Gaza family awaits new home, 9 years after demolition by Israel

By Rami Almeghari The Electronic Intifada

Raed Abu al-Zomar, now a 32-year-old father of four, was uprooted from his home when Israel demolished it in 2003. Located in Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, the two-story home was where Abu al-Zomar, his parents and his eight siblings lived.

At that time, the Israeli military had already knocked down and bulldozed the houses of approximately 1,500 other families along the Gaza-Egypt border during the second intifada.

For many years, the Abu al-Zomar family rented several homes in different parts of the southern Gaza Strip. More recently, Abu al-Zomar, his parents and his unmarried siblings have been allocated two small apartments, close to a Saudi-funded housing project, run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA). They have been promised a house from that project, once it is ready.

“So far, my children, who are now in school, have not lived in their own home. The Saudi project means stability to me, it means I will now have neighbors,” Abu al-Zomar told The Electronic Intifada, standing on his apartment balcony overlooking the housing project in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah.

“For some time, I have been moving from one place to another, which means you cannot develop normal relationships with neighbors. I can say that my dream is about to come true.” more

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