Dateline ACT

PT12/02

Gaza: a place of despair, but also
one of fragile hope

Gaza/Geneva, September 4, 2002
By Callie Long and Rainer Lang

 When the bulldozers move in to flatten homes, they don't only destroy the bricks and mortar, but also the dreams and hopes of those who lived in these homes - a reality that 70-year old Hedar Zenelah, living a few kilometers north of Gaza City in the occupied Palestinian Territories, faced recently.

"We have been living here for the last 50 years", he said, looking around as though trying to focus on something – something to hold onto. But there was nothing. Along with his neighbors he had been told that their houses were the next to go as part of a project to build a road that will lead to the Israeli settlements north of the city.

With the tensions between Palestinians and Israelis still high, Gaza remains a territory caught in the grip of fear - there is the daily struggle of living under occupation and the constant fear of attacks - as recently as July, Israeli F-16's bombed and destroyed an apartment building, killing 15 people, most of them children. Over a hundred people were injured.


It is in this fractured and confined world that Action by Churches (ACT) International member, Middle East Council of Churches/Near East Council of Churches (MECC-NECC) is active, working in relief and supporting those who most need help.

Hedar Zenelah whose house was one of the last few left standing in the way of the new road will soon join those who need relief. The other houses had already been demolished. On the remaining fields, farmers, driven from their homes were harvesting what was left of their crops - the fields would be bulldozed under too as part of the road-building project. A little way off an Israeli military control post "stood guard" – there to protect the ongoing construction work and the settlements further up the road.

Muhad Lubbar, a field worker with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) usually works with Palestinian refugees in Jabalia Camp. This day he had ventured further to see if he could help elsewhere too, even if only to lend his mobile phone to an old man who needed to get in touch with his son. Hedar Zenelah was desperate, as he simply did not know where he would go when he was finally forced to leave his land.

Muhad explained that the houses and fields would all be gone in a few days, "that’s why people are harvesting their cucumbers." He pointed out that according to statistics 6000 settlers already control 42% of Gaza, with just over 1,2 million Palestinians living on the rest of the land. About 400,000 people call Gaza City home, while thousands of people are crammed into the refugee camp in the heart of the city. Trapped, is how the many of the more than 800,000 registered refugees in Gaza describe it, referring to a piece of land that has been likened by countless people as the largest prison in the world.

The man who heads up MECC-NECC, Executive Secretary Constantine Dabbagh, believes in putting his faith into action in an region that continues to be besieged, where homes continue to be "demolished, crops destroyed and trees uprooted. The economy has been left in ruins with an estimated loss of over seven billion dollars … and the incursions into Palestinian controlled villages and towns causing havoc and terrorizing the whole population."

Dabbagh has only seen his daughter who lives in the West Bank once in the last three years because of restrictions on travel. She has not been allowed to visit him, because of restrictions imposed on Palestinians since the start of the second Intafada nearly two years ago. And he, as with thousands of others, cannot leave Gaza without special permission from the Israeli government.

Dabbagh says that one of MECC-NECC’s main tasks is to empower and strengthen vulnerable and marginalized Palestinians. The organisation runs several clinics and vocational projects aimed at promoting health and education amongst Palestinians living in the region. As one graduate recounts in MECC-NECC Gaza’s annual report, referring to the training he received, "(This course) has its great impact on me, before registering there I was almost lost."

Over the years, the training center, which came into being in 1958, has trained over a thousand young men, all between the ages of 14 and 16. In the past the young graduates found work easily, because of the vocational training center’s good reputation. However, since the 2^nd Intafada, things have changed according to Mahmoud Okshiyyah, a language trainer at NECC and local entrepreneur. "This is a problem," he says, referring to the fact that the young men who receive training here come as a result of dropping out of mainstream education. "Now they are trained, but with nothing to go to, as they are not allowed to work in Israel." Mahmoud says that the psychological effect of the occupation is severe. Unemployment is said to be at a staggering 70% for Palestinians in Gaza. More than 80% of the people live either on or below the poverty line.

Therefore NECC also helps those families who have truly exhausted all their resources. The matter of fact way in which the Ribaas recount the hardships they face every day does not begin to describe the despair that they must feel at not being able to provide adequately for their family. For them the two small amounts (200 Shekels - about $43 US) came just in time to cover medical bills. According to husband and wife Kemel and Miriam Ali Ribaa, they were wounded by Israeli sniper fire while out fishing. Kemel Ribaa shows the gunshot wounds to his leg and neck while explaining how hard it’s been for him and his wife to take care of their five children while recovering. He explains that his wife who was shot twice in the back is a sick woman who needs medical treatment every three weeks.

Meanwhile, Hedar Zenelah had fixed the roof of his house. He knew that it meant nothing, as his house was about to be bulldozed. "What must I do?" he asked, "my son and his family have already left. They do not dare to risk a conflict with the Israeli army."

The same held true for 28-year old Abdul Abuhlayl, who pointed to a bullet hole in the wall of his hastily erected corrugated iron shelter. His house had already been flattened. Along with his brother’s family who had lost their home too, they had built a ramshackle shelter close to a compound of a school. Abdul’s wife had just given birth to a baby and he knew that somehow he had to provide, even though work is scarce. When asked where, his response was simply," I don’t know. It is difficult to find any work at these times." Echoing what so many other Palestinians in Gaza are saying, wanting only "to live and work in peace", he proudly points to his small collection of books set up on a shelf under plastic sheeting - a small collection maybe, but one that nevertheless offers the fragile hope of a life one day returning to normal.