Gaza’s tower of dreams
Site of Al-Jawhara Tower, Gaza City, destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in May 2021
Ruwaida Amer reports in The Electronic Intifada on10 March 2022:
Last May’s Israeli assault on Gaza had devastating consequences. Hundreds of lives were lost, whole families were wiped out and neighborhoods were flattened by Israel’s bombing campaign.
That campaign also targeted several tall mixed residential/business towers. These were not just prominent features of the Gaza skyline. They held prominent places in the hearts and memories of many Gaza residents: those who lived and worked there, and also those who lived in their shadow and promise. Without them, Gaza City seems notably distorted and gloomy.
One of these was al-Jawhara Tower, a nine-floor tower bloc that was completed in 2004 and which housed residential apartments, private businesses, legal and educational offices, as well as a number of mostly Palestinian and Arabic media offices. The tower was effectively destroyed on 12 May following successive Israeli missile attacks.
Today, all but the last of the rubble of al-Jawhara has been cleared because of the danger it posed. But the space left behind is not just an absence on the land. A prominent feature of Gaza City’s professional life, many Palestinians in Gaza have stories connected to the tower. With its rubble, there are many memories and dreams from al-Jawhara now buried.
Memories and devastated dreams
Asma Abu Telkh, 33, a writer and entrepreneur, got her first job as a computer coder in al-Jawhara. “This place looms strong in my memory. I started a job there 10 years ago and have many beautiful memories.” Al-Jawhara Tower and others played an important role for many in their professional lives, Abu Telkh told The Electronic Intifada. “They embodied my memories of work: meetings with colleagues, interviews and the ends of working days. It feels like my memories have been erased, like something deep inside of me is about to be amputated and I don’t know how to prevent it.”
With so many companies located in al-Jawhara, some, like Abu Telkh, even moved from job to job within the same tower. “I spent much of my life in it,” Abu Telkh said. “A complete memory carries our experience of growth, our development within these walls where we got to know many lifelong associates, both colleagues and friends. Everything that threatens our memories threatens our existence in life and hurts us deeply.”
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In all, according to Ahmad al-Zaim, the owner of al-Jawhara Tower, more than 700 people lost their jobs – some permanently and others just temporarily – as a result of the destruction of the tower. “The tower was home to engineering offices, clinics, restaurants, lawyers, accountants, apartments, public service providers, and tourism and travel offices,” he told The Electronic Intifada.
And it was more than just that to him. It was home. A home that was destroyed before his very eyes. “I will never forget the look in my children’s eyes after we had evacuated and we stood there watching as the tower was hit by missile after missile.” This was their home. All their childhood memories.