The Spoils of War: Violence in Gaza Leads to Youth Radicalization

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/violence-in-gaza-strip-leads-to-radicalization-of-palestinian-youth-a-985510.html



The most recent cease-fire appears to be holding in the Gaza Strip, but vast damage has already been done. In addition to the appalling loss of life and destruction of property, the war has pushed even more Palestinians to the radical fringes.

The Spoils of War: Violence in Gaza Leads to Youth Radicalization
By Julia Amalia Heyer in Rafah, Gaza Strip
August 11, 2014 – 06:39 PM



A piece of a bed frame dangles from a lemon tree. Next to it hangs the remains of rattan shelves, destroyed and catapulted into the small yard by the explosion of a bomb. The detonation decimated the home of Hassan Khalil Ibrash, knocking over the mandarin-colored walls and transforming his bedroom into a terrace -- one with a grotesque view. His eyes revealing his exhaustion, Ibrash stands in flip-flops among the charred remains. Next to him, 12 stairs climb skyward like an incomplete sculpture.

He is surrounded by nothing but destruction, with dust rising from the gray ruins in the midday heat. Israeli bombs have almost completely razed Ibrash's neighborhood in Rafah, a town in the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip.

Ibrash and his family were long unsure if they should return to see what remained of their home and now, they are the only ones in the area picking through the rubble. Ibrash came with his two daughters-in-law, Maisa and Nabila, and his grandchildren. The women had hoped that there might be enough left of the house to live in so that they could move out of the elementary school classroom they escaped to and now share with five other families. The classroom is filthy and foul smelling -- and bombs fall there too despite the white United Nations flag flying outside.

Hassan Ibrash says he never wants to go back to the classroom. But the women shake their heads. "How are we supposed to live in this rubble?" Maisa says.