Displaced in 1948 and Today, Surviving Another Nakba and Genocide

I was 15 years old during the occupation of Palestine in 1948. I was aware of all the developments of the Israeli war and Israel’s occupation of the entire Palestinian land. At that time, the targets of the occupation were specific, and we did not have the weapons to confront and expel the occupation from our land. But this war, ongoing for nearly eight months, is the toughest, harshest, and largest. For nearly the past eight months, we have been subjected to bombardment with thousands of tons of explosives. This war is larger than the 1948 Nakba. I am 91 years old. My name is Mohammed Abdul Jabbar Abu Seif.

The objectives of the occupation during the 1948 war were few, limited, and concentrated in specific areas. But in this war, the occupation’s objective is to destroy the Gaza Strip. The 1948 war covered the entire area of Palestine, while this war covers a small area not exceeding 360 square kilometres [138 square miles]. This was has been the toughest period for us since the occupation of Palestine.

I am one of the few Nakba survivors still alive. The majority of my generation who lived through the catastrophe in 1948 have either died or been killed by the occupation. My family and I were expelled from the village of Julis 76 years ago, after which we endured a difficult displacement journey. We migrated to several Palestinian cities, fleeing from shelling until we reached the Bureij camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip, where we settled for several years. We then lived in the Nuseirat camp for more than 60 years.

I arrived in the Gaza Strip as a teenager and endured all the suffering of displacement with my family. We walked on foot for tens of kilometres and suffered greatly in the early years of displacement. We slept in the open, then in dilapidated tents, then in mud houses, and finally in houses made of asbestos, tiles, and stones. A few years ago, we managed to build concrete houses. Our lives were miserable, lacking all the necessities of life, but we were committed to staying in Palestine and never migrating from it.
 
I got married in 1955 according to Palestinian customs and traditions. My wife gave birth to six children, four daughters, and two sons, and my children collectively gave birth to 46 grandchildren. Most of my grandchildren received higher education and work as engineers, doctors, teachers, and in many other jobs that serve our people in the Gaza Strip, confirming our determination to continue living on this land and our refusal to leave it except by returning to our village of Julis, which was occupied in 1948.

I am an old man, 91 years old, suffering from diseases, but my testament to my children and grandchildren is to never leave Gaza. We cannot leave Gaza, and we cannot migrate again. In 1948, we left our homes out of fear of death. After nearly eight months of war on Gaza in 2023 and 2024, we will stay on our land until death. We remain steadfast due to our awareness and understanding of all the conspiracies of the occupation, and our insistence on staying in Gaza and not migrating from it, no matter what sacrifices it costs us.

I did not leave my house during the first three months of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. The area surrounding my house, located in the Abu Helou area in the middle of the Nuseirat refugee camp, were subjected to intense Israeli shelling. Dozens of my neighbours and loved ones were martyred, and hundreds were injured by the occupation. However, I refused to leave my home because I did not want to experience displacement again.

The occupation destroyed the nearby Ahmed Yassin Mosque, where I used to perform all my prayers. They also demolished dozens of houses adjacent to mine and shelled the land next to my house numerous times. My house was significantly damaged, with fragments of the occupation’s rockets penetrating it. My children asked me to leave the house, but I refused and insisted on staying in my home. I want to die in my house, and I do not want to die while being displaced for the second time. This option is unacceptable to me.

After the occupation invaded the central camps of the Gaza Strip in mid-January of 2024, most residents of the Nuseirat camp fled to Deir al-Balah and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. I moved with my children to Rafah and lived in tents for a full month. It felt like a second migration, reminiscent of my displacement in 1948. I could not sleep during this period. After the occupation withdrew, I have now also lived through this war in 2023/2024, which is unprecedented.

