,” she said angrily.

The Intifada against Israeli occupation has not only affected the nature of the Palestinian wedding ceremony, but the Palestinian girls’ choice of a husband as well.

Heba spoke to IslamOnline about her marriage to a man wanted by the Israeli intelligence. “The Intifada has changed the dreams of the Palestinian girl,” she said. “Resistance and struggle against the occupation is the highest dowry her future husband can offer.

“I agreed without second thoughts to marry him, even though I realized how difficult our life would be due to his security situation. But I have chosen him as a husband for the afterlife and not for this life.”

Heba hid her husband’s real name from all her friends until the wedding procedures passed quietly without the Israeli intelligence reaching him, she said.

“I invited my friends and relatives to a simple wedding in my father’s house. After sunset, everyone having left, I had to change my wedding gown and dress in disguise. A car then took me through twisted roads, in an attempt to evade Israeli intelligence eyes. We wanted our marriage consummated, our happiness complete, before an Apache could deny me of my man for good.”

Palestinian weddings never last more than a couple of hours now, in light of Al-Aqsa Intifada and the continued Palestinian struggle. The wedding procedures usually start after the ‘Asr (afternoon) prayers and end before sunset. People try to get done with the ceremony as soon as possible, in fear of haphazard air strikes.

Another bride, Mona Jabr, was unlucky enough, though, to have Israeli forces begin their raids on Gaza much earlier than anticipated.

“There were supposed to be lights to decorate the party and for the wedding hall to be filled with guests,” she said. “Instead, there were candles lit up, not to give a romantic ambiance to the party, but because electricity was cut off all homes in fear of a fire flare-up since air raids were going on. The guests were just our families, my groom and I. The sound of warplanes over our refugee camp kept people indoors, preferring to die within the confines of their own homes than out in the street.”

“I wished that this dark night would end fast,” she said in a sad tone. “Our happiness was aborted way before time.”