Maha, a sociology major from Gaza City, entered the university only after making a hunger strike against her family. The family had determined that it would be better for her to go to Egypt or Jordan to study, but Maha had her heart set on Birzeit University, so she launched her campaign.

"When the bus bombs exploded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in late February 1996, I was here in the West Bank, returned in the nick of time before the new closure was imposed. Rumors were flying throughout the village that the Israelis were going to raid the villages for Gazan students. On many nights the Israeli Civil Administration called the student hostel and ordered the hostel administration to send all the students from Gaza back to Gaza. The administration refused, of course. On 18 March we learned that Israeli military jeeps were en route to Birzeit and we decided to flee from the hostel.

"We turned out the lights and fled into the night leaving everything behind, scattering to family houses in the village. I felt like a stranger in my own land—fleeing from the hostel into the homes of the residents, feeling their pity, knowing that I could be arrested and dragged away at any time. In the end, the Israelis didn’t raid on this night—it was just one night among many when studies had to wait while we fled arrest."

"On 28 March, ten days later, we awoke in the night to the sounds of helicopters and military jeeps in the village. I had never, even in all the years in Gaza, seen so many soldiers gathered on one small village. There were enough soldiers to attack a city. We prepared ourselves for arrest, assuming there was no other option. When I saw what was going on I became very upset, crying and yelling. I wanted to go outside to tell the soldiers, "I am from Gaza. Take me." The hostel administrator stopped me, and when I calmed down I became worried about my family, imagining them receiving the news of the raid in the morning. My mother later reported that she collapsed on the ground when she heard the news, and refused to believe that I had escaped arrest."

"In the morning after the soldiers lifted the curfew we emerged from our houses into a veritable ghost town. Looking high and low I managed to find one male student from Gaza. It seemed all the rest had vanished. The day was spent comparing notes and trying to make certain who was arrested, trying to regroup and prepare for the weeks ahead—evading arrest."