On the Pleasures of Living in Gaza

Everybody thinks they know what life in Gaza is like: A relentless round of deprivation, violence and suffering. While in no way diminishing the harshness and injustice of life in what is effectively an open prison, subject to regular brutal assaults by the Israeli military, Mohammed Omer, born and raised in Rafah, south Gaza, here presents a more nuanced picture: What the news reports don't show are the ways the inhabitants of the Strip still find ways to rise above the hardship, managing to find simple joys of human existence away from the bombs and barbed-wire fences. In these pages Omer takes the reader on a tour of this most misunderstood and hidden territory, experiencing the community spirit, the enduring family ties, the taste and aroma of the cuisine, and the thriving art and design scene, all in a coastal enclave barely larger than Manhattan.