Elderly, youth, children, fishermen, farmers and family members were keen to have a historical look at the three settlements of Duggit, Eli Sinai and Nissanit.

Fishermen pushed their boats into the sea, while hobbyists installed their fishhooks at the shore. Parents toured among the rubble of Duggit while teenagers were planting Palestinian and other different colored flags on the telegraph poles of the destroyed electric network.

Modern and old vehicles, bicycles, carts, motorcycles, and other means of transportation moved between the heaps of rubble and uprooted trees in the destroyed colonies.

At the southern tip of Duggit, 15-year-old Karam Al-How was playing with the remains of a destroyed car left behind by the occupation. He seemed so happy, enjoying “driving” the car.

Karam said that he is happy not for the evacuation, “I am happy because the prison of Gaza become bigger than before!” he said.

Karam said that he came to Duggit to see his father’s land. Pointing at an area filled with dry, burned grass he said,: “You see, this is our land, it was full of fruitful trees. There was a well and a house. Now there is nothing, they destroyed everything.”

Karam remembered playing in the land with his sisters and brothers, but in the last five years they were unable to after the Israelis destroyed it and annexed it to the colony.

The boy said that his father, brothers, and he would “make it green again,” joking that he was sad the Israelis destroyed the car before leaving because “my father could use it as compensation for the theft of our land.”

Nearby, wearing a white beard and turban, Said Al-Okka, 77, was sitting on a small hill. Since the early morning he had been drinking Arab coffee from a white pot and staring at a piece of land, filled with dry grass.

“At least 1,000 olive and fig trees, in addition to a well and house, were flattened by Israeli bulldozers six years ago. You see now I have wasteland only,” he added.

Al-Okka also mentioned that Israelis had stolen several large piles of soft, white sand from his land.

Parents walked by with their two children. Hazem Hawila 42, said that his children asked him to show them the colonies.

“They are so enthusiastic to see the colonies, he told me. “They used to hear about them in the news only. My wife and I are also eager to see them.”

Hawila also wondered why the Israelis uprooted the trees before leaving the colonies.

“I used to fish in this area while I was young but, since the Israelis occupied Gaza in 1967, I have never been able to do it,” Al-Hissi said. “Now even if I catch no fish, I am happy for such nostalgia.”

Hawila added that he was relieved not to hear the usual reports that Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops stationed at the watchtowers of the colony.

In the way from Duggit to Nissanit colony, two children, Mohammed Hmaid, 8, and his cousin Abdullah, 7, were riding a bicycle and carrying a Palestinian flag.

Mohammed said he is happy about the Israeli evacuation because there will be no more gunshots heard.

The two children, from Beit Lahia township agreed that they were both looking forward to an absense of gunshots at midnights and being able to go outside their houses at night.

Sami Abu Salem lives in Jabalia Refugee Camp and works as an English news and features writer at the Palestine News Agency (WAFA). He has also worked at the International Press Center of the Palestinian Authority State Information Service, and works as a freelance writer for local newspapers, focusing on literature and arts.

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