What is Cease-Fire?

At the end of my visit they started asking me to take pictures for their brothers, uncles, sons and fathers in Israeli prisons for over four months… a picture of a new born not yet seen by the imprisoned father, one father’s favorite girl and a picture of the detainees' pictures hanging on the wall to let the prisoners know they are missed, they are celebrated.

On March 19th Israel rounded up Assad Salach and his sons Fahmi and Salach and Assad’s brother Sa’id and his son Ghassan along with over 300 men ages 16 and above along its northern border with the Gaza Strip. It is not the first time that Israel arrests the male members of the Salach family.

These days when homemade Qassam rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip they are usually launched from within the cities, not these border areas. Thus, it makes little sense for these men to be arrested solely for security purposes. Rather, it seems to be a method of pushing the families inhabiting the border areas into the cities and deserting their only source of income, their land. Israel is successfully destroying the potential of the fruit basket of the densely populated Strip. The once luscious green land is now reduced to an arid no-man’s-land, easily overseeable by Israel’s security towers and drones overlooking it all. But more importantly the economic crisis caused by this ongoing intentional de-development of Gaza’s economy is destroying the society’s makeup.

The Salach’s main family home was destroyed in 2001. On March 25th eight Israeli bulldozers crossed the nearby border and flattened the fields. Shortly thereafter they came back and flattened the home with some family members still inside. That day the Abu Assad, the Salach family grandfather had a stroke, he and his wife, Om Assad were taken to the hospital. By the end of the day Om Assad had lost her husband, her home and the trees that had adorned the family’s fields. She moved half a kilometer down the road to her other son’s home. Today, Israel has taken him as well.

Assad and Sa’id used to collect the tank shells, things of ugliness, which Israel fired on them as they tended to their goats and fields. They would paint them and fill them with flowers and turned them into vases, things of beauty. “The day they started doing that the Israelis almost completely stopped firing at us,” Assad’s wife told me. As soon as the media spread pictures of their act- turning death into life, ugliness into beauty- the shells stopped falling. When the men were detained so were the vases, Israel did not want such a story to continue getting out.

Despite a cease-fire five of the Salach family members remain imprisoned without even a court case, their fields still lie in ruin as the Israeli army fires at them when they try and approach it, their old home remains demolished while the memories of the past continue to haunt them daily. But today, the case-fire allows them to host a guest.

New Blog: Gaza in Egypt

Read about Gaza in Egypt, a side of the news not caught anywhere.

Critical Lawsuit Against Israel's Military

A groundbreaking lawsuit is being filed in Spanish Courts accusing seven former senior Israeli military officials of war crimes. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights filed the lawsuit on behalf of six Palestinians who survived an Israeli extra judicial execution operation in the Gaza Strip in July 2002. This is the first time survivors of an Israeli military attack have filed a lawsuit against members of the Israeli military in Spain.

Read On

Marx in Gaza

At the border crossing into Gaza a middle aged woman sat next to me looking rather pale. She was accompanied by what looked like her mother, even frailer than her. Between her hands the sick woman grasped a pack of six tea glasses. It seemed a bit strange of an item to be bringing back into Gaza with so few permitted to make this rare excursion beyond Gaza’s borders. Later that day, after a large welcoming lunch and over tea in plastic throw away cups I found out that tea glasses like so many other things had run out in Gaza. A single glass had nearly reached the cost of the price of a whole set and for my hosting family this was simply not affordable.

Much of my second day I spent at the beach. The one outlet for a majority of Gaza’s population is still very much a reality and on summer days like this one, hundreds of people flock to the beach to forget the daily routine.

Every occupation has its winners and losers, those that profit and those that lose almost everything. Recently I have been reading Marx who considered the making and the writing of “history” to be based on class divisions. According to Marx, the world was not so much explainable by the acts of God on passively receiving humankind, as a world that was driven and lead by the acts of people. For Marx, these acts of history were determined and received their meaning by the division of classes.

By the evening I had been invited to a gathering of some of Gaza’s elite society. For some of them, the recent re-opening of the borders was a monkey wrench for their monopolies in the market. A ton of cement was now back down to 520 shekels, a week ago one 10kg bag had cost 270 shekel. As soon as cement was allowed back into Gaza, the Hamas government- showing some rather socialist colors- set prices in order to undermine such monopolies and make prices accessible to the common population. That night we had duck, chicken and chicken wings, large plates of dessert and watermelon. Throughout the course of that day Marx started making a lot of sense.

Between the beach and the evening BBQ I had my first taste of Gaza’s streets under the gas shortages. Due to Israel limiting the amounts of gas into Gaza only one third of required supplies makes it in. This limited amount is not provided in the regular market, which would drive it up to extremely high prices and create a further monopoly. Rather, Hamas divides it rather wisely. Of course a majority of Hamas members and all government offices are supplied with their needs. Furthermore, Hamas provides a weekly stipend of gas at regular market prices to all drivers that register their cars with them. Some of that supply and likely a percentage of Hamas’ main share leaks into the black market at extravagant prices that most cannot afford; a liter of petrol costs $15. Many drivers cannot afford to register as they didn’t for so long under the previous Fateh government and the accumulated cost is simply too high. Instead many have begun to use cooking oil to fill their tanks. The streets smell accordingly. The stench of falafil oil filling the air makes walking down main roads hardly bearable.

On the Palestinian side of the border crossing into Gaza, carrying my bags for a small tip, Ridwan told me he was so tired of it all. Every night shelling back and forth, back and forth, the shaky cease-fire- although violated by both sides by now- has given him some rest. Later that evening, over cigarettes and cards the high society of Gaza spoke of their dread of the effects of cease-fire. A few days earlier a home-made rocket was fired into the desert of Israel ordered by a group of businessmen who had too much to lose by the end of the fighting and open borders. The streets on the way into Gaza were lined with trucks of Israeli fruit, rarely does that flow cede, Israeli farms have a captive market in Gaza where farmers grow largely vegetables and rely on Israel for their B-grade fruit.

It may not be all-encompassing but in these two days I have seen “history” written by the division of classes beyond even the boundaries of occupation. But occupation remains the color these stark divisions are painted in; in Gaza occupation is the framework that makes it all possible.

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Another letter from Gaza..

Philip,

Every time I think life in here can't get any worse, but surprisingly it does! At work we reached a level where we have money but can't spend it to do any kind of relief work, there is nothing in the local market, no food, no hygiene items, no school bags, no medicine, nothing at all!!!!! We ended up distributing toy kits in times when people can't find anything to eat!!

I am ok Philip but has so much heart aches, it is the feeling of helplessness that kills you and feeling of neglect and disappointment. Today I was in the field to monitor some of our protection activities in Jabalia and I was struck by the scenes of donkey carts standing on the road sides to pick people and to make room for more people on the cart, the cart driver asked the people to ride standing to make space for as many people as possible. While an old lady holding a baby was left there alone cause she was unable to ride standing... Where in the world would you see such humiliating scenes?

In the session children were asked to draw on a white paper a place where they feel more safe and protected, children drew different things and started presenting them, and one child "Mahmoud" started presenting to the rest of the children what he drew "a grave with his name on it" but he further explained that he would feel more protected among those people that he loved and cherished and left all at once. Mahmoud didn't cry, he told me he is a real man and shouldn't cry and because those entombed people are resting in peace away from the sound of shooting and tanks.

Streets are completely empty, taxi's have all kinds of smells and flavors now that driver use cooking oil and gas. At first I had big concerns about taking those bomber taxi's, now I only have concerns about not being able to reach my office! I don't go out anymore, last time I saw Wisam and my friends was on my birthday April 24th, transportation cost it too expensive and I no longer can afford the expenses of my daily movement!

I want to cry Philip, but I am unable, I even feel worse that I might be able to travel, I don't feel good staying, I don't feel good leaving either. I think this is Gaza, you can't afford living inside it and you can't afford leaving it!

Keep us in your prayers, you are so much missed in here my dear friend!

Maha

Absolute Devastation

tonight i talked to jamal in gaza. he has not worked in a month because there is no gas in gaza for his taxi. i asked him how he is surviving, he was embarrassed to talk, he said there is always one of the family fasting, they have nothing to live on. we cried together on the phone, he spends his days on the internet and watching tv. that there is, but food there isn't.

this is UNRWA's statement to the press about gaza from april 23rd, but no one seems to notice. gaza has become old news.

world WAKE UP!
This is a deepening scar on the moral record of this generation, it will not go unanswered for.

Letter from Rafah

I received this message from my dear friend in Rafah today..

hey every body

The situation is very bad at the moment here in Rafah/ Gaza Strip , today in the morning Hamas Forces Attacked Karm Abusalem's Crossing and they hurt 6 Israeli Soldiers and 3 Palestinian were killed during this Confrontation , 7 hours later , the Israeli forces attacked a palestinian car in Rafah , they killed one Palestinian and 4 were injuries by the attack ,

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the google add at the bottom of my page read this:

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Going green? See the top 12 foods to eat organic.

Photo Exhibit: Between the Walls

Israeli urban planning: Over the course of 2001- 2004 Israeli bulldozers razed 1600 inhabited homes in the city of Rafah.

Over the rubble of the homes Israel built a wall of concrete and metal.

Egyptian urban planning: In 2005 Egypt took over the role of border guard and keeps the wall sealed.

تخطيط المدن الإسرائيلي: بين سنتي 2001- 2004 أزالت الجرافات الإسرائيلية – على مراحل – 1600 منزل في مدينة رفح مشردة ساكنيها.

بنت إسرائيل فوق أنقاض هذه المنازل جداراً خرسانياً ومعدنياً.

تخطيط المدن المصري: تولت مصر في عام 2005 دور حراسة الحدود (بدلاً من القوات الإسرائيلية) مبقية على الجدار الحدودي مغلقاً.

Although Israel claims it no longer controls the Gaza Strip after its “Disengagement” in September 2005, borders and airspace remain under Israel’s control. The Israeli navy also announces the limits of access that Palestinian fishermen are to have to their own coast. The restrictions leave the trade crippled.

On that summer day an Israeli naval ship approached Yousef Al-Najjar’s boat south of Gaza City, firing on the fishermen. As the crew sought shelter, Yousef stood up on deck. He knew that the first target on the ship would be the priceless engine, and since the increased closure, restricted from entering Gaza. Yousef called out for the soldiers to fire on him rather than the engine. He, after all, was expendable, the engine, providing for his and each of his crew’s families could not be replaced.

The soldiers shot and killed Yousef. The engine was spared.

رغم زعم إسرائيل أنها لم تعد تهيمن على قطاع غزة بعد الانسحاب في سبتمبر 2005، ومازالت الحدود والأجواء تحت سيطرة إسرائيل. ويعلن الجيش الإسرائيلي باستمرار عن المسافة المسموح بها للصيادين ليتحركوا فيها بعيداً عن الشواطئ الإسرائيلية. وتعوق القيود أعمال الصيد.

اقترب أحد الطرادات الإسرائيلية في أحد أيام الصيف من قارب يوسف النجار جنوب مدينة غزة وصوبت النيران على الصيادين في القارب. وبينما بحث الصيادون عن مكان للاحتماء فيه وقف يوسف على سطح القارب. كان يعلم أن النيران تهدف لإصابة المحرك الذي لا يقدر بثمن (ولا يقدر الكثير من الصيادين على تعويضه)، حيث أن المعابر من وإلى غزة تكون مغلقة. وقد صاح يوسف للعسكر أن يطلقوا عليه النيران
بدلاً من المحرك. كان يرى أنه من الممكن أن يضحي بنفسه ليبقى المحرك، فهو مصدر الرزق لعائلات أفراد طاقم القارب.
وقد أطلق العسكر النار على يوسف وقتلوه وبقي المحرك.

