KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For numerous individuals, longing has been a major theme of the Israel-Hamas war — longing for safety, longing for peace and longing for loved ones.
Hasan Abuoun, one of the millions of Palestinian people worldwide longing to connect with their loved ones, lives in Kansas City, Kansas.
He was granted political asylum to move to the U.S., where he met his current wife, Julia. They live in KCK with their 8-year-old daughter, Amirah.
Abuoun’s first-born son, Sam, lives in Atlanta, but his daughter-in-law, Manar, lives with most of Abuoun’s family in the West Bank of Palestine.
He said he calls his family daily.
“Sometimes, it’s not the phone call you want to hear," Abuoun said. "It’s not the phone call you want to do."
But with his mother and father gone, it’s the phone call he has to do.
“The news, sometimes, is not good,” Abuoun said.
Despite not being located directly in Gaza, his family lives in close proximity to violence.
“So seven killed and a few injured? Okay,” he asked on a video call to his family KSHB 41 sat in on.
Growing up, Abuoun said he would see "soldiers every day." And even though he’s not surrounded by them now, he knows his family still is.
When Sam and Manar were married, they planned to move to Atlanta to escape the violence. The plan was for Sam to surprise Manar with a house in Atlanta.
However, their plans were put on halt when the war started.
“Then the seventh happened,” Abuoun said. “Then, we were waiting. I’m gonna go still, regardless, but then Delta Airlines canceled all the flights. I cannot go.”
Abuoun was planning to fly home to attend the wedding in person the same weekend the war started.
When Julia called and told him to turn on the news, he initially dismissed it. He tried telling her that violence back home was normal, but he didn’t realize how different this war was until a few days later.
“It’s not the best situation as a dad to be talking to his son and his wife, supposed to be his wife, what to tell them,” Abuoun said. “There is nothing I can do.”
Nevertheless, Abuoun persisted. He took it upon himself to connect with his family at least once a day to check in and keep spirits high.
“Because I’m the older one, and because of the situation there, they need somebody. They call me 'Dad,'" Abuoun said.
Manar is awaiting a permit to let her into Jerusalem for her interview with the Embassy. If approved after the interview, she can come to America.
The issue, however, is that the war has slowed down the process.
“It’s really sad,” she said. “Like being married but you’re not there with each other.”
Though she and Sam were able to get married, they were not able to have the large wedding they’d dreamed of with their family. And being separated just exacerbates the already difficult situation.
“It’s really breaking my heart, and again, it’s like for something unknown,” Manar said. “We don’t know when we will meet again.”
Despite the level of uncertainty Abuoun and his family are facing, there are a few things he is certain of.
“The love will make everything in the world,” he said. “The hatred, the blindness, the deafness, is not gonna take us anywhere.”
His message to everyone is to find the similarities in people rather than the differences.
“I see the experience with my daughter when we went back home,” Abuoun said. “Everybody speaks their own language, but they understand each other, they play with each other. That’s what we’re looking for.”
Abuoun spent the majority of his adulthood working with human rights groups. As he gets older, he looks to the next generation for hope, something that’s been difficult to do with over 40% of the deaths in Gaza taking the lives of children.
“When I talk, I talk for the children of Palestine,” he said. “They deserve to live their childhood.”
He said the first step toward peace is something everyone can take part in.
“Listen to each other,” Abuoun said. “See each other. Feel each other as a human, as a human. We don’t need more than that.”
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