Daniela Rana sits down with Palestinian student Shahd Al-Modallal in light of Donald Trump's recent comments about forcibly taking over Gaza and turning it into the 'Riviera of the Middle East'
When a ceasefire was officially declared between Israel and Hamas, UCD student Shahd Al-Modallal had only one hope: that her family and friends in Gaza would finally be given the chance to not just survive, but live. Now, with the reassurance of their safety from further Israeli-provoked bombardments and of a new beginning for Gaza, the newly elected US President Donald Trump, in a shock announcement to the world, has expressed his wish to permanently evict Palestinians from their land. For Shahd and over two million others, the battle is, therefore, far from over.
For many around the world – particularly in the Western hemisphere of this accursed and divided planet – ‘capitalism’ means mainly one thing: the acquisition of more. More clothes, more shoes, more homes, more income, more profit. For others, in fact, for 85.53% of the world’s population, capitalism has always been marked by loss of both material things – the loss of a home, the loss of money, the loss of a town – as well as the ‘intangible’ – the loss of life, the loss of human rights, the loss of dignity. For the people of Gaza, ‘capitalism’ usually always means suffering. Nobody knows that better than 22-year-old Shahd Al-Modallal, who, over the course of her young life, has been displaced two times and survived more wars than she can count.
Shahd is a student at University College Dublin. On the surface, to anyone who may have had a class with her, she seems like a happy, regular young girl. Her smile is contagious, and she always has something interesting to contribute to class discussions. She wears a ‘Free Palestine’ pin on the lapel of her overcoat, as do many on campus. One would never guess that she had only just escaped the war, nor could one ever fathom the horrors she had lived through.
When asked about her memories of her childhood in Israeli-occupied Palestine, Shahd’s answer differs from that of many children around the world,
Life itself wasn’t easy. There was a lack of everything you could possibly imagine. Food and water were hard to get, because we were living under an occupation.
The occupation of which Shahd speaks has been sponsored by capitalism itself. Eighty years after the Truman doctrine’s aspirations to “free peoples resisting attempted subjugation,” it seems that nowadays, diplomacy is on the side of those who make it more profitable, and with the most recent news of President Donald Trump’s plans to “take over” Gaza and convert it into a “riviera” of the Middle East, we are blatantly witnessing the machine of capitalism purr to life before our very eyes.
What Trump’s plan would consist of is to evacuate the devastated territory of Gaza in order to clear mountains of debris and demolished buildings. In addition, the operation would see the repair of water and power lines as well as the reconstruction of schools and hospitals. The catch is that this new safe haven is not intended for the Gazans themselves, as he is suggesting that they be permanently relocated to other Arab states, such as Jordan and Egypt. Speaking at a joint news conference at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 5th, Trump said the US will oversee the construction of “world class” dwellings for the people of Gaza, which he says will be located outside of the Strip and will allow them to “live in comfort and peace.”
While the President aimed to convince millions of dumbfounded spectators of his arguably sincere intentions, Shahd believes Trump’s plans have only one person in mind: himself.
He is not doing this for the Palestinians’ sake. He has zero interest in the lives of the Palestinians. Now in the world of politics, it feels like we're in a game and everyone is fighting to be the hero. [Trump] could have saved a lot of lives months ago but he just chose not to.
The direct impact of the genocide is not unfamiliar to Shahd. Her family lost everything they had in the bombardment of Gaza since the latest war broke out on October 7th, 2023. Her home in Gaza City was obliterated. Through a video, Shahd watched a neighbouring house being burned to the ground, “Israeli Defence Forces themselves, after a week or two, came to the house and burned it,” she explained. “We have footage of the whole house turning black, without even a feature left to allow us to recognise it.”
Gaza is now a veritable wasteland, yet thousands who have fled still attempt to cross the Rafah border and return to their homeland. The only reason that this is the case, according to Trump, is because “they have no alternative.” Shahd strongly disagrees. "If we were thrilled to leave the country,” she says, “we would have already been on the border waiting to make our way into another country, but what happened was completely different. We are so stubborn and we are so committed to our homeland. I know my people and if there is any decision that must be made, it must be made by the Palestinians and nobody else." It is therefore questionable how Trump’s proposals for new, state-of-the-art homes for Gazans to live in away from their country could possibly aim to replace the home that they have already lost and will never get back.
