Tuesday, morning of February 24, 2009
...We were in Khozaa', in the eastern area of Gaza, around 100m away from the borders... it was about 8:30a.m when we got there driving from Gaza city... as we entered the fields of crop-peas, and wheat mainly, and wholly destroyed too because of the two months deprivation of care- the jeeps, with their headlights on were standing still... the moment we went in, me and three fellow comrades at the front line... all of a sudden, two shots fire past our heads, and one i see less than 1m away from my foot, where the sand on the ground jumped, as a result of the bullet going through it... the firing continued... most of the farmers were women, a few men were around... the men said that they had been coming down daily for a couple of days now, with the jeeps not aiming for them, but today they were afraid that they were 'playing' with 'us', the activists...
A fellow comrade of mine had been shot before, i haven't... she said that her body shakes every time they would shoot, but it is not fear and that she was told once that soldiers who got shot, are usually less affective... their body's memory blocking their activity... i haven't been shot... yet... but, this time, in particular, i felt a wave of frozen fear sweep my body... it is the kind that just freezes you, and then... as it melts through your body, a wave of heat sweeps it away, and all you feel is utter anger...
Another comrade fell to the earth... he told me that he felt as if he was slapped in the face, and after gaining consciousness of the world around him again, he learnt it was a bullet... he told me later as we walked towards the road, trying to find a car to take us back to the city, that he couldn't believe he was alive... every time we leave for an action as such, in the accompaniment of farmers, i consider the possibility of death, or injury... but, i deeply hope inside of me, that i never get injured losing a part of my body, but that death would be my fate...
In the car, going back to Gaza, as we sat atop one another, a comrade noticed the anchor necklace around my neck... as she asked about it, I told her that i had been wearing it since I was sixteen... when she asked who gave it to me, I smiled... I remembered the person who gave it to me... it was after they noticed that this was the life I chose... so, they gave me an anchor... and by sea, I came to Gaza... how many seas ans storms shall I defy, shall I cross... I wonder...
Love, N
Pictures taken by the bloggers in Gaza
