Gaza Mom              /* cssid=1 */ /* WARNING!! this file is dynamicaly generated changes will */ /* be overwritten with every change to the admin screen. */ /* You can add css to this file in the admin screen. */ #follow.right {width:24px;position:fixed; right:0; top:100px;background-color:#f60;padding:10px 0;font-family:impact,charcoal,arial, helvetica,sans-serif;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 5px;-webkit-border-top-left-radius:5px;-moz-border-radius-bottomleft:5px;-webkit-border-bottom-left-radius:5px;border:2px solid #fff;border-right-width:0}#follow.right ul {padding:0; margin:0; list-style-type:none !important;font-size:24px;color:black;} #follow.right ul li {padding-bottom:10px;list-style-type:none !important;margin:0 4px;} #follow.right ul li.follow {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/follow/follow-word-000-right.png) no-repeat;height:79px;margin:0 0 10px 4px;} #follow.right ul li a {display:block;} /* start text replacemnt words*/ #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.facebook {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/facebook-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:91px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.facebook:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.twitter {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/twitter-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:65px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.twitter:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.rss {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/rss-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:31px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.rss:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.stumble {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/stumble-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:134px;width:21px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.stumble:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.youtube {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/youtube-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:81px;width:21px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.youtube:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.myspace {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/myspace-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:90px;width:19px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.myspace:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.orkut {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/orkut-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:58px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.orkut:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.hyves {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/hyves-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:58px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.hyves:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.yelp {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/yelp-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:44px;width:21px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.yelp:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.linkedin {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/linkedin-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:80px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.linkedin:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.flickr {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/flickr-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:53px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.flickr:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.google_buzz {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/google_buzz-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:102px;width:21px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.google_buzz:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.yahoo_buzz {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/yahoo_buzz-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:97px;width:21px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.yahoo_buzz:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.lastfm {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/lastfm-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:65px;width:21px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.lastfm:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.newsletter {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/newsletter-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:105px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.newsletter:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.tumblr {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/tumblr-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:60px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.tumblr:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.xfire {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/xfire-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:41px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.xfire:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.foursquare {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/foursquare-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:110px;width:22px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.foursquare:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.dailymotion {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/dailymotion-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:117px;width:22px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.dailymotion:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.vimeo {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/vimeo-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:61px;width:20px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.vimeo:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.soundcloud {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/soundcloud-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:117px;width:22px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.soundcloud:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.plaxo {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/plaxo-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:52px;width:22px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.plaxo:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.coconex {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/coconex-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:83px;width:22px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.coconex:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.gowalla {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/gowalla-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:77px;width:22px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.gowalla:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.xing {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/xing-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:42px;width:21px} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.xing:hover {background-position:100% 100%;} #follow.right ul li.text_replace a.vkontakte {background:transparent url(http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810im_/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/share-and-follow/images/impact/vkontakte-word-right.png) no-repeat top left;height:96px;width:21px} 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the admin screen. */ body {background: white;font-size: 12pt;color:black;} * {background-image:none;} #wrapper, #content {width: auto;margin: 0 5%;padding: 0;border: 0;float: none !important;color: black;background: transparent none;} a { text-decoration : underline; color : #0000ff; } #menu, #navigation, #navi, .menu {display:none}                var blogUrl = 'http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810/http://www.gazamom.com'   //'); //]]>     AudioPlayer.setup("http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/podcasting/player/player.swf", { width: 290 });           Gaza Mom Motherhood. Politics. Palestine. And everything in between.       var flashvars = {}; flashvars.preloaderColor = "0xffffff"; flashvars.xmlDataPath = "http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/photos/header_slideshow1/gallery.xml?for=fc_id_364"; var params = {}; params.bgcolor = "transparent"; params.allowscriptaccess = "samedomain"; params.wmode = "transparent"; var attributes = {}; swfobject.embedSWF("http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-simpleviewer/viewer.swf", "fc_id_364", "355", "250", "6", "http://web.archive.org./web/20101010032810/http://www.gazamom.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-simpleviewer/js/swfobject/expressInstall.swf", flashvars, params, attributes);             Home About Articles Current Projects In the Media Photography Resume Reviews        Follow me on    Calendar October 2010   S M T W T F S     « Sep          12   3456789   10111213141516   17181920212223   24252627282930   31     Archives  Select Month  September 2010   August 2010   July 2010   June 2010   May 2010   April 2010   March 2010   February 2010   January 2010   December 2009   November 2009   October 2009   August 2009   July 2009   June 2009   May 2009   April 2009   March 2009   February 2009   January 2009   December 2008   November 2008   October 2008   September 2008   August 2008   July 2008   June 2008   May 2008   April 2008   March 2008   February 2008   January 2008   December 2007   November 2007   October 2007   September 2007   August 2007   July 2007   June 2007   May 2007   April 2007   March 2007   February 2007   January 2007   December 2006   November 2006   October 2006   September 2006   August 2006   July 2006   June 2006   May 2006   April 2006   March 2006   February 2006   January 2006   December 2005   November 2005   October 2005   September 2005   August 2005   July 2005   June 2005   May 2005   March 2005   February 2005   January 2005   December 2004   November 2004   August 2001   TagsActivism Arabic food Art BDS Cast lead Electricity flotilla Food Free Gaza Free Gaza Movement Gaza gaza; activism; roger waters; Palestine; Gaza; Egypt; Tunnels Gaza; Israel; Kids; Siege; Gaza; Israel; Palestine; Hamas Gaza; Israel; Shalit gaza; palestinian food Gaza; Ramadan; Eid; Israel; IDF Gaza; settlements; Israel; Hamas; agriculture Gaza blogosphere; Gaza; Palestine human rights Iran Israel Israel; BDS; Activism; War Crimes; Zionism kids Mass Media Music Navy negotiations NPR Occupation Palestine Palestinian Authority Palestinian cooking PLO Racism Ramadan Ramallah Settlements siege Terrorism UN United States US   Search this Blog Search for:    Blogroll  Angry Arab News Service Electronic Intifada Gaza Kitchen Ghazzawiyya Informed Comment by Juan Cole Just World News Kabobfest Max Blumenthal Mondoweiss Sabbah Report Tabula Gaza   My Work  The Gaza Kitchen You Are Not Here   Donate-support my work!Pls. take a moment to make a small donation to support my work. 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    The Gaza Kitchen       Flipterview with blogger Lina al-Sharif   09/14/2010     Last week, I sat down with 21 year old blogger Lina al-Sharif, author of the blog “Live from Gaza: 360 km2 of chaos“, and asked her a few questions for an upcoming article on social media activism in Gaza. When we were done, I thought-why not whip out my Flip and do a quick interview (or as I call it, flipterview) for my blog? So I present to you a blogger on blogger exclusive: Take 5 with Lina al-Sharif (and pardon the thumbnail that has me blinking mid-sentence!).

