Phone Calls from Palestine

Precious phone calls from another (occupied) time and place – Zahid’s story

It all started with Zahid. I was looking to go to Hebron in the West Bank to volunteer in the Princess Alia Governmental Hospital (or Hebron Government Hospital) for a week.

But my family hit the roof when I told them, saying it was too unsafe to go. At that time, to be honest, things weren’t quite so bad. This was with the organisation Go Palestine.

Based on their reaction, I decided to volunteer to teach English online with Go Palestine from the UK instead. But I didn’t really get that far because Zahid (already a Go Palestine student) got in touch directly. Said he had found me through their social media.

Zahid had been a digital marketing student, but the university had closed due to the conflict. He begged me to, one day, teach him about design and SEO.

He also spoke about coming to the UK or me going to Palestine.

What could have been teaching English turned into counselling Zahid through his days in occupied Ramallah – the administrative capital of Palestine, not far from Jerusalem.

Just 19 years old, he would phone me from the dark when he was scared and would beg me not to leave him when he heard shelling. He had already lost his brother.

He didn’t always have internet and sometimes the phone would cut out. He also had to be quiet in case the nearby occupation heard him.

So, he would phone me just a couple of rings and hang up when he couldn’t talk to let me know he wanted to chat on WhatsApp.

I asked him “how do I know if something has happened to you?” He said “it will all go quiet. No more rings.”

When he was able to call, he would ask me to take him places so he could see something other than the rubble and devastation around him.

I would take him – on video call – down to the beach and out in the car. And, it sounds silly, but I even took him round shopping in Morrisons.

I gave him tours of my house, showed him the kids’ rooms (which he was fascinated by) and let him watch the cats.

He wanted to know everything about the kids and the cats. What they ate, where they slept and even asked about my older daughters who had already left home.

In the time that I ‘knew’ Zahid, he was beaten badly by the occupation several times and ended up in hospital with a broken leg and a head injury. I don’t think he was the same after that.

He never knew whether he was going to wake up the next day. It used to go quiet frequently, based on his situation, and I thought he had been martyred so many times.

Then I would hear the ring again. One day, he called me about 30 times.

It has been quiet for months now. He fell out with me. He did that a lot but then always popped back up again when he cooled off.

I’m not sure if he’s still out there. I really hope so, but I will never forget those phone calls from Palestine.

Now Zahid isn’t the only caller from Palestine and it’s an honour to hold these types of conversations every day.

I hope, if nothing else, it helps in some small way – even if I can’t always provide donations.

Zahid, I miss you. And, as always, free Palestine.

**Names have been changed to protect identities**

If you are in Gaza, the West Bank or diaspora and would like to talk or message via WhatsApp, please use +447706134400.