Not only Palestinians suffer

 

“We gather here as Russian wives who are married to Gazan husbands, to preserve our culture, language and some of our lifestyle, particularly under these bad conditions in Gaza,” said Jamila Assersawi, a Russian music teacher who has lived in Gaza for the past 15 years. Jamila and other Russian wives in Gaza gather at a health club in Gaza City twice a week, where they meet, chat and practice some exercises. They also let their children intermingle to preserve the Russian half of their culture.

There are roughly 5,000 Russian women in Gaza. Many, like Jamila, have been living in Gaza for many years. For Jamila, having two children and running a married life has proven difficult with the situation in Gaza, where conditions are totally different from those of her own homeland or maybe any other country in the world. “Prior to the outbreak of the intifada, I used to feel more comfortable. But since 2000 and particularly the last year, things have become much worse. There is no gas, there is no fuel, there is nothing,” she explained.

According to Palestinian statistics, the number of foreign wives in the Gaza Strip is estimated at 15,000, comprised of Russians, Romanians, Filipinos, and other nationalities. These women came to Gaza several years ago with their Palestinian husbands, who, like many Palestinian men traveled to work or get a better education outside of Gaza.

Irina Lozon, another Russian wife in her thirties who also visits this club; echoed Jamila’s sentiments. An unemployed designer, Irina says that the situation in the past year in Gaza has become unbearable, especially for her three children. “I come here to let my children enjoy some time away from the violence outside, especially the non-stop Israeli shelling for the past several months. We hope the situation gets better.”

Asked whether she thinks of returning to Russia, Irina replies that “some people left Gaza and were successful, others were not, for me sometimes I think of that, but what can we do after nine years here. I have been trying to live as hundreds of thousands of Gazans, especially for my husband.”

Originally from Romania, Monica Al-Afaghani, a 35-year-old staff nurse at Gaza’s Shifa hospital, says that she has become half-Palestinian half-Romanian since coming to Gaza ten years ago. Monica explained that “The last year has been the worst ever in the past ten years since me and my husband settled here. Prior to the last blockade on Gaza, we used to have some fun outdoors, especially my two children. But for the time being, we are confined to our houses, from house to work and from work to house. There are no encouraging signs outside, there simply is no life.”

Monica smiled broadly and added “If I were in Egypt, for example, I wouldn’t have noticed a great change in lifestyle from Romania. We might have enjoyed some time out in the Red Sea resorts.” Asked what makes her stay, Monica explained “I have become a Palestinian citizen. I have a job at the hospital, and moreover I am now half-Palestinian; Shija’iya, Sabra, Zaytoun, etc.” again smiling in reference to Gaza’s densely-populated and impoverished neighborhoods.

Her neighbor, Livia Qufe’, a 43-year-old pediatrician at Gaza’s Children’s Hospital originally from Romania, had a similar response. “I spend most of my time at the hospital, where I can enjoy something useful among my patients at this hospital. The situation in here is completely different, especially over the past year.” Livia settled in Gaza in 1994 and says that her life was better then. She added “I remember that before the intifada broke out, we used to enjoy some sort of lifestyle in Gaza similar to that in my homeland Romania, but things have become much worse over the past three years, particularly the last year under the crippling Israeli blockade.”

Asked if she might leave Gaza for a better life in Romania, Livia replied that “I wish it could work, but it can not. So I prefer to stay here as I have a job and some sort of stable life, and also my husband and I can not begin from zero, at least my husband is an employed physician here.”

Less than two weeks ago, Israel and the ruling Hamas party in Gaza agreed to an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire deal to end the year long siege and crippling blockade of the coastal territory. It remains to be seen if this truce will lead to better conditions for locals and foreigners alike or if Gaza’s 1.5 million residents will remain trapped between Israel’s blockade and attacks.

Gaza ceasefire between success and failure

 

Palestinians in Gaza City enjoy the Mediterranean shore on the second day of ceasefire, 20 June 2008. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

The main Palestinian political factions in Gaza agreed last week to an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Israel and the ruling Hamas party. According to Hamas officials in Gaza, the truce will lead to a gradual ease of the one-year-old Israeli blockade on Gaza as well as a halt to Israeli army attacks on the coastal territory. In return, Palestinian factions will commit to ceasing all homemade rocket fire from Gaza onto nearby Israeli towns for a period of six months. In addition, Palestinians and Israelis will start negotiating over the release of a captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, and the reopening of Gaza’s border crossings, including the Rafah Terminal, the main outlet to the outside world for Gaza’s population.

