GAZA CITY, Aug 7, 2010 (IPS) - I tasted freedom for the first time in three years. After being stuck in Gaza since 2007 I travelled to Malaysia for a holiday. It was like visiting another planet. Being treated like a human being and being able to experience what many young people around the world take for granted, was a miracle.
My name is Nasser Barakat. I'm 23 years old and from Gaza City. I work as an emergency water, sanitation and hygiene advocacy taskforce officer with the UN International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef).
My work involves helping Gazans with the enormous difficulties they are facing in accessing safe and clean drinking water, and the sanitation problems which plague Gaza. This is due to the Israeli siege on the coastal territory which prevents the import of most reconstruction material, critical spare parts and sufficient quantities of fuel.
I have been unable to leave and travel abroad to attend international conferences and workshops that I've been invited to attend on behalf of Gaza and the UN.
The Israelis refused me permission to travel to the capital of my country and attend a business conference, so I had to link up with Jerusalem via video. The Egyptians in the south had until recently also imposed a blockade on Gaza, opening the border only infrequently to allow small numbers of Palestinians to travel for urgent reasons.
Recently the Egyptian authorities decided to open the Rafah border. However, the restrictions are still tight with only students, medical patients and those with foreign passports amongst those allowed to enter Egypt.
I was desperate to have a break from Gaza. Living here is similar to suffocating in a large open-aired prison and the pressure can get unbearable. A high percentage of Gazans are living below the poverty line and are aid dependent.
Unemployment is high and many people are still grieving over lost family members killed during Israel's military assault on Gaza last year which left over 1,400 people, most of them civilians, dead.
I am more fortunate than most Gazans in that I have a good job, friends and most of my family survived the war. But my life had become mostly responsibility with little fun. It is hard to relax and enjoy oneself as we don't have the freedom or facilities for sport and recreation that people overseas have.
I decided to try and travel to Malaysia because unlike most countries Palestinians don't need a visa to go there and Malaysians welcome Palestinians. When I arrived at the border the Egyptian authorities kept me for over an hour. I had to lie and say I was travelling abroad to study otherwise they would have forced me to return.
Eventually I was allowed through into Egypt. But all the Palestinians were herded onto a bus with armed guards who treated us with contempt as though we were terrorists. We were driven straight to Cairo airport and not allowed to disembark on the way.
Once at the airport we were kept in a dirty and cramped room where we were denied food and water and had to bribe the guards to get refreshments. We were forced to sleep on a dirty carpet on the floor. This treatment was extended to all Palestinians, even businessmen who were attending business symposiums in Europe.
However, the feelings of despondency began to lift as soon as the airplane took off from Cairo. On arriving in Kuala Lumpur I felt I had landed on another planet. Not only was I welcomed as a Palestinian but I was treated as a human being with dignity. We Gazans have become accustomed to being reviled and regarded as a security threat.
The next few weeks were full of wonderful experiences. It was great to see the different nationalities in Malaysia, people from all over the word. It was so multicultural. When I told Europeans and Americans where I was from, to my surprise they were sympathetic to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
It was amazing walking through and hanging out in all the ultra-modern shopping malls with the variety of shops and luxury goods available. I ate food that I had never tasted or even seen before. In Gaza we struggle to import even the basics.
I also visited a zoo and it was my first time to see so many animals. I visited a Malaysian island on a ferry. It was my first experience on a ferry. I swam for hours in the turquoise sea as it and the beaches were beautiful and clean unlike Gaza.
I saw luxury cars. In Gaza the most expensive and up to date Mercedes Benz is way older than those I saw in Kuala Lumpur. I also had to get accustomed to using the underground Metro. Most Gazans have never seen these things.
I was temporarily able to forget the misery and deprivation back home. But the days flew by as if in a dream and it was inevitable that this taste of freedom had to come to an end.
Reality hit me hard when at the airport I missed my departure flight back because the Egyptian authorities wouldn't give the Malaysians security clearance until a day later.
Nevertheless I can't forget how it felt to live like an ordinary person and how it was easier for me to travel half-way around the world than to Egypt, or to Jerusalem which is one hour's drive away from Gaza.
*As told to Mel Frykberg (END)
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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