“The Ballad of Lulu and Amina”—from Jerusalem to Gaza

Fishing boats docked in Gaza (courtesy Palestine Centre for Human Rights).

1 NOVEMBER 2024 • By Izzeldin Bukhari

Can Izzeldin Bukhari bring the cat his sister loves to her wedding in Gaza? Only the IDF and Hamas stand in his way — an exclusive excerpt from the new anthology Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture, edited by Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller with Juliette Touma and Jayyab Abusafia, published by Saqi Books.

 

Izzeldin Bukhari

 

In 1948 my maternal grandparents Mohammed and Zahida Ali Hassan fled as refugees from Ramleh to Gaza, where they set up their new home and where my mum and all her siblings were born. Every year when I was young, my mum would take us to Gaza for our summer holidays. I remember we would get into a Mercedes taxi — the long ones with three doors on each side — outside our house in the middle of the Old City of Jerusalem, on Via Dolorosa, and it would take us directly to the doorstep of my grandmother’s house in Gaza. You can’t do that anymore. I saw how Erez, the main entry checkpoint for Gaza, grew year by year up until 2000. That was the last time we were able to spend our summers in Gaza, because after that came the Second Intifada and the Israelis made travel impossible.

Since then the only time I’ve been to Gaza was when my sister Amina got married in 2008. Amina is so sweet and kind. She loves animals. We had a garden at home — my dad kept rabbits, pigeons, chicken, geese, ducks — and I remember Amina would adopt baby rabbits, even taking them to school with her. She knew how to communicate with them. It was like she had an extra heart for them.

Daybreak in Gaza is published by Saqi Books.
Daybreak in Gaza is published by Saqi Books.

Every year we would hang out with a neighbor of our grandma’s in Gaza. He and Amina always got on well. After 2000 their relationship became virtual, because they couldn’t meet any more, but they fell in love and decided to get married. It was a big dilemma in the family, not because of who he is — he’s a great person — but we hesitated to send Amina to Gaza.

Everything was eventually agreed, and a few days before the wedding, we traveled together from Jerusalem — my father Abdul Aziz, my sisters Danya and Haya, and my mum Hala. We got to Erez and an Israeli soldier, about 18 years old, was very rude to my mother. I remember trying to stand up for her, which turned out to be a stupid mistake because the Israelis let all my family into Gaza except for me. They said my Israeli ID was fake and ordered me to go and bring my birth certificate to prove my identity. So everyone else went ahead to be with Amina, while I rushed back to Jerusalem, collected my birth certificate and came straight back to Erez the same day.

Then the Israelis told me that my birth certificate wasn’t enough and I needed to bring my laissez-passer — a type of travel document issued to Jerusalemite Palestinians. They were playing games, but what could I do?

Next day, I returned to Erez with my laissez-passer, but then they told me that the only way I was going to get into Gaza was to renew my ID. It’s not easy to go to the ministry and do all the paperwork to get a completely new Israeli ID card, but my sister’s wedding was the following day, so I had to try. I went home and scheduled an appointment at the ministry for the next morning at 7 a.m. I would pick up my new ID, go straight to Erez and hopefully still make it to the wedding.

I was making calls at home when our cat started to miaow at me. We had this beautiful white cat with blue eyes — or was it green eyes? I forget — called Julie, but everyone called her Lulu. Amina loved Lulu, and had had to leave her behind when she left to Gaza. I was thinking how much Amina was going to miss Lulu, and then I realized how great it would be to bring her to Gaza. Amina would love that. It would be such an incredible surprise for her. I was so excited about the idea. I was only 23, remember. By then it was already night and I had to be up early for my appointment, so I started looking around the house for anything I could use to carry Lulu to Gaza.

An empty birdcage! Perfect.

Next day, I get up, go to the ministry, collect my ID, hurry back home, then somehow — honestly, it wasn’t easy — get the cat into the birdcage. The cage has a plastic base with thin metal bars fixed to it, and I can see it isn’t very strong to hold Lulu, so I tape it up all the way round to try and hold it together, then I carry it down to the taxi.

