Desperate men and missing women

I had my dinner on Al Deira Hotel’s lovely seaside terrace, listening to the rhythmic waves and reading Lundagård (a Swedish student newspaper). On the table was my favorite dish here – shrimps in a hot tomato sauce, cooked in a clay pot in the oven. A dakka salad and some mouttabal topped it up. As desert I tried a new tobacco for the nargileh (water pipe).

No less than twice this evening did young men approach me. The first one asked me if he could have a copy of the sunset photo I just took emailed to him (he could). He also wanted my email address (nope, he got it later via the photo mail anyway). The second guy came and introduced himself and sat down by my table while I was finishing my dinner. He wanted to no if I worked for the UN (no) if it is easy to go to the US (no, not for him, I’m afraid) and if I knew Richard, Spiff and a few other internationals he knew (no clue) or his sister/friend, don’t remember which, Nisreen (no, I know one Nisreen but not this one).

They two guys could have been gay, especially the second one. But I don’t think that is the thing. They are just starved on contact with liberal, educated people. And they take any chance they get to try to get a job or a way to get out of here. It is pretty sad when you think about it.
Even more sad is that there was no young women there, unless they came in company with their husband. Gaza is very traditional, and women are not supposed to be out on their own, or come to think about it, do anything on their own.