It took a month to get the visitor visitors that allowed Wael Altannah and his family to flee Gaza earlier this year. “We’re not tourists, we are refugees,” he says.
A security threat to Australia? Wael Altannah struggles to suppress his bafflement at the idea as his teenage sons kick a soccer ball and wife Maysoun pours cups of Arabic coffee in their western Sydney home.
After two months, Khan Yunis also came under attack, forcing them to seek shelter in Rafah. With the help of his brother-in-law, who lives in Australia, Altannah and his family applied for and, after a month waiting for clearance from Australia, were granted temporary visas. Once they had paid tens of thousands of dollars in fees, they crossed the border to Egypt in February. Altannah, his wife, their five children and his wife’s parents arrived in north Parramatta a month later.
“The people coming here are all qualified: pharmacists, doctors, engineers,” Altannah says. “These are not people from Hamas; they are people who want to live in safety to have a good life ... Most of the people in Gaza are not Hamas.” His view of the war, now in its 11th month, is one you’d hear across Australia. “We need a ceasefire, we need to stop the war, it’s enough. We need peace.”Altannah is grateful for receiving refuge in Australia but anxious about the 12-month visitor visas he and his family received. Rather than sitting at home, the 42-year-old wants to put his engineering experience to use, pay taxes and contribute to Australian society.
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