At Erez, I get out and start walking towards the entrance holding this birdcage with Lulu inside — and it’s exactly then that I think maybe this isn’t a good idea. What am I doing? I’ve got Amina’s cat in a birdcage and I’m trying to get through the Israeli checkpoint? What was I thinking? But I’m already there, and the wedding will be starting soon, and there’s no time to go back home. I just hope the cat makes it.

I can see that the Israeli soldiers are watching me walk towards them, wondering what is this guy carrying. Alarm bells are ringing in my head, and I start thinking to myself, OK, don’t be suspicious, just be as cute as possible here. This is just one nice guy and his pretty cat, nothing to be worried about. And I start talking to the cat in this coochy-coo voice, “Hey, Lulululu, you’re so beautiful, everything’s great, look it’s so much fun, we’re going to Gaza!” The cat hates me.

I get to the soldiers, who are all armed, and I can see they’ve all got their finger on the trigger. They ask me what this is, and I just say, as lightly and as cutely as I can: “It’s a cat!”

“Why have you got a cat with you?”

“I want to take it to my sister.”

They don’t believe me. They talk among themselves, and one of them gets on the walkie-talkie, and then I have the whole department at Erez come over to see Lulu, and they are firing questions at me. Who are you? Where are you from? Why do you want to go to Gaza? Why are you taking a cat? Who is your sister? Where is she? Who is she marrying? How does she know someone in Gaza? Why is she getting married there? Why do you have a cat? Does the cat live with you at home? What is the cat’s name? Is it a pet? Why do you have pets?

Then the captain comes up to me, and says: “If you take this cat into Gaza, it stays there. You can’t get it back again.”

And I think, yeah, even the cat has the wrong ID for you, but I just say: “Great! Perfect! That’s my mission.”

He looks at me very seriously.

“Did you put anything in the cat?”

I am very serious back to him, and say no.

He says again: “Did you feed the cat anything you’re not supposed to?”

I say: “Even if I tried, do you think she would let me?”

“Is this cat dangerous in any way?”

I think all sorts of answers, but I say no.

They tell me to wait. Time passes, people come and go, I’m thinking about the wedding — and then I see that the Israelis have put Lulu on the belt of the baggage X-ray machine, still in her cage, and they’re sending her back and forth through the X-rays. Three times I see the cat go in, come out, then go back in again. By now she is really annoyed, and I’m worried she might break the cage, so the Israelis let me put a blanket over it to calm her down, but it doesn’t really work. Eventually they tell me to take the cat and move on.

At Erez, once you’re finished with Israeli control, you go to the Palestinian control, but it’s not close: the two buildings are a long way apart. So I get a taxi and I put Lulu’s cage in the boot of the car, and we start moving.

But Lulu’s had enough. She’s been in that cage at least three hours by this time and it’s July, the middle of summer, it’s so hot. As we’re driving, I can hear that she has got loose, and is hissing and freaking out.

We arrive, and the taxi driver asks me what I’m going to do now. He wants to get rid of me and go back to his normal customers. But the only way is to very slowly open the boot and immediately try to smother the cat with the blanket and get her back into the cage before she can escape — and that needs both of us.

It was, well, let me say difficult. Lulu made a lot of noise, and there was some scratching and biting involved, but between us we got her into the cage. Lulu is howling and screaming from inside the cage under the blanket, and the Hamas men at the checkpoint for entry to Gaza are firing all sorts of questions at me, and I have to go through the whole thing again. What is this? It’s a cat. Why have you got a cat? I’m taking it to my sister. This one guy looks at me with total contempt, shaking his head.

“You’ve come all the way from Jerusalem, and you want to see your sister, and you’ve brought her a cat?”

I lose it, just a little bit. “Look,” I say, “My sister loves this cat and I’m bringing it to her for her wedding, and the cat is really pissed, and I just went through all this shit on the Israeli side, and my sister is getting married exactly this minute with all my family there, so please just let me go so I can get to the wedding and give this cat to my sister. Yes, I have a cat. Yes, I’m taking it to my sister. No, there’s nothing dangerous about the cat. Just let me pass.”

