Crawling to the altar
Palestinian woman living on the Egyptian side of Rafah crawls through an arms-smugglers' tunnel to reach lover in Gaza
If you thought the way to the altar was fraught with trials and tribulations, it is worth reading about what one Palestinian bride went through to find her man.
Tuesday's edition of the Jordanian newspaper ad-Dustour told the story of a woman on the Egyptian side of the border who crawled through an arms-smugglers' tunnel to get to her lover in the Gaza Strip.
"Like everyone else, I dreamed of getting married wearing a white bridal gown surrounded by roses," the woman said. "But I never thought I would get there through such a deep and degrading tunnel."
The woman's family was originally from the territories, but had moved to the Egyptian side of Rafah. When they wanted to return, they found that the IDF was unwilling to let them back into the country.
"During the past five years I have tried many times to cross over to the Palestinian side of Rafah, where my relatives and my fiance Suleiman live, but the IDF blocked all my attempts," she said.
The plan
Despite the entry prohibition, the young woman did not give up, and came up with an original solution - smuggling herself through a tunnel.
"It was hard to convince my family that I would get to Suleiman through the tunnel, especially since we were talking about a dangerous and unprecedented act," she said.
The woman coordinated the crossing with her fiance, and wearing a black wool gown, entered the pitch-black tunnel. The crawl was a frightening one, but hope kept her going.
"After 15 minutes or so, I saw the light and made out Suleiman, who was waiting on the other side of the tunnel for me, so we could hold hands and get married," she said.
Now, she cannot return to Egypt, but her husband says that he's happy that the pair "beat the occupation."
Tunnel in Rafah (Archive Photo)
צילום: איי פי
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