They Will Not Go Down: Celebrating Life and Land Day

*Shaddi (red crescent)’s father: defying threats of invading Israeli tanks, he stayed in his home during the heavy shelling in his southern Gaza Strip region (Fukhari).

Less than two months have passed since the end of Israel’s grisly war on Gaza. Not a house has been re-built (there is no cement; Israel continues to ban its entry into Gaza), thousands are displaced or sheltering in an overcrowded relative’s house or renting a scarcely-available apartment. The aid has stockpiled on the other side of crossings into Gaza, many trucks being sent back or expired. And the pain of loss, let alone of seeing family members -children, siblings, parents-burned by white phosphorous, being murdered or left to bleed to death is still unbearably fresh.

Yet Palestinians are trying to move on, again,

the Samouni tragedies live on

*Mohammed, shot dead along with his mother by Israeli soldiers.

Zeitoun, Eastern Gaza

The “kill Arabs” hate grafitti reported in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz and numerous other news sources, and found throughout the Gaza Strip’s bombarded and militarily-occupied regions, is still scribbled on the walls of Mousa al Samouni (19) and the ten other members of his family’s home in the Zeitoun district east of Gaza city. On nearby walls are “you can run but you can’t hide” and “1948-2009″, references to the Nakba* and what many refer to as the new Nakba: the 3 weeks of war on Gaza. Into the walls of the family’s home Israeli soldiers punched five different snipers holes, behind which they propped themselves on bags filled with sand dug out from underneath tiles in the house.

blankets

Gaping holes in walls, rooms blackened and destroyed by fire from phosphorous shells, doors torn off of hinges, deeply-cracked walls requiring demolition and reconstruction, rocket-made skylights,  shot-up blankets covering where walls were…a house standing on trembling legs…Families huddled into one not-quite-fully-protected room, sharing too few mattresses and blankets…

These scenes replay throughout Gaza, each family devastated by their personal loss, each family wondering how to survive and where to find the money to do so.

Fatema told me of her sister, Sabrine Shamali, whose home looks fine from the outside [depending on one's notion of 'fine'.  Outside of Gaza anyone would immediately question the absence of a front wall and the pathetic attempt to cover it with a hole-riddled blanket.  But in Gaza, with such whole-scale damage, yes this house could pass for 'fine'.], but which inside was falling apart.

“Their walls are ready to fall down, the roof leaks in every room, they don’t have enough blankets,” she’d told me.  “Everything in their house was destroyed.”

I found the time to go to Schaff, northeast of Gaza city, to visit the house.

She hadn’t been exaggerating.

Israel’s war crimes coming to light

*Arafa Hani Abd al Dayem, martyred, murdered, 4 January by Israeli army

What we knew of Israel’s war crimes during Israel’s war on Gaza, what the medics, the victims, the doctors, the witnesses have testified is now gaining growing recognition. The calls for international inquiry are growing, as are the reasons.

when plastic makes all the difference

After finding the nylon warehouse, Nassim (a friend helping me out with translations and logistics), a worker, and I returned to Mohammad Kahawish’s house to lay plastic sheeting over his shabby roof. Kahawish really needs a house renovation, and the pressing problem of the many cracked walls and breaches between wall and ceiling needs to be addressed.

But the siege is still on and cement is still unavailable. These major reconstructions and repairs won’t happen for a long time, just as the thousands of houses needing to be re-built won’t be so until Egypt and Israel allow in building materials.

The temporary fix for the Kahawish family was to address their leakage problem and try to seal up their roof. The easiest and really only solution now was simply to lay plastic sheeting over the tin roof.

The job took just over an hour, Nassim’s family friend volunteering his time in a gesture of goodwill to the elderly family.

Mohammad Kahawish is completely charming, a grandfather type I would adopt if that were possible or if I had money to support their family with.

Fortunately, others have come through, as with a donor from the UK who has already sent a donation to Mohammad’s family.

Ensuring maximum casualties in Gaza

The Electronic Intifada

Darts released from a flechette bomb.

“We were still young and in love. We had all of our dreams,” Muhammad Abu Jerrad said, holding a photo of his wife by the sea. Wafa Abu Jerrad was one of at least six killed by three flechette bombs fired by Israeli tanks in the Ezbet Beit Hanoun area, northern Gaza, on 5 January.

“new” home

The Safi family moved the other day into a cramped 3 room apartment in Jabaliya camp.  Their formerly spacious home in Beit Lahia will not be re-built in the near future, like the estimated 4,000 other homes destroyed by Israel’s war on Gaza.

Finding a flat to rent was a challenging task as the need for temporary housing is high.  Challenging also because prices have gone up and the Safis are without income.

The apartment they found is bare-bones –completely unfurnished, walls tarnished with age and water stains –and lies down the tight corridors which are characteristic of a refugee camp.

Mohammad

Mohammad, wife (right) and daughter inside leaky bedroom with broken walls

An elderly man saw me walking the other morning. “Bless you, bless you,” he said, holding out his palm as I gave him 20 shekels.

What has rendered a man in his late years impoverished and begging, in a manner Palestinians are not accustomed to?

Please consider helping…

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why S can’t see his children and wife

*unpacked suitcase from failed attempt to cross the border to Egypt, to visit family.

The closed borders affect Palestinians in so many ways.  The most obvious and deadly affects are the barring entry of aid into Gaza, though it is apparently stockpiled on the Israeli and Egyptian sides, foods rotting and expiring, needed blankets and clothing sitting where not needed.

The closed borders also mean medical patients aren’t getting out, just as its been for much of the last 3 years, since Hamas was elected and the world sealed up Gaza under the inadequate descriptions “blockade” and merely a “siege”.