Hussam Al-Habash is one of thousands of fishermen in the Gaza Strip. Over the past years Hussam’s income has dwindled to almost nothing.

He spends his mornings with the other fishermen in the harbor, waiting for better days, reminiscing on the past or playing games in the sand, talking to anyone who will come and listen.

حسام الهباش،واحد من آلاف الصيادين في قطاع غزة. وعلى مدى السنوات الماضية قل دخله إلى لاشيء تقريباً.
إنه يقضي أيامه مع غيره من الصيادين في الميناء منتظراً الفرج، وهو يتذكر أيامه الماضية أثناء لعبه بعض الألعاب على الرمال متحدثاً مع من يأتي ليسمعه.

Since June 14th 2007 Israel has allowed only items defined as “essential” into the Gaza Strip. On January 24th 2008, one day after the border between Egypt and Gaza was breeched, there was a mad rush to this natural gas station. While other such stations had run dry days ago, news had spread that here they still had supplies left, but not many. That afternoon, Hussein, one of hundreds, was waiting his turn.

Without natural gas, families would revert to cooking over a fire.

Only, Gaza is also running out of wood.

منذ الرابع عشر من يونيو 2007 لم تسمح إسرائيل إلا للبضائع "الضرورية" (من وجهة نظرها) للعبور إلى قطاع غزة. وفي الرابع والعشرين من يناير 2008، بعد أن اقتحمت الحدود بين مصر وغزة بيوم واحد، حدث تدافع غير واع نحو هذه المحطة للغاز الطبيعي، بينما فرغت محطات أخرى من الغاز قبل ذلك بأيام، وذاع خبر وجود فائض في تلك المحطة، لكن لم يكن كثيراً. في ذلك اليوم كان حسين، وهو واحد من مئات الناس، ينتظر دوره للحصول على الغاز، حيث أن بدونه قد تلجأ العائلات لاستخدام الحطب والأخشاب كوقود لعملية إعداد الطعام. وقد أوشكت الأخشاب على النفاد من غزة.

Dr Attalah Tarazi was the first Palestinian to plant tulips for Dutch markets in Gaza, thereby creating dozens of jobs. In November 2001 the Israeli army bulldozed his flowers because they were in the way. In the way of Israeli tanks. For five years the tanks prevented Attalah from reaching his land.

كان د. عطا الله طرزي أول من زرع زهور التيوليب في غزة للسوق الهولندي، وقد وفر هذا العمل الكثير من الوظائف للفلسطينيين. وفي نوفمبر من عام 2001 قام الجيش الإسرائيلي بتجريف زهوره لكونها تعوق طريق الدبابات الإسرائيلية. ولمدة خمسة أعوام منعت الدبابات د. عطا الله من الوصول إلى أرضه.

For many Palestinians kites are a symbol of hope. Hope for a better state, hope for justice, hope for a better tomorrow.

يرى الكثير من الفلسطينيين الطيارات الورقية رمزاً للأمل؛ الأمل في وطن أفضل؛ الأمل في العدالة؛ بل الأمل في غد أفضل.

Reuters cameraman films his own death

"A news cameraman in Gaza filmed the tank shot that killed him, it is feared.

Fadel Shana, a 23-year-old Palestinian, was covering Israeli tank movements in the territory yesterday for Reuters, the international news agency.

He had stepped from his car to focus on a tank dug in several hundred yards away.

Final footage recovered from Mr Shana's camera shows the muzzle flash of the tank opening fire. Dust rises around the tank then a moment later the tape goes blank-"

read on by Rhiannon Edward