       Click To Play   

  Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post   0        Add Comment » 1 Comment       ‘Twas the night before Eid…in Gaza   09/09/2010     

 Eid in Gaza is a very strange thing. Then again, what is not strange here except strangeness itself?

 On one hand, the streets become one large shopping district,  as sidewalks become an extension of the shops that overlook them, with street sellers popping up overnight and displaying their fare on outdoor racks and kiosks…offering everything from cheap tunnel goods, toys, handbags, knockoff perfumes and knockoff clothes, beads and bracelets and nick knacks, all for “super-low Eid prices!”, as the man in the freaky bear costume kept reminding us.  You can barely navigate through the crowds, and so many opt to stay indoors: “its a jungle out there-stay away!!”.

 

 But this is Gaza, and people seldom get a chance to take a “breather”. Its been a long, brutally hot Ramadan. So they say they don’t dare step out, but they do anyway. Its exciting, to hell with the crowds!

 After a long day spent in Beit Lahiya, and later, editing, I decided to take the kids to the Shalehat beach resort (sounds much fancier than it is…but one of the only open grassy areas they can run around in). In the last minute, we changed our plans and decide to go get some ice cream at “Mr. Kathem’s” instead (Gaza’s oldest ice cream parlor). 

 One street stall catches my attention-a man selling hand-woven rugs, a very old and dying artisan tradition in Gaza so I stop and peruse the selection.

 Then-BOOM, the earth shakes, people begin screaming. There is chaos, for a moment, on top of the chaos already present from Eid eve, which is itself another layer of chaos to the already chaotic and indiscernible situation that is Gaza. 

 One person asks another asks another and we realize Israel has bombed 4 locations in Gaza, one of them being a complex next to the Shalehat resort we were supposed to be in minutes earlier. Injuries? Dead? “None…no wait 2, no 4…serious.” 

