There are about a dozen zoos in Gaza and their story is intertwined with world politics in a way that would be unimaginable anywhere else. The idea that imprisoned people can make a business out of smuggling, locking up, and exhibiting animals is, of course, deeply ironic. The inhabitants of Gaza are quite aware of this. “A zoo is a small prison”, they say. “Gaza is a big prison. A huge zoo in itself.” But it doesn’t mean they are keen on identifying with all those cats, birds, ostriches, and camels living in tiny cages under dismal conditions. They don’t give them names. They don’t pet them. Children throw stones at them, or kick them with their feet. It seems like the people of Gaza can’t afford to waste their sensitivity on animals; sensitivity is a rare commodity in a society ravaged by Israel’s blockade and “Operation Cast Lead” in 2008/09 that damaged 22,000 homes, 280 schools and 16 hospitals and killed 1400 people, amongst them 353 children.