How long the ceasefire will hold is dependent on Israeli and Palestinian actions. However, based on the reactions of Palestinians across all levels of society to the ceasefire agreement, the possibility of sustaining the truce appears doubtful. On the streets of Gaza City, interviews with a number of residents revealed a mixture of pessimism and optimism.

Abu Fayez, 58, said that “I am hopeful that this ceasefire will sustain so that the people can be relieved of such a strangulating siege and people find a way to earn a living. However, I am doubtful about this.”

University student Mahmoud Hamdan, 22, echoed these sentiments, stating that “We look forward to a better situation, especially after a year of blockade, which burdened us heavily. But I doubt that the Israelis are concerned about a tahdiyya [truce].”

On Thursday 19 June, the first day of the truce, a Hamas statement, posted on the organization’s website, Palestine Information Center, stated that the Israeli army opened fire toward the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. In addition, it reported that Israeli gunboats fired at Palestinian fishing boats on the southern shores of Rafah city.

Meanwhile, other Palestinian factions in Gaza have their own reservations about the ceasefire deal. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stated on Thursday that unless the Israeli occupation ends, this ceasefire can not hold.

Dr. Amer Ibrahim, a political analyst on Israeli affairs, said “the Palestinian factions’ agreement to the ceasefire, despite some reservations, will help this truce hold. However, if Israel delays, within two weeks, the reopening of the Gaza border crossings, the ceasefire will be vulnerable to collapse.”

According to Dr. Ibrahim, Israel finally accepted the ceasefire after prolonged Egyptian mediation efforts for two reasons: “First, Israeli fear that any major attack on Gaza will lead to the death of Shalit. Second, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is heading for upcoming elections. Therefore, high causalities and failure of the army to completely defeat Hamas, as happened [with Hizballah] in the last war in Lebanon, might lead to Olmert’s defeat [in the election]!”

Mohammad al-Baba, a political leader of the Popular Resistance Committee in Gaza, took part in the Cairo talks and maintained that his group will not obstruct implementation of the ceasefire, but he warned of likely Israeli procrastination in reopening Gaza’s crossings. He stated that “I believe that the fate of the crossings is still in the hands of Israel. However, we will do our best to ensure implementation of the ceasefire if Israel commits to reopening Gaza’s crossings.”

While many international players welcomed the ceasefire agreement, hoping this would lead to a more comprehensive peace agreement between the parties, Israel’s political leadership gave mixed signals. Olmert, who signed the deal jointly with Defense Minister and political rival, Ehud Barak, himself cast doubt over sustainability of the agreement, stating that “this is a shaky truce and cannot last long.” He also asserted that his army is preparing for a possible attack on Gaza.

Will the truce collapse or will the “battered” Gaza Strip have the first chance in a year to be relieved of a crippling Israeli blockade? This question will be determined by how the parties implement their mutual obligations. Meanwhile, Rana, a 22-year-old university student said, “God willing, this time the ceasefire works and we can breathe some kind of relief.”

Shelter from the siege

 

A child plays with a balloon during one of the training sessions.

Tuesday morning at 9:00am, 220 Palestinian children gathered at al-Sherouq and al-Amal children’s club in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis refugee camp. Dressed in colorful clothes accompanied by cheerful smiles, the children lined up in rows to listen to their trainer. The children were attending their first day of a three-week-long program of training and activities at the club. “The circumstances around Palestinian society, particularly, the growing violence at many levels, have prompted us to hold this program to train children how to have less violent trends,” explained Najwa al-Farra, chairwoman of the club.

Funded by the Culture and Free Thought Society in Khan Younis, the program “attempts to decrease a great deal of the tension that many of our Palestinian children experience, especially because of sporadic Israeli gunfire and domestic violence,” al-Farra added. She said that over the past year Palestinian society has seen increasing social and economic problems due to the Israeli blockade and repeated Israeli army invasions, which have had a negative impact on the children’s way of life and behavior. The Khan Younis area borders Israel, and has been the site of several invasions by the Israeli army over the past year. During this period, a number of young girls from Khan Younis were killed by Israeli army artillery fire. The latest casualty was nine-year-old Hadeel al-Semairy, who was hit by Israeli tank fire in front of her home on 5 June.

Al-Farra explained that because of the year-long Israeli siege tens of thousands of households are now entirely dependent on food aid, “leading some children to work in order to help support their families.” She added that even those families which don’t require aid have seen their standard of living decline dramatically, with “many heads of families now unable to ensure a good living for their children, such as taking them for beach trips or amusement parks. Therefore, we are trying to compensate for these losses as best as we can”.

Children taking part in the activities.

Mervat Abu Jam’a, a media trainer in the program, spoke of the many activities, the children will be familiar with over the program’s three weeks. This includes sessions teaching the children drama, self-expression, health and environment, drawing and folklore activities.

Pointing to a drawing of a seven-car train on the nearby wall, Abu Jam’a explains “As the train’s arrival is announced, the announcer also tells the children what the new activity will be. We hope this will motivate the children to be much more engaged.”

Rowand al-Saqqa, a 12-year-old girl and activity participant, said that she is benefiting from the activities at the club. She has learned dabke, a traditional Palestinian dance, and spends some time hanging out with new friends. Similarly, Reem al-Farra, an 11-year-old girl, expressed her joy at participating in the program, and explained that she is learning many useful things including awareness of Palestinian folklore, dabke, and basic computer training.

Outside the club, the Israeli siege of Gaza and its devastating impact on Palestinian society continues. The closure, which Israel claims is intended to end rocket fire from Gaza at nearby towns, has created unprecedented poverty and unemployment levels throughout the coastal strip, as well as a shortages of essential food items and commodities. However, inside Gaza, the children have a brief reprieve from the siege, and they prepare for another activity. “Now we arrived at the drawing station, let’s draw, sweethearts!” the train station’s announcer announced.

All images by Rami Almeghari

For Free Speech Radio News, This is Rami Almeghari in Gaza

 

PLEASE HELP FSRN SUSTAIN

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For Free Speech Radio News, this is Rami Almeghari in Gaza!

For Free Speech Radio News, this is Rami Almeghari in Gaza. Rami Almeghari, will no longer be available at FSRN’s broadcasts, within the course of few months. The Reason is out of his hands and has nothing to do with his will!.

 

It is rather related to a major  financial problem, his American family (FSRN) will be facing in a few months to come, mainly on September of this year.

 

Cutting off financial support to the FSRN by the Pacifica Radio in LA, would definitely mean cutting off bread to a Palestinian refugee family, who lives in the most impoverished part of the world, with 80 percent of the population depending on food aid.

 

Out of a sudden, my job and  my family’s source of living will no longer exist. I   feel shocked and weird  . Working for an overseas radio station has been a great job  of mine!.

 

I have been proud of such a job over the past couple of years, in which I have dedicated all my time , energy and efforts. 

 

Last December, for instance, I had to carry my lab top to recharge it at a nearby grocer, where there was a Benzene-gas power generator, under extreme darkness due to a power outage in here, which occurs frequently for prolonged hours since June2006.

 

On that night, I had to produce my story (an Israeli air strike on a Hamas-run ministry building), at the grocer. I returned back very quickly to my home. The internet connection was very slow, the lab top’s battery was alarming and my heart was beating!.

 

On the other end  (the FSRN), Eric, FSRN’s tech team, said on Gmail chat ” man, chill out, everything is fine”!.

 

Since I received that shocking email, which informed me about the financial cuts, I had a mix of feelings; I felt as if I did nothing at all!.   Was it really a dream?.

 

I don’t know, actually I don’t know, it seems that the world we live in now is merely a dream land, a world of nothing but of budgets!!!.

 

Losing the FSRN doesn’t mean losing my living, simply because a small insect in this world can find its food very easily, for a reason that no one can understand,  I bet!. But losing the FSRN work would mean losing you my dear readers!. Do you like that?.

 

My work for FSRN, which is done 11,000 miles away would have ensured me some sort of peace of mind, an open mind and an energetic mood, which I used all to contribute my publications to you dear readers.

 

 

Therefore, losing the FSRN would mean losing basic components for creation and innovation of a Palestinian refugee, who lives in poverty, unemployment and heaps of other social and psychological problems. Would you love that dear readers?