 

 “This is Israel’s way of saying “Happy Eid Gaza!”" remarked one man casually, as he licked an ice cream cone he just bought from Kathem’s and took in the holiday scenes.

 

 The police are on alert, there are ambulances streaming by. Tension ebbs and flows. 

 Then, its “as you were”. People continue shopping. It is Eid, after all. And this is Gaza.

  Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post   0    Tags: Gaza; Ramadan; Eid; Israel; IDF    Add Comment » 15 Comments       Gaza Mom-the book! Coming soon to a bookstore near you…   09/06/2010     I’m happy to report I’ve finished work on my upcoming book, Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting and Everything in Between (Just World Publishing). The book is due out October 14. JWP’s wonderful team of editors, under the lead of Helena Cobban, are hard at work putting the finishing touches on the book. Look for it soon!

 

  Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post   0        Add Comment » 3 Comments       Gaza towards self-suffiency?   09/05/2010     “Whatever became of the settlement lands? Such lost opportunities! The land has returned and what waste”, we hear time and again from Zionist apologists and their kind. “If only Gazans would make a life for themselves rather than blaming their problems on others!” 

 Leaving aside the obvious question of how a territory and its people whose every marker of sovereignty is effectively controlled by an occupying power that nevertheless refuses to recognize its responsibility as an occupier can “build a state” and “make a life”, the Gaza government has actually been doing some pretty impressive things.

 On Thursday, I had the opportunity to tour “mu7ararat Gaza”-the liberated lands of Gaza, i.e. the former settlements.

 A greenhouse in the former settlement of Neve Dekalim, now being used to grow fruits

 It was a follow-up to an interview colleague Maggie Schmitt and I did with the Minister of Agriculture, Mohammad Al-Agha. In consultation with dozens of international and local NGOs, the Gaza Ministry has drawn up an impressive “ten-year plan” aimed at reducing Gaza’s dependence on imported Israeli produce, incorporating organic farming on a wider scale, and generally “helping Gaza help itself” through a return to more sustainable agricultural practices (such as relying more on rain-fed crops rather than cash cropping for export which involves wasteful amounts of water and an abundance of pesticides, and is subject to the whim of Israeli authorities and their punitive border closure).

 The plan has been mocked by many people Maggie and I spoke with in the private or nongovernmental sectors: Gaza can never be self-sufficient! And why should it? It doesn’t make economic sense! 

 So we were curious-what was the eye rolling about? Was it as laughable as they made it seem? In short: not at all. In fact I think few people have actually read the thick manifesto (it hasn’t been published yet, but we got a sneak peak).

 A worker gathers dried vegetable plants to prepare for composting

 In the former settlement of Kfar Darom, where sniper towers once lined the landscape, there is a massive organic composting facility for seasonal plants (as well as a sewage water composting for trees) and pilot organic farm where workshops are conducted to teach local farmers organic practices. Those who choose to implement organic farming are rewarded with free compost and saplings. 

 In the former Gush Qatif bloc, further south, infinite rows of several varieties of date palms and young olive saplings, both rain-fed crops that do very well in Gaza, dot the horizon as far as the eye can see. 

 In another section of this vast empty expanse is the “fruit garden”: carefully landscaped donums of a variety of fruit trees, marked with signs by each row, such as mangoes, citrus, apples, and stone fruits. Gaza now relies heavily on imported fruits from Israel, as tens of thousands of its own trees were razed to the ground during the second Intifada, and most recently during Cast Lead. “We hope within 3 years, for these trees to begin to bear fruit, and within 5, for the olives and dates to become productive,” explained my guide.

 Perhaps most interesting of all was a farm which grows Oyster mushrooms in closely monitored environs, under the enthusiastic watch of agricultural engineer Amjad al-agha . Agricultural Engineer al-Agha showing off his mushrooms

 The resulting products are either dried or ground and sold to local restaurants, which use them for soup, salads, and sandwiches, and curries, or distributed in plastic baskets to a woman’s empowerment group to finish cultivating and ultimately to sell as a form of income generation.

 Al-Agha said the mushrooms provide an alternative source of protein for people, and are a relatively quick and easy to grow (I keep getting asked if there is any export of these products: no, since there no exports-save for some flowers that the Dutch feverishly lobbied the Israeli government to release-being allowed out by Israel. There was also a fish farm, a chicken farm, and much more.

