Desperate Gaza Youth Risk Their Lives on ‘Death Boats’ To Escape Devastated Strip
Return of Palestinian Authority to coastal enclave is the only way to end the suffering, economist says
[Gaza City] The sinking of a jetboat carrying migrants, mostly Gazans, from Turkey to Greece has hit the Palestinian street hard, leaving families of the passengers in a panic.
“Eleven of our Palestinian citizens were on board the boat. It was confirmed that eight of them were rescued and are in good health while at least three of the young men are still missing and the search for them is still underway,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on Saturday.
Turkish authorities found the body of Nasrallah al-Farra, one of the three missing Palestinians, “dead on a Turkish beach,” the Palestinian embassy in Ankara announced on Sunday.
“Tireless efforts” are being undertaken to find the other missing persons, the embassy said.
Under a 15-year blockade by Israel and Egypt, life in the coastal enclave has become a painful struggle. The internal division between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has exacerbated the crisis, contributing to the collapse of the Palestinian social fabric and leaving Gazans with difficult choices.
A big cage with limited chances to survive is how many Gazans see Gaza. It would be better to live anywhere else, they believe. Therefore, they make great efforts to leave, legally or illegally, knowing it might cost them their lives.
Palestinian history, especially in Gaza, is full of similar tragedies of people losing their lives while trying to escape to Western countries on so-called “death boats.”
Reem Baker has lost contact with 30 family members since 2014, including two brothers, due to political and economic circumstances, she told The Media Line.
“After Hamas’ coup [seizing power in Gaza] in 2007, many [Fatah-affiliated] families were targeted, including the majority of my family. Thus, they had to leave for Egypt, where they stayed until 2014. But, due to the difficult living conditions there, they decided to leave for Scandinavian countries seeking better lives,” she said.
“Unfortunately, they took a ship that later turned out to belong to the mafia. Since then, we know nothing about any of them. To this day, we experience the profound psychological anguish of not knowing the fate of our loved ones. This has left a deep wound in all of our hearts,” Baker said.
Her two brothers were intellectual and educated. “One of them studied politics, the other studied journalism. Yet they didn’t find the opportunity to work in decent jobs, which made migrating to the West the only option for them, refusing to waste another day of their lives,” she said.
Baker blames authorities in Gaza for the catastrophic reality there, accusing them of “not providing appropriate employment opportunities for youth.”
Economist Mazen Alijla agrees, telling The Media Line that “the de facto authority in Gaza bears full responsibility for the serious brain drain, mostly to Western European Union nations. They must understand that the ongoing loss of an enormous number of talented and gifted minds means the Strip is losing precious treasures and assets that it needs.”
The collapse of the economy is the main factor behind the increasing emigration by young people, Alijla said.
“In reality, we can see that the youth category is the most affected by the crashed economic situation in the Gaza Strip. With the unemployment rate among youth reaching 60%-70%, it’s difficult for them to maintain hope,” he said.
The de facto authority in Gaza bears full responsibility for the serious brain drain, mostly to Western European Union nations. They must understand that the ongoing loss of an enormous number of talented and gifted minds means the Strip is losing precious treasures and assets that it needs.
Any available jobs pay low wages, don’t fit the market’s needs and often don’t take into account humanitarian considerations, the economist said.
“How is it possible that a regular doctor, in Gaza, who spent six or seven years of his life and a whole lot of money on his education, receives monthly pay of only 1,200 shekels, around $385,” Alijla bemoaned.
Gazan youth, “who have been marginalized and neglected for a long time, have strong justifications to leave their country and look for a place that respects their existence,” he said.
To stop this suffering, according to Alijla, the Gaza-West Bank division must end and the Palestinian Authority must return and run its institutions in Gaza, which, he says, would immediately generate thousands of jobs and revive the private sector.
After the evidence of the last 15 years, “I can state with confidence that any other solution, such as interim measures and relief aid, are useless and ineffective pain killers for the desperate young generation,” Alijla said.