 

The Israeli army invasion of my town, Maghazi of July 2006, the invasion of Shuka village of  August 2006, the Gaza Labor Day of 2007/2008 and the recent Democratic presidential candidate, Barak Obama’s statements over Jerusalem of June 2008 as well as hundreds of other reports, stood a connection between peoples  in Gaza and in the U.S.

 

But unfortunately, this link would no longer exist soon!. Would you love this dear readers?.

 

For Free Speech Radio News, this is Rami Almeghari in Gaza. This logo will soon  be no longer heard in LA , unless you my dear readers extend hand of help and support to FSRN, which helps out sending a real and non-biased message.

 

For Free Souls and Minds, this is Rami Almeghari in Gaza.

 

To visit Free Speech Radio News , please go to : www.fsrn.org  

 

 

 

 

With economic siege comes malnutrition

“Can you imagine that when a child of mine asks me for one shekel [USD 0.30], I can’t afford to give it to him? That’s why I hide from my children from early in the morning until evening.”

Naser al-Batran is a 41-year-old father of five children living in the central Gaza Strip. He used to work for a weaving factory inside Israel but found himself jobless after Israel’s total closure of Gaza’s travel and commercial crossings in June 2007, worsening an already difficult economic situation since Israel began shutting out Palestinian laborers years ago.

“Life has become miserable, extremely miserable,” he said.

The crippling economic blockade of the Gaza Strip colors all aspects of life there. According to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry, 70 percent of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents suffer from anemia, including 44 percent of pregnant women.

Malnutrition among Palestinian children has also increased over the past 11 months, affecting more than 10 percent of Gaza’s children under the age of 18, according to the Gaza City-based Ard al-Insan health organization.

A recent survey conducted by Ard al-Insan revealed that around 10.4 percent of households in Gaza City and in the northern and southern Gaza Strip suffer from chronic malnutrition. Stunting and low birth weights are also affecting children there.

“The inability of the majority of Palestinian households to purchase basic food items has increased the magnitude of this health problem,” explained Dr. Adnan Abdel Aziz al-Wahadi, the head of the health care unit of Ard Al-Insan.

“In comparison with previous times, the demand for health and nutrition care has increased over the past 11 months, as evidenced, for example, by a survey conducted in 2003 indicating that only 3.4 percent of households had malnutrition during that year,” Dr. al-Wahadi explained.

A large number of households in Gaza are currently unable to afford essential food items. Israel’s siege and collective punishment on the Gaza Strip following the democratically-elected Hamas government’s takeover there a year ago has been characterized by severe restrictions on food and fuel imports.

The situation means that Palestinians in Gaza are simply unable to afford former staples. Mohammed Mohareb, a fishmonger at the Nuseirat refugee camp market in the central Gaza Strip, complained of the residents’ inability to buy fish.

“Prior to these circumstances, I would bring in 100 boxes of fish, but now I only bring in 20, and I still can’t sell all of the fish. Now, I lose much more than I earn,” he said.

Nour al-Din Abu-Saqer, a fruit vendor, standing idle behind his fruit stand in the Maghazi refugee camp market in the central Gaza Strip, lamented, “Over the past couple of months, people have become even less likely to buy fruit, bearing in mind that for the past 11 months we have been selling less fruit than we used to.”

“We only sell fruit during the first week of each month when government employees obtain their salaries. During the rest of the month, many of our goods perish as sales go down. The prices are beyond people’s purchasing power, especially for those who are unemployed,” he explained.

The World Food Program states that 80 percent of households in the Gaza Strip depend on international food aid as the unemployment rate has reached more than 80 percent.

More than 95 percent of Gaza’s industrial sector, involving textiles, canneries, weaving factories and metal workshops has already stopped working, rendering 32,000 laborers jobless.

Last month, Israel further reduced shipments of diesel, cooking gas, and food into the Gaza Strip, thus aggravating the deteriorating living conditions to the extent that many motorists were forced to use cooking oil instead of diesel to keep their vehicles running.

“We are a society with no natural resources; the only resource we have is the human one, so unless there is adequate food and health, how are we supposed to develop a nation?” wondered Dr. al-Wahadi. For the time being, it seems this question will remain unanswered.

 

To read through other recent articles of mine please visit : http://electronicintifada.net/cgi-bin/artman2/search.cgi?action=search&categoryNum=&keyword=rami+almeghari

Fueling disaster

  5 February 2008

The containers of fuel Said Ramadan brought to Gaza from al-Arish.

