GAZA CITY // Every morning Nidal dons his blue camouflage fatigues, trademark of the Hamas Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip, and sets off to work as a civil policeman in the Jabaliya refugee camp outside Gaza City.
In the same camp, another policeman, Ismail, keeps his own uniform tucked neatly in a drawer, forbidden to wear it after Hamas fighters ousted his fellow Fatah forces from Gaza in a violent power struggle in 2007.
Ismail and Nidal are brothers, separated by just two years and an ideological abyss that has fractured the Palestinian landscape since the West Bank and Gaza Strip were divided politically two summers ago.
Ismail, 26, was a Gaza commander in the Fatah-led security forces routed from power in June 2007 and now in control of just the West Bank. His younger brother, 24-year-old Nidal, is a logistics officer in the Hamas-run police force now patrolling Gaza's streets.
The two factions, each in control of their slice of the Palestinian territories, remain fiercely at odds.
Daily life in Ismail and Nidal's home in Jabaliya is a delicate balancing act as a result, where the two tread lightly between the bonds of brotherhood and the fervency of rival political beliefs. They asked to be identified solely by their given names for security reasons.
Nidal is a strict Muslim, drawn to Hamas for its Islamist platform and austere reputation in Palestinian politics. Ismail, from the more secular-minded Fatah, dreams of the days he can again praise the virtues of Yasser Arafat's nationalist revolution, while drinking alcohol on a Gaza beach.
Both, on separate occasions, have been injured by Israeli fire. Ismail still receives his police commander salary from the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah.
"Fatah and Hamas both began as movements for liberation and they completed each other," Ismail said. "But after the division, it's just been a struggle for who gets to sit in the most powerful seat - and nothing else. Are you happy now?" he asked, turning to Nidal.
Talking politics at the family dinner table is forbidden, their older brother, 38-year-old Salah, said. And Ismail and Nidal have both agreed not to hang Hamas or Fatah flags in the home.
"When Ismail turns on Fatah music, or begins talking about Fatah, Nidal will leave the room - and vice versa," said Salah, who steers clear of both factions and sometimes finds his brothers' political squabbling humorous.
"But when one of them is in a bad mood, they will play their party's music all day to make the other one angry. It makes me laugh."
Bickering aside, Ismail and Nidal act out every day what Hamas and Fatah leaders have so far failed to produce after six rounds of Egyptian-led negotiations at a national level - a kind of understanding.
More recently, a spate of political arrests in both Gaza and the West Bank has threatened to further derail the talks, with the next round rescheduled for July 25 in Cairo.
With hundreds detained in the past few weeks, Ismail's name appeared last month on a list of Fatah members to be watched closely in the Gaza Strip.
Nidal, seeing the list, warned Ismail to stay home and keep a low profile. In another incident, when Ismail was arrested and accused of plotting attacks against Hamas in Gaza in 2007, Nidal secured his release within hours.
"I believe in my party and I am loyal to my job, but he is my brother," Nidal said. "I can't let them do whatever they want with him."
Both Nidal and Ismail say they would give anything to see Palestinians united again - Nidal calls the days of the Hamas takeover and subsequent division the "saddest of his life" - but neither can envision an agreement that would temper the high level of animosity that exists between the two parties on the ground.
Egyptian-sponsored negotiations have focused on several key issues, including the make-up of future presidential and legislative elections and the creation of a non-partisan Gaza reconstruction committee, but it is the thorny details of establishing a joint Hamas-Fatah security force that has stymied the reconciliation process more than anything else.
"If we become one force, how can I work next to the man who tortured me?" asked Ismail, who said he was beaten badly while in Hamas custody in 2007.
Nidal said he also has Hamas colleagues who were tortured by PA security forces, and who are no more enthusiastic about joining ranks with their previous captors.
"The rift between Hamas and Fatah, it is so big it is unimaginable," said Mkhaimar Abusaada, a political science professor at Gaza's Al-Azhar University.
"There is no trust whatsoever between them; they hate each other. I don't see anything in terms of reconciliation being implemented on Gaza's streets any time soon."
Ismail and Nidal vow to continue to live their lives together, however, with Ismail offering Nidal his own furnished bedroom for when his younger brother decides to marry.
Under Israel's two-year-long economic blockade, finding and furnishing a room for marriage has become nearly impossible for Gaza's young couples.
"We as Palestinians have been humiliated so much in front of the entire world," Ismail said. "Everyone is asking us to unite and we're refusing even that."
"Enough is enough, we just want it to end," he said. "I think if all brothers were like us, there would be no division."
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- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Janet Yellen's Firsts
- In 2014, she became the first woman to lead the US Federal Reserve
- In 1999, she became the first female chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers
Your Guide to the Home
- Level 1 has a valet service if you choose not to park in the basement level. This level houses all the kitchenware, including covetable brand French Bull, along with a wide array of outdoor furnishings, lamps and lighting solutions, textiles like curtains, towels, cushions and bedding, and plenty of other home accessories.
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What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Suggested picnic spots
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Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
Mushrif Park
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Al Mamzar Beach Park
Al Qudrah Lakes
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
