For days, Kawther Al-Baz has been living between hope and fear in the Asser Pittelo district. Contact with her family in the Gaza Strip hardly gets off the ground. The powerlessness she experiences from Assen drives her to despair.
In her home in Assen, Palestinian-Dutch Kawther Al-Baz (60) spends many hours of the day in front of the television. She stays informed of the latest developments via Arabic news channels and social media. She keeps a close eye on her phone. She waits, usually in vain, for messages from family. Are her loved ones still alive and if so, are they in a safe area? These are pressing questions that remain unanswered.
Waiting is all she can do at the moment. She breaks down when she talks about her own powerlessness in the war between Israel and Hamas. “I really wish I was there,” she sobs. “Then I could have seen everything with my own eyes. Now I am dependent on television. I would love to do something, I want to help people. So many innocent people do not get the chance to make something of their lives. What good will my life mean then? condition?”
Al-Baz has a large family, she says. Its members live all over the world, but the majority live in the Gaza Strip. She hopes to get in touch with her cousins, for example, via apps. Because there is no electricity – cut off by Israel – messages have rarely arrived in recent days. She has little information about the lives of family members. Phones seem to be dead and can no longer be charged.
Yesterday, around 7 o’clock in the morning, her own phone lit up. It was her cousin in the Gaza Strip, who reported in a short message that he was still alive. This good news pales in comparison to the suffering that Al-Baz has experienced since the escalation of the war. “Fifteen people with my surname have already died, including seven people from a bombed house. There may be many more dead. I heard that there are many people under the collapsed houses. The material to remove them from underneath , is unfortunately not available.”
Al-Baz came to the Netherlands when she was 22. This happened from Jordan, where her parents fled from Jerusalem in 1948. She now lives with her husband in Assen. Together they have three children born in the Netherlands. Al-Baz feels strongly connected to Palestine, but realizes that a return cannot be arranged. “I am not allowed to just visit the Gaza Strip. I come from a family that has fled. Then you have lost all your rights under Israeli law. But I always have hope. It is my right to return to Palestine.”