Escaping Syria's hell for Gaza's devastation

By land or by sea, the route out of Syria is wrought with danger. This is whether the route is along the smuggling routes to Europe, via the Mediterranean in overcrowded rickety boats, or to neighbouring countries where poverty and discrimination are an inevitable feature of life for refugees.

But some chose to reach for a different destination, and it is a path that often retraces - in reverse - the journey they, or their families made, forty years ago when they fled war and death and found refuge in camps around Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia.

It may be tough but after a life in exile at least I am back home in Palestine. - Um Imad Jerboa, 70

Ahmad Yousef came from the Yarmouk camp in the Syrian capital. When the fighting moved into the camp he moved his family out, but within a week the fighting had once again engulfed them.

They knew they couldn't remain. "Unemployment is endemic and Palestinians are barred from most jobs. I just couldn't find the very minimum to feed my family. I had to leave and when I decided to go to Egypt we heard from a relative that we could get through the tunnels into Gaza."

Returning to Gaza, however, is neither easy nor safe. First, refugees must make it to Egypt, then navigate a network of tunnels that snake under the border to Gaza. And with war and poverty, Gaza offers scant sanctuary.

Those considerations held Akram Abdulhadi back in Cairo. With a wife – who castigated him with “who wants to escape from one siege to another” – and young children, he languished with a friend in Egypt for weeks before deciding on a return to the homeland.

Second thoughts

In the close air and confined space of the tunnel however, he had second thoughts.

“I could feel the trepidation of my children and my little five-year-old girl started crying, but turning back was not an option. We walked for around three hours. By God I don't know how we made it through that tunnel.”

He still has second thoughts.

“I don't know if I made the right decision, especially now we see all the hunger and destitution here. What is the difference between dying at the hands of a Syrian aeroplane or an Israeli one?”

Syrian-Palestinians got the worst of both worlds. In July and August, those who had made it to Gaza witnessed Israeli planes bombarding the densely populated land strip. Some 2,200 Palestinians were killed, tens of thousands of homes were levelled and what little economy and infrastructure there was even further destroyed.

Um Imad Jerboa made the decision to travel to Gaza in the early months of 2013.

"We knew the journey would be risky and the situation would not be easy in Gaza but we were desperate,” the 70-year-old said. “What can I say? We have fled from death and destruction and once again we are living amidst bombs, death and destruction," she said.

Under assault

	Tens of thousands of Palestinian homes were destroyed during Israel's summer assault (AFP)

At least 255 Palestinian families made the journey to Gaza since the Syrian conflict broke out, according to statistics from the Palestinian Human Rights Association in Beirut.

The Jerboa family paid smugglers $1,000 to get into Gaza from Egypt. Crossing by tunnel is necessary because of the blockade of the coastal strip by Israeli and Egyptian forces. One of Um Imad's sons was captured on the way to the exit point by security forces in Egypt. He remains in an Egyptian prison.

The rest of family made it through and soon tried to start a new life for themselves in the besieged territory. They pooled their savings and rented a house in the eastern Shejaiyeh neighbourhood. But when Israel began bombarding Gaza in August, this district was one of the hardest hit.

Israel's assault on Shejaiyeh was particularly strong. Shells rained down from planes and tanks to create cover for advancing Israeli troops. The human toll in one day of the offensive was frightening – around 120 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children, died in the area.

Um Imad Jerboa's Gaza home was destroyed in the early days of the war and they were forced to brave sniper fire – again – and seek refuge in the relative safety of Gaza City.

Refugee to refugee

There they found UN schools used as emergency shelters but were reluctant to seek help there. They had not returned to their homeland to live as homeless refugees once again.

The Jerboas were introduced to a Palestinian who had also fled Syria. He offered for them to stay at an apartment he was renting but when they arrived they found another three families crammed in.

"Throughout the war there were 40 of us stuffed into that flat, which had only two rooms and a small bathroom and kitchen. There was hardly enough food to go round," said Um Imad.

"I must admit I started to feel weak, began to be haunted by loneliness, and longed for my people that I had left behind in Syria."

Un Imad remembers going the other way. Trekking with her parents across the mountains into southern Syria are among her earliest memories. She was only five when her family was forced to leave their home in Sforea in northern Palestine.

Palestinian refugees in Syria always enjoyed relatively strong social and civil rights but this came at the cost of total political subservience. When an uprising against the regime swept through Syria in 2011, it spread to the Palestinian camps where long subdued grievances came to the fore. Conflicting factions were drawn into the fray and Palestinian camps became focal points in the conflict and were subjected to brutal sieges.

A new life

In the wake of the Gaza offensive, Um Imad's youngest son Issam made the decision to travel to Europe and start a new life there.

Passionate about acting he is now in Germany studying theatre and learning German and skills that he hopes will help him establish a safer and more secure future.

Um Imad regrets her son's decision: "If we leave once again it only serves Israel's interests." 

She accepts that Europe can offer her son better opportunities in life and staying in Gaza offers a bleak future of poverty and unemployment.

For herself there is no more exile. Her life in Syria is a shattered memory. Her family is scattered across the world. One son is behind bars in an Egyptian prison, another was tortured to death in a Syrian dungeon, while another is seeking a brighter future in Germany. And yet Gaza, with all of its destruction and sorrow, is where Um Imad will spend her autumnal years.  

"Yes, I am living in poverty, there are no real opportunities for my boys and death surrounds everyone in Gaza. It is better for me to be here than in that dirty war in Syria. It may be tough but after a life in exile at least I am back home in Palestine."