Why are there so many beautiful women in Gaza ?...
Nour , Eman , Mariam , Zinah , Aya , Maha , Basma , Sarah and many other beautiful women.
Just five seconds of looking at their photos made me fall in love instantly.
Gazan women have beautiful eyes and charming lips.
Their smiles seemed to brighten the gloom of the soul.
It's very natural that I immediately fell in love and wanted to have a Gazan woman as my wife.
My life would feel perfect if I married a Gazan woman.
The most beautiful one that could possibly be fated for me.


January 2025

By Alvian Eleven

When life in Gaza was still normal.
Various foods were to be enjoyed.
Everything could be enjoyed easily and cheaply.
Satisfying the appetite of Gaza's culinary delights.

Really delicious typical Gazan dishes like...

shawarma , maqluba , shaksuka , mulukhiya , hummus , musakhan , manakesh , zaatar , zibdiyyit , sayadiyya , mansaf , falafel , qidra and many more.

Likewise with typical Gaza cakes such as...

kaak , baklava , kunafa , qatayef , harisa , warbat , basbousa , halva and many more.

Also typical Gazan drinks such as...

sahlab , barrad , maramiya , arak , kharoub , qamar al din , arabica coffe and many more.

When life was still normal people in Gaza always enjoyed it all.
But now life in Gaza is no longer normal because of the long chaos.
Scarcity of food and financial difficulties making life feel so heavy.
There are no longer delicious foods and people who are often hungry are forced to eat anything to survive.

They can only eat...

stale rice , lentil soup with bad taste , canned food and instant noodles that are almost expired , bread made from flour infested with worms and maggots , wild plants , animal fodder , and other inappropriate bad foods.

Day after day people in Gaza try to find anything to eat.
They eat just to survive from day to day.
If they are lucky enough to be able to get delicious food from volunteers.
It is a luxury for them.


December 2024

By Alvian Eleven

another day, another bomb, another shelling
another round of death, injury, despair
families fleeing from one place of danger
to ..... well there is no place of safety
free from a bomb-aimer's cross-hairs
not watched through drone-pilot's screen
excluded from tank-driver's fire zones
trying to find such shelter as can be
surrounded by the stench of the dead
among the rubble, broken homes
shattered schools, hospitals, mosques
parents, children, old, young surviving
deemed a non-people with no rights
lives, homes, land, future extirpated
sacrificed on the altar of war
holocausts to ethnic cleansing
those long-harboured ambitions
for racial and religious purity
promised land, the river to the sea
homeland for us not them

and yet, says the prophet
'the people have forsaken me
have profaned this place
making offerings to other gods
filling this place
with the blood of the innocent'

so to whom should we listen, him
or to the politicians and demagogues
generals and war-mongers
are there no peace-makers
not the peace-wishers, peace-hopers
woe-is-us hand-wringers
nor those determined on a final solution
the land-siezers and settlers
the Costa-del-Gaza developers
for whom there is only one peace, ours
total surrender, complete exile

and yet, as another prophet said
'he will judge between many peoples
and arbitrate between mighty nations
they will beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning-hooks
nation will not lift sword against nation
or ever again be trained to make war
but each will sit under their vine and fig tree with no one to trouble him'

except they bulldozed the vines
figs and olives


Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
3rd April 2025
following Jeremiah 19.4 & Micah 4.3-4

A Gazan man named Hassan told me.
In the past his grandfather used to live in the city of Jaffa.
His grandfather was a farmer who had a large orange orchard.
The harvest every year was very plentiful to be exported.

Hassan said Jaffa oranges taste sweet and juicy.
The size is large , the skin is thick and only have a few seeds.
In the past so many merchant ships carried crates of Jaffa oranges at the port.
Transported across the Mediterranean Sea for export to many countries.
Palestinians used to feel proud that Jaffa oranges became Palestine's mainstay trade commodity.

But that was only the glory of the past.
After the Nakba 1948 the city of Jaffa was conquered by the Zionists.
Hassan's grandfather and all the residents of Jaffa were expelled.
Leaving behind their homes , orange orchards , whatever buildings they owned.

After decades have passed oranges from Jaffa are still an export commodity.
But Jaffa oranges have become an Israeli trade commodity and no longer belong to Palestine.
Palestine has lost oranges from Jaffa that were once proud of in the past.

Hassan often imagines about Jaffa oranges.
If one day Palestine is truly liberated Hassan has the right to return.
He will return to the house and orange orchard that belonged to his deceased grandfather.
Hassan will continue his grandfather's work of planting and managing orange gardens.
Becoming an orange farmer like his grandfather is his biggest dream.

Hassan also promised me that every harvest season I would be sent a box of Jaffa oranges.
Of course I would be happy if one day I received a shipment of oranges from Jaffa.
I think I'll be addicted once I taste what Jaffa oranges taste like.


January 2025


By Alvian Eleven

A Gazan man named Omar hasn't eaten chicken for almost a year.
Because the price of chicken has risen so high that he can't buy it.
Omar can only look at the chicken being sold in the market.
He has even forgotten what it's like to eat chicken.
When he returned to the tent he only had a plate of rice.
Then he drew a chicken and put it on a plate of rice.
So he ate the rice while imagining the taste of chicken meat.

At night Omar prayed to God.
He prayed that he could eat chicken even just once.
He didn't care about dying but he wanted to be able to eat chicken first.

The next day several volunteers came to the refugee camp.
They went tent by tent to distribute food.
Children and people were happy to receive the food.
Then Omar also got a box of food.
When he opened , it turned out it was chicken shawarma.
Omar was so happy that he ate it quickly
He chewed the chicken while laughing happily.
For him this chicken shawarma was a luxury.
So after eating he expressed his gratitude.
Because his prayer last night had come true.


November 2024

By Alvian Eleven

A week after the cease fire a Gazan man named Yousef returned to the north.
He was riding a truck with other people through Salah Al Din street.
When he arrived at Tel El Hawa he walked limply seeing everything had been destroyed.
Then he arrived at his destroyed house not far from the beach.
He immediately prostrated while crying.
After that he sat in the rubble and continued to cry.
Because all his family had died when his house was bombarded a year ago.
For Yousef life has no meaning anymore after he lost everything.
Now he had nothing and doesn't have anyone.
He also doesn't know how to continue living.
But he still tries to smile to cover up his sorrow.
A fake smile that makes people think that he is fine.


Januari 2025

By Alvian Eleven

Two years ago a Gazan girl named Sondos felt enthusiastic.
She started studying international law at Al Azhar University in Gaza.
She bought and studied many thick books.
Because she wanted her country Palestine to get justice.

But since last year Gaza has started to become chaotic.
Long chaos full of destruction and massacre.
It has not been stopped despite numerous protests around the world.
And also the pointless trial in Haque.

Where is justice ?!... why is there no justice for us ?!...
Don't we deserve justice ?!... why don't we get justice ?!
For over a year Sondos has always questioned justice for Palestine.
But it was useless , the justice never came.

Sondos feels disillusioned.
She has realized that international law is just a nonsense.
All she can do now is just sit in front of the campfire.
Warm herself while burning all her thick books about international law.

December 2024

By Alvian Eleven