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25 Dec, 2014

What I’ve learned from living through three wars in the Gaza Strip

Alaa Radwan
Alaa Radwan
Alaa RadwanBy

By Alaa Radwan in Gaza

I am 22 years old now; and three times in my lifetime wars have taken place. The first war was the hardest and the most shocking to me since it was the first. Later I tried to get myself “used” to the worst so that reality will not blow me out. I can blissfully say that I am now desensitized to wars. Yes, it is a bliss indeed because as a Palestinian living in the besieged coastal enclave, you should expect the flames of an Israeli war to engulf you and your beloved ones at any time.

My grandmother one day told me that everything has a good side and a bad side, even a war. Everybody knows the dreadful face of wars. Those who have experienced wars, like Gazans, know best! “What good side, for God’s sake, could be in a war or a siege?” I stood still and asked myself. After three bloody Israeli wars, I found out the answer!

via What I’ve learned from living through three wars in the Gaza Strip.