Speaker 1: Also media.
Speaker 2: As mass bombing continues across Gaza. Two point three million
Speaker 2: Palestinians remain trapped in the Strip as the Israeli military
Speaker 2: conducts a total blockade. Israel has cut off water, electricity,
Speaker 2: and fuel while intentionally restricting humanitarian aid from being sent
Speaker 2: into Gaza. This is it could happen here. I'm Garrison Davis.
Speaker 2: On October seventh, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a
Speaker 2: speech addressing Palestinians inside Gaza. A part of the official
Speaker 2: English translation of the speech reads, quote, all of the
Speaker 2: places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in that
Speaker 2: wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I say
Speaker 2: to the residents of Gaza, leave now, because we will
Speaker 2: operate forcefully everywhere unquote. Sentence in this speech was left untranslated,
Speaker 2: but it roughly read quote, we will target each and
Speaker 2: every corner of the Strip unquote. According to the UN
Speaker 2: by last Thursday, October twelfth, about four hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: three thousand people had been displaced from their homes by
Speaker 2: Israeli air strikes. That's about twenty five percent of the
Speaker 2: Palestinian population. Many sought refuge in crowded United Nations shelters
Speaker 2: set up in schools, but even those shelters and hospitals
Speaker 2: were attacked by air Last Friday, October thirteenth, Israel issued
Speaker 2: a military order for all citizens in northern Gaza, including
Speaker 2: Gaza City, to evacuate their homes within a twenty four
Speaker 2: hour period, in apparent preparation of a major ground assault
Speaker 2: on the besieged enclave. Over one million Palestinians live in
Speaker 2: this area, it's almost half the population of Gaza. In
Speaker 2: between bombings, Israeli military aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets into
Speaker 2: Gaza City, advising civilians to immediately leave their homes and
Speaker 2: the UN shelters, but not to actually try and leave Gaza.
Speaker 2: As the leaflet warned that if anyone approached the Israel
Speaker 2: Gaza security wall, they would quote expose themselves to death unquote.
Speaker 2: Israel laid out just a few roads that it was
Speaker 2: supposed to be quote unquote safe to travel southbound. Thousands
Speaker 2: of people in northern Gaza began to flee towards the
Speaker 2: strip's southern half on Friday morning, but as they were
Speaker 2: following Israel's orders, Civilian convoys transporting Palestinian families out of
Speaker 2: Gaza City were bombed by the Israeli military at three
Speaker 2: different points along the evacuation route. At least seventy people
Speaker 2: were killed, with hundreds more injured by the Israeli airstrikes
Speaker 2: as they were trying to follow Israel's impossible order to
Speaker 2: evacuate everyone from their homes in just twenty four hours
Speaker 2: between Netanyahu's speech and the evacuation order of northern Gaza.
Speaker 2: This leaves people questioning where exactly are these people supposed
Speaker 2: to go. A Palestinian in Gaza told the Associated Press quote,
Speaker 2: we can't flee because anywhere you go, you are bombed. Unquote.
Speaker 2: Gaza isn't that big. It's only twenty five miles long,
Speaker 2: and it's completely surrounded by Israel and the Mediterranean Sea
Speaker 2: save for a small section on the southern tip, which
Speaker 2: borders Egypt with Israel, sealing off access to Gaza. The
Speaker 2: only way in or out is the Rafa border Crossing,
Speaker 2: located at the southern end of the strip bordering Egypt's
Speaker 2: Sinai Peninsula. The Rafa Crossing is a critical passage for
Speaker 2: humanitarian aid and serves as a vital gateway between Gaza
Speaker 2: and the outside world. One of the very first targets
Speaker 2: of Israeli bombing this month was the Rafa border crossing
Speaker 2: between Gaza and Egypt. It was targeted by three air
Speaker 2: raids in a twenty four hour period, severely damaging the crossing,
Speaker 2: preventing it from operating and resulting in fatalities. There's video
Speaker 2: and audio of the bombings where you hear hundreds of
Speaker 2: people make a singular scream. It's pretty gruesome. With Israel
Speaker 2: undergoing a quote unquote complete siege of Gaza, this crossing
Speaker 2: was the only way to send humanitarian supplies into the
Speaker 2: Strip and to let willing refugees flee the assault. The
Speaker 2: Egyptian Foreign minister has said that Israel has yet to
Speaker 2: allow the reopening of the crossing. Egypt is expected to
Speaker 2: assist in delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians and the enclave,
Speaker 2: but it has rejected proposals to accept fleeing Palestinians into
Speaker 2: its borders. Both Egypt and Israel operate a blockade of
Speaker 2: Gaza to strictly control the passage of people and supplies
Speaker 2: going in and out of the Strip. There's no freedom
Speaker 2: of movement to enter or leave Gaza, even when there's
Speaker 2: not a declared war, one can't simply leave Gaza. There's
Speaker 2: no Gaza airport, least not since two US and two Historically,
Speaker 2: the Rafa border crossing into the Egyptian Peninsula was only
Speaker 2: open to the public very sporadically and often for very
Speaker 2: narrowly defined categories, such as medical patients, religious pilgrims, foreign residents,
Speaker 2: or residents of Gaza with foreign visas or passports. But
Speaker 2: I don't have to tell you how hard it is
Speaker 2: to leave Gaza even when there's not a war. Because
Speaker 2: late last year, we interviewed two Palestinians for a still
Speaker 2: upcoming episode that's being worked on. During the interview, they
Speaker 2: touched on their own experiences escaping Gaza. So we're going
Speaker 2: to place some of that interview for this episode, and
Speaker 2: I'll jump in occasionally to add some context. So here
Speaker 2: is Ahmed Matar and Abdullah al Casab, athletes from a
Speaker 2: PK Gaza, one of the most recognized parker teams in
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 3: My name is Ahmad Matar. I'm twenty six years old.
