For 30 years, Israel denies mother in Gaza from celebrating Ramadan with her son

For 30 long years, Umm Deiaa al-Agha, a resident of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, is unable to celebrate Ramadan with her son as he languishes in an Israeli prison.

Deiaa al-Agha, 46, one of the oldest prisoners from the Gaza Strip held by Israel, is spending his 30th Ramadan in the Israeli Nafha Prison. He is facing a life sentence on charges of killing Israeli soldiers in 1992.

As part of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations he was supposed to be released in 2014, but the Israeli government did not abide by the agreement to release him, as his mother said. 

"My son was arrested when he was only 16-years-old. He was sentenced to life imprisonment," the 70-year-old mother of seven told The New Arab.

"The food no longer has flavour," she said, specifically the food that her son used to enjoy, such as Maqluba, Musakhan, and Qatayef. 

This Ramadan, in particular, has been hard for her. "In the first week, I used to put out food and did not eat anything from it. I spend time just crying. I am still not used to not being with him," she said. 

"My son was easy to handle. He was the first to wake up to eat Suhoor, and he used to help me a lot," she added. "He was happy with Eid clothes, and he helped me make cakes that I haven't made since his arrest."

Umm Deiaa still decorates the walls of her house with pictures of her son and clings to hopes that he will be released and live a normal life. 

"I am still optimistic that I would see him in front of me and talk with him without any obstacles," she said. "My son and all the Palestinian prisoners have the right to be free."

Despite all the pain that the elderly woman endures, she participates in all activities and events supporting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. She has never missed a weekly sit-in for the families of the prisoners at the headquarters of the Red Cross, west of Gaza City.

"My participation in such events gives me the ability to convey a message to my son that I am still waiting for his return," she said. 

"No matter how much Israel insists on humiliating us or killing our spirit of struggle, it will not succeed. We are a people that have rights and a cause (...) I believe my son will one day be free and return to his normal life."

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are serving life sentences, including 27 prisoners from the Gaza Strip.