At the bus stop at Palestine Square, in the bustling heart of Gaza City, 25-year-old Said Ramadan cried to passersby, “Fuel, fuel, fuel! Come and buy!”

Last week Ramadan took advantage of the blasting through of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and the brief respite from months of siege to travel to the nearby Egyptian town of al-Arish and stock up on gallons of fuel.

“Israel has prevented the entry of fuel to the area, so I took a chance and brought some quantities from al-Arish to help and be helped,” Ramadan said.

However, Ramadan and others who had the same idea last week now say that the prices do not meet the people’s purchasing power, as each liter of fuel costs more than one dollar.

Ahmad Aqel, also selling fuel in Gaza, explained, “I used to work as a taxi driver, but I decided to seize the opportunity of the border reopening to bring some gallons of fuel to sell here.”

Aqel and Ramadan’s current informal industry is a throwback to Gaza’s past, when street vendors selling kerosene provided fuel for refugees’ lamps during an era when gas stations were few and far between.

The not-exactly-nostalgic scene in Gaza is the result of Israel’s fuel cuts, part of the series of collective punishment measures it has imposed on Gaza’s 1.5 million residents since it declared the Strip an “enemy entity” last September, ostensibly in reaction to the firing of homemade rockets into southern Israel by Palestinian fighters.

Gaza’s long-suffering taxi drivers express resentment towards the still comparatively high cost of the fuel brought in from Egypt.

Taxi driver Nidal Darabaih.

Driver Nidal Darabaih says that a 19-liter tank used to fill up for 90 New Israeli Shekels (NIS) ($25 USD) while these vendors’ rate is at 85 NIS, meaning that the bringing in of fuel from Egypt doesn’t necessarily mean taxi drivers are feeling any economic relief.

“I am really concerned about the lack of fuel, so on the one hand I want to keep some fuel to earn a living but on the other I can’t afford it. The quantities of fuel Israel recently allowed in have gone to hospitals or power generators at the various facilities,” Darabaih noted.

As of the beginning of this week, no more fuel will be entering Gaza, as the Egyptian authorities sealed off its border with Gaza, preventing the movement of Gazans into its territory.

Last Wednesday Israel’s highest court ruled that the fuel cuts to the Gaza Strip remain in effect. “Economic warfare” was how Israel’s defense ministry described its government’s Gaza policy in court proceedings.

The three-judge panel stated that “vital humanitarian needs” would be supplied but rejected a petition by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups arguing that the cuts amount to collective punishment, in contravention to the Fourth Geneva Convention.

According to the Gaza-based Palestinian Society for Gas Stations, most of the quantities Israel allowed in last week went towards the operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

The Israeli court’s verdict came on the heels of the UN Security Council’s failure to pass a non-binding resolution condemning Israel’s actions against Gaza as collective punishment.

A draft resolution was stymied by Israel’s staunch ally, the US, which deemed Israel’s actions to be self-defense rather than punitive measures.

Reflecting popular sentiment in Gaza, professor As’ad Abu Sharekh, a political analyst in Gaza City, said the policy will only “perpetuate violence in this part of the world,” and added that the decision “is not accepted by the Palestinian people, the Arab people, the world or by international law and I think Israel must be punished for making such a stupid decision against the Palestinian people.”

Rami Almeghari is currently contributor to several media outlets including the Palestine Chronicle, aljazeerah.info, IMEMC, The Electronic Intifada and Free Speech Radio News. Rami is also a former senior English translator at and editor in chief of the international press center of the Gaza-based Palestinian Information Service. He can be contacted at rami_almeghari at hotmail.com.

All images by Rami Almeghari. 

Gaza scrambles for supplies as border forced open

Rami Almeghari writing from Rafah, occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 25 January 2008

Palestinians cross back from Egypt into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip through the bombed metal fence, not seen, that used to separate the two sides of the border town, 24 January 2008. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

Three kids, their mother and their aunt hurried towards the Salah al-Din gate in southern Gaza on Wednesday.

The mother, in her early thirties, explained in a rush, “We are heading to al-Arish [the Egypt border town] to follow my mom and brother who entered today after the borders were reopened.”

The family was not alone; thousands of other Palestinians thronged nearby, on their way to al-Arish, following the blasting through of the Israeli-built steel walls by Palestinian resistance fighters earlier that day. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured from Gaza into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, breathing a collective sigh of relief following a half-year of Israeli closure of all Gaza border crossings.