It seems to work. They accept the story, take down all my details — but then, last thing before they let me go, the Hamas guy says to me: “God willing, one day soon we will come and liberate Jerusalem” — the subtext being that I’m a soft, cat-loving city boy and Palestine needs real men to do the real work.

I get in the nearest taxi.

 


In the end I made it to my sister’s wedding. I arrived just as the bride and groom were walking together in the zaffeh procession into the grand reception. When my sister sees me, standing there in my jeans and stripy top because I haven’t had time to change, she’s so tearful and happy that I made it — and then she was just amazed when she saw the cat. Amina has such a sweet face when she’s talking to animals.

“Oh, Lulu! Lulu! What a beautiful cat you are! You’re in Gaza now! You’ll be a Gaza cat!”

But there was also a little bit of something else. She told me I was crazy for bringing the cat with me through the checkpoints. She was very worried about the cat suffering on the journey.

And then a few weeks later, the cat disappeared. We don’t know why. Maybe she was traumatized and left home. Maybe someone took her. She was very beautiful, this pearly-white cat.

I just wanted to bring Amina something nice from Jerusalem for her wedding because I knew that once she was living in Gaza it would be very difficult for her to leave. It seemed like a great idea. She really loved that cat.

 

Izzeldin Bukhari

Izzeldin Bukhari Jerusalemite Izzeldin Bukhari is the founder of Sacred Cuisine, an enterprise evoking spiritual aspects of Palestinian meat-free food that connect to his family’s centuries-long heritage in mystical Islam. He runs food tours and classes, as well as pop-up supper clubs around the world.

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Home Under Siege: a Palestine Photo Essay
Fiction

“Holy Land”—short fiction from Asim Rizki

27 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Asim Rizki
“Holy Land”—short fiction from Asim Rizki
TV Review

Palestinian Territories Under Siege But Season 4 of Fauda Goes to Brussels and Beirut Instead

6 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Brett Kline
Palestinian Territories Under Siege But Season 4 of <em>Fauda</em> Goes to Brussels and Beirut Instead
Art

The Creative Resistance in Palestinian Art

26 DECEMBER 2022 • By Malu Halasa
The Creative Resistance in Palestinian Art
Essays

Conflict and Freedom in Palestine, a Trip Down Memory Lane

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By Eman Quotah
Art

Where is the Palestinian National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art?

12 DECEMBER 2022 • By Nora Ounnas Leroy
Where is the Palestinian National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art?
Columns

Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 3

5 DECEMBER 2022 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 3
Book Reviews

Fida Jiryis on Palestine in Stranger in My Own Land

28 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Diana Buttu
Fida Jiryis on Palestine in <em>Stranger in My Own Land</em>
Fiction

“Eleazar”—a short story by Karim Kattan

15 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Karim Kattan
“Eleazar”—a short story by Karim Kattan
Columns

Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 1

26 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 1
Columns

A Palestinian Musician Thrives in France: Yousef Zayed’s Journey

22 AUGUST 2022 • By Melissa Chemam
A Palestinian Musician Thrives in France: Yousef Zayed’s Journey
Essays

“Disappearance/Muteness”—Tales from a Life in Translation

11 JULY 2022 • By Ayelet Tsabari
“Disappearance/Muteness”—Tales from a Life in Translation
Book Reviews

Poems of Palestinian Motherhood, Loss, Desire and Hope

4 JULY 2022 • By Eman Quotah
Poems of Palestinian Motherhood, Loss, Desire and Hope
Fiction

“The Peacock” — a story by Sahar Mustafah

4 JULY 2022 • By Sahar Mustafah
“The Peacock” — a story by Sahar Mustafah
Book Reviews

A Poet and Librarian Catalogs Life in Gaza

20 JUNE 2022 • By Eman Quotah
A Poet and Librarian Catalogs Life in Gaza
Art & Photography

Featured Artist: Steve Sabella, Beyond Palestine

15 JUNE 2022 • By TMR
Featured Artist: Steve Sabella, Beyond Palestine
Essays

Sulafa Zidani: “Three Buses and the Rhythm of Remembering”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Sulafa Zidani
Sulafa Zidani: “Three Buses and the Rhythm of Remembering”
Art & Photography

