Solace of the sea

Many in Palestine feel that they can talk to the sea.  Many go seaside and do so, tell the sea, the moon, the stars, their troubles, their dreams, their love.

well-watered and soldier-free: the good old days on Palestinian farmland

The young farm worker wasn’t oblivious to the danger: working in the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone” is no task for the faint-hearted. But, like so many, he either needed the paid labour, or his family depends on the land.

The farmers had returned two days after their land was again ravaged by Israeli military bulldozers and tanks: 2 and 4 of each respectively. The war machines ate up the land, finished off a house they’d not quite destroyed the last time, and tore up a water source, the farmers’ well.

no strangers

My mood was terrible and I was hot, and neither was cooling down.Found myself in Gaza city’s eastern market area, not really sure where I wanted to go. Strolled through the market and began to calm, soothed by the pulse of life one finds in markets around the world. Didn’t have anything particular I wanted to buy, just wanted to feel something other than the frustration for so many shattered lives, …and other than the oppressive heat.

People called out welcomes, hello what’s-your-names, inti falistiini ? (yarayt! I’d be honoured)…

whirring, whirring

I met with a friend, to talk about his situation, the situation in general now, how he’s dealing with the pressure, the disappointments, how he finds inspiration…

During our coffee he said:

“…I have a cat. I’ve had her since I lived outside Gaza. It breaks my heart that I can’t feed her well. I buy food that’s not fit for her to eat. She eats it and gets sick, then eats it again because there’s nothing else for her. But the food is not good for her. You know, we care for cats, pets, too.”

And spoke of how many are coping with the hell of life here:

what if it were you?

A hypothetical situation, based on reality in Gaza:

You’re born into a camp. Since birth all you’ve known are tight corridors, overcrowded rooms, and the raids and invasions of the occupation. You’ve done what you can to develop yourself. Every summer, you’ve taken leadership courses and, as a teen, have volunteered with youths, teaching them arts skills or counseling in summer camps.

‘ziggit’, fed-up

*Nasser street, one of Gaza city’s main north-south streets, long in a state of unfinished repair. The street serves several of Gaza’s hospitals and clinics.

The pressure keeps building in Gaza. The siege, people locked in with no relief, no escape and no way of escaping the daily problems for even some hours, no real life, no future plans, no fun…They live under invasions, attacks, the taunting of F-16s flying over Gaza’s small surface. And people anticipate the next attacks.

nicer times in Gaza: the sea

Scenes from Gaza’s seashore, despite the many areas of contaminated water –tainted by raw sewage being pumped into the sea, no other option for treating the waste, thanks to the siege and Israeli attacks on sanitation stations.

On one occasion I went to the northern coast with friends from Ezbet Abed Rabbo. I hadn’t seen them truly happy since before the war on Gaza. During the attacks, the mother of my friends was killed as she walked on the street, going out to buy bread. Whenever I’ve seen these friends since, they’ve been plagued with a sorrow that had diminished little over 6 months.

prices up, business down: Malnutrition Begins to Bite

GAZA CITY, Jul 15 (IPS) – “No one is buying meat these days,” says Yousef Al-Jerjowi, sitting next to his butcher shop devoid of customers.

“There are some people who buy frozen meat, because it’s much cheaper: 20 shekels (five dollars) per kilo versus 60 shekels for fresh beef.”

According to the 45-year-old father of ten, while business is in general terrible, the better days are early in the month, when those with salaried jobs often receive their pay.

“On average, I might make 200 shekels a day in the first five days of the new month. Before the siege, it was 450 shekels a day. I do have some more regular customers. But they have no money. They keep a tab, and pay when they can.”

Like many Palestinians, Jerjowi used to work in Israel. “When Israel closed the borders, I had no work. So I opened a butcher shop.”

normality

I’m reading about the 3 Israeli tanks and 2 military bulldozers which invaded Beit Hanoun land earlier today, Israeli soldiers razing land and burning 5 dunums of farmland, according to local witnesses. Meanwhile, I’m vaguely aware of the hum of Israeli warplanes that have been polluting Gaza’s skies for the last 10? 20 minutes…? I don’t know exactly, at some point awareness of them occurs, then fades away…all is normal.

An explosion. Distant attack or sonic boom? People outside continue as before, so it is a sonic boom.

And as I type, I again become aware that the roar of Israeli warplanes is overhead again. So we’ll wait for the next explosion.

…and there it is, 10 minutes later.  Normal.

resisting by living

Walking the sandy lane through the As Samouni district of Zeitoun it was obvious that little had changed, nothing had improved, half a year after the Israeli attacks on Gaza which killed 48 from the Samouni family in a series of Israeli targeted shooting and shelling of the civilians.

A bulldozer had just begun the work of pushing aside the piles of broken homes, sifting, dumping, clearing away memories of life and death. But the latter remain, present in every demolished building, in the paths between homes, in the razed farmland, in the absence of family members.