![A Palestinian bride has her hand decorated with a traditional henna design in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 27, 2013. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTX15URG](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/03/RTX15URG.jpg/RTX15URG.jpg?h=62791122&itok=gnAb36RW)
Asmaa al-Ghoul is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Palestine Pulse and a journalist from the Rafah refugee camp based in Gaza.
![A Palestinian bride has her hand decorated with a traditional henna design in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 27, 2013. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTX15URG](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/03/RTX15URG.jpg/RTX15URG.jpg?h=62791122&itok=gnAb36RW)
![Palestinians gather at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip as they await permission to enter Egypt on March 10, 2015. Egypt is due to reopen its Rafah border crossing with Gaza for two days, for the fourth time since it was closed after a suicide bombing in the Sinai Peninsula in October 2014. AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB (Photo credit should read SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/03/465750842.jpg/465750842.jpg?h=99f4c3b5&itok=IlXmv2Vi)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinian lawmakers attend a session of the Palestinian Legislative Council in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 20, 2007. Hamas said on Tuesday it still hoped Washington would soften its position towards a Palestinian unity government following talks U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. REUTERS/Loay Abu Haykel (WEST BANK) - RTR1MLWX](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/03/RTR1MLWX.jpg/RTR1MLWX.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=NmVDUqe5)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinian children from the Al-Qarawi family watch television in a tent in the northern Gaza Strip June 9, 2010. The tent was erected after their family's house was destroyed during Israel's three-week offensive in Gaza last year. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR2EY18](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/RTR2EY18.jpg/RTR2EY18.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=BoDVG6XN)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A view of the northern Gaza Strip as seen from the Israeli farming community of Netiv Haasara September 2, 2014. Israelis living on the Gaza border have warily returned home after fleeing constant mortar and rocket fire during a seven-week war, feeling it is just a matter of time before their villages are targeted again. Picture taken September 2, 2014. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR44YNP](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/RTR44YNP.jpg/RTR44YNP.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=GhOKSNH9)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Rabat, MOROCCO: Visitors attend the 13th edition of the Casablanca International Book Fair, 13 February 2007. The event gathers some 600 exhibitors from sixty different countries. The Justice and Development party (PJD) accused the Ministry of Culture of preventing Islamic publishing companies from exhibiting. AFP PHOTO / ABDELHAK SENNA (Photo credit should read ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/73313047.jpg/73313047.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=fZqZmcJn)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinian policemen loyal to Hamas keep guard as a fuel tanker arrives to Gaza's power plant in the central Gaza Strip December 15, 2013. Israel allowed the entry of 450,000 litres (119,000 U.S. gallons) of fuel, paid for by Qatar, into the Gaza Strip on Sunday to enable the Palestinian territory's sole power plant to resume operations. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: ENERGY SOCIETY) - RTX16JDL](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/RTX16JDL.jpg/RTX16JDL.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=eBrBNBeV)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinian journalists hold placards during a demonstration in support with reporters detained by Hamas in Gaza and to ask for their immediate release on January 27, 2013 in the West Bank city of Ramallah. AFP PHOTO/ABBAS MOMANI (Photo credit should read ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/01/160163462.jpg/160163462.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=HxxUexgj)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Palestinians walk out of Israel's Erez Crossing after leaving Gaza July 13, 2014. According to a spokesperson for Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), about 850 Palestinians with dual citizenship left Gaza on Sunday at the request of their foreign embassies. Israeli naval commandos clashed with Hamas militants in a raid on the coast of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, in what appeared to be the first ground assault of a six-day Israeli offensive on the territory aimed at stopp](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/01/RTR3YCT4.jpg/RTR3YCT4.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=4lBqtOwe)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian man watches as Islamic Jihad militants take part in a rally celebrating what they say was a victory over Israel following a ceasefire in Gaza City August 29, 2014. An open-ended ceasefire, mediated by Egypt, took effect on Tuesday evening. It called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean. Israel launched an offensive on July 8, with the declared aim of](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/01/RTR449AY.jpg/RTR449AY.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=zG1NZiQ4)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Lit candles are seen on the ground during a protest against the attack in Paris earlier this week on the offices of satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, outside the French Cultural Center in Gaza city January 11, 2015. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) - RTR4KXHF](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/01/RTR4KXHF.jpg/RTR4KXHF.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=RuaXD7J8)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian walks near the remains of houses, that witnesses said were destroyed or damaged by Israeli shelling during the July-August war between Israel and Hamas-led Gaza militants, in the east of Gaza City January 4, 2015. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4K02O](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/01/RTR4K02O.jpg/RTR4K02O.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=awwZL9SU)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul