War in the Middle East - German-Palestinian woman lost 19 relatives in the war: "My soul is in Gaza"
An image goes around the world: a gray landscape of rubble, littered with huge craters. It is the last day of October, a Tuesday, when bombs fall on a cluster of houses in the northern Gaza Strip at 2.30 p.m. local time. The Arabic news channel Al Jazeera reports. People crowd around the impact craters, pulling the injured and dead out of the rubble. More than 110 people are said to have died in the Israeli air strike on the refugee town of Jabaliya. At the end, the Al Jazeera presenter says that one of the station's radio engineers lost a total of 19 family members in the bombing. His name: Mohammad Abu al-Qumsan.
She recognizes the surname of the dead man in the news - it is her own
In Dorsten, in the north of the Ruhr region, Iman, 24, sits in front of the TV with her mother and watches the news. They have been doing this a lot over the past few weeks. When Iman sees the report about Dschabalija, she recognizes the grey blocks of flats standing close together. She also recognizes the name of the broadcast engineer - it's her own surname. The Al-Jazeera engineer Muhammad is her great cousin, a cousin of her mother. Iman and her mother stare at the screen, she tells us later, and they realize that not only has Muhammad Abu al-Qumsan lost 19 family members, but so has she.
stern meets Iman Abu El Qomsan in a café in the center of Essen. There is a mint tea on the table in front of her and the usual café hustle and bustle around her. "It was a shock for us. My mother grew up in Jabaliya, she recognized the bombed-out house straight away," says Iman. Arabic names can vary in spelling when transcribed, which is why Iman is called Abu El-Qomsan and her great cousin Abu al-Qumsan, but it is the same surname.
Among the dead family members are her great-uncle, two great-aunts and two other great-cousins. And then there is her great cousin, little Fuad, just two years old, says Iman. To this day, he has not been found in the rubble of the bombed-out house. Fuad's father was rescued seriously injured. A cousin was found alive several days after the bombing. Since then, the number of dead members of the family, who live scattered all over the Gaza Strip, has risen and risen. Arab families are often large; her father alone has ten siblings, says Iman. But her surname only exists once in Gaza.
A better life in Germany? "A safe one above all," says Iman
Iman Abu El Qomsan was born and grew up in Germany. She was stateless for many years, but now has a German passport and a so-called Gaza ID issued by Israel, which allows her to enter the narrow coastal area. Iman's parents come from the Gaza Strip, her father moved to Germany in the 1990s to study medicine and has long since worked as a trauma surgeon and orthopaedic surgeon. Her mother came later and now does the commercial work in the practice.
Unlike other family members, Iman's parents wanted to stay in Germany forever. They wanted their children to have a better life. A better life? "A safe one above all," says Iman. She explains that her grandparents were expelled from Jaffa during the Nakba - the flight and expulsion of up to 750,000 Palestinians after the founding of the Israeli state in 1948. Many fled to the coast, to Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip. This is where Iman's mother grew up. Her grandfather once built a house for the family in the refugee camp. As the family grew, part of them moved to the south of Gaza, but they always kept this first home.
The house has not been standing since the end of October. Instead: a wide impact crater. After the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, it was clear to everyone in the family that the situation would escalate, says Iman. "The deaths of so many civilians horrified us too."
In the weeks following October 7, many family members fled the Israeli bombs from the north to other regions. When these were also bombed, part of Iman's family moved back to Jabaliya - just as her grandfather's house was hit. When Iman talks about her family in Gaza, she pauses a lot, breathes slowly and tears often well up in her eyes. You can see the strain and sadness of the last few weeks on her face.
How is she supposed to tell her younger siblings about the suffering and death in Gaza?
In mid-November, the United Nations estimated the number of civilians killed in Gaza at around 11,000. She can hardly talk about the situation with her family at home in Germany. She doesn't dare, she says. Iman is the eldest of five siblings, her youngest sister is still at elementary school. How can she tell the younger ones about the daily suffering and death in Gaza? About small children dying alone on a hospital floor? "People try to block it out," says Iman.
The last time she was in Gaza with her family was in 2015. They spent six weeks of their summer vacation there, half of the time in Jabaliya. She would have liked to come more often, but entering the country is a grueling process: The family has to fly to Cairo in Egypt, then drive to the border in Rafah and wait there for several days until the border guards let them into Gaza in exchange for a bribe. The return journey is similar. But when Iman talks about her vacation in Gaza, her face brightens. She accompanied her cousins to school, where her grandfather was the principal. She liked the school uniform, she remembers the sea, the many weddings for which her hair was elaborately done by the hairdresser. Of freshly squeezed guava juice.
She misses her grandma's food. She misses her great-uncle on her mother's side, who was always ready to play. His name was Fuad, like the little great-cousin who is now missing. "If I had known it was the last time I would see him, I would have gone back to Gaza this summer," says Iman. Her great-uncle was killed in bombing raids in southern Gaza.
The death of family members is "nothing new" for Palestinians, says Iman. She describes the Middle East conflict as a generational trauma. It is always passed on in Palestinian families - right now it is almost unbearable. "It eats you up. You watch the news all day and can't concentrate on anything," says Iman.
She feels supported and comforted by her friends
It is difficult to keep in touch with her family, as the internet in Gaza is constantly down and the connection is too poor to make phone calls. The last time she was in contact was in mid-November. They are short dialogs, brief signs of life: "Salam Aleikum, uncle, how are you?" - "Thank Allah we are doing well." Iman says: "I always wait for the second blue tick. Then I know that the message has really arrived."
Iman has now unsubscribed from her family's WhatsApp and Telegram chats. She can no longer bear the pictures and no longer wants to read who has just died. Instead, she posts a lot on X (formerly Twitter).
She is proud of her origins, her profile description says "Palestinian, Gazian". She wants to draw attention to the suffering of the civilian population and her family, she feels obliged to do at least that. And is repeatedly attacked for it. "They all deserve to die", the comments say. Some also claim that Iman simply made up the dead family members. "I block people like that," she says.
Iman is studying chemistry in Münster and is currently completing an internship in the Netherlands. Her friends come from Germany, Brazil and Colombia, and some have Palestinian roots themselves. She feels supported and comforted by them.
But she is tormented by the question of when the war will end and what will come afterwards: "What about the people who have been driven out of the north? What about all the children who have lost their parents? All the families that were wiped out? You don't forget that. Nobody there does."
"It's as if Palestinian lives are worth nothing"
Germany is her home, she says, as well as that of the estimated 200,000 Palestinians who live here. But right now she feels alienated and let down by German politics. She is disappointed by the media coverage, which ignores the suffering of the Palestinians. "It's as if Palestinian life is worth nothing," she says. "Physically, I'm here, but my soul is in Gaza."
Iman has not touched her mint tea during the conversation. Now it is cold. She says she feels guilty that she has enough to eat and drink while her family in Gaza is so badly off.
Lesen Sie auch:
- The bombing in Jabaliya, a town in the northern Gaza Strip, resulted in the death of over 110 people, including Iman Abu El Qomsan's great cousin, Muhammad Abu al-Qumsan, who worked as a radio engineer for Al Jazeera.
- During a television news broadcast, Iman recognized her great cousin's name and realized that she had also lost 19 family members in the bombing.
- Iman Abu El Qomsan's family, who live scattered across the Gaza Strip, has been greatly impacted by the conflict in Gaza, with several family members among the dead and wounded.
- The bombing of Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip was a part of the wider conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has resulted in a significant loss of civilian lives and destruction in the area.
Source: www.stern.de