Those returning to Gaza carried everything from food to livestock. Other Gazans were carrying on their shoulders boxes of another precious commodity in besieged Gaza — cigarettes — the price of which has at least doubled over the past several months.

“We are bringing cigarettes because its cheaper in Egypt,” said one such individual.

The Rafah crossing terminal — the main point of entry into Gaza from Egypt — has been permanently closed since June 2007. On 19 September 2007 Israel declared Gaza an “enemy entity” and began imposing an additional series of collective punishment measures against the population, including sharp reductions of imports, ostensibly in reaction to the firing of homemade rockets from Gaza. However, Israeli public figures have repeatedly stated that the intent of the siege is to put pressure on the civilian population and erode popular support of the elected Hamas government which took control of the Strip this summer.

In a narrow muddy corridor near the fenced-off border, engineer and father of two Ramadan Said al-Na’ouq was heading towards the hole in the border wall in an attempt to get to Cairo to renew his Egyptian residency papers.

“I have been waiting for Israeli permission to travel to Cairo for the past three months; not only me, but 5,000 others are also waiting for the same,” said al-Na’ouq. “What can I say, it’s a golden opportunity for me to have my residence renewed. Otherwise, I will likely lose it in ten days. I only need a couple of days.”

However, it seemed Ramadan wouldn’t be able to fulfill his mission, as the Egyptian authorities closed all routes leading to Cairo, stating that they are only allowing “starving” Palestinians to acquire their needs from al-Arish and have blocked Palestinians from traveling further into Egypt.

With the borders sealed for the past several months, at least 1,500 Palestinians had been waiting on the Egyptian side unable to come home to Gaza, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. As the walls came down, many were able to cross.

Gaza’s crisis reached a breaking point after Israel declared late last week a total closure of all of Gaza’s crossings, including that of fuel, medicine and humanitarian assistance.

Because of the fuel cuts, Gaza has recently suffered an almost total blackout as the the Strip’s sole power plant was forced to shut down on Sunday.

Automobile traffic had been brought to a near standstill after petrol stations have run out of gasoline.

According to Mahmoud al-Khuzendar, deputy-chief of Gaza’s petrol stations society, the limited supplies Israel allowed in were “not enough to meet the essential [needs] of … the Palestinian people, because the supply of diesel is going to UNRWA [the UN agency for Palestinian refugees]. It’s not going for cars, for schools … for transport or all other aspects of life.”

Nineteen-year-old Mohammad Abu Kmail, just coming back from al-Arish, carried fuel, currently as precious as gold in Gaza following Israel’s cutting off of vital imports. “I was asked by my father, who works as a taxi driver in Gaza City, to bring some fuel so that he can earn a living,” Abu Kmail explained. “We are glad that the border is open, so we can at least bring things that are unavailable in Gaza, like fuel, which my father needs to feed us.”

In an interview with Reuters news agency, John Ging, head of UNRWA in Gaza, stated “‘Gaza cannot survive for very long at all without supplies and we are teetering here for the last seven months on the brink of a catastrophe … Israel is the occupying power. It has an international legal obligation to the civilian population here in Gaza as long as it is the occupying power.’”

On Wednesday, the UN launched an emergency appeal calling for $462 million to alleviate poverty in Gaza and the West Bank.

According to the UN, the poverty rate in the occupied West Bank and Gaza as a whole stands at 57 percent, the figure rising to 79 percent when Gaza is considered alone.

Since June 2007, 90 percent of Gaza’s local industries have been forced to shut down, leaving 70,000 laborers jobless, according to the Palestinian economy ministry’s figures.

Mahmoud Abu Marrasa is an unemployed father of five living in the Shati (Beach) refugee camp in western Gaza City. Abu Marrasa depends entirely on UNRWA’s rationed food assistance.

“Once this assistance is cut,” Abu Marrasa said, “my family and I will definitely be destroyed. I might commit a crime at any time in order to ensure there’s bread for my children. Today I am 100 percent [aid dependent].”

Gaza’s fate left to the whim of an Israeli court

Rami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 15 January 2008

Gaza’s sole power plant.

It’s almost midnight. I rushed to my laptop when I saw the glow of the lamp after almost 12 hours darkness following one of the electricity cuts that hundreds of thousands of Gazans like myself have been subjected to over the past week or so.

