'I honestly broke down,' she said, describing the moment border officials removed her luggage from the bus. 21 she was turned back - not by Israel or Egypt, which have imposed a 14-year blockade on the Gaza Strip - but because of a male guardianship law enacted by the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules the territory. The 19-year-old won a scholarship to study communications in Turkey, secured all the necessary travel documents and even paid $500 to skip the long lines at the Rafah crossing with Egypt.īut when she arrived at the border on Sept.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Afaf al-Najar had found a way out of Gaza.
