It is a phrase that peppers conversations in the Middle East. It means "God willing" and to me seems to symbolize people's somewhat resigned sense of lack of control over their own fate.
Insh'allah, we will find someone to take us from Cairo to Rafah, since Egyptian bus companies are now saying the government is forbidding them to take internationals to the border.
Insh'allah, we will not be stopped by the Egyptian military on our way across Sinai.
Insh'allah, we will get through the Rafah crossing and not be denied entry like the British medical team that is currently staging a hunger strike there after having been kept out for nearly a month.
Insh'allah, we will all be safe (or, safeish) inside Gaza.
And so on.
Of course, it is not God whose whims we are at the mercy of, but the Egyptian and Israeli (and behind them, always, the American) governments. Also, I'm an athiest. But at times like these I'm beginning to see the appeal of believing you have something on your side that trumps US imperialism.
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