Speaker 3: I'm from Gaza, Palestine, and I do Barkour. I live
Speaker 3: at the moment in Sweden because yeah, I'm open within
Speaker 3: six years ago after I got invited for the Eraword Challenge.
Speaker 3: It's a parkour competition that was organized in Sweden and Helsingburg.
Speaker 3: And yeah, since that time, I just live in Sweden
Speaker 3: because I just did not want to go back for
Speaker 3: so many reasons that we can just talk about it
Speaker 3: later in this episode.
Speaker 1: Hey guys, I'm a tadler. I'm twenty five years old
Speaker 1: and also in Barkour Athleta and I'm also right now
Speaker 1: in Italy.
Speaker 3: I do the chance to travel to Italy because I part.
Speaker 1: Of bated in a in a movie or in a film,
Speaker 1: which is the directory is in my village Gurosa. He's
Speaker 1: an Italian movie. It's called more jumb But my friend
Speaker 1: he was the main character. I was one of the
Speaker 1: characters in the film. So we got a chance to
Speaker 1: to to participate in a festival in si and it
Speaker 1: wasn't really easy. It was really hard to do it
Speaker 1: because because you know, having visa ahmed Alsos Dad, it's
Speaker 1: we get a visa as a Palestinian and especially from
Speaker 1: gethera city with something really really hard. And even though
Speaker 1: it's about having the business about it, traveling outside Gaza,
Speaker 1: something else this is also other, completely different story, but
Speaker 1: we could manage that. And I've been here in Italy.
Speaker 1: I came to participate in Sishida. First of all, me
Speaker 1: and my friend we managed to get shing visa and
Speaker 1: it was just for five days. And now I'm here
Speaker 1: in Italy for almost eleven months. In the other city.
Speaker 1: You when you were there, it is not you don't
Speaker 1: really feel free as free, you know, because you're surrounded
Speaker 1: all the time by so many obstacutes, you know, which
Speaker 1: is which is really crazy and it drives even though
Speaker 1: because we were really kids and we didn't have a
Speaker 1: really good childhood somehow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I remember since we were kids, we were seeing
Speaker 3: the tanks or what is it called, Yeah, the tanks
Speaker 3: that we were seeing it in front of the street,
Speaker 3: and we were hearing bombs and shootings. And that was
Speaker 3: before two thousand and five. That was like since I
Speaker 3: was four years I could remember all of that moments
Speaker 3: where the tanks are crossing our road and we were
Speaker 3: seeing that attacks happening between people together, and bombs and
Speaker 3: flights and drones and and that's something that for sure
Speaker 3: affects us as a kid, that we we get the
Speaker 3: fear whenever we see some bombs and just we want
Speaker 3: to hide from the bombs and we want to be
Speaker 3: close to the family. For me, all of these things
Speaker 3: that happened around me affected me that I wanted to
Speaker 3: be that guy who would like to enjoy life. In
Speaker 3: the same time, Gaza was a place that we had
Speaker 3: the situation where we are the psychologically or how is
Speaker 3: it called, like when you are affected by the situation
Speaker 3: where you know that you are you can be dead
Speaker 3: at a moment, or it can get a bump close
Speaker 3: to you any moment, or someone close to you who die.
