"Carnation and thorn" - Yahya Sinvar (short story, eleventh part)

My mother rushed into the kitchen, boiled hilba grain, mixed sugar in water and made dough. After pouring the dessert into a mold, my brother Mahmoud put it in the oven. When the dessert was ready, we were dying before it was put into a bowl. Since we were all closed, my mother barely managed to get a few plates for the neighbors who came out to congratulate us.

As days passed, my grandfather's condition worsened. The way he was doing the last few days made us feel like he was going to leave us. Due to his illness, he was only fit to go to Friday prayers, he could not go to other prayers, he could not even go out of his room to our yard. He could not interfere in the meeting room behind our yard. He couldn't share our joy when the exam results came out. Maybe it was because my brother Hasan failed the exams. He was also worried and his condition worsened. Even so, we were at my grandfather's house the night after my brother passed the exam. We were crying around him and trying to make him laugh. My brother Mahmoud had a summer to enter one of the Egyptian universities, and this was a good opportunity for him to save money for his studies.

In 1948, the idea of going to work in the occupied lands was completely rejected. Therefore, it was thought that it would be better for him to continue working at my uncle's company. He also thought a lot about finding a side job for his studies. My mother and I argued for a long time about this issue, and in the end, they agreed to leave the brothers Muhammad and Hasan in my uncle's company, and release my brother Mahmud from there. It was planned to work more seriously abroad and save more for studies. According to their plan, it is not necessary to have a large investment to start work. Thus, my brother Mahmoud decided to prepare a place for himself at one end of the vegetable market. Of course, a few lira is enough for this. Although he doesn't earn a lot, if he saves it, he can save enough money for a year until he starts studying. After that, my mother would wake up my brother Mahmud as soon as it was announced that the night quarantine time was over, and my brother Mahmud would go to the wholesale market in the morning and buy three or four lira worth of vegetables. He would start selling the several types of vegetables he had bought by placing them on the ground in a corner of the market. In the afternoon, he used up the leftover vegetables at home and brought them to my mother. He used to save twenty or twenty-five cents from his daily work. Since there were frequent quarantines, the neighbors also bought vegetables from my brother Mahmoud. You see, a corner of our house has become a market for my brother Mahmoud.

***

The invaders, who were hit by repeated blows from the loyalists and fell into ambushes, took a different way to control the situation - they narrowed the avenues of the camp and divided the larger streets with fences to make it easier to take control. The process of doing this was as follows:

At first, a strong quarantine was introduced as if the war had started again. Then, after counting the allanimas in the larger neighborhoods, they drew a big red "X" on the walls of some houses, a smaller "X" on some, and a straight line on some. Then, signs were posted in front of the buildings with a large "X" indicating that it was impossible to approach them. After that, the owners of the houses with such signs were given a warning. Houses marked with a large "X" will be destroyed, and houses with a small one and a straight line will be partially destroyed. If someone received a notice of demolition, there would be chaos in that house. After all, where can these salty people go with their babies and women?! What would they do? He lost his house and stayed on the street again. It seems that we were lucky that our house was not among the listed houses. After the neighbors' house was demolished, our narrow back lane became a main street. Besides, it was lucky for my brother Mahmoud that our house was not destroyed. Because the investment he made in our yard would fail, as a result of which he might not be able to leave Gaza. But God was kind to my brother and my poor mother. I remember my mother saying to my brother, "God has blessed me with you, my child."

Several days later, a large army came after the bulldozers and demanded that those houses be vacated, again announcing that they would be demolished. After that, they destroyed the houses mercilessly, as if they were falling prey to a wild animal. The hearts of hundreds of men, women and children left on the streets again were broken. The bulldozers came from far and wide, and every time they went back, one of the men would block them, or a woman would come out and hit her in the face. A man who had not yet taken his children out of his home would lie under a bulldozer and be brutally beaten by the soldiers. As night fell, injury was added to people's injuries. After my bride was transferred to a new family, my grandfather and my older cousins moved to my late uncle's house. My mother allowed two families from our neighbors whose houses were destroyed to stay in that yard until they found some shelter. Our neighbors were very grateful. The next day, a representative from the "Red Cross" organization came, inspected the destroyed houses and wrote down the necessary statements. The next day they came from another organization that provides housing for immigrants. They also told that all those whose houses were broken will be built in another region. It seemed like a solution to people's problems from the sky.

People asked the representatives of the promised organization, "When will we be able to move?", "Where will the house you will build?", "What kind of house will you build?" buried in hundreds of questions like There was no definite answer from the representatives. But a month later, people started moving to their new homes in Arish, which Israel occupied in 1967, or in Gaza itself. (A'rish is one of the towns in the Sinai region of Egypt. At that time it was occupied by Israel, and then it was returned to Egypt).

The family temporarily living in my uncle's house also got new homes, as did the other homeless families.

***

In 1948, in order to build a new city on the occupied land, the doors were opened for labor migrants, which caused a great commotion among the people. But many men were forced to go to work due to many closed doors and black eyes waiting for bread to be brought.

The strong need for things like money, medicine, and education outweighed any resistance to going there and working. The desire of parents to improve the conditions for their children and to improve their lifestyle was increasing. This journey of work, which began as a necessary necessity, gradually became a natural way of life. And the devotees were powerless to dissuade people from it.

It was so clear that the camp was divided into parts, and on the other hand, permits were given for labor migrants inside, and the confrontation with the fighters decreased sharply, and the intelligence and military of the invaders had a little pleasure. After that, the nighttime quarantine was also reduced so that people could reach their workplaces in cities like Haifa and Jaffa, which are hours away from the West Bank and Gaza. It was clear as day that the lifestyle of those whose loved ones were working inside was gradually improving. Not long after he went to work, this one is covering the roof of his house with slate, this one is using "Dvp"-"Dsp" products, another one is raising a wall, another one is installing a strong gate to his house, another one is covering the house with cement and sand mixed with mother-of-pearl and brings the yard to the masters. would be leveling. In this way, the appearance of houses began to increase. Our house used to be neater than everyone else's, but as the surrounding houses developed, it became one of the lowest houses. Those who could not afford to make a big change in their house would bring a tarpaulin, cover it on the roof, thread a thread through the circular holes around the chor, tie it to the slate, then put pieces of wood on the edges and nail them well.

In any case, it will keep the rainy days from going to the temple. In any case, it won't wake you up when you're sleeping through the roof of your house.

My mother and brother Mahmoud calculated the cost and decided to cover our house with such a tarpaulin. My brother bought a handful of nails, pieces of wood, and a tarp. My brothers Hasan and Mohammad helped me, and my brother Mahmoud covered the entire roof with gusto.

With a tarpaulin on our roof, our winter life has improved dramatically - now we are freed from the cold drops falling on our faces and beds on rainy nights.

There is a translation by Ma'mur Mukhtar and a sequel