 “The idea is to implement a strategic shift in the vision for Gaza’s agricultural sector, as a response to the situation we are now in for the foreseeable future” explained Minister Agha. “We are not looking to be 100% self-sufficient; in fact we are not even saying this is possible, but we are looking to increase local food production, organic agriculture, and self-sufficiency overall.” 

 Still, some local experts are critical, saying that without including technocrats in the process, or seeking skilled local consultants that could help them with the methodology, implementation, and possibly exports, they will never be able to reach the level of sophistication they desire.

 “Gaza could specialize in mushroom cultivation, for example. What we need is a kind of semi-government that would help bridge the gap between the Hamas government and European governments, and to provide the financial and political backing behind such a project” economist Omar Shaban explained, adding that many in the Hamas government are “resistant and suspicious of such an idea”.

 The plan and the projects are seen locally as markers of the ability of the Hamas government to defy the siege and its impacts, even if the results have yet to be seen very far in the future. 

 For more on this topic, check out Jon Elmer’s “Going organic: The siege on Gaza“.

  Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post   2    Tags: Gaza; settlements; Israel; Hamas; agriculture    Add Comment » 5 Comments       The parameters of peace   09/03/2010     Here are excerpts of my latest piece in the Hill’s pundits blog, which asked me to respond to the question: Can the Obama administration forge a peace agreement, and what steps should it be taking in Mideast policy?  I’ll be honest. From my vantage point here in Gaza, where I’ve been for the past two months, it’s really, really difficult to approach this question seriously. Besieged and prevented from developing or prospering, with no exports and few people being allowed out and minimal raw materials being allowed in, Palestinians here are wondering what exactly we are negotiating over and who exactly Mahmoud Abbas is representing. (As one astute observer on Twitter noted, “himself, of course, who else”.) A peace agreement with no broad representation, head by a president with no legal authority or credibility, generally speaking, is not a good way to kick things off.

 This is leaving aside the question of what exactly these direct talks will be about.

 Palestinians have tired of piecemeal agreement with empty promises, a showcase of handshakes and ceremonies. They have become desensitized to the word “negotiations” — offended, even, by the mere notion of negotiations and their implications in their current context. For them, negotiations have meant nothing but concessions, emboldening Israeli security, and further strangulation. 

 Take the last much-publicized “back on track” attempt: Annapolis. Then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly went so far as to promise not to build new settlements or expropriate land! Well, by that measure (which, needless to say, didn’t pan out according to promise), we’ve gone backwards, granting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his wish of “talks without preconditions” (we’ve gone backwards in any case, but you get my drift). . .

 Even if there was a commitment to freeze settlements, there will inevitably be a way around it. More Palestinian land will be expropriated and current settlements expanded to account for their “natural growth”, until they resemble towns, not colonies, and have them legitimized by a U.S. administration looking for some way to save face. And then there will be promises to raze outposts.

 Oslo has been around for 17 years now. Almost two decades. It’s really mind-boggling when I say it out loud like that. Simply because if you take a good, hard look at the reality on the ground for Palestinians and what has happened in those 17 years, you would be hard-pressed to believe that any new negotiations will bear any fruit without a fundamental shift in the underlying process. 

 During that period, Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise doubled while Palestinian poverty and unemployment rates reached historic heights, due in no small part to Israel’s closure regime and policy of de-development. More than 300,000 illegal Jewish settlers now live on 42 percent of the West Bank land where the Palestinians want to establish their future country, according to a July report by the Israeli human rights group BTselem. Meanwhile, the prospect of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state has been rendered next to impossible, leading many Palestinians to consider new options.

 There is increasingly talk amongst Palestinians now of a desire for a strategic shift of their own vis-a-vis their political aspirations: from a two-state solution toward a call for one democratic country, with equal rights for all. This is the only sustainable, viable, and just option for both peoples.

 Gaza has been cast aside for the moment, but in thought and in words. Yet if any new negotiations stand any chance of succeeding, they must include Gaza — and its government — in the debate. Never mind talk of dedication to Israel’s destruction. The charter of Netanyahu’s Likud Party flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state. Yet miraculously, America not only negotiates with Israel but allows Israel to push it around, by many an Israeli prime minister’s own admission…

 As one prominent Palestinian-American tweeter put it Thursday night, “Now that Israel got its wish of talks ‘without preconditions’ I expect [Hamas leader] Khaled Meshal will soon get his invitation to Washington.”

 If the Obama administration is indeed serious about peace, the parameters are clear, and have been for decades. The Israeli government must explicitly endorse a viable, contiguous, sovereign Palestinian state, something they have not yet done. Israel must suffer consequences for non-compliance.

  Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post   1    Tags: Israel, negotiations, Palestine, Ramallah, US    Add Comment » 6 Comments       UNRWA’s Ramadan Ad: Its a Wonderful, Wonderful Life   08/30/2010     Brilliant commercial run by Kuwaiti mobile telecommunications giant Zain on behalf of UNRWA and Palestinian refugees. It is poetic, artistic, and moving all at once without being generic and polemical. The message is not “doom and gloom”, it is “resilience and reality”…life despite the hardship. 

 

  Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post   2    Tags: Gaza, Ramadan, UN    Add Comment » 4 Comments       Ramadan in Gaza: its in the details   08/29/2010     A fellow Palestinian blogger noted the other day on Twitter that none of us had written up a Ramadan post. Ramadan is a very special time as any Muslim will tell you. But it also brings with it its own unique set of challenges. It is spiritually uplifting, but it is also physically exhausting.

 In Gaza, these challenges are multiplied tenfold. This Ramadan came amidst a merciless heat wave across Palestine. Ordinarily, one can find ways around this by staying indoors or cooling off in front of a fan of air conditioning. But no so in Gaza, where we were enduring continuous 9 hour electricity outages: 8 hours of electricity, 9 hours without, 8 hours of electricity, 9 hours without…and on and on. Since a fuel agreement was reached a few days ago, we are now privileged and get an average of 15-20 hours straight of power, then 12 hours without…not sure which is worse! But the Jerusalem Post reports today that Israel has “balked at a request” by Tony Blair to boost the amount of electricity it supplies to the Gaza.

 Combine that with the blocked off urban construction, and you have your very own personal saunas.

 Electricity aside, there is the issue of access to fresh foods. Few people buy “fresh” meat anymore, opting instead for lower grade imported frozen meat that sells for the half the price. Once again, it must be emphasized: the issue in Gaza is not availability of foods; it is accessibility. The flow of goods in Gaza waxes and wanes with each passing week, a perplexing combination of “premium” Israeli goods and a small amount of West Bank products; tunnel commodities (such as processed cheeses, but also Egyptian lemon-limes and cows); and other “foreign” goods, mainly from Turkey. This is not to mention that one cannot preserve fresh or even cooked foods more than a couple of days, given the lack of electricity to power refrigerators.

 Yet, what I’ve increasingly noticed is that they here are finding ways to make ends meet, to “cope” if you will. Some food aid from here, some zakat from there, some relatives living abroad: many manage in a piecemeal fashion. But they resent being depicted as beggars or victims. Still, the situation takes its toll. You have to look for the signs.

 We recently went to visit a friend of my mother’s, Um Rami, who is a widow and works as a seamstress in her spare time out of her Shati Refugee camp home. She was kind enough to let us photograph her cooking (and alter a heap of clothes for us).

 I noticed her iftar consisted of the following: noodle soup (made with a bouillon cube); rice (from UNRWA food aid); tomato salad (dagga); and mulukhia-made with a couple of chicken wings. 

 

 She was beaming as she recounted traditional recipes passed down to her from her grandmother from their village of Beit jirja and sharing stories with us about her late father’s favorite foods. “The best gift my father-who lived in Saudi Arabia for a long time-confessed to ever receiving was some khubayza (Malvaccae, a member of the mallow family that grows in the wild, and whose leaves are cooked much in the way mulukhia would be) I brought him from Gaza”. Um Rami she wasn’t coming to my door begging or crying for handouts or even wailing in front of television cameras: I saw the hardship in her soup.

 

 And so Ramadan here takes on a more solemn, persevering character. And it is the hospitality, the humor and the incredible resilience of the people that shines the most this month.

  Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post   2    Tags: Food, Gaza, Ramadan    Add Comment » 11 Comments       Gaza goes organic   08/10/2010     While out doing field research for The Gaza Kitchen yesterday, Maggie and I stumbled upon what we think is Gaza’s only “certified organic” farm. Now before you roll your eyes, keep in mind this is not a departure but a return to very traditional farming practices of pre-1948 days, when life and livelihoods were violently and abruptly disrupted. 

