A Chinese man and a Palestinian woman from conservative Gaza Strip proved that love can make miracles and smash all barriers when they defied traditions and married.

The bride, wearing a traditional Palestinian head cover, said she decided to marry the Chinese because she loved him for his sincerity, adding that the couple had been in love since 2010. Speaking in good Arabic, the Chinese groom was equally frank when he was asked why he married this woman. “Because I love her.”

A U-Tube video lasting more than seven minutes showed the couple wedded in Gaza in a traditional ceremony involving Arabic music and a parade of honking cars although the city is still recovering from the latest Israeli bombing.

“I don’t think any material, social or geographical barriers could prevent a person from being the persons he loves…no reason in the world should stop two persons loving each other…I decided to be with this man because I felt he loves me and he is a sincere man,” the unnamed bride said in the film, carried by regional newspapers.

She said she had first faced obstacles in marrying that man on the grounds he is not Arab and his habits and traditions are quite different. “To tell you the truth, these very things also attracted me to him…there were some obstacles in the beginning as women in Gaza rarely marry foreigners…but we overcome all those obstacles,” she said.

“You ask about my feeling,” said the Chinese groom, who apparently converted to Islam to be able to marry that woman. “My feeling is that I love her and I am convinced that our marriage will succeed…we had faced some obstacles including social barriers, the visa to Gaza and cost of travel but God the Almighty made it easy for us….I pray to God to give us a good life…any way, we have not faced real problems and I am sure the marriage will work…thanks God the Almighty for everything.