URGENT: PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE OUR STUDIES

URGENT: Please, We Need to Study

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We respectfully ask that you consider supporting the family of Khalil and Sahar Abushamalla, both life-long residents of the Gaza Strip. Their urgent goal is to provide opportunities for their three children—Nour, Muhammad, and Nisma—to complete their university studies outside of the Gaza Strip. Their university, the Al-Azhar University, along with all other universities and many hundreds of schools in Gaza, has been destroyed by the Israeli bombardment that began on Oct 7, 2023 after Hamas’ severe invasion of southern Israel. To date, more than 30,000 Gazans have been killed, more than a million have been displaced from the north to the south, hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, and most infrastructure, have been destroyed. More than a million are at severe risk of famine.

Education is a cardinal value for Palestinians. This is evidenced by one of the highest literacy rates in the world (96%) and by comparable enrollment rates in school. Virtually every person in Gaza, both male and female, strives for the highest level of education as possible. In a society that is marginalized, poor, under an economic blockade, and heavily restricted from traveling by the Israeli military, education becomes the most valuable tool to strive for a decent and dignified life.

Khalil and the Kids

Nour, their oldest child is 24. Two years ago, she was top in her class in achieving a BA degree in Law from Al-Azhar University, one of Gaza’s largest educational institutions. Thereafter, she was hired by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, where her work has centered on documenting crimes and building files for the International Criminal Court. Like her parents, she is a powerful advocate for justice. Nour wants to do graduate work outside of Gaza with the long-term goal of becoming a diplomat.

Muhammad is 23. He graduated from the same university with a BA in Translation. He was then hired by the prominent Jawwal Telecommunications Company in Gaza. He is also very active in civil society organizations, as well as in theatre and traditional dance. Due to his intelligence and maturity, he has always been viewed by his peers as a leader. After his graduation, Muhammad was able to spend 18 days in Egypt where he viewed a vast new world of opportunity. He would like to return there. He aspires for graduate study as well as landing full-time employment in the IT sector.

Nesma, 21, has been a top student in Computer Engineering at Al-Azhar. She was due to finish her degree and graduate at the end of this year, after which Google has committed to hire her as a web developer. It is impossible for her to do this now in Gaza.

Like all residents of Gaza, the family of Khalil and Sahar Abushamalla has suffered innumerable losses since the beginning of the war. On October 13, 2023, six days following the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, Khalil and his family left their apartment in Gaza City, heeding the Israeli forces demand to relocate further south. They went to the home where Khalil was raised in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. The apartment in Gaza was later destroyed by Israeli shellfire. In Khan Yunis, Khalil spent the entirety of every day seeking for food and water, not just for his family, but for the families of his two brothers and one sister—all packed into the three-room, cinder block home.

The most horrible moment of their stay occurred one week after their arrival. Bombs from fighter jets annihilated his cousins home, just 70 meters away. Forty-five people were killed, and Khalil’s home was damaged. They will never forget the sight of the mangled bodies of so many family members and loved ones.

Two months later, the Israeli air force dropped leaflets instructing residents to flee yet further south. The entire extended family obeyed and purchased tents to live south of Khan Yunis, near the sea, where they remain today, still without electricity, clean water, and only the bare minimum of food. Meanwhile, the family home in Khan Yunis has also been destroyed. They have nothing to return to once the fighting ends.

Tents for Khalil's Family and his Brother's Family

Like all Gazans, this family loves Gaza as their cherished homeland, and it has been one of the most agonizing and guilt-ridden decisions of their lives to elect to leave the Strip. Khalil and Sahar—both of whom have worked tirelessly full-time their entire adult lives for the welfare of their people—want very much to return to Gaza just as soon as it becomes safe again.

Barring special intervention, the only way for people to leave Gaza is through an Egyptian travel agency (Al Hala) that charges exorbitant fees to cross the Rafah border and travel to Cairo. Relying on current cost estimates from Gaza and Cairo, we are seeking to raise $51,450 for the Abushamalla family, broken down as follows:

Thank you so very much for considering assisting this worthy family, especially for securing educational and professional opportunities for these three accomplished and ambitious young adults. Any level of donation will be sincerely appreciated. And, whether your are able to donate or not, please route this appeal to as many of your contacts as possible.

Brian Barber, PhD, a psychologist, has known Khalil since 1996 when Brian began his decades-long studies of Gazan youth and families. As part of that work, he has carefully documented Khalil’s life, through his: university graduation in English, his marriage to Sahar, the birth of the children, and his distinguished career as the leader of one of Gaza’s most important human rights organizations (during which time Khalil attended and led human rights workshops in several world capitals). The narrative also documents the family’s survival through the series of devastating bombardments of Gaza over the last decades. Brian’s complete narrative of the journey of Khalil and his family will be published in a book expected out this fall.

Peter Bouckaert has known Khalil since his research visits to the Gaza Strip in the early 2000s as the Emergencies Director of Human Rights Watch, where he investigated human rights violations by the Israeli Forces as well as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority with Khalil’s assistance. He has always been impressed by Khalil’s courage and dedication to the protection of his Palestinian people. “Khalil cares foremost for just one cause, even if at the risk of his personal safety: the protection of his family and his beloved Palestinian people from all dangers, and accountability for the crimes committed against them.”