It's a kind of black or ghetto humor. As a child of Holocaust survivors, I can relate to it. She also witnessed moments of pure joy among the Palestinians, such as when the Israeli army redeployed from Gaza two years ago. She remembers the air was heavy with the smell of frying falafel, and the residents driving into Gaza City when it was pitch-dark because it was still under curfew. It's a Mediterranean culture.
People revert to normal behavior very quickly.
Hass believes Gaza's problems are linked to economics. The whole nation has a permanent sense of feeling dishonored. In particularly tragic cases, Hass says she tried to intervene. When the mother of Gazan friends was dying in a Tel Aviv hospital, Hass helped obtain visiting permits for the woman's husband and daughter. Writing about Gaza was a natural outgrowth of Hass's upbringing.