Near the eastern fence of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip where the smell of gas fills the place and among the sounds of bullets and ambulances carrying the wounded the sounds of singing are emerging.
As music is playing and singing ‘returning to my country’ the engagement of young man Nashid Mharib one of the young marchers to the east of Gaza and the head of the ‘Tires Unit’ in Khan Younis was announced to the journalist Alaa’ Abu Raqqa who participated in covering the events of the Great March of Return.
On his crutches the groom stood announcing the start of the engagement ceremony after the bride stood feeling shy and singing traditional songs full of joy.
A number of members of the ‘Tires Unit’ lined up to greet the bride and the groom with their faces and clothes covered in black after they returned from the field to attend their colleague’s party. Once done with the party they returned to the peaceful march where they were engaged in confrontations with the Israeli soldiers.
The Great March of Return is not limited to confrontations with the occupation soldiers; the scenes of joy and life are all over the place declaring to the whole world that the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip love life and freedom despite all odds.
Mharib met with his fiancé Alaa’ during the marches to the east of Gaza. He was impressed by her courage as she was covering the confrontations and decided to start a new life together despite the prevailing suffering in the besieged enclave.
According to the groom Alaa’ has a strong character and will in the field which drew him to her and he fell in love with her.
Nashid was shot during his participation in the marches with a live bullet in the foot. However he kept participating in the marches.
The groom said that having the engagement party at the Return Camp is a way to assert adherence to the land and readiness to defend it by all means.
He pointed out to the PIC reporter that he and his fiancé will continue to participate in the Great March of Return despite the dangers and that they will continue the path of liberation until they return back to their towns.
He continued: “Despite the martyrs and injuries and the firing of live bullets and tear gas joy is still present at the Great March of Return” expressing his happiness with the presence of a remarkable number of people and the publicity their engagement party got as everyone there was keen to congratulate them and participate in the party.
The bride Alaa’ expressed her happiness with the engagement hoping that their marriage party will be held one day at her original village in 1948 Occupied Palestine with traditional Palestinian ceremonies.
She added to the PIC: “The day of my engagement to Nashid is one of the most beautiful days of my life where I experienced the atmosphere of joy in the hearts of everyone and the best evidence of that is the number of wishes that we received from the public.”
The bride said that she decided along with her fiancé to have their engagement party at the Return Camp stressing that they would continue to participate in the march. She called on young people to have their weddings at the Camp to confirm the peaceful nature of the marches.
The demonstrators engaged in peaceful resistance backed by international solidarity that foiled the Israeli propaganda which described the people of Gaza as “terrorists.”
The Palestinians succeeded in making the Great March of Return successful despite the fact that the occupation dealt with it with firmness and excessive force through the use of internationally banned explosive bullets and poisonous gases that killed many civilians including children.
