Tag: Beit Hanoun

Beit Hanoun, 63 years and 300 meters later

19 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

The Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, happened sixty three years ago.  The theft of Palestinian land continues even today.  Every Tuesday, for the last three years, the people of Beit Hanoun have protested both the occupation and Israel’s three hundred meter “buffer zone” which Israel has declared on Palestinian land near the border of Gaza.  We gathered today, like we do every Tuesday near the agricultural college in Beit Hanoun.  Local farmers warned us that for the last couple of days Israeli forces had been camped out in the abandoned houses near the border.  Just as their grandfathers were driven from their homes by Zionist violence, so these farmers were driven out of their homes by Zionist violence.  Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Over the weekend six were injured in Beit Hanoun when Israel bombed a well in the middle of a residential district.

At eleven A.M. we set off toward the wall, toward the land that their grandfathers were expelled from.  A drone buzzes overhead.  We can see the clouds of dust raised by the movement of Israeli tanks on the other side of the wall.  The farmland in the “buffer zone” has been newly desecrated, bulldozed again, an area that used to be fields and orchards that had been reduced to a few hardy weeds, now devoid of even weeds.  The Palestinian flags that we had planted there during previous demonstrations buried under the earth.  Given the warnings of Israeli soldiers in the abandoned houses and the bombing over the weekend, we were all more nervous than usual.  Bella Ciao boomed out over the megaphone, but few sang along, most of us thinking our own thoughts, worrying alone.

We walked past the last tree still standing, a beautiful tree covered in fragrant pink flowers.  We entered the newly destroyed “buffer zone”, stopped, planted new flags, dreamed of planting new trees, of seeing a dead zone brought back to life.  People looked into the distance, dreaming of their grandfathers trees, trees that many of them have never been allowed to see, their fruit stolen by the grandchildren of the same people who drove their grandfathers from their land.  We chanted for a free Palestine.  Dust rose from the movement of an Israeli tank.  We returned to Beit Hanoun, but at least we had left a flag behind to commemorate that we were there, that the grandchildren of the cleansed still live.

Gaza man found dead, another injured due to Israeli shelling

16 July 2011 | Palestine News Network

A Palestinian man, who went missing during an Israeli attack on a tunnel in Rafah city, southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, was found dead this morning, local sources reported.

Ibraheem al-Bayok, 21, went missing on Thursday when Israeli jetfighter bombarded the tunnel he works in at the borders with Egypt. Five workers were injured on Thursday while al-Bayok and another worker went missing inside the collapsed tunnel.

Earlier another man was injured when an Israeli military drone fired a missile at a group of residents gathered near their home in Beit Hanoun, a town in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources said that the man sustained moderate wounds and was moved to a hospital in the town.

The recent escalation came after the Israeli military claimed that Palestinian fighters have resumed the firing of Qassam home-made shells at Israeli targets near Gaza.  Israeli sources reported three Qassam shells over the past three days none caused injuries or damage.

Three years have come and gone in Beit Hanoun

12 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Three years of protests have come and gone in Beit Hanoun. Every week, for three years, the people of Beit Hanoun have come out to protest against the occupation, against the wall that prevents them from returning to their homes in ’48, against the buffer zone which prevents them from farming their land. Three years isn’t so long though, three years is only a blip in their sixty three year old struggle to return to their land. The people of Beit Hanoun have survived the Nakba, the Naqsa, the Occupation, Cast Lead, and still they have not given up. So every week, every Tuesday, for over three years now, they have marched into the buffer zone to visit their land which they are not allowed to farm, to remind the world that justice has still not been achieved.

We set off at 11 o’clock this morning. About 30 people, residents of Beit Hanoun, Gaza, internationals, set off toward the buffer zone. The sun was beating down, the flags were raised up high, Bella Ciao boomed from the loudspeaker. As always, the march starts out in high spirits, as we get closer to the buffer zone, everyone gets progressively tenser; eyes scan the wall and the hills more carefully. We enter the buffer zone, the dead zone, where every tree has been destroyed by the Israeli’s, where nothing is allowed to live without being attacked regularly by Israeli bulldozers. We stop a short distance inside the buffer zone. Sabur Zaineen from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative gives a short speech, specifically against the collaboration of European governments in perpetuating the siege on Gaza, for stopping the Freedom Flotilla II. The loudspeaker is handed off to someone else and chants against the occupation echo out over the dead zone and toward the Israeli soldiers ensconced in their concrete towers. Hopefully, someone is listening; someone will pause for just a moment in their daily life and think about what a life without justice, what a life under siege feels like. Hopefully, that person will decide to fight for justice.