As a journalist in Gaza, I was keen to file to my editors a story on the electricity cuts. I did the job, I talked with the people, I collected the material but when I went to my office and sat down in front of my PC, there was no electricity.

I have done my best over the past three days to have my report done in due time. I rented a benzene power generator but as soon as I plugged in my PC, the screen went black.

I came home, switched on the generator once again, and my children happily insisted on seeing their favorite TV program. However, another failure occurred, this time with the satellite receiver.

I tried to appear cheerful in front of my children, the room illuminated by a kerosene lamp. I collected my children, my nephews and niece, who live in the same building, and in lieu of cartoons, I began singing some traditional Palestinian songs and others.

The children were happy, thank God, simply because I knew how to sing. But with so many other situations in Gaza, the solution is not so simple.

At Gaza City’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, there is the infant care ward. They have incubation equipment but urgent care is crippled when there’s severe power failure.

The hospital does possess power generators, but they are for emergency situations and not suitable for day-to-day operation, says Naser al-Sa’di, the director of the infant care ward.

Three-week-old baby Sabrin Doush lies in an incubator in al-Shifa Hospital.

Dr. al-Sa’di took us on a tour of his ward, explaining how difficult the situation is for such babies under his care.

“The life of this three-week-old baby, Sabrin Doush, is threatened. If the power cuts completely, this baby is likely to die. We cannot deal manually with every baby. Therefore, more deaths are likely to happen, unless we have a continuous current.”

In another corner of al-Shifa there are 200 renal failure patients, whose lives are also threatened by the power cuts.

The department does have dialysis machines but such equipment cannot work properly under these conditions.

Dr. Mohammad Shabat, director of the department, is concerned for the lives of his patients. “They need dialysis treatent three to four times a week; electricity is very important here. The dialysis machines make errors during the power outages. Any patient who does not receive the needed dialysis within 24 to 48 hours will likely die.”

And why is the electricity cut? Gaza used to belong to the technical age. But in October an Israeli court decided to uphold the government’s decision to turn off the lights in Gaza as part of the state’s siege of collective punishment against the beleaguered Strip.

The Gaza power plant used to receive EU-funded fuel from Israel. The plant provided 45 percent of Gaza’s daily electricity needs while Israel provided for the remaining amount. Gaza’s sole power plant, all six of its transformers were destroyed by Israeli bombardment in 2006. Then this past September, ostensibly in an attempt to deter the firing of homemade rockets from Gaza into Israel, the state declared the Gaza Strip an “enemy entity,” and the following month it imposed severe cuts of fuel supplies to the coastal Strip, causing additional hardships for the already struggling population.

“The Gaza power plant needs 450,000 cubic meters of fuel to generate 80 megawatts daily. Such a quantity has been decreased to 250,000. The problem can only be resolved by the Israeli government,” says Derar al-Sisi, deputy-director of the Gaza power plant.

Al-Sisi adds, “We have appealed to all concerned bodies, including the European Union, the Palestinian Authority and even to the Israelis, through Europeans, but we have not heard an answer so far.”

In the meantime, we Gazans are trying our best to live normally as our fate is toyed with in a court in Jerusalem.

 A living martyr
Rami Almeghari writing from Shati’ refugee camp, occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 8 January 2008

The al-Khatib family’s last family portrait with Awni. (Rami Almeghari)

“He insisted that we all take a photo; it was the first in the last 12 years since we got married, as if he was feeling his death was approaching,” says Ghada al-Khatib, widow of Awni al-Khatib at their home in al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City.

Awni al-Khatib died a few days of the brain damage he suffered since 1990 when he was shot in the head by an Israeli-fired, rubber-coated steel bullet.

Awni is one of thousands of Palestinians who sustained injuries from such bullets during the first intifada that broke out in 1987.

“Awni’s state of mind has been unstable since we got married as he has always hoped for death rather than staying alive,” Ghada explains.

The young widow, in her twenties, speaks of her husband’s traits, saying was kind and tolerant, to the extent he favored his family over himself.

However, he always prayed to die sooner rather later, she recalls.

Ghada explains that Awni fainted frequently — in the street, at home and anywhere else.

“We have lost a tender and a kind-hearted husband and father, and I don’t think anything in this life can compensate us such a great loss. He had been recently insisting that we sell our house for the sake of paying back some debts. Awni was a very good father; he has always been aware, despite his fatal injury.”