 

 With the Nakba, industrialization, modernization, and occupation changed all this. Land for pasture became limited was stolen; semi-nomadic lifestyles reduced; then came new kinds of insects and bugs, followed by the uncontrolled use of pesticides and with unpredictable access to borders for exporting their goods, many farmers began to adopt an all of nothing risk differential, trying to increase output on whatever land they had and sell as much as they could as quickly as they could, to hell with the pesticides and long-term impact on the people and the land. 

 Abu Yasir was not one of them. Co-founder of the “Safe Agricultural Producers” with Majdi Dabour, who studied organic agricultural engineering in Santa Cruz, California, he insists that his pilot Gaza farm is the wave of the future, and more productive and sustainable in the long-term. 

 “Here, insects and birds are welcome. We send them personal invitations” joked Abu Yasir. 

 Abu Yasir

 The project was initially funded by Norwegian People’s Aid, and for a while 60 other farmers were supported and trained in the techniques of natural pest management, which became especially popular after fertilizers and pesticides were difficult to obtain due to the Israeli siege. “But when the funding stopped, so did they.” said Abu Yasir. Many still adopt certain organic practices however, and two of the farmers who were were “converts” remained to work on the pilot project . The farm produces its own compost, has a rain catchment for winter, among other techniques (like lining the farm with basil plants and encouraging bees, both of which naturally repel undesirable insects).

  Abu Yasir said they have customers, “but no market, export or otherwise”. They consist mainly of private consumers who either call with an order in a CSA-style arrangement, or come directly to the farm to “pick-their-own”. One woman we met, Sameera Hamdan, is a widower of 8 children and a breast cancer survivor who has had one mastectomy. Her children also recently fell ill with pesticide poisoning. “For this reason we come and buy Abu Yasir’s vegetables” she beamed, hands heavy with 6 kilos of tomatoes. 

 The prices are roughly the same as conventional produce, explained Abu Yasir “because its cheaper for us to produce it, just more labor-intensive”. 

   Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post   2        Add Comment » 2 Comments       Gaza-the prison camp that is not?   08/06/2010     It’s three years since I’ve been back to Gaza. Much has happened since my last visit. Fatah waged a failed coup and now rules only the West Bank, while Hamas is in charge of Gaza. Israel launched its deadly Cast Lead assault. Fuel shortages. Electricity crises. And so on.

 I needed to regain perspective. So I walked and I talked and I listened. I went to the beach where women – skinny jeans and all – were smoking water pipes, swimming and generally having a good time, irrespective of the purported Hamas ban on women smoking sheesha.

 During the eight hours of electricity we get each day, I logged on to the internet and browsed the English-language papers. It seemed like suddenly everyone was an expert on Gaza, claiming they knew what it’s really like. Naysayers Zionist apologists and their ilk have been providing us with the same “evidence” that Gaza is burgeoning: the markets are full of produce, fancy restaurants abound, there are pools and parks and malls … all is well in the most isolated place on earth – Gaza, the “prison camp” that is not.

 If you take things at face value, and set aside for a moment the bizarre idea that the availability of such amenities precludes the existence of hardship, you’ll be inclined to believe what you read.

 So, is there a humanitarian crisis or not? That seems to be the question of the hour. But it is the wrong one to be asking.

 The message I’ve been hearing over and over again since I returned to Gaza is this: the siege is not a siege on foods; it is a siege on freedoms – freedom to move in and out of Gaza, freedom to fish more than three miles out at to sea, freedom to learn, to work, to farm, to build, to live, to prosper.

 Gaza was never a place with a quantitative food shortage; it is a place where many people lack the means to buy food and other goods because of a closure policy whose tenets are “no development, no prosperity, and no humanitarian crisis“, Gisha, the Legal Centre for the Freedom of Movement, explained in a press release.

 The move from a “white list” of allowable imports to a “black list” might sound in good in theory (ie everything is banned except xyz, to only the following things are banned) but in practice only 40% of Gaza’s supply needs are being met, according to Gisha. The Palestinian Federation of Industries estimates that only a few hundred of Gaza’s 3,900 factories and workshops will be able to start up again under present conditions

 Sure, there are a handful of fancy restaurants in Gaza. And yes, there is a new mall (infinitely smaller and less glamorous than it has been portrayed).

 As for food, it is in good supply, having found its way here either through Israeli crossings or the vast network of tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. Of course, this leaves aside the question of who in Gaza’s largely impoverished population (the overwhelming majority of whose income is less than $2 a day, 61% of whom are food insecure) can really afford mangoes at $3 a kilo or grapes at $2 a kilo. A recent trip to the grocery store revealed that meat has risen to $13 a kilo. Fish, once a cheap source of protein, goes for $15 to $35 a kilo. 

