Meet a Palestinian family denied safety by Australia
Jun 12, 2024
Meet a young family of gentle Palestinians living in Gaza. The family has subsisted on tinned food from aid organisations. They cook with wood and iron posts over a besser block fireplace. Prior to October 2023, the family worked in information technology and accounting for an animal welfare charity.
They are all degree holders (architects and engineers). Altogether, there are 4 adults. M and his wife R, plus R’s brother and wife. Each couple has a child.
Their Aussie sponsor Abby Gee says:
“These are gentle, kind people. Their dwellings have been bombed. Their livelihood has been continually under attack. Every day and hour has been hazardous”.
This family of Palestinians from Gaza have moved 7 times since October 2023. Seven! As one can imagine, any assets they had are now rubble.
Baby M. was born two days prior to 7 October 2023. That is, the newborn has also been denied a stable home, breastmilk, sanitation, nutrition and safety.
Home sweet home. This is where the family were living in October.
The family has subsisted on tinned food from aid organisations. They cook with wood and iron posts over a besser block fireplace.
Prior to October 2023, the family worked in information technology and accounting for an animal welfare charity … well into the attacks on Gaza. Some of the rescue animals have been saved by relocation and some have died.
The humans caring for them are not doing too well.
The family’s home … and most of their world “is ash”. They have relocated seven times in eight months. Sanitation is down. They cook over wood fires. Food is scant, hard to source or afford and usually tinned. They are continually afraid. Now three of them are seriously ill, including the baby.
“A universal absence of clean water has meant that the now 8 month old baby has contracted hepatitis, as have the parents. There is a chance that this illness will take the child”.
So what is it really like in Gaza right now? Is there sanitation?
M replies:
“The health services in general are poor, as there is no regular access to water. Water is manually filled and does not come through the taps. Unfortunately, we are all in a very unhealthy environment”.
Does the baby receive vaccinations ?
“Yes, she receives her vaccinations through the UNWRA health clinic”.
Are there any agencies that can vouch for all 6 of you, like UNWRA, MSF etc?
“Yes. Every family is registered with UNRWA.”
Where are you and how you are living?
“I currently live in a room in my wife’s father’s apartment, with 3 other families. It is an apartment building that was previously targeted. I won’t make a target of my family by discussing the exact location”.
Does the family have any other interesting characteristics ?
“We have backgrounds in Engineering and Architecture but also have a deep love animals. (That extends to a fascination with Australian marsupials and varied natural landscapes).”
How has Palestinian History affected you?
“Of course, our ancestors were affected by the Nakba (when people were forced to move). We are not the original citizens of Gaza. My original occupied town is called Hamama, and R’s family is called Ashdod. We are already refugees”.
Animal Welfare is about gentleness:
M and R are animal lovers. They had worked under the remarkable founder of Sulala, Saeed. Sulala is the only registered street feeding and Animal Shelter in Gaza. The couple began as volunteers in 2017 but since 2022 have held paid employment with the charity for computing, financial reporting and more.
M:
“Well, in the beginning, I have always had a great love of animals. Saeed AlErr, the founder of the Sulala, was a neighbour of mine in the same city, and I came to see how passionate he was about loving animals and that he was able to establish the first association in Gaza that cared for animals, so I was inspired to help him at the beginning of the establishment of the association’s first animal shelter, a little less than ten years ago. I was a volunteer at the shelter at the time, and then helped the development of the association until I became employed as director of administrative work in the association”.
“Likewise, when my wife got married a year and a half ago, she was inspired by my work at the animal shelter, especially since she has a love of raising cats, and so she began volunteering until she began her role at the Sulala office headquarters”.
Sulala reached out to an Australian benefactor called Abby Gee on the 29th November 2023 seeking help to assist the family in securing an Australian visa. Their application was submitted in mid January 2024 and rejected in early May.
Options of escape
Abby Gee has backed the charity for 7 years and got to know the family as volunteers then as staff. She therefore sought to assist her friend M. and his family in securing an Australian visa. Their application was submitted in mid January 2024 and rejected in early May.
The category of “600s” were announced shortly after Israel’s bombardment of Gaza began. To exit Gaza is complex currently and DFAT only provides consular assistance to Australian citizens, permanent residents or immediate family. The kicker here is that they are not guaranteeing consular support to those trying to exit. This is precisely why many visa holders are still yet to exit Gaza. Coordination fees in Egypt are (or at least were) therefore common-place.
Paperwork is slow. Crushingly, the baby’s birth certificate took exactly 7 months to arrive. It only came through the same day the family were made aware of the Government rejection of their visa. This was the same day Israel invaded Rafah.
The reasons set out in the decision focus on the issue of Genuine Temporary Entrant criteria with the view that the family won’t have an incentive to return to Gaza. This is extremely frustrating, given there would be no visa applicants with an incentive to return given the level of destruction and thousands of visas were nevertheless granted. It clearly shows how poor and inconsistent the government’s approach to this whole visa situation has been.
In early May 2024 the family were rejected for a visitor visa by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on the grounds that their work histories looked a bit unsteady and they would not have incentives to return to Gaza. In other words, precisely because they are refugees.
So … what are the options now?
Their situation worsens with each delay or relocation.
Where does Australian government fairness or common sense come into the selection of humans for rescue from Gaza? How are they supposed to live?
All Gazans are registered with the UNHRW. Why can’t they be evacuated here as refugees? The DFAT decision seems arbitrary.
You can help raise the fees to sponsor this one family.
Help Animal Shelter Workers Leaving Palestine
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