Speaker 1: I mean kids the most important for the kids just
Speaker 1: the more safety, and we didn't have safety. The safety
Speaker 1: is what kids really want, you know all the time.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you're a kid, you just need your
Speaker 1: mom or your dad next to you because you really
Speaker 1: feel this kind of safety. But when we were kids,
Speaker 1: we couldn't have this kind of feeling because even our
Speaker 1: parents they were not really sure what might happen to
Speaker 1: us or to them, so how they will protect us.
Speaker 1: So it's not really easy for anyone to protect the others.
Speaker 1: You know, no one april to you know, to do that.
Speaker 1: That's something affected us for sure. Right, because we we
Speaker 1: we we've grown up on such things like that. Maybe
Speaker 1: for me an hour, if you were talking about this
Speaker 1: is maybe something usual, which is something normal, because I
Speaker 1: really good used to it somehow, which is not normal.
Speaker 1: I mean it should have been normal for anyone, but
Speaker 1: for us, you know, we could it kind of normal
Speaker 1: because it's kind of we used to. And now when
Speaker 1: I really because before I was really kids, so I
Speaker 1: didn't know what but it's really going on. I was
Speaker 1: really terrified and I was really scared, and I didn't
Speaker 1: know what is really going to happen. But now when
Speaker 1: I'm kind of an adult and I know what is
Speaker 1: really going on and I see the kids when when
Speaker 1: because for example, the last four especially when I'm even outside,
Speaker 1: guess that's completely completely different, you know, because when you're
Speaker 1: inside Gaza, you with your family and your friends, top apply,
Speaker 1: it's really different. But now when I can see how
Speaker 1: the kids they are screaming, how the kids they they
Speaker 1: they have this kind of feeling, you know that you know,
Speaker 1: they are very terrififiled with the poemps because it sneaks
Speaker 1: to them. So I can really remember myself and I
Speaker 1: just go through back, you know, the memory, the stories
Speaker 1: that really happened, the memories, a lot of memories before
Speaker 1: about that it was really crazy.
Speaker 2: We're going to go on a quick ad break, but
Speaker 2: when we get back, Ahmed will talk about his long
Speaker 2: experience trying to leave Gaza. When Ahmed was younger, he
Speaker 2: began to share videos online of his athletic skills, slowly
Speaker 2: gaining notoriety around the world for his pretty impressive parker ability.
Speaker 2: Soon both himself and Pik Gaza were being invited around
Speaker 2: the world to perform a parkour or to enter into
Speaker 2: parker competitions. P k Gaza was invited to the Arabian
Speaker 2: TV show Arabs Got Talent, but they were unable to
Speaker 2: go on the program due to difficulties traveling outside Gaza.
Speaker 2: During this time period, the Rafa border crossing into Egypt
Speaker 2: was only open around six times a year and for
Speaker 2: only a few days. To catch a flight out of Egypt,
Speaker 2: you need to have all of your proper paperwork, tickets,
Speaker 2: and a valid visa which lines up perfectly for when
Speaker 2: the Rafa border crossing happens to be open, and you
Speaker 2: have to also hope that you're not in the back
Speaker 2: of the line to get through the border crossing because
Speaker 2: they only let a certain number of people through each day.
Speaker 2: Ahmed was invited to participate in the Red Bull Parker
Speaker 2: Challenge in China and even successfully got a visa to travel,
Speaker 2: but wasn't able to leave Gaza because the Rafa border
Speaker 2: crossing was closed during the timeframe when the visa was valid.
Speaker 2: The US based World Free Running and Parker Federation tried
Speaker 2: to help Ahmed travel to the United States to participate
Speaker 2: in the wfpf's twenty sixteen competition in Las Vegas, but
Speaker 2: Ahmed was unable to get an American travel visa due
Speaker 2: to long wait times to use the Northern border crossing
Speaker 2: into Jerusalem, and even if you did manage to get
Speaker 2: into Israel, it was quite difficult to receive a US
Speaker 2: travel visa as applicants were frequently denied. A park Ori
Speaker 2: Gym in Italy frequently invited Ahmed to participate in their
Speaker 2: summer and winter events, but the Italian embassy denied requests
Speaker 2: for a travel visa three times. In late twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: Ahmed got invited to the Air Whip Parkour Challenge in Sweden,
Speaker 2: and with the help of some Swedish friends, he was
Speaker 2: able to secure a travel visa in just two weeks. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: when Ahmed got the visa, the Rafa crossing was closed,
Speaker 2: but by pure luck, just one day later it was
Speaker 2: announced that the crossing would be reopening. When he went
Speaker 2: to the crossing, he learned that there were thirty thousand
Speaker 2: people in line in front of him, with the crossing
Speaker 2: only he said to be opened briefly and the temporary
Speaker 2: visa set to expire. It was not looking great. After
Speaker 2: a very challenging series of events that Ahmed is about
Speaker 2: to explain, he was able to get to Sweden and
Speaker 2: just last year he started in a play about his
Speaker 2: own life and his journey traveling from Gaza to Sweden.
