Help Abdullah Rebuild Gaza's Water Systems

By Nancy Welch, Professor Emerita of English, University of Vermont, Hanover, NH

The many war crimes inflicted upon the Palestinian people since Fall 2023 include the crime of scholasticide: the Israeli state’s deliberate destruction of all schools and universities in Gaza—an attempt to obliterate the futures of young Palestinians. Among the universities now reduced to rubble is the Islamic University of Gaza where Abdullah al-Bitar earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering. I was paired with Abdullah through a service that matches aspiring scholars and researchers in Gaza with mentors abroad. We have been conferring and collaborating as he turns toward applying to graduate engineering programs outside of Palestine while also enduring with his family the struggles of daily life in a war-zone refugee camp far from the home in northern Gaza City that they were forced to flee in 2023. Abdullah faces many challenges as he seeks scarce employment within Gaza to support his parents and siblings while also preparing admissions applications and taking entrance exams for graduate work abroad. Your donation (which at the conclusion of this fundraiser will be transferred to his account with the Bank of Palestine, Nusirat, Gaza) will support Abdullah and his family so that he may take his next steps toward becoming an environmental engineer who can restore and expand Gaza’s devastated infrastructure for safe drinking water.

By Abdullah M.S. al-Bitar, BSE, Nusirat, Gaza

I am Abdullah al-Bitar, age 26, writing from the Nusirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Here I live in a heavily damaged 55-square meter apartment with ten family members including my father, a retired medical worker, my beloved mother, and my three nephews and niece who range in age from 3 to 10 years old.

Until October 2023, my family and I lived in the north of Gaza City. I was a recently graduated civil engineer. My employment included a position in civil engineering with the United Nations and site engineer for the construction of a laboratory building for Al-Aqsa University. In addition, I volunteered at the Gaza Orphans Foundation, teaching English to children. I was also preparing for graduate study in environmental engineering with a focus on water resources. My goals are to support myself, my family, and, most of all, my hometown, Gaza City, by helping to rebuild and expand Gaza’s water systems.

In mid October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces ordered my family to leave northern Gaza City. In evacuating to southern Gaza, we left our homes, our jobs, and almost all of our personal belongings. Israel has divided Gaza City in half and prohibited us from returning to see if our homes are even still there. The last news we had of our homes was seven months ago, and they were on the verge of collapse.

In late 2024, the IDF ordered us again to evacuate from our small apartment in the Nusirat refugee camp. After long days of further displacement, we were able to return to Nusirat, but our damaged apartment offers little shelter and safety. The apartment has no electricity, water supply, heat, or window panes. I walk two kilometers each morning with my laptop and phone and those of my family to recharge at a solar station, but sometimes we don’t see the sun for days and no power can be generated. Our apartment roof is not concrete but made from wood slates damaged by stones and metal from nearby explosions, allowing the winter rains to pour in. Recently we were awakened at 2 am by heavy explosions just 30 to 40 meters from where we sleep.

Thanks to God that we were not injured and that we have some shelter for 11 people to protect us from explosions, rain, and freezing weather, but this is not a good or secure place for any human being. I’m especially concerned for my parents who have diabetes and other serious health conditions. Every day we suffer from a shortage of food, medicine, and access to clean water. We struggle to obtain some wheat to make bread. We haven’t seen any kind of meat in a year. What goods are available are at a high price we often can’t afford.

It is hard to ask for help, but this senseless world has shown no mercy. There is no way for people to know what people in Gaza are going through unless we talk and ask for help. I have two goals I hope readers of my story can help support.

First, although there is currently no way out of Gaza, I believe that the crossing from Palestine to Egypt will not be locked forever. When a ceasefire is reached, I want to help my family leave Gaza so my parents can get medical care and my siblings and their small children can start a new life. We don’t need much but will need essentials and funds to secure a new place in Egypt.

Second, in the middle of this war zone, I am trying to keep my computer charged with a solar battery so I can work toward obtaining admission and scholarships to a graduate program in environmental engineering and water resources at a university outside Gaza. If my family’s basic needs for food, water, and warmth can be met, I will be in a better place to work on graduate applications and look to the future.

Before the genocide, I was striving to build my future: starting my own business, completing my studies, building my own family, and supporting my loved ones. The genocide is trying to destroy my future but it has not extinguished my hope. I am still determined to achieve my goals and dreams and a future when I can return as an environmental engineer to rebuild Gaza for Palestine.

Graduation, Islamic University of Gaza, 2021

Abdullah in a corner of the family apartment in Nusirat where he sleeps and, when solar charging is available, prepares for graduate school entrance exams and applications.