He has managed to maintain a calm head during difficult conditions. He grew up in a refugee camp. There he was second to the "long term residents". He eventually chose to study medicine. He lived through travel challenges, but was able study in Egypt and eventually do training and work in a hospital in Egypt. He treated Israelis and saw Israelis treat Palestinians. There was a desire to work together for humanity.
He also had to endure challenges. He missed some of his wife's final days due to delays in border crossing. He had children killed by Israeli bombardment of his house. He managed to still love his neighbor even when encountering great grief. However, he did realize that the best way to continue to care for his family was to leave Gaza. He settled in Canada.
He still has some palpable anger at the situation. However, he tries to focus it on the overall, while still respecting individuals. He has had some advantages over regular Gazans in his life. (His relationships allowed some of his children to get Israeli medical care after the shelling, while others may not have received it.) The Gaza situation is a difficult one wihtout any direct answers. Both sides have concerns and have committed atrocities. More respect needs to be in place before a solution can be acheived.
An Israeli lived in the Gaza strip and wrote about her experiences and the life of the people there. I was hoping for more "day in the life" of those in Gaza. However, she aligned closely with the activists, and thus the focus was more on the activist experience. Is everyone an activist? Or is this a very narrow subset of the population? It was not until the end, that there was more of a focus on the regular life experience. Family has become very important. Other parts of life come and go. The borders are periodically sealed off. (This can be especially problematic since it is a small area disconnected from the remainder of Palestine.) Police intervene in life. There are problems with corruption on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. Infrastructure is not well developed. Taxes and red tape can be high. There are few natural resources and high poverty rates. Job prospects are mostly with the government or in Israel. The culture has been getting more conservative, with greater respect for traditional female homemakers and Islamic lifestyle. There are a many challenges without easy solutions.