‘There are zero safe places in Gaza and it is getting worse’
Jihan Abukamel was working in the Bethlehem Peace Centre, where she was the bookstore manager and event co-ordinator. She had been working towards her masters degree in Cultural Institution Management. Pic: Gerard O’Loughlin
Palestinians in County Roscommon are living in constant fear for their relatives’ safety.
Sherín Alsabbagh, who is originally from Gaza and now living and working in Ballaghaderreen, and Jihan Abu Kamel, who is living in Castlerea but is originally from Bethlehem in the West Bank, spoke to the Herald recently about their fears on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in their homeland.
Sherín, whose elderly mother Najwa was recently allowed to join her in the county after a grueling and fraught process, spoke at a recent Palestinian solidarity day in Strokestown.
“It was a wonderful event. My mother was there too, and the warm welcome that she gets everywhere she goes is really wonderful,” she said. “It is great that she experiences that everywhere she goes.” Both Sherín and Najwa have lost numerous relatives and are terrified for the safety of their family still there. This includes Sherín’s brother, sister-in-law, and nieces as they face disease, starvation and bombing.
“There are no words to describe it. The weight we are carrying for almost two years, it is so hard to live like this. It is not fair to live like this to be honest,” she said. “My mother is adjusting to life here, but it is so hard that she experienced those things herself, the constant danger, the lack of food. It is really starvation. The other day, my brother and his kids were celebrating having a cheese sandwich and a cup of tea with sugar. It’s not even meeting the basic food requirements. We are talking about one million people in a small piece of land.” She said that her family was in constant danger from the “random, barbaric airstrikes”, adding the full scale of the horror in Gaza, with civilians including children being killed, was not being fully reported in the West.
“They could be people eating breakfast, killed, they could be children waiting with their families, killed,” she said. “This is ethnic cleansing; it is so obvious. I am trying everything I can to get my brother and his family out. My brother is an accountant, his wife is a geologist, they are not going to be a burden. I applied for them last year when I was applying for my mother, and they were turned down. For my mother, this is driving her insane.” She stressed that she and her family did not support Hamas, adding that 83 per cent of the 53,000 killed in Gaza were civilians.
“I am begging the Irish government to help my brother and his kids. They are facing death. There are zero safe places in Gaza and it is getting worse.” Jihan, who came to Ireland, with her mother and brothers last September, said that the situation in the West Bank is also very grave.
“After the war started in 2023, we were scared for our lives and my father said things are getting really dangerous day-by-day. We had a lot of military raids around our house, we could hear our neighbours being raided, men being arrested, and women being beaten. We could hear the screams. Every day and every night we were so scared that it would be our turn. It has been like this forever, we lived with occupation and surrounded by settlers, but never to this level of brutality.” She added that her father, who remains in the West Bank, said Ireland was the best country for his family given Ireland’s long-standing support for Palestine.
“We knew coming to Ireland we would be treated fairly and as human beings, and it would be safe for us to be here.” She explained that she and her family were able to travel to Ireland as her mother is Ukrainian, and they have Ukrainian passports.
“My father doesn’t hold one so he stayed. I also have a sister, she has two children, she also stayed there with her husband and family.” Jihan explained that she was working in the Bethlehem Peace Centre, where she was the bookstore manager and event co-ordinator. She had been working towards her masters degree in Cultural Institution Management, but unfortunately, she was not able to finish the course.
“We have so many people coming from all around the world to visit the Church of the Nativity. The city was so vibrant with different cultures,” she said. “We all lived peacefully together. We were a family.” She is fearful that the horror will continue in Gaza. “It has been almost two years, and it hasn’t stopped yet. A lot of innocent people have lost their lives. Kids have been born into this world. They don’t know any other life, other than war and hunger, and losing family members. They don't know how food tastes, other than canned food, if they find any.” She accused Israel of wanting to “wipe out all the Palestinians”, adding that her family in the West Bank live under constant threat.
“They never know how the day will go.” Jihan said that she, her mother, and brothers have been in Castlerea since February.
“It has been a great experience. The people here are the most amazing and welcoming. I actually call it my second home.” She expressed her heartfelt thanks to the Roscommon Local Authority Integration Team and the county's Family Resource Centres.
