Published:
July 18, 2021
CFJ Colorado
Raghad Alafifi spoke with CFJ-Colorado about her experience living in Gaza during the recent war.
Raghad is a young Palestinian social entrepreneur who's family is originally from Western Batani village in Palestine and is currently living in Gaza. She's a 4-war survivor and an active contributor to positive change in her community. Her life is dedicated toward seeking and creating meaning, and she translates it through her nonprofit Fill The Gap work. Using a futuristic model of education, mentorship, and career counseling, Fill The Gap redesigns university experiences for ambitious Palestinian students who strive to lead meaningful, impactful lives.
Beit Ummar
What happened during this war was really terrible mostly in Sheikh Jarrah and Gaza. Gaza was destroyed. The situation was very bad here in Beit Ummar and the West Bank in general. Israeli soldiers were coming into the town daily even more than once a day. The soldiers caused many troubles for those who were coming to or leaving the town. They were spread everywhere on the entrance of Beit Ummar and on the balconies or roofs of citizens' houses, and their guns were always pointed at people. To be honest, we didn't fear them at all; even the youngest went out to resist. Yes, Gaza was destroyed; many people were killed, many arrested; and there was always tension - but our voice reached many countries around the world. Huge numbers of people became our supporters and saw the truth. Israel definitely had not expected that or the destruction that happened in their living area.
Currently, it's not as bad as before, but we don't know what might happen later.