 Prices are on par with those of a developed country, except we are not in a developed country. We are a de-developed occupied territory.

 All of the above adds up to the erasure of the market economy and its replacement with a system where everyone is turned into some kind of welfare recipient. But people don’t want handouts and uncertainty and despair; they want their dignity and their freedom, employment and prosperity and possibility.

 Perhaps most significantly, they want to be able to move freely – something they still cannot do.

 Let’s take the case of Fadi. His father recently had heart surgery. He wanted to seek followup care abroad, at his own expense, but he doesn’t fall into the specified categories allowed out of Gaza for travel, whether through Egypt or Israel. “He’s not considered a level-one priority,” Fadi explained. “Can you please tell me why I can’t decide when I want to travel and what hospital I can take him to?”

 Even the cream of Gazan high-school students must lobby the Israeli authorities long and hard to be allowed out to complete their studies. They literally have to start a campaign in conjunction with human rights groups to raise enough awareness about their plight, and then look for local individuals to blog about their progress, explained Ibrahim, who was approached by one organisation to “sponsor a student”.

 I have no doubt that if Stephanie Gutmann and Melanie Phillips lived in Gaza their principle worry would not be about “what parts of their bodies they can display”, it would be the fact that they would not be allowed out again. It would be because everything from the kind of food they would have on their plate to when they can turn on the lights to what they can clothe those bodies with and whether or not they can obtain a degree is determined by an occupying power.

 Using the phrase “prison camp” to describe Gaza, as Britain’s prime minister did, is not vile rhetoric. It is an understatement and even a misnomer. Prisoners are guilty of a crime, yet they are guaranteed access to certain things – electricity and water, even education – where Gazans are not. What crime did Gazans commit, except, to quote my late grandmother, “being born Palestinian”?

 Ketchup and cookies may be flowing to Gaza in slightly greater quantities than before. But so bloody what? Goods for export are not flowing out. Nor, for that matter, are people. So while there may be some semblance of civil life and stability in Gaza, there is absolutely no political horizon or true markers of freedom to speak of.

 And as long as freedom of movement is stifled, whether by Israel or Egypt, and export-quality goods, which account for a large portion of Gaza’s manufacturing output, are forbidden from leaving Gaza, all the malls and mangoes in the world won’t make a bit of difference.  This article was originally published in the Guardian’s Comment is Free.

  Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post   2    Tags: Gaza, siege    Add Comment » 10 Comments       Gaza at night (and at day)!   08/05/2010           Click To Play   

 This is what Gaza sounds like when the electricity goes off. Depending on what neighborhood you live in, you will either lose your power in the morning or at night in rotating 8 hour blocks (at 10 am, 2pm and 10pm). The generators have become a fixture of Gaza’s streets now, and power everything from a single computer to an entire 15 story building, depending on their size and horsepower. The countdown to “powering off” is absolutely depressing. Residents now schedule their days around the electricity-opting to visit relatives or friends who are on the “opposite” schedule when their power is off, for example, or working in cafes with large generators instead of their own offices of homes. There have been over 100 generator-related deaths reported according to the UN (carbon monoxide poisoning, accidental fueling explosions, and so on) in addition to an increase in resipiratory illnesses. Blogger Ibrahim Jabour joked on Twitter the other day “can I add to my CV under ‘special skills’ that I am an expert in generator repair and fueling?”

 Gaza suffers from a dire energy crisis (there is a 60% energy deficit, according to a recent report by OXFAM). The root of Gaza’s power crisis stretches back to June 2006 when Israeli airstrikes destroyed all six Gaza Power Plant (GPP) transformers (the power plant resumed operations five months later but at reduced capacity) as retribution for the capture of Gilad Shalit. After Hamas consolidated its power on the Strip in 2007 following the failed Fateh coup, Israel blockaded the territory and began to restrict fuel imports and equipment to Gaza resulting in a a chronic shortfall in the power plant’s production and a mass-dependence on back-up diesel powered generators. Besides earlier attacks, Cast Lead severely damaged the power plant, putting it on the verge of collapse, exacerbated by the destruction of power lines supplying electricity from Israel and Egypt.

 For more, see GISHA’s “Electricity Shortage in Gaza: Who Turned Out the Lights?” 

 Also see Dissident Voice’s “Gaza’s Electricity Crisis“.

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