Gaza’s beloved ‘Samir Mansour Bookshop’ is finally reopened after it was turned into rubble when Israeli military strikes hit the five-story building, where the bookshop was based in May last year.
The Palestine Chronicle visited the new bookshop, where thousands of new books were beautifully arranged on the shelves, which were once more crowded with Gazan readers and writers.
Soon after the war, I interviewed the shop owner, Samir Mansour, for The Palestine Chronicle.
“40 years of my life were destroyed in a second,” Mansour said while clinching tightly on his cigarette. “There are 100,000 books buried under this mountain of concrete,” he added. “And for what? Not only does my library have nothing to do with any political party or group, I myself do not have any personal affiliation with any party or group.”
Now, however, Mansour was in an entirely different mood, happy, proud and jubilant.
“I was devastated when the shop was destroyed and our friends and loved ones have boosted my morale. But today I was born again, today is a new birthday for me,” he said.
(All Photos: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)
– Mahmoud Ajjour is a Gaza-based photojournalist. He is the Palestine Chronicle’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip.
