Meet Me in Gaza

Louisa B. Waugh lived and worked in the Gaza Strip from December 2007 to April 2009. Her publications include Meet Me in Gaza: Uncommon Stories of Life Inside the Strip (The Westbourne Press), Hearing Birds Fly: A Nomadic Year in Mongolia, which won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize in 2004, and Selling Olga: Stories of Human Trafficking and Resistance. She lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Glossary 7 Introduction 11 Part One Hammam al-Samara 17 The hafla 26 Moles in damp tunnels 30 Sun and moon letters 43 Even the foreigners are escaping! 56 Gaza from the air 67 Coffee and cigarettes 76 Zift 79 Scents of history 88 Great night for a party! 95 Tom and Jerry 103 Part Two The milking station 113 Why no one visits the Swailams 120 Catherine and the Tulip 129 Rocket talk 136 Shortly before six in the morning 142 Part Three Pleasure at the weekend 147 Of all the ports 158 Sea creatures 170 Ramadan for Christians 177 Operation Smile and Hope 186 Bedouin 193 Bell jar 196 Part Four The Fridge 209 Bruno does tension zones 216 How-How 222 Muhammad and all the things he might have done 230 The Mathaf 236 Imagining A. Love 240 part five The same but now different 251 The cage 263 Abu Nidal goes first class to Cairo 270 Chance of rain: zero per cent 279 The Wadi of Pleasure 286 Epilogue 294 Acknowledgements 297 Notes 299