Gaza summer camp teaches service, struggle

6 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human summer camp
Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human summer camp

At Vittorio’s funeral in Gaza the crowds chanted “Viktor is with the fisherman, Viktor is with the farmers”, Vittorio is still with the people of Gaza. He lives on in their hearts. He has been honored with a football tournament in Rafah, with a street in Gaza, with a school in the Jordan Valley, but I think that perhaps the honor that would be closest to his heart is the Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human summer camp in Beit Hanoun. Vittorio had worked in Beit Hanoun his entire time in Gaza. Riding in ambulances during Operation Cast Lead and supporting the weekly demonstrations against the buffer zone since then. The Fursan Al Ghad Youth Center honored him by naming their summer camp in his honor, the Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human summer camp.

Fursan Al Ghad is a small center, just a small three room building, a courtyard, and a van. It is a center with big goals though. It seeks not only to provide the children with a safe space for summer fun, but to remind them that they are part of something bigger than themselves. The children not only participate in art and music programs, but they also perform community service and protest the occupation.

The Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human camp opened in mid-June. It serves sixty children from age eight to fifteen. Sixty children in one small building.  Every morning the children stream in at nine A.M. Soon the entire building is alive with singing dancing children. Like Vittorio, the teachers at Fursan Al Ghad love to sing, Bella Ciao, Inadakoom, traditional Palestinian songs. The children love to both sing and dance debka. Many of them are surprisingly good, eight year old Fred Astairs.

The children also do art projects, both in the classrooms and outside. The wall across from Fursan Al Ghad is now covered in a beautiful new mural. The most beautiful project though, was building kites. A dozen amazing kites with beautiful geometric designs. The kites had long tails made from old homework cut into strips, perhaps to celebrate the end of the school year. On the kites the children wrote messages, messages like “the children of Gaza deserve freedom” and “end the siege”. We went out to the hills east of Beit Hanoun, on a beautiful Tuesday morning to fly the kites. The wind was brisk, the air was beautiful, the kites soared into the air. After admiring them for a while, the strings were cut, the kites sailed across the wall towards Sderot, hopefully the messages carried by the kites will be read and understood.

Kids being kids, the camp also provides games and sports. Days were organized to play football, basketball, volleyball and jump rope. The children participated in a 1k race; the five winners received t shirts. There was even a trip to the beach so the children could go swimming. That was, obviously, a very popular day for the children. Going to the beach is one of the few trips that children can take in Gaza; the siege prevents them from leaving, even from going to the West Bank or Jerusalem.

The children also learned about being part of a community. One day was devoted to cleaning the streets of Beit Hanoun. Sixty hands makes light work. They left a mural across from Fursan Al Ghad for everyone to appreciate.

Perhaps the best day though, was the last day. The children went to club where they could ride horses and camels. After being entertained for a few hours of singing dancing clowns, the horses were brought out. The children were entranced. Even the ones that were afraid couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ride the horses. They also enjoyed seeing their teachers ride horses, some for the first time. After they were finished riding horses the children came to the port of Gaza. At the port, they boarded boats, and went to sea, some for the first time. They did this in memory of Vik, who loved the sea, and loved the fishermen that worked there.

Fursan al Ghad strove to not only provide the children with fun things to do over the summer, but to show the children that they can have a positive effect on their community, to help them find their voice in the struggle for freedom and justice. Fursan Al Ghad remembered not only the music of Vik, not only Bella Ciao, but also that struggle was part of Vik. The children not only sang, like Vik, they raised their voices against the occupation. For this, thank you Fursan Al Ghad, for remembering all of Vik.

Children rally for Flotilla in Gaza port

2 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Dozens of children from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative’s summer camp, “Vittorio Arrigoni – Stay Human,” rallied in the port of Gaza today to support Freedom Flotilla – Stay Human, and demand free passage and international protection for it.

They were joined by Palestinian and international supporters, including the International Solidarity Movement – Gaza Strip. After gathering on the pier, they took to the sea in boats, decorated with the flags of countries participating in the Flotilla, for a spirited rally in the harbor.

“We call this action in the sea a human message, a message for the people who carry the idea of breaking the siege of Gaza,” said Beit Hanoun Local Initiative coordinator Saber Al Zaaneen. “We are very sorry to hear of obstructions by the Greek government, and stand with Flotilla participants against them.”