Speaker 4: Tell us a little bit about this. This is going
Speaker 4: to be a play about your life that they're doing
Speaker 4: in Sweden.
Speaker 3: So we have had the premiere for the play in
Speaker 3: ninth of May. So we have been doing the show
Speaker 3: for a while now, like we have had eight performances
Speaker 3: at the moment, and the play is about me with
Speaker 3: my family and then my friends from Picky Gaza. I
Speaker 3: also talks about the journey from Gazza to Sweden, which
Speaker 3: was the biggest part of the play that yeah, talking
Speaker 3: exactly about how it is to face the visa. There's
Speaker 3: an embassy Egyptian control, Egyptian security when we get out
Speaker 3: of Gaza, that they have to also a Palestinian side
Speaker 3: that they have to interview. Was every if I have
Speaker 3: the visa. Let's say I got the visa after some trial,
Speaker 3: then I have to apply for the trouble which I
Speaker 3: have to stand in the queue behind all of that
Speaker 3: people who already applied before me, which is image nine
Speaker 3: thirty one thousand, Mike, you number is thirty thousand. Then
Speaker 3: I have to wait. And okay, let's say I got
Speaker 3: in front of all of that people and today I
Speaker 3: am here in the Palestinian side. Then this Palestinian side,
Speaker 3: then RAPA orders have to interview me and check all
Speaker 3: why do I need to travel? Show me your documents
Speaker 3: if I have any mistaken my documents, and I go
Speaker 3: back to Gaza. Even if all my documents, I have
Speaker 3: the vision and everything. And then if you don't want
Speaker 3: me to travel, then I have to stay in Gaza. Okay,
Speaker 3: let's say I did best the Palestinian side. I am
Speaker 3: in the Egyptian security side, and there one time the
Speaker 3: Egyptian security sent me back to Gaza after waiting. I
Speaker 3: have the visa, and I was like, no, what are
Speaker 3: you going to do. I'm going to do parkour. I
Speaker 3: have a poor competition out what is parkour? Jump? Oh,
Speaker 3: then you go jump back in Gaza. I have to
Speaker 3: go back. And my family did not expect I would
Speaker 3: be back in as because I was at home around
Speaker 3: five am in the morning and I was a whole
Speaker 3: day like waiting to get to the Egyptian side, and
Speaker 3: then from there he sent me back and yeah, and
Speaker 3: the end, I mean, without the help I could, I
Speaker 3: would not have to travel because thirty thousand people in
Speaker 3: front of me. I have the Q number, but I
Speaker 3: am behind them, and I have the visa that will
Speaker 3: expire in two days. Like let's say that starts in
Speaker 3: two days and it will expire in twenty days. And
Speaker 3: if I don't travel in this twenty days, my visa
Speaker 3: will expire and then I cannot travel with him. And
Speaker 3: the only thing I had to do was like going
Speaker 3: to the crossing the first day with my father. He
Speaker 3: went with me and we just stand there in front
Speaker 3: of the crossing. It's you know, there is a control.
Speaker 3: There is a list with names that you cannot really
Speaker 3: cross if you don't get any help. So I go
Speaker 3: there and then we just waited around six hours, me
Speaker 3: and my father. Then the sunset came and good dark,
Speaker 3: and then he was like, I cannot do anything. We
Speaker 3: have to go back. And then we went back home.
Speaker 3: The day after my fight, tell my father live, can
Speaker 3: we go? I have to travel. I have the visa
Speaker 3: I just will expire. And then he was like, well,
Speaker 3: I cannot do anything. He don't know what he will do,
Speaker 3: my father. So I told him, okay, I will go
Speaker 3: for the guy. We have a guy close to us
Speaker 3: like that say my neighbor, but he's a far neighbor.
Speaker 3: And he was the manager of the crossings between us,
Speaker 3: like the manager of coordinating the visas or like the
Speaker 3: list between US and Egypt. So he can really do
Speaker 3: whatever he wants. He can enter Egypt whenever he wants.
Speaker 3: He's a very friend between Egyptians. So he's the manager
Speaker 3: of the cross he's the boss. So I go to
Speaker 3: him and I wait him outside his car like so
Speaker 3: I was close to his car waiting him to get
Speaker 3: out of his home. I know he goes to his
Speaker 3: work around eight in the morning. Then I wake up
Speaker 3: at seven in the morning and I go there waiting
Speaker 3: him to come to his car. I see his car.
