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March 4th, 2022 
Awake Goy 
We have a saying here in Gaza that we repeat whenever things get heated — “It gets pregnant in the West Bank, and gives birth in Gaza.”
But this time I guess it got pregnant in Ukraine.
Pregnant in Ukraine . . .
Russia launched its military operation on Ukraine on February 24 and for sure did not have in mind the consequences that would be cast upon Gaza.
But when my father went as usual to the supermarket he was only able to buy a third of the items my mother listed. He replaced the other two-thirds with goods he saw as “necessary,” and came back to tell us the “terrors” he had witnessed.
“Food prices are rising. People stopped selling their extra flour. Gaza’s people are no longer seeking to immigrate to Europe,” he said grimly.
Upon hearing this nonsense I suggested they should start immigrating to Gulf countries.
And according to my father’s friend’s wife, “The Egyptians will stop providing Gaza with cooking gas.” She read that somewhere on the internet. I wonder what Sisi would say about that.
Two nights ago after dinner my siblings and I started dividing ourselves into two camps: the Russian camp and the American camp. For the record, we don’t favor either of them but we felt that we had to pick a side since everyone was talking about a third World War.
Of course, we divided ourselves according to the vaccinations we got. The ones who took Pfizer would be on the American side, the others who took Sputnik would be on the Russian side, and those who didn’t get any joined the Non-Aligned movement.
. . . and giving Birth in Gaza
This evening my father decided to reduce the goats’ share of food because of the war. Apparently, according to the merchants, animal food is imported from Europe. “It’s the freight’s fare that was raised so we have to raise the prices of the food,” my father was told when he was buying his livestock some medicine.
I was speechless. But the goats weren’t.
They looked puzzled and kept demanding for their dinner. My father applied the sanctions on the goats but not on the sheep because they are his favorite. I gazed at him for a while before he started feeling sorry for them and showed them some mercy at last. He allowed them to have less than half of the amount they were expecting.
I don’t know when it’s going to stop giving birth in Gaza?
As Palestinians, seeing Ukrainian people fleeing their homes, the bombed buildings, the rocket that was filmed when it landed in the street and didn’t explode, the bombardment sounds, the blood on the people’s faces, and the terrified children was like seeing flashbacks of our old-new misery.
With the repeated and endless Israeli violations against the Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and even the Palestinians living in Israel, Gaza can never stand by and just be a watcher.
Back when you were in school, when things were much clearer to you and you could tell right from wrong, if you saw your brother or sister getting beaten by the school bully, you would throw your bag away and jump on the back of that mean big kid, wouldn’t you? If you wouldn’t then I guess it’s just the ‘terrorist’ Arabs’ genes.
We here in Gaza go on marches, fly some incendiary balloons, and throw some stones at the borders in support of our oppressed brothers and sisters over there, even though we are not in a better condition. And Israel of course drives its armored tanks, commands its warships, and flies its latest warplanes to drop hundreds of rockets and missiles upon our heads.
The occupation wants us to let go of that Arabian pride and think as citizens from a developing third world country. But we can’t. It’s the only thing left from our identity.
So, I guess we will survive this birth too.
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