Mother of 4 stuck in London
Gaza woman cannot return to Israel after studying in England due to border crossing closings. She cannot enter Egypt, is illegal in UK. A real life catch-22
More than a year and a half ago Tagrid Massari, a Gaza resident and mother of four, left the Strip for the United Kingdom after receiving a scholarship to study for her Master’s degree in English instruction. Her scholarly venture soon turned into a nightmare, however, when she came home to find the border crossings into Gaza had been closed.
In order to come home to the Gaza Strip, Massri must arrive in Egypt and then enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. The Egyptian authorities, however, refuse to grant her the permit to do just that.
Massari, who gave birth to her fourth child in London, told Ynet that even the recent breaching of the Rafah crossing did little to help her, “since this was an illegal breach, from a legal stand point the crossing is still very much closed.”
Massari, who left her three young daughters with her parents when she left for London with her husband, never imagined when she decided to travel abroad to study that she would be separated from her children for such a lengthy period of time.
“I haven’t seen my girls in over a year and a half. I am devastated and have really bad nightmares,” she said.
‘My girls don’t recognize me’
Massari now finds herself an illegal alien in the United Kingdom as well, since her student visa has long since expired. She is unable to legally work in England, and scarcely has enough money to keep in touch with her daughters, to whom she has not spoken in over a month.
“I can’t keep in touch with them; they don’t even recognize me any more. They speak to me as if I am a complete stranger,” she said.
“My oldest daughter is extremely angry with me, and has not spoken to me since December. She blames me for abandoning her as well as her sisters, and for taking their father away. This situation is killing her…she says that the border crossings will never open again,” Massari painfully recounts.
The Gisha Legal Center For Freedom of Movement has attempted to aid Massari, but to date no solution has been found for her plight. Attorney Sari Bashi, the organization’s director, noted that “Massari is only one of many Gaza residents denied the right to work, study and return to their families by this unreasonable and unreasoned Israeli border closure.”
“These border closing do little to serve the interests of Israel and its citizens,” said Bashai. What good can possibly come to Israel from separating a mother from her children?”