Shahd’s first displacement from her home near Jerusalem, where her grandparents had lived, and the destruction of her new home in Gaza was a persistent effort to cancel her heritage and everything her family had worked so hard to build. On October 10th 2023, Israel’s bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza was a definitive strategy to wipe out Shahd’s very existence, “my university was the first to be bombed in Gaza, and it happened during my senior year. I had almost finished my course. Because of the bombing, all of my information was gone, and when I made it to Ireland and was applying to study at UCD, I had no proof to show that I had been studying the same course in Gaza City before that time.” Most of Shahd’s professors and several of her peers were killed following Israeli claims that the university had been used for the production of weapons.
Between October 7th 2023 and the fateful day she fled to Ireland in March 2024, Shahd narrowly escaped death three times. By her third brush with mortality, Shahd was questioning why she was still alive, “one of the first times our neighbourhood was bombed, I was under the rubble myself, and I could barely be alive. That’s why I’m still questioning myself, like ‘why would I still be alive after literally seeing death in front of me three times?’ There are a lot of questions left without answers that I’m still trying to figure out.”
Having been born in Belfast, and therefore in possession of an Irish passport, Shahd was offered the opportunity of repatriation shortly after the October 7 attacks. The embassy of Ireland was in contact with Shahd up to three times a week to discuss the option for her return to Ireland. Shahd, however, met their offer with an unexpected response, “I told them without doubt that I was not leaving. My friends thought I was crazy, like people couldn’t afford to leave, and I was just going to say ‘no’? I saw the worth of leaving was nothing when my family and friends were still there and the option to die with them was much better than leaving them.”
Shahd continued enduring the shrill of shrapnel and the deafening screams of mothers cradling the lifeless bodies of their children among the ashes and the rubble. Six months later, she convinced herself to escape after securing a visa for her mother to flee the bloodshed with her.
To this day, her father and brother remain stuck in the warzone, with the slight yet heartening reassurance that the ceasefire is keeping them safe from further bombardment.
Shahd has since integrated with her new life in Dublin. She says the people of Ireland are giving her the strength she needs to tell her story, “we are sharing the same history. This kind of history is making the people of Ireland more mindful of what’s happening in Gaza. I have met people who experienced every detail that I’m experiencing when the same things were happening during British colonisation. It’s very difficult to find someone who understands you and hugs you with meaning. Here, people hug me as soon as they find out that I am Palestinian, because they understand. This thing makes it easier for me to handle the situation when I’m losing it. I am so grateful to carry both nationalities [Irish and Palestinian] because they both have a very rich history of being fighters and believers.”
Even as she is circa 4,196 kilometres away from her homeland and her family, Shahd’s spirit remains unfazed, and she has become even more determined to advocate for justice in the Middle East. She uses her social media platforms to share her experience of the genocide and her long journey to safety. Shahd is also the co-founder of Molhem, a creative stationery factory that initially had its headquarters in Gaza but is now run in Ireland by Shahd and her team. Her start-up has since persevered, and proceeds continue to support the people of Gaza. “The Children of Gaza Mixtape,” which features an audio collection of poems, stories, and experiences of the war, is another of Shahd’s efforts to raise awareness of the ongoing struggle for freedom and dignity. Her creativity has allowed her to lend her voice to those who have been silenced.
As the cogs on the wheel of capitalism turn once again, it is crucial that we continue to remember the lives that have been lost on both sides of the war, but also the lives of those who continue to suffer a month after the armistice was first announced. The cessation of bombardment and sponsored violence is a victory, but it is an ephemeral one. Months ago, protesters on the streets of Dublin – as well as many other cities around Ireland and the globe – chanted, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The eviction of the Palestinians from their land in exchange for another day of life is not, in fact, what anyone had been advocating for. To Shahd, it is not a question of patriotism, “it is about allowing people to have basic human rights as anybody else, and to let them live in the country where they were born, if they choose to.” This goes without mentioning that if Trump decrees a forced eviction of Gazans from their homeland, he would be committing a grave violation of international law.
We cannot fight against capitalism, but if there is one thing that we can do, it is to keep the Palestinian identity alive. Let us listen to their stories, circulate them, appreciate their music, their history and their voice. In a world that seems so bent on erasing the state of Palestine from the map, let us not forget the love for a shared culture and heritage that lay out the need for the existence of this state in the first place. With the Israeli police’s recent raid of a Palestinian-owned bookstore in east Jerusalem, we are not only being reminded that violence and segregation still persist during the ceasefire, but that culture also continues to be targeted. “Spread awareness of what’s going on,” pleads Shahd.
It’s so sad to see people still labelling this as a ‘conflict’ or a ‘very complicated story.’ It is not complicated. I want people to stop fearing their right to voice their opinions. Most of us don’t have anything to lose.
To find out more, follow Shahd Al-Modallal at @shahd.ml on Instagram. To support Molhem and help raise funds for Gaza, follow @molhem.ps for more.