SPOTLIGHT ON: Dania of palestine

I’ve been given permission to share a letter that was sent to me. Dania is my sister by choice, not blood. She and her family have suffered immense loss and I will soon share their story as told by Dania’s mother, Amani. For now, these are Dania’s words. Please note that I have made minor edits for clarity.

Dania, a Palestinian woman, sits in a beautiful gold chair shaped like a bird cage. There are white pillows on the chair and pink roses hang from the top of the chair. Dania wears a pink headscarf and black clothing. — Dania before the genocide.

I try to write what I feel.

I try to write what I live.

Even if I die, my voice will [remain].

I am Dania, 23 years old. We are a family of 6 people (my mother, father, two brothers, and one sister). I love my family very much. I studied business administration, but I love drawing. I had ambition and a future, but Israel buried all my dreams. I loved my life, studying, eating and going out.

When the war came, I lost [Biso], the best cat ever, and was forced to flee my city under the missiles and gunfire. I love my house so much my dad bought it new. He paid all the money he had saved for years to buy this house! We only lived there for a few months, and when I left, I took with me only one bag on my back, which contained only one pajama and one headscarf, because I did not expect that I would never see him again.

Dania’s brother holds the family cat, Biso.
Dania sits next to her sister and mother while her father leans down to pose for a picture with them.

I was displaced several times and fled several times from death. They convinced us that it was a safe area in Rafah and Deir al-Balah, in the south of the Strip. They told us that it was safe. But now they are threatening the south, Rafah they took the people out of it and now they have started in Deir al-Balah. They threatened eastern Deir al-Balah and several areas in Deir al-Balah. We are in Deir al-Balah and death is getting closer to us and there is no place left for us to flee to. All of Gaza is now in danger. There is no place left for us to run to. I don’t want to die and I don’t want to lose anyone from my family. If we die; I want us all to die together, me and my family, so that no one will grieve for the other.

I do not want the occupation to erase my voice from life if I die, so I am writing you this letter.

The world is used to seeing our death and the massacres taking place in Gaza. They are considered numbers. I am not a number, my name is Dania, I love life and I love drawing and I had many dreams but the occupation took everything from me. My home, my future, my dreams, [the occupation] took my comfort. [The occupation] controls my death, the death of my family, the death of every Palestinian, and the world agrees with that.

This is our land. We will live and die in it.

Palestine will remain free. This is our land. We will live and die in it. The occupation is the one who stole our land and is committing the worst massacres against us. The occupation stole our land and now it is committing the worst massacres against us and displacing us from one place to another, while the whole world is watching and applauding.

Palestine is free and will remain free, and I will not forgive the world that watches. I am not a number! I love life and I have dreams but the occupation stole and killed everything from me.

Dania from Palestine.