Speaker 3: Then I was really happy that he did not leave
Speaker 3: to his work and I knew that he's still there
Speaker 3: and I was waiting, waiting, and then he came and
Speaker 3: then I show him my visa and I really have
Speaker 3: to travel the competition and they have to join this competition.
Speaker 3: And then he was like, okay, but have the Q number. Yes, but.
Speaker 5: I am the last in the list. Okay, but how
Speaker 5: will we do? I cannot tell you, but I have already.
Speaker 5: I told him I have already been into Egypt before,
Speaker 5: but the Egyptian security sent me back to Gaza and
Speaker 5: he told me, do you have the registration of that
Speaker 5: the time you travel? And I told him yes, and
Speaker 5: did have that time, and it was okay, follow me
Speaker 5: to the cross and I told him, yeah, but I
Speaker 5: can I go with you in your car so you
Speaker 5: don't forget me when you go there. Because he's very
Speaker 5: like Beoble to just run after him and a crossing
Speaker 5: Marianda there, I had to tell you, I want to
Speaker 5: go with you, and he said, yes, okay, you can
Speaker 5: come with me.
Speaker 3: And then he told me, but you cannot stop. I
Speaker 3: told him, can I stop her and say goodbye to
Speaker 3: my family first, because they did not know that I
Speaker 3: will travel. I just took a very small bag with
Speaker 3: me in case. I really had like a tack bag
Speaker 3: with me. And he said, yeah, but you cannot stop.
Speaker 3: I have to go now. And then I was okay,
Speaker 3: I called my mom, Mom, he's going to help me,
Speaker 3: and but I cannot stop say goodbye. And then yeah.
Speaker 3: I went to the crossing and he put me into
Speaker 3: like a viv list that I had to go like
Speaker 3: in a very special past that was just five people
Speaker 3: in it. And I was very like respected by the
Speaker 3: control there and there was like I got all the
Speaker 3: way today to Egypt. And in Egypt, I really met
Speaker 3: the same guy that he also asked me about parkour
Speaker 3: and he was like, oh you And then my friend,
Speaker 3: the guy that manager of the crossing told me show
Speaker 3: him what parkour is. I really had to go a
Speaker 3: slept for him. I did a workst in that room
Speaker 3: where he the control chick, and I was oh, wow,
Speaker 3: so cool. Okay, here's the stamp enter to Egypt. But
Speaker 3: I had to go into that airport. He did not know,
Speaker 3: you know, the Egyptian don't understand the visa. Like if
Speaker 3: it's in the visa, it says that it's gonna be
Speaker 3: valid in this day. If it's valid in this like,
Speaker 3: imagine I get the visa today, but it's not valid yet,
Speaker 3: but the crossing is open today and tomorrow and the
Speaker 3: day after. I have to travel in these three days.
Speaker 3: Then the crossing will close for another six months. So
Speaker 3: I had to travel in the days otherwise I will
Speaker 3: lose my visa. So my visa was not valid at
Speaker 3: that time. I traveled from Kazas, so he thought that
Speaker 3: it's valid. So it was oh, go to the airport
Speaker 3: now and travel from there. He thought that I can
Speaker 3: travel to Europe directly, but if my visa is not valid,
Speaker 3: Europe would not let me in. So I had to
Speaker 3: stay in the airport that time that my visa was
Speaker 3: not valid, which was five days and then and I traveled,
Speaker 3: but I had to wait in the airport because he
Speaker 3: did not understand my visa.
Speaker 2: No one should have to do a Webster front flip
Speaker 2: to cross a border. Because there was still one week
Speaker 2: left until the visa became valid, Egyptian security sent Ahmed
Speaker 2: straight to the airport to wait for the week. While
Speaker 2: in Limbo. At the airport, the Egyptian authorities locked him
Speaker 2: in a small room without his phone or his belongings
Speaker 2: until the visa became valid. After many harsh difficulties and
Speaker 2: compounding inconveniences, Ahmed boarded his plane for Europe. Ahmed has
Speaker 2: built a life for himself in Sweden. He's been teaching
Speaker 2: parkour classes there for years now. In fact, that's how
Speaker 2: the play came about. The mother of one of his
Speaker 2: students is a theater director and she became interested in
Speaker 2: his story. By his account, life is much better for
Speaker 2: him him now, but he still is not free to
Speaker 2: see his own family or to go back to his
Speaker 2: original home. Getting into Gaza is almost as hard as
Speaker 2: getting out of Gaza.