Steve Sabella: Excerpts from “The Parachute Paradox”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Steve Sabella
Steve Sabella: Excerpts from “The Parachute Paradox”
Book Reviews

Fragmented Love in Alison Glick’s “The Other End of the Sea”

16 MAY 2022 • By Nora Lester Murad
Fragmented Love in Alison Glick’s “The Other End of the Sea”
Essays

We, Palestinian Israelis

15 MAY 2022 • By Jenine Abboushi
We, Palestinian Israelis
Latest Reviews

Palestinian Filmmaker, Israeli Passport

15 MAY 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Palestinian Filmmaker, Israeli Passport
Book Reviews

In East Jerusalem, Palestinian Youth Struggle for Freedom

15 MAY 2022 • By Mischa Geracoulis
Latest Reviews

Food in Palestine: Five Videos From Nasser Atta

15 APRIL 2022 • By Nasser Atta
Food in Palestine: Five Videos From Nasser Atta
Columns

Ma’moul: Toward a Philosophy of Food

15 APRIL 2022 • By Fadi Kattan
Ma’moul: Toward a Philosophy of Food
Film Reviews

Palestine in Pieces: Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon

21 MARCH 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Palestine in Pieces: Hany Abu-Assad’s <em>Huda’s Salon</em>
Opinion

U.S. Sanctions Russia for its Invasion of Ukraine; Now Sanction Israel for its Occupation of Palestine

21 MARCH 2022 • By Yossi Khen, Jeff Warner
U.S. Sanctions Russia for its Invasion of Ukraine; Now Sanction Israel for its Occupation of Palestine
Essays

Mariupol, Ukraine and the Crime of Hospital Bombing

17 MARCH 2022 • By Neve Gordon, Nicola Perugini
Mariupol, Ukraine and the Crime of Hospital Bombing
Book Reviews

From Jerusalem to a Kingdom by the Sea

29 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Rana Asfour
From Jerusalem to a Kingdom by the Sea
Featured article

Killing Olive Trees Fails to Push Palestinians Out

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Basil Al-Adraa
Killing Olive Trees Fails to Push Palestinians Out
Book Reviews

The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Hadani Ditmars
The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?
Book Reviews

Poetry: Mohammed El-Kurd’s Rifqa Reviewed

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By India Hixon Radfar
Poetry: Mohammed El-Kurd’s <em>Rifqa</em> Reviewed
Columns

The Story of Jericho Sheikh Daoud and His Beloved Mansaf

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By Fadi Kattan
The Story of Jericho Sheikh Daoud and His Beloved Mansaf
Film Reviews

Will Love Triumph in the Midst of Gaza’s 14-Year Siege?

11 OCTOBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Will Love Triumph in the Midst of Gaza’s 14-Year Siege?
Columns

Water-Deprived Palestinians Endure Settler Rampage, while Army Punishes NGO Protesters

4 OCTOBER 2021 • By Brett Kline
Water-Deprived Palestinians Endure Settler Rampage, while Army Punishes NGO Protesters
Weekly

Heba Hayek’s Gaza Memories

1 AUGUST 2021 • By Shereen Malherbe
Heba Hayek’s Gaza Memories
Memoir

“Guns and Figs” from Heba Hayek’s new Gaza book

1 AUGUST 2021 • By Heba Hayek
“Guns and Figs” from Heba Hayek’s new Gaza book
Weekly

Wafa Shami’s Palestinian Mulukhiyah

25 JULY 2021 • By Wafa Shami
Wafa Shami’s Palestinian Mulukhiyah
Weekly

Fadi Kattan’s Fatteh Ghazawiya الفتة الغزاوية

25 JULY 2021 • By Fadi Kattan
Fadi Kattan’s Fatteh Ghazawiya الفتة الغزاوية
Columns

When War is Just Another Name for Murder

15 JULY 2021 • By Norman G. Finkelstein
When War is Just Another Name for Murder
Fiction

Gazan Skies, from the novel “Out of It”