I found my house severely damaged, so my children took me to my daughter’s house in the middle of the camp. I have been living with my daughter and grandchildren as a displaced person for over three months. I miss my house and the neighbourhood where I live. I cannot become a refugee again. We cannot make Israel’s plan of depopulating Gaza successful. We must thwart the occupation’s plans and remain steadfast on our land despite the great killing perpetrated by the occupation since the beginning of the war.

The war waged by the occupation on Gaza since October 2023 is the toughest. I have never seen such a war in my life. I lived through the 1948 war, the 1956 war, the occupation of the Gaza Strip, the Naksa of 1967, the 1973 war, the first Intifada in 1987, the second Intifada in 2000, the 2006 war, the 2008/2009 war, the 2012 war, the 2014 war, the 2021 war, and many major Israeli attacks during its occupation of Palestine. I also lived through this war in 2023/2024, but this war is unprecedented.

For several months, we have been experiencing a war of extermination and destruction of humans and nature. It is a war whose objective is ethnic cleansing, ending the Palestinian cause, and expelling the Palestinian people from their land. The destructive power with which the occupation bombs all areas of the Gaza Strip is unprecedented since the occupation of Palestine.

I have lived through all the wars of the occupation. The defeat of the Arab armies lasted only six days in the Naksa of 1967. However, the occupation has been bombing Gaza for nearly eight months, and its forces have entered many areas in the Strip. The occupation has succeeded in killing and injuring over 100,000 Palestinians and destroying over 70% of Gaza’s homes. It has managed to force people into tents. The occupation is waging a war of extermination against more than two million Palestinians, but we are still clinging to our land, and we will not leave it no matter what happens.

During the early days of the war, I was in constant communication with my cousin Mukhtar Abu Kaed Abu Saif, 73 years old, who is a resident of Gaza City. He refused to leave Gaza City and resisted evacuation. He remained steadfast in his home until the occupation tanks reached his house.

The occupation forces stormed the house of my cousin Mukhtar Abu Kaed in November 2023 and arrested him, along with many of his sons and neighbours. The occupation used my elderly cousin as a human shield, parading him around the neighbourhoods of Gaza City. These scenes remind us of the Nakba. Generations have changed, but the Israeli criminal mentality remains the same.

The occupation demanded that my cousin Mukhtar Abu Kaed ask people to leave Gaza City and evacuate to areas south of the Gaza Valley. The occupation forces entered many neighbourhoods in Gaza City using my cousin as a human shield. After that, we have no information about him. We do not know if he was killed and buried in mass graves like hundreds of others or if he was arrested. Abu Kaed is my friend, and he is a peaceful man with no affiliation with any organization. Every day, I pray for his safety and for his quick return to us.

The occupation has committed thousands of crimes since its occupation of Palestine, practicing all forms of destruction, bombing, killing, and forced displacement against Palestinians. It continues building settlements in the West Bank. The occupation has violated all agreements and treaties and has maintained a policy of killing Palestinians for over 76 years.

Even after the Oslo Agreement in 1993 between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli occupation authorities, the occupation continued its violations. This agreement was harmful to the Palestinian people. Arab and Islamic countries have intervened with many initiatives aimed at creating a Palestinian state and achieving permanent peace in the region. However, the occupation insists on continuing the killing, destruction, and displacement of Palestinians.

I miss my town of Julis, which is occupied. I miss our house and our land. I miss every detail of my childhood in occupied Palestine. I did not expect to reach the age of 91 with Palestine still occupied. The international community must intervene to find a permanent solution to the Palestinian issue. The occupation has likely killed over 40,000 Palestinians, injured over 75,000 in this war, and forced all the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip into tents. The world must intervene and find a just solution to the Palestinian issue.

The policy of the occupation aimed at killing us and displacing us must stop. We are the indigenous people of the land, and we will never leave our land, no matter what happens. I hope this unjust war stops, and I can return to my occupied town of Julis before I die. This was my dream when I was a child, and it is still my dream as an elderly man. If I cannot live to see it fulfilled, my grandchildren will achieve it soon.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at gazaunlocked@afsc.org.