*Abed, sniped in 2008, slow road to partial recovery 1st published By Eva Bartlett Rafah crossing largely remained sealed under an Israeli-led, Egyptian and internationally-backed siege. It is supposed to open today. I awake in Rafah to the explosions of Israeli warplanes again bombing the tunnels along the border. For the next two days, I… Read More May 16-23, 2009
“Life is hard for Palestinian farmers in the border region near Israel. The IOF shoot at us every day, any time. They shoot at the international volunteers (ISM) also.” This was Jaber Abu Rjila testifying some of what he has experienced in the last decade on his land less than 300m from the border with… Read More Israeli forces attempts to legitimize pre-meditated murder and land annexation
-by Eva Bartlett On the morning of 4 May 2009, “israeli” troops set fire to Palestinian crops along Gaza’s eastern border with “israel”. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that 200,000 square meters of crops were destroyed, including wheat and barley ready for harvest, as well as vegetables, olive and pomegranate trees. Local… Read More Israel destroying Gaza’s farmlands: arson in Johr ad-Dik
“How do I explain to my children why we can’t buy them the clothes they need for school?” Aside from the pressing needs of food, heating in colder months, and daily necessities, the families I meet share the same worries that any parent anywhere has regarding their children: their safety, their education and future, but… Read More parental worries in poverty
*essential rehabilitation equipment, broken for nearly 2 years, needing servicing outside of Gaza A Diary: May 2-9, 2009 1st published By Eva Bartlett Saturday In the Rafah region where homeless Palestinians have tired of the siege, and of waiting for cement to ever enter Gaza, I meet Jihad, the man who is introducing mud-house-building… Read More Glimpses of Post-War Gaza (still fully under siege!)
I wake to the thud of bombings which I’d incorporated into my dreams, dividing the thuds into small and bigger explosions. In consciousness I hear more bombing and realize it’s probably the tunnels region, where people still live very close by, being bombed again. A friend will try to leave Gaza today via Rafah crossing,… Read More bombing the lifelines
I don’t need to answer the rhetorical question. I know the cliches that the US, Canada and other siege-supporting western nations will say about Hamas and terrorism and not providing material aid [the irony of Israel, committing attacks of terrorism on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, occupied Jerusalem, and the militarily-occupied Gaza Strip every… Read More who is the siege really on?
The sounds that terrified during the war –the roar of F-16s, the drones, border and sea shelling, air strikes…these still go on in Gaza. You just don’t hear about them in the mainstream media, until it’s absolutely necessary to acknowledge Israel’s terrorizing of a trapped population. And then the news goes something like “in the… Read More As the war planes loom overhead
Hadwa lives among the same cluster of impoverished shacks and broken cement houses as the other al Bateran families I’d already met. It seems the lane holds sad story after sad story, a micro-segment of Gaza’s overall suffering under siege and warfare, and every encounter of the extended al Bateran family alone reinforces this. Hadwa… Read More alone and impoverished
RAFAH, May 7 (IPS) By Eva Bartlett– Jihad el-Shaar is pleased with his mud-brick house in the Moraj district of Gaza. The 80-square metre home is a basic one-storey, two-bedroom design, with a small kitchen, bathroom and sitting room, made mostly with mud and straw. “My wife and our four daughters and I were living… Read More Denied Cement, Re-Building with Mud
In Gaza 