"In Kefaya al-Assar's mind, that decision to stay is an effort to correct what she perceives to have been a historical mistake made by her parents fleeing their village of Julis, which was depopulated in the 1948 Nakba, and is now within Israel. We blamed [our parents] a lot for leaving our home there, said the 73-year-old Kefaya. Kefaya has faced displacement during Israel's genocidal war on Gaza five times."
"Originally from Jabalia in northern Gaza, she now shelters in a classroom at a school in central Gaza's Nuseirat. Widowed in early 2023 and without children, she said displacement revives the trauma she inherited from her parents. History repeats itself now, she said. My parents lost all their money when they were forced to flee. We also used to have money, but now we are displaced and have lost everything."
"I don't want to repeat history, I want to die in my own country, she said. Even here, being in Nuseirat, I feel like a stranger. I wish I could go back to Jabalia. Her home in Jabalia was destroyed during the war, meaning that, for now, she is staying in Nuseirat. But she is still adamant that it will not mean her departure from Gaza."
The Rafah crossing partially opened after two years of closure, offering relief for Palestinians needing urgent treatment abroad. Many elderly Palestinians in Gaza nonetheless choose to remain as an act of survival, resistance, and historical memory. Kefaya al-Assar traces her choice to a perceived historical mistake when her parents fled Julis during the 1948 Nakba. She has been displaced multiple times during the current war and now shelters in a Nuseirat classroom, widowed and without children. Displacement revives inherited trauma and loss of assets, and she refuses to leave Gaza despite destroyed homes and limited resources.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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