Finally, I managed to see a plane that was not going to bomb me. I got out of Gaza for the very first time in my entire life. Now I have the stamps of three countries on my passport, and I have had the experience of traveling and getting on a plane.
I met and talked to people other than Gazans. I have met Egyptians, Sudanis, Jordanians, Moroccans, Syrians, Turks, Algerians, Pakistanis, Afghans, Iraqis, Balkans, Kenyans, Uyghurs, and Kyrgyz.
And I’m just counting the ones I’ve talked to. I’m thrilled that I’ve managed to do things so far.
The morning I left Gaza, my mother cried. My mom, who saves no chance to scold me, hugged me and cried so hard when the day came for me to leave. I pulled myself away before she could see the tears in my eyes and looked the other way.
“Don’t do that,” I said. “When my brother and sister left, you didn’t cry, remember? Why are you doing it now?”
I also made a few false promises to her. I denied my previous vow of never going back to Gaza. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back,” I tried to reassure her.
Did she buy it? I’m not sure.
The trip I made from my house in the center of Gaza to the Rafah crossing was also a first. I was looking out of the car’s window at the new places I passed on my way. I didn’t have any intention of memorizing or mentally picturing those places in my mind. But I find myself seeing them clearly when I close my eyes.
The Palestinian officer took my passport, looked at it, and looked back at me.
“Why are you heading to Turkey?” he asked, even though my passport was clearly emblazoned with a student visa.
“To study,” I replied unwillingly. He stamped it and handed it back to me.
Then we were lectured about what to expect and what to do, and mostly what not to do.
Don’t take pictures of the Egyptian side. Don’t take pictures of any place in Egypt while you’re on your way to Cairo. Don’t carry anything related to any Palestinian political party — it’s a national security matter. Men under 40 heading somewhere other than Egypt have to be taken directly to Cairo International Airport. You will be escorted to the plane directly.
What a privilege, right?
Maybe there will be a day when the world will look at us “Palestinians” on equal terms, instead of as a source of threat.