In Gaza

*photo of one of the perhaps well over 20 slaughtered peace and justice passengers on board a ship bound for Gaza when Israeli commandos attacked it in international waters.

Tell me, what are you getting on your televisions and in your papers? Being surrounded by activists and watching Al Jazeera, here’s what we know:

At least 9 civilians (reports of 23, still not possible to tell as Israeli army has abducted all passengers) on board peace and justice boats headed to the Gaza Strip have been killed by armed Israeli commandos, another over 30 injured. Total numbers and names not known yet as everything is now under the control of the Israeli military and occupation regime. post continues

If your corporate media is not showing news on the Freedom Flotilla and Israel’s piracy, turn on Al Jazeera or scour the net.

The Flotilla of civilians carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza has been attacked by Israeli forces roughly 65 km Gaza’s coast… that’s international waters. post continues

A demo on the sea today, a day in advance of the anticipated arrival of the Freedom Flotilla, originally comprising 9 boats and 700 people. The Flotilla has been delayed by sudden mechanical failures, international complicity, the pull-out of the Cyprus government’s support–and its banning of boats in Cyprus waters–and more despicable but unsurprising political maneuvring. post continues

May 30, 2010 (IPS) By Eva Bartlett

Since mid 2007, Israel and Egypt, with the help of the international community, have imposed a siege of staggering severity on the 1.5 million humans in the Gaza Strip. Israeli rights group GISHA reports Israeli officials stated the purpose of the siege is “(not for security), but (to) apply ‘pressure’ or ’sanctions’ on the Hamas regime.”

The United Nations (UN) reports that “15-20% of essential medicines are commonly out of stock and there are shortages of essential spare parts for many items of medical equipment,” further noting that 80% of what comes into Gaza does so via the tunnels.

Unemployment is at nearly 60%, and 98% of industry, including factories and businesses, have been decimated by the siege and the Israeli war on Gaza.

The over 1000 tunnels running from Egypt to Gaza employ upwards of 20,000 people and allow in what is banned by Israel and closed borders: foodstuffs, oil, cooking gas, cars and car parts, medicines, appliances, clothing and shoes, building materials, livestock, school materials, cola, milk formula, cigarettes, and even people.

Since January 2008 alone, the UN reports that at least 135 Palestinians have been killed and over 200 injured, including by: crushing or suffocation; Israeli bombings; gas poisoning by Egyptian authorities; electrocution; and fuel spills.
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It’s been too long since I’ve seen the Abu Leila’s, living in a tent in Gaza’s northern Al Attatra region. The last time I visited, 31 December, the land was drenched with long-needed rain, their tent leaky and sagging beneath the water’s weight.

Only the oldest daughter is ‘home’ when I stop in, parents Saleh and Arafia having gone to the bombshell of their pre-Israeli war on Gaza home not far from the tent camp. post continues

(IPS) By Eva Bartlett- This is the month for Palestinians to remember their Nakba, or “catastrophe”, in which more than 700,000 women, men and children were pushed off their land and rendered homeless refugees by the Zionist attacks before, during and after the founding of Israel in 1948.

Isdud, a farming community to the north of Gaza’s current border, was ethnically cleansed, in the months after the expulsions began in May 1948. It was one of over 530 villages razed and destroyed after the residents were forced out by Zionist attacks.

After three nights of Israeli air bombardment, more than 5,000 Palestinian residents here were forcibly expelled from their houses and land. Most resettled in what are now overcrowded refugee camps in Gaza. post continues

*photo: Emad Badwan

IPS By Eva Bartlett  “I’ve learned most of what I know about photo editing and graphic design via the Internet,” says Emad, 27-year-old film-maker and editor. In Gaza, this sort of thing has become usual in a different way. post continues

*wheat crops bulldozed in a roughly 15 metre wide track clawed into the land by Israeli military bulldozers and tanks.

A dry winter with very late rains –at the end of January, the last possible time for planting, the farmers said –followed by a dry spring evolved into the beginnings of a dry summer.

Called yesterday to accompany farmers in the Faraheen and Khoza’a regions, each east of Khan Younis, we were suddenly busy again.  So it goes with the farmers who’ve been forced to give up high-maintenance agriculture and try for the lowest-maintenance crops possible: wheat, rye, lentils.  No more trees, they’ve all been bulldozed too many times.  Not so many potatoes, nor much parsley–they require more water than the sparse rains provided or the destroyed water cisterns, wells and piping allowed for. post continues

It’s hard, in Gaza, to find a taxi, wall, or t-shirt (including mens) that isn’t adorned with hearts. There’s an obsession with love here, in the words and in the decor.  Waiting for a taxi early morning, I see a cart that hasn’t yet set out to sell or collect whatever goods allow its owner to scrape by in a besieged Stip with roughly 50% unemployment.  The cart, of course, is dressed in hearts.
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*photo by Emad Badwan

first published: (IPS) – By Eva Bartlett

“Why are you rushing? Isn’t it nicer like this?” Mohammed Omer, oud teacher (an oud is similar to a lute) at the Gaza Music School, asks his student. Omer takes the oud and demonstrates, playing the song slowly, gracefully, with the ornamentations that are key to Arab music.

Mohammed Abu Suffiya, the 10-year-old student, has only been studying for six months but has already learned to read music and play a working rendition of a well known song by Lebanese singer Fairouz. post continues