On the shore.. there was a young writing a word on the wet sand, I peeped at what he wrote, it seemed a girl’s name, I perceived that he was in love with her!. After few minutes, a strange man came and erased that name with his shoes, it almost disappeared. What a pity!. The young scared and throw himself into the sea.. he was swimming sadly.. while the strange man went away from him.
Later, I knew that he was one of the intelligence agency. Love in Gaza is forbidden for political, traditional and religious reasons..
I have mentioned the story of that lover young because I actually felt so sorry about him until now, and all lover in Gaza. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no one enjoy love with the “opposite sex” ( I can’t say boyfriend or girlfriend because in Gaza we have never used these expressions, we just say: habibi (means: my beloved) or hayati (means: my life).. and such that ).
Love in Gaza characterized by humbleness and shyness, it’s about to become obscure.. the Islamic spirit surround Gazans lovers considerably. You could not touch your beloved’s hand!, just smile at him/ her, or call him/ her secretly.
On the other hand, if you walk with your wife in the street, you can’t kiss her, otherwise people will consider that immoral.
With respect to sex, it’s very critical issue, you cannot argue or talk about sex openly, just between your friend as a secret and that needs to be bolder.. and you can’t have sex with your beloved only after a legal marriage in the Syariah Court..
In spite of that, there’s many things have been happening like a trysts between tow lovers and like the swift kisses in the lanes of the refugee camps… ect. But if you can’t bear that anymore and find your free way in love by internet, the secret service will block your way.. like if you open porn websites/ videos, it’ll not work!.
Kawther AbuHani 