Speaker 4: And hopefully you guys can get back into your families too,
Speaker 4: because I know that must be really difficult, being separated
Speaker 4: and not being able to get back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been six years almost.
Speaker 4: Jesus said, yeah, that's really hard, you.
Speaker 3: Know, dramat the theater. I've invited my brother and luckily
Speaker 3: he got the visa from first time. He got help
Speaker 3: from the same guy that helped me and asked them
Speaker 3: and he put him into a special vest. He traveled
Speaker 3: from Gaza with having doing and now he's here. Oh wow.
Speaker 4: He didn't have to do a backflip in the visa.
Speaker 3: Now I did not. Because he's an artist and he
Speaker 3: had the visa and everything. So he got the visa
Speaker 3: because Dramat in the Theater Center invited him to be
Speaker 3: part of the show with his oh cool bas of
Speaker 3: fabric that he drove. True. Yeah, Abdullah the same way
Speaker 3: with the Yeah, if you don't have someone to help you,
Speaker 3: you would not travel.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it shouldn't be that way.
Speaker 3: Abdullah had to get it also held because his visa
Speaker 3: also was also one week, one week and they have
Speaker 3: to travel in that week, and he's named the last
Speaker 3: of the place.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, Abdullah had some internet issues and some of the
Speaker 2: audio isn't usable. But he similarly only made it out
Speaker 2: of Gaza because he had a friend who had a
Speaker 2: contact at the Italian consulate. When Abdullah tried to apply
Speaker 2: for the visa, the office wasn't taking any more applications,
Speaker 2: but this friend was able to explain Abdullah's situation to
Speaker 2: the consulate and they decided to give him a travel visa.
Speaker 2: Abdullah also had to travel through Egypt and was forced
Speaker 2: to stay in a small presence well for three days
Speaker 2: without food or water. Once he got to the Cairo airport,
Speaker 2: the German airline he was booked on refused to accept
Speaker 2: his paperwork because they didn't want the responsibility of stamping
Speaker 2: his passport with the alternative of just going back to Gaza,
Speaker 2: Abdullah was able to find a manager of sorts and
Speaker 2: explain his situation with the travel visa and needing to
Speaker 2: go to this film premiere for this Parkhorp thing. You know,
Speaker 2: it's not the easiest thing to explain, not everyone knows
Speaker 2: what parkhor is, but the manager was sympathetic, and then,
Speaker 2: just like what happened with Abed, they requested a Parkourt
Speaker 2: demonstration to see if this guy was actually telling the truth.
Speaker 2: So the already exhausted Abdullah did a backflip in the
Speaker 2: airport as he was recovering from the COVID vaccine, and
Speaker 2: then the manager, seemingly satisfied, transferred him from this German
Speaker 2: airline to an Egyptian airline and he was able to
Speaker 2: make it to Italy and escape the prison of Gaza.
Speaker 1: When when you're anyone who's in prison, the only thing
Speaker 1: that he thinks about I mean, when you're a prison
Speaker 1: for the whole life, I mean, the only thing they
Speaker 1: think about is just have to escape. Now, I mean
Speaker 1: that's normally because you just want to be free because
Speaker 1: you're in prison.
Speaker 3: I've never been into the prisons, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, I've never had no We both sall.
Speaker 3: I mean, I've been to the Brazen of Gaza, but
Speaker 3: not the real.
Speaker 1: Exact That's exactly what I mean. So we both we
Speaker 1: were in a prison which is open, big prison, and
Speaker 1: the only way that we were thinking about is how
Speaker 1: to get out of that, and the owner was really
Speaker 1: possible is just to use per four as an opportunity
Speaker 1: for us so we can get our freedom. And somehow
Speaker 1: now you're in Sweden and me in Italy, we have
Speaker 1: this grant freedom. But at the same time it's really
Speaker 1: hard because our family is all friends and everyone we
Speaker 1: still connected, so it's like still connected.
Speaker 3: Like I mean, I was trying to meet my and
Speaker 3: the last in this summer, and I applied for the
Speaker 3: Egyptian visa. Because I still don't have the Swedish passports,
Speaker 3: I have to apply as a Palestinian to go back
Speaker 3: or to visit Egypt. So I applied for the Egyptian
Speaker 3: visa to visit my family because my mother was in
Speaker 3: Egypt and she was there to to attend the marriage
Speaker 3: of my accent. But she was there in Egypt with
Speaker 3: my sister and the Yeah, I applied for the visa.
