Penny
and her affinity group made it through the Erez border crossing
and they are currently in the Gaza Strip. She says it gets "as
hot as hell," the temperature is in the upper 90s to 100,
and they sweat profusely all the time. Her affinity group is now
composed of twelve internationals (nine Americans -- including
two from Los Angeles, and Penny from the San Francisco Bay Area,
one Canadian, a British woman who speaks Arabic, and one Italian).
The group always attracts a huge crowd wherever they go. Penny
says that the people there are very hospitable, warm, and glad
to see them. Not many international people come to Gaza, because
Gaza is like a prison in the sense that no Palestinians can enter
or exit. The presence of their group helps to break this isolation.
IN
THE REFUGEE CAMPS
The group has been staying at the National Association for Development
and Services (a welfare-type center) in the Ensurat Refugee Camp
which is on the outskirts of the central part of Gaza. Penny reports
that they're eating a lot of pita and hummus and drinking a lot
of Turkish coffee. Everyone they visit gives them coffee and melon,
even though the people are desperately poor. Eighty percent of
Gaza is under the poverty line- the poverty level for a family
of six is roughly $200 per month.
ALI
The ISM coordinator in Gaza they have been working with is a man
by the name of Ali. Ali has nine children and has been in prison
as a political prisoner. He said that the Israelis imprisoned
him for distributing food to poor families and that he was called
a terrorist. "Our mission is unconditional love," he
says, and he is thrilled that half of Penny's affinity group is
Jewish. He says that the Palestinian people know the difference
between the Jewish people and Israeli government policy. Ali tells
everyone they meet that the group is there in solidarity with
the Palestinians and against the Occupation. On Monday (July 1st)
the group was down by the beach, playing with kids as the sun
was setting. Ali asked the children, "What if there are some
Jews who are against Sharon and support Palestinian rights. Do
we hate them?" The kids said "No, we love them."
LACK
OF WATER
On Tuesday (July 2nd) the group met with the mayor of the town
and learned about the water situation. The Israelis control the
water, have the best water, and will only sell a certain amount
to the Palestinians, claiming that they need the rest for Israel.
The town (refugee camp?) has two wells, but the water is rackish.
There is too much salt in the water, which causes kidney problems;
the water also has nitrates, which cause cancer. The affinity
group was interested in taking action on water issues because
water is a clear issue that people in other countries might be
able to understand, and because it has global connections to issues
of water access.
Another
problem is that at least one of the wells is broken. When a worker
goes to try and fix the well, soldiers shoot at him. The group
decided to accompany the worker to the well, although it is near
the settlement of Netzarim. The group did lots of preparation
and then walked up the road to the settlement holding up their
passports and white flags. They also brought a Reuters reporter
with them. The reporter had been shot three times in different
confrontations, so he declined to go all of the way with them,
and instead used a telephoto lens.
When
they got to the tower where the soldiers were stationed, the group
yelled up to talk with them. The soldiers in the tower sent down
a Jeep with soldiers who talked to them. The soldiers told them
that they would have to get permission from the Israeli authorities
to go to the well. The group was also worried about going to the
well because they were told that there might be land mines near
the well, which is another reason why they wanted to mention their
plan to the soldiers. The group then left after this conversation.
Since
that conversation, the group has spent time making calls to various
Israeli bureaucrats to get permission to accompany the worker
to the well. However, they continue getting the runaround and
have not yet reached the right person who would give them permission,
but are not yet giving up.
KFAR-DAROM
CHECKPOINT
On Monday (July 1st) the group went to the Kfar-Darom checkpoint.
There, in the boiling heat, they saw hundreds and hundreds of
cars and buses backed up and waiting for the checkpoint to open.
They arrived at 2:00pm and some of the cars had been there since
the morning. Approaching the guard station – located high
up and with soldiers' guns pointed -- with their passports up
in the air, they told the soldiers that they were visiting from
the U.S. and Canada, that they wanted to go through to Rafah Refugee
Camp, and asked them to please open the checkpoint. The soldiers
told them that it would be opened in five minutes, which turned
out to be true. The soldiers then let about fifty cars through
and then re-closed the checkpoint. After a while they let another
20 cars through, repeating this stop and start pattern. Throughout
this whole time the soldiers didn't check a single ID card.
Clearly
the checkpoint was not being used for security, but only for power
and control. Ali told the group that this sort of behavior by
the soldiers at the checkpoint "arouses hatred in people."
Ali said that it was because of the affinity group's presence
that the checkpoint was open. "One day the peacemakers will
win because international people support the Palestinians and
those people are increasing." He also said, "This was
my dream: One day Israel will be my neighbor. There are a lot
of people like me who believe this. We are ready to forgive. One
day you will come here as tourists, not to stand at checkpoints."
RAFAH
REFUGEE CAMP
Thursday night, nine homes were demolished in Rafah, making a
total of twenty homes this week that were demolished along the
Gaza/Israel border. These homes are all in the Hi-al-Barazil neighborhood.
When she visited the site Friday, Penny and her group saw clothing,
books, and olive trees in a large heap. They spoke with families
in the homes left standing along the edges and saw bullet holes
in the walls. They spoke with one mother whose terrified two-year
old child has stopped talking. Palestinians are afraid that the
home demolitions may mark the beginning of a new assault on Gaza,
which come together with a car bomb on Thursday night which some
Palestinians believe was carried out by Israeli forces. (The bomb
killed Jihad Amerin, 38, the Gaza leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades,
and Nael Namera, 27, from Gaza, a lieutenant in the Palestinians'
security forces. Reports indicate that five Palestinians were
injured in the blast.)
Penny's
group is now organizing an international presence to stay in the
homes next to the ones that were demolished, because the residents
are afraid that the bulldozers will return tonight. The group
is informing the Israeli army that its members will be staying
in the homes, alerting the media, and making signs that they will
put in the windows. The signs say, "International Solidarity
Movement," "Families Live Here," "The Whole
World Is Watching," "USA, Canada, and Great Britain
with Palestine." The group plans to stay in one or more houses
for as long as necessary, acting as "human shields".
Penny and another group member had previously planned to leave
Gaza on Saturday (July 6th), but may stay longer in Gaza if necessary.
Penny reports that she feels good about taking this action and
is as prepared as she can be.
OTHER
NOTES
The ISM presence in Gaza is less about direct action and more
about solidarity, witnessing the situation, making connections
to find out what the community needs, and breaking the isolation.
Although theirs is not the first ISM group to go to Gaza, they
are one of the first, as the ISM is just starting to develop a
presence there. Penny thinks this is very important, even though
the work is less dramatic than in most of the other places.
Penny
reports that the ISM has a presence in Jenin, Nablus, Hebron,
Ramallah, Gaza and Deir Ibzi'a and that more internationals are
coming in. Unfortunately there were also a group of Italians who
were coming to participate in a human chain for peace as well
as delegates from a Fellowship of Reconciliation group who got
turned away at the airport.
In closing,
Penny recalled what Adam Shapiro (an American and co-organizer
of the ISM) said at a speech in Berkeley several weeks ago. According
to Adam, he is there in Palestine, not to do things for the Palestinians,
but to do things with them.