Ghada concludes her talk by saying, “Abu Jehad [Awni] has simply been a living martyr.”

Awni left behind six children, including a nine-month-old daughter, who all live in a small, ill-equipped three-room home off one of the alleys of al-Shati’ refugee camp.

Abdelrahin al-Khatib says that his brother Awni was shot and wounded in the head in the Shati’ camp when he was 16 years old in 1990.

Later on, he was treated at the Israeli hospital of Tal Hashomir for a couple of months. He was moved back to Gaza when his condition stabilized, the rubber-coated steel bullet still lodged in his head.

Following the injury he suffered seizures that disrupted his daily life, and was of an unstable mood most of the time, says Mohammad.

“God has given him mercy,” believes Mohammad.

During the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising against the Israeli occupation, the Israeli army employed several means of suppressing the popular resistance, including firing rubber-coated steel bullets, disabling the bodies of thousands of stone throwers.

According to the Palestinian Wounded Society, 70,000 Palestinians were wounded between 1987 and 1993, 40 percent of them with permanent disabilities. Many suffered brain damage or had their limbs amputated.

The death of Awni al-Khatib is not the first and surely not the last of this type of injury, as there are thousands more “living martyrs.”

Hajj pilgrims stranded in Egypt

Rami Almeghari writing from Gaza City, occupied Gaza Strip, The Electronic Intifada, 1 January 2008

Palestinians attend a rally organized by Hamas urging Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing and allow around 2,000 Palestinians pilgrims to return to Gaza, 29 December 2007. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

“We are in a prison. Our situation is so miserable in the arena the Egyptian authorities have placed us in. Yesterday a 45-year-old woman pilgrim died in front of us,” says Nayef al-Khaldi. The 55-year-old al-Khaldi is stuck at an arena turned into a shelter at the Egyptian border town at al-Arish along with more than 1,100 other Palestinians, including high-ranking Hamas members, following the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The pilgrims refused Egypt’s demands that they return to Gaza through an Israeli-controlled border crossing, fearing that they would be vulnerable to arrest and interrogation. Israel and Egypt claim that Palestinians could be smuggling cash to the desperate strip. Around 2,000 returning pilgrims are stranded at the Egyptian Red Sea port of Nuweiba after traveling from Saudi Arabia via ferry.

“It’s hell. The Egyptian authorities should have taken us back to the Rafah crossing terminal instead of placing us in this sports stadium. Our situation is unbearable, as no one seems to care,” al-Khaldi explains in a phone interview.

Almost one week ago, al-Khaldi completed the pilgrimage along with his wife and sister-in-law, with whom he is waiting, suffering the cold winter days and nights.

Cairo at first allowed the entry of the pilgrims through the closed Rafah terminal but now demands these worshipers to enter through the Israeli-controlled crossing. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stated on Sunday that his country wants no embarrassment of the concerned parties.

Palestinian political analyst in Gaza, Talal Aukal, views the Egyptian move as unjustified.

“Cairo’s justification with respect to the emerging standoff is inadequate as any excuses Egypt may produce should not lead to a humanitarian crisis for such helpless believers,” he said.

Aukal believes that such a crisis will take some time as the Egyptian authorities are under pressure from other parties. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who does not have actual control over the coastal region, was reportedly heading for Egypt in the next couple of days to discuss a solution to this emerging crisis. Abbas’s government in the West Bank had earlier proposed a plan to control Gaza’s border crossings, including the Rafah crossing terminal.

The situation of the stranded pilgrims is a reminder of last summer’s impasse when about 6,000 Palestinian travelers were stranded at al-Arish town after Israel closed the crossing to Gaza for three months. The crisis resulted in the deaths of some of the travelers, mostly medical patients who had already received treatment at hospitals in nearby Arab cities, including Cairo.

As the Palestinians face yet another man-made humanitarian crisis, there are mounting fears for the health and safety of the pilgrims.

Thousands of Palestinians staged protests at the Palestinian side of the Gaza-Egypt borderline in Rafah, demanding the Egyptian authorities to allow the return of their family members through the Rafah crossing terminal.

But for al-Khaldi in al-Arish, it’s ultimately not a question of conditions of Egypt but of returning to Gaza. “Whatever services the Egyptians provide us will never relive us. What relieves us is our return back to our homes straight away.”