Ahmad Nattat is a former Palestinian detainee from Gaza, who spent years in Israeli custody. Nattat was married to Sameera Al-Shawmra, from the occupied West Bank of Hebron, 13 years ago, and lives with her in Gaza.
Two years after their marriage, Al Ray reports, Sameera wanted to visit her family in the West Bank, but Israeli authorities denied her permission under the pretext that her husband was a former prisoner from the Gaza Strip.
Several attempts later, Sameera has managed to visit her family via Erez crossing, but could not return back to Gaza due to the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa intifada.
All of Nattat’s attempts to return back, with his wife, to Gaza had failed, until he was detained by the Israeli occupation forces, who argued that he had carried out attacks against Israel.
With the end of his sentence, Nattat has again failed to return to Gaza with Sameera, as she was denied the permit, whereupon he could not visit her in the occupied West Bank, as a result of the Israeli restrictions, since 2005.
Nattat’s wife, Sameera, was recently diagnosed with cancer. Her plight was exacerbated along the Israeli checkpoints en route to hospital for treatment, where soldiers stopped her for hours and barred her from crossing, at times, as her husband was a detainee from Gaza.
As the problem intensified, Sameera’s parents finally asked Ahmad to divorce their daughter, that she may receive the necessary treatment. Under their insistence, Ahmad agreed to divorce her, so that his name will be removed from Sameera’s ID, in order to facilitate her movement and sustain her treatment.
Now, Ahmad calls all who can help to reunite him with his wife again, and be by her side during her struggle.