Speaker 3: I never with the visa, so I had to say,
Speaker 3: so it's like I'm not free yet. Yeah, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 3: I will get the Swedish passport soon. I don't know when,
Speaker 3: but I'm sure it's not more than six months from now,
Speaker 3: because I have been applying. I have applied six months
Speaker 3: ago and it's usually not more than a year to
Speaker 3: get the decity. And usually it's accepted if you have
Speaker 3: everything correct in the country, like if you're legal and
Speaker 3: you pay attacks and working, you're studying and another language,
Speaker 3: I'm good there, Just like I have to wait. So
Speaker 3: in the end I will be able to meet them.
Speaker 3: I would not be able. I would not say I
Speaker 3: will be free to enter Gazza whenever I want, because yeah,
Speaker 3: to enter gas at the moment I hear from people,
Speaker 3: it takes like three to four days and you suffer
Speaker 3: in the way, just like you have to stay in
Speaker 3: the car these three days and every thousand kilometers one
Speaker 3: thousand meters, you get to stop by a control like
Speaker 3: a road control that you need to check everything you have,
Speaker 3: every bag you have, take it out in the road
Speaker 3: and you have put it back by yourself, and then
Speaker 3: the car continues another thousand another control, and then in
Speaker 3: the end you arrive like Gus and you say, this
Speaker 3: is the worst part of my Gaz because they don't
Speaker 3: want to do it again. They don't want to get
Speaker 3: to Gaza and suffer the same way again. I'm the
Speaker 3: same to get out of Gaza. To get out of Gaza.
Speaker 3: I mean, if I have the Swedish passport, for sure
Speaker 3: I will have I will have the able to travel
Speaker 3: from Gaza without worrying about getting a piece or not.
Speaker 3: But in the same time, yeah, I need to wait
Speaker 3: an aqueue when while I travel, When I will be
Speaker 3: able to travel from Gaza, is it like gonna be
Speaker 3: one month, two months, three months, because it's like thousands
Speaker 3: of people who want to travel, and it just they
Speaker 3: allow five hundred people a day and that's maximum, and
Speaker 3: then I don't allow any more of that people. And
Speaker 3: then also they they closed the crossing at any moment.
Speaker 3: And I remember the time I traveled from Gaza was
Speaker 3: the crossing was closed for six months to three six
Speaker 3: months and it was none it was not open at all,
Speaker 3: and it was started one thousand people in the front
Speaker 3: of me in the queue, thirty one thousand. So I
Speaker 3: imagine like I was the last person in the queue
Speaker 3: and they have to wait all of the people to travel,
Speaker 3: and the crossing was open just the three days every
Speaker 3: three months. That means like in this three days, it's
Speaker 3: one thousand, five hundred. When is the rest gonna travel?
Speaker 3: And will I have to travel? And imagine you have
Speaker 3: a visa that is valid for like ten days. If
Speaker 3: you get the visa just for event in Europe that
Speaker 3: is just three days, and then you get the visa
Speaker 3: for ten days, and then if you don't travel in
Speaker 3: that ten days, your visa get expired, and then you
Speaker 3: have to apply for a new visa. And then after
Speaker 3: that you have to wait because if you get refused visa,
Speaker 3: you cannot apply directly. You have to wait six three
Speaker 3: to six months and then you can apply for the
Speaker 3: new visa. So it's really terrible, like I don't want
Speaker 3: to go through all of that process again. That's why
Speaker 3: side stay in Sweden and work in Sweden and get
Speaker 3: a Swedish citizenship where I can travel freely without worrying
Speaker 3: about getting a visa or not. And because till now,
Speaker 3: because I'm not Swedish, I have to think about getting
Speaker 3: a visa or not. Will I be refuse this or not?
Speaker 3: And even Egyptian embassy refused my visa and they did
Speaker 3: not even answer me. I called them every day, did
Speaker 3: I get the visa? When will you give me the visa?
Speaker 3: I go to their officer in Stockholm the end like, oh,
Speaker 3: you have to call us, send us an email, and
Speaker 3: I call and send the in Oh, we will call
Speaker 3: you when you get the visa. But will you call
Speaker 3: me that if I don't get the visa. No, we
Speaker 3: will call you when you get the visa. And then
Speaker 3: I said to my mom, I'm not coming to they.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that sounds rough. And I know for a long
Speaker 4: time Abdallah was in Ghaza when you were in Sweden, right,
Speaker 4: and Abdellah was trying to get the visa to travel.
Speaker 4: Last time we spoke, you hadn't been able to get one.
Speaker 4: So I'm glad you did. I'm glad you're now a
Speaker 4: film star.