14 JULY 2021 • By Selma Dabbagh
Gazan Skies, from the novel “Out of It”
Art

Malak Mattar — Gaza Artist and Survivor

14 JULY 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Malak Mattar — Gaza Artist and Survivor
Essays

The Gaza Mythologies

14 JULY 2021 • By Ilan Pappé
The Gaza Mythologies
Columns

The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth

14 JULY 2021 • By Mischa Geracoulis
The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth
Latest Reviews

No Exit

14 JULY 2021 • By Allam Zedan
No Exit
Essays

Gaza, You and Me

14 JULY 2021 • By Abdallah Salha
Gaza, You and Me
Columns

Gaza’s Catch-22s

14 JULY 2021 • By Khaled Diab
Gaza’s Catch-22s
Essays

Making a Film in Gaza

14 JULY 2021 • By Elana Golden
Making a Film in Gaza
Essays

Gaza IS Palestine

14 JULY 2021 • By Jenine Abboushi
Gaza IS Palestine
Latest Reviews

A Response to “Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” 2014-15

14 JULY 2021 • By Tony Litwinko
A Response to “Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” 2014-15
Centerpiece

“Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” by Artist Jaime Scholnick

14 JULY 2021 • By Sagi Refael
“Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” by Artist Jaime Scholnick
Essays

Sailing to Gaza to Break the Siege

14 JULY 2021 • By Greta Berlin
Sailing to Gaza to Break the Siege
Weekly

A New Book on Music, Palestine-Israel & the “Three State Solution”

28 JUNE 2021 • By Mark LeVine
A New Book on Music, Palestine-Israel & the “Three State Solution”
Interviews

Q & A with Nili Belkind on “Music in Conflict” in Palestine-Israel

27 JUNE 2021 • By Mark LeVine
Q & A with Nili Belkind on “Music in Conflict” in Palestine-Israel
Art

Beautiful/Ugly: Against Aestheticizing Israel’s Separation Wall

14 MAY 2021 • By Malu Halasa
Essays

Is Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek, Too, Occupied Territory?

14 MAY 2021 • By Taylor Miller, TMR
Is Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek, Too, Occupied Territory?
Essays

Between Thorns and Thistles in Bil’in

14 MAY 2021 • By Francisco Letelier
Between Thorns and Thistles in Bil’in
Essays

Panopticon of Kashmir

14 MAY 2021 • By Ifat Gazia
Panopticon of Kashmir
Weekly

In Search of Knowledge, Mazid Travels to Baghdad, Jerusalem, Cairo, Granada and Córdoba

2 MAY 2021 • By Eman Quotah
In Search of Knowledge, Mazid Travels to Baghdad, Jerusalem, Cairo, Granada and Córdoba
Poetry

A visual poem from Hala Alyan: Gaza

14 MARCH 2021 • By TMR
A visual poem from Hala Alyan: Gaza
TMR 7 • Truth?

Poetry Against the State

14 MARCH 2021 • By Gil Anidjar
Poetry Against the State
TMR 6 • Revolutions

Ten Years of Hope and Blood

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Robert Solé
Ten Years of Hope and Blood
TMR 6 • Revolutions

Revolution in Art, a review of “Reflections” at the British Museum

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Malu Halasa
Revolution in Art, a review of “Reflections” at the British Museum
Centerpiece

The Road to Jerusalem, Then and Now

15 NOVEMBER 2020 • By Raja Shehadeh
The Road to Jerusalem, Then and Now
Book Reviews

Falastin, Sami Tamimi’s “Palestinian Modern”

15 OCTOBER 2020 • By N.A. Mansour
Falastin, Sami Tamimi’s “Palestinian Modern”

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