Speaker 3: You have been applying many times. Yeah, remember we went
Speaker 3: together many times and they also like there is a
Speaker 3: weird and also invited him and she had also and
Speaker 3: they got refused viza. And I'm sure he applied the
Speaker 3: Folso to Italy and he applied for England. I also
Speaker 3: applied Italy. I got refused Italian visa around four times,
Speaker 3: and I got the refused visa from Norway Oslo. I
Speaker 3: got some event in two that's thirteen and USA fight
Speaker 3: did me like for Las Vegas and WFTF invited you
Speaker 3: for an event in Las Vegas that they could not
Speaker 3: make and also Germany Hamburg and Hannah Over they invited
Speaker 3: me and there was many events that I could not make.
Speaker 3: In the end I could make it to airwork. But
Speaker 3: the first year of the airwork like they invited me
Speaker 3: to fifteen and I applied for the visa, I did
Speaker 3: not get it. And then the year after twenty sixteen
Speaker 3: and he got the visa because I had the help
Speaker 3: also from another private invitation. So I got double invitations
Speaker 3: that it made it stronger for the consulate and the
Speaker 3: embassy in jury residence the visa and it was like yeah,
Speaker 3: it was twenty one days visa and directly when I
Speaker 3: arrived with and as like my friend knew, I don't
Speaker 3: want to go back. So they taught me to the
Speaker 3: migration office in Helsingborg in Malmo, and there I extended
Speaker 3: my visa for six months first and in that six
Speaker 3: months I wanted to work and stay here, so I
Speaker 3: started to look for a job. I started my own
Speaker 3: jobs actually, like start to work with hardcore or myself,
Speaker 3: like making classes that I was teaching in English. And
Speaker 3: I had one of the students translating to the kids
Speaker 3: in Swedish, so he was getting three classes. It was tough.
Speaker 3: At that time. I was like it was hard for
Speaker 3: him also to translate because he was not more than
Speaker 3: thirteen years old. He was so shy and everything. And
Speaker 3: I was Forrest. Forrest to learn the Swedish language because
Speaker 3: of that, because I wanted to work, and I just
Speaker 3: started to know hands head and the food news and
Speaker 3: it was easy because it was similar to English. And
Speaker 3: by the time the kids had taught me to speak
Speaker 3: Swedish at the moment, because it was the only way
Speaker 3: I learned Swedish, it was my way to learn Swedish
Speaker 3: was I was the kids all the time. The kids
Speaker 3: language was the eighties to take like to back out
Speaker 3: because the kids have a sample language that you can
Speaker 3: really learn it much faster than talking with an adult
Speaker 3: that talks really fast and talking very advanced Swedish. I
Speaker 3: dreamed to travel from Gaza, and then I made it.
Speaker 3: I did travel from Gaza, and then you think, Okay,
Speaker 3: what do I want to make next, and then I
Speaker 3: I want to work with Parkour, and then I start
Speaker 3: working with Parkpur. I never expected that I would be
Speaker 3: in the biggest theater stage in Sweden, and then I
Speaker 3: am here in the biggest theater stage in Sweden. That's
Speaker 3: just like being overle come and watch my store and
Speaker 3: watch me performing Parkour and telling my story to the
Speaker 3: It's like I never think thought about it, but just
Speaker 3: Parkour brought back to me.
Speaker 2: As an extra note, earlier this week, James spoke with
Speaker 2: Ahmed and Abdullah, and as a few days ago at
Speaker 2: least both of their families were okay. Obviously, this is
Speaker 2: an ongoing situation, but I just wanted to add that
Speaker 2: in here as that's the most up to date information
Speaker 2: we have. Ahmed is still in Sweden, is still doing Parker.
Speaker 2: You can find him at Matargaza on Instagram or his
Speaker 2: website Matargaza dot com. That's Matargaza dot com. Abdullah is
Speaker 2: still in Italy and is studying to become an English teacher,
Speaker 2: and just last February, Ahmed and Abdullah were able to
Speaker 2: see each other in person for the first time in
Speaker 2: quite a while. The documentary that Abdullah is in is
Speaker 2: called One More Jump. It's about very similar questions on
Speaker 2: whether it's worth it to stay and fight for your
Speaker 2: country or try to escape and fulfill your dreams. Thank
Speaker 2: you once again to Abdullah and Ahmed for talking with us.
Speaker 2: I'll link their social medias in the show notes below.
Speaker 2: See you on the other side. It Could Happen here
Speaker 2: as a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts
Speaker 2: from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool Zone Media,
Speaker 2: or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources
Speaker 2: for It Could Happen Here, updated monthly at Coolzonemedia dot
Speaker 2: com slash sources.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening.