Tag: Farmers - Page 14 - International Solidarity Movement

Gaza fishers and farmers: nowhere to go

13th September 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Kevin Neish | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

We had a meeting with some leaders in the Gaza commercial fishing industry, to hear their stories and see if or how we can assist them.

Fishermen in Gaza City (Photo by Kevin Neish)

Gaza Strip fishers have historically been some of the poorest families here, especially as many are not refugees, and so do not receive UN assistance. Their lot has been made that much worse with the attacks and restrictions imposed on them by the Israeli forces. Since the July Egyptian coup, the Israelis have ignored the Nov 2012 ceasefire that was brokered by the previous Morsi Egyptian government. There’s been a sad litany of recent violations against Palestinian fishers:

the arbitrary reduction of the fishing area from six nautical miles to five.
the Israelis are now holding weekly military exercises within Palestinian waters. Yesterday morning activists watched as an Israeli gunboat cruised along, only 500 meters off the coast of Gaza City.
the Israeli navy usually just shot at ships’ hulls, but are now shooting at the fishermen themselves.
Gaza fishers are being shot at three miles, two miles and even just one mile from shore. Two fishers from Shadi Camp were recently shot by Israeli forces while well inside the new five-mile limit.
a safety related, permanently anchored, Palestinian light ship, marking their safe fishing limit, was just stolen by Israeli forces.

Even with all these provocations, the Gaza government is still striving to keep the ceasefire alive, going as far as to pass their own law, to arrest any fisher crossing the six-mile ceasefire limit. And we activists have not been encouraged to accompany the fishers, in case our presence may encourage fishers to “push the envelope” and challenge the Israelis.

The trickle down effects of all this on fishing families eventually hits the youth the hardest, with no funds for education, clothing, proper nutrition and ultimately no next generation at all, as there is no work, accommodations or finances for young fishermen’s families to get started.

And the farmer’s lot is no better, as we found out at a recent meeting in Khan Younis, with farmers who own land close to the Israeli “buffer zone.”

Farmers in Khuza'a (Photo by Kevin Neish) — Farmers in Khan Younis (Photo by Kevin Neish)

Even though it is time to plant, these farmers are not even attempting to approach their fields due to Israeli sniper fire. The November cease fire, supposedly guaranteed that farmers could work their land, up to 100 meters from the border, but the Israelis only honored that for three months, and now shoot at farmers 800 meters from the border. And even if they do manage to get plants in the ground, they cannot tend and water them due to the danger. Even if they could do this, the Israeli bulldozers and tanks are flagrantly crossing into the “buffer zone” and destroying their hard work in minutes. So now their plan is to wait until the fall rains come, so the crops will not need as much dangerous personal attention from the farmers, and ISM will be there, to at the very least, document any ceasefire violations. But, at a minimum, three crucial months of farming some of the most productive land in Gaza, are being lost, in a country desperate for food. And with the tunnels to Egypt now cut off, the Palestinians are left to buy overpriced, second-rate produce and junk food from Israel.

As well, they now have to buy Israeli fuel at double the cost of Egyptian tunnel fuel, so everything from taxi rides to the farms to bread for their families has gone up. And Gaza is going from having power cuts of eight to twelve hours a day to only having power for 4 hours a day. Besides the personal impossibilities of managing a household of refrigerators, freezers, well water pumps, washing machines, computers and such, on just four hours of electricity, think of the hospitals. The famous recent instance, of a Gaza doctor during a power outage completing an operation using the light of his cell phone, may soon not be so unusual.

It would seem the Israeli military is trying to goad Gaza into striking out at them, and then the “retaliatory” Israeli attacks would begin. And then this one-way ceasefire would truly end, with rockets and missiles flying in both directions, and the Western media will suddenly, but belatedly, take notice of Gaza. There is a desire for peace over here, if someone from the “outside” would just offer some support.

Video: Gaza: The economy under the siege

24th August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Gal·la | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Khalil S. Shaheen, Head of the Economic Unit at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, talks about the Gaza economy under the siege, how the occupation and the siege affect directly the economy, and therefore the development of the oppressed Palestinian people, denying them the right to develop and have normal lives as human beings.

Awad, 19, wounded by Israeli fire while gathering firewood

31st July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

On Thursday afternoon, July 25, 2013, a 19 year old, Rafat Awad Abdel Aty was injured while working in an area called “Jamarik” near Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

Awad, who was admitted to the Kamal Odwan hospital, told us that he was collecting firewood to be sold at about 500 meters from the separation barrier with Israel.

“At about 14:00 I suddenly heard a shot,” said Awad.

A bullet went through Awad’s right leg, and several fragments of bullet injured his lower limb and his chest. The bullet that entered and exited from the leg, then exploded from the impact on the ground, causing more injuries from the shrapnel that flew back up.

“Some people tried to reach me but the soldiers shouted at them to go back,” said Awad, who was finally transported by ambulance to Beit Hanoun hospital and later transferred to the Kamal Odwan hospital.

A doctor explained to us that Awad needs bandaging daily, although fortunately the bullet did not cause fracture. Some fragments have been removed, while others remain embedded in his body.

In the last two weeks two civilians were wounded in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip.

These workers are “invisible” in the eyes of the media, often kids who have not reached the age of maturity, usually on donkey carts to reach the lands along the border to pick up metal, plastic, copper, wood and other materials they could. The limited amount of materials caused by the siege, makes it necessary for companies to recycle and reuse previously constructed materials. Usually the families of these young people are very poor, or what they earn is not enough to provide for themselves. Often, they have no other way to survive.

Awad can earn a maximum of around 25 shekels a day.

His father Rafat told us that he had received a call from a friend when Awad was injured. “I was very worried, I thought I was going crazy, because often when someone calls to say that your son was injured they are covering for the fact he is dead,” said Rafat.

Rafat did not even have the money to pay for a taxi to get to the hospital. Some neighbours offered to take him in their car to get to his son.

Rafat told us that he previously worked as a fisherman. “I stopped working as a fisherman because there is not enough fish in the sea,”. He explained the difficulties facing the fishermen of Gaza as a result of the 6-mile limit imposed by the Israeli authorities and also the recent lack of fuel in Gaza. This means Rafat does not work. The only person in the family who works is his son Awad, who is now hospitalized.

Their family, originally from the village of Majdal (Palestine, 1948) is composed of 11 people, including 5 sons (Awad, 19, Mohammed, 7 years old, Ahmed, 14, Saqer, 8 years old, Yousef, 3 years ) and 4 daughters (monaz, 21, Soha, 13, Nesma, 4 years, Ghazal, 1 year). They live thanks to coupons issued by UNRWA or donations from NGOs.

“I don’t always know from where I can provide an Iftar (the meal which breaks the fast during Ramadan) to my family, now my son is injured,” said Rafat.

The future is uncertain for the family of Rafat, who can not afford to pay the university fee for his children.

Rafat would like the international community to put an end to the siege on the Gaza Strip and to stop denying his people the chance to live as “human beings.”

Since the beginning of the ceasefire in the month of November 2012, Israeli forces have killed four Palestinian civilians and injured at least 100 people, including 24 children, in areas along the border. Yet, according to those agreements, Israeli forces should cease all aerial attacks by land and by sea.

The number of casualties is likely to rise soon in the lands along the border, when the planting season begins and many farmers will work need to work on their lands, lands that are these families’ only source of livelihood.

Saturdays under the settlements

25th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Saturday is supposed to be a holy day for the Jewish settlers of the illegal colonies in the West Bank; many don’t work, they don’t turn on electrical appliances, they don’t drive cars. But some of the violent and Zionist among them still allow themselves one activity – attacking and harassing Palestinians.

Farmer showing damaged grapevines (Photo by: ISM)

This Saturday, four international volunteers accompanied a farmer and his family from the town of Beit Ummar to their land, which is in the valley directly underneath the settlement of Bet Ayin, notorious for violent attacks against Palestinians, especially on Saturdays. The family had asked for an international presence to act as a deterrent for the settlers and also to speed the farming, as the quicker we could bring in the harvest, the less time the family would be at risk on their land. This day, thankfully, there were no settlers running down the hills throwing rocks at the farmers, and there were no helicopters bringing Israeli military to “protect” the attackers, as has happened in the past (needless to say, they don’t come to protect the Palestinians who are being attacked). We picked enough plums to fill all of the boxes that the farmer had brought and these were loaded onto a donkey to be taken to market.

It was after we were finished – and after we had been given one (or two, or three) of the delicious plums by the farmer – that we were taken on a tour of the valley and the family’s land. Although it is still lush, well tended and green, there was also destruction visible everywhere. Fruit and olive trees had been hacked down leaving just stumps, branches of figs had been half torn off, grapevines were ripped from their supports. In addition several newly planted young olive trees had been uprooted.

The farmer walked us through, pointing out each and every plant which had been killed over the last couple of years. Each had been sown with love, hope and resistance – and each had been torn down by the settlers. At every plant and tree the farmer paused and told us to “see, see what they did! It is so bad”. It was clear that every new piece of destruction was a blow to him.

Bet Ayin settlement visible on the hill (Photo by: ISM)

He also showed us the river running through the valley and how it was polluted, poisoning some of the trees and causing weeds to grow wild, blocking access across the river to the land on the other side. The pollution comes from the looming settlement of Bet Ayin. When his English was limited, the farmer acted out the attacks to which he had been subjected – showing us marks on his head where the settlers had beaten him.

But despite all of this, the farmers will continue working their land, each tree a symbol for their resistance and each harvest a step towards the day when they will be able to farm their land on Saturdays – and every other day – without international accompaniment and without having to watch the hills for settlers.

Palestinian farmer injured by Israeli army fire

17th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Friday afternoon, June 14, 2013, Muhareb Abu Omar, a Palestinian farmer aged 48, was wounded by Israeli army fire in the Deir El Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip.

Omar was irrigating his land in the village of Wadi As-Salqa, 600 meters from the barrier that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Muhareb Abu Omar, 48 (Photo: Rosa Schiano)

Omar reported that Israeli jeeps moved along the border while he was working. Suddenly, after about 10 minutes into the job, at approximately 19:30, a bullet struck him in the right leg. The soldiers probably shot from a jeep hummer.

Omar was alone on his land while other farmers were working in adjacent lands.

“I didn’t hear any firing, the soldiers used silent bullets. Suddenly I found myself wounded. I ran for 50 yards, then I crashed and I cried to my cousins that I was wounded”, said Omar. His cousins transported him to Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital.

Omar’s family is composed of 14 members: Omar, his wife, 8 sons and 4 daughters. Five of his sons work with him on the family land. The whole family depends on the production on this land.

Two of his sons, Nedal and Tareq, reported that Omar was reported to have an intermediate wound in the right tibia.

Dr. Saleman Al Attar, Department of Orthopaedics of Aqsa Martyrs hospital, reported that the general conditions of Omar are good. “The wound shot from a firearm always creates complications. The bullet hit the right thigh and there is the presence of fragments”, said Dr. Al Attar. In the emergency room, the doctors performed a cleansing of the wound, firstly a debridement followed by bandaging. After 3 days or 72 hours, Omar will be subjected to a further removal of devitalized tissue.

The doctors will not remove the bullet. “It is dangerous to remove the bullet as it is located in the neurovascular, where there are the arteries,” said Dr. Al Attar.

The wound is closed. The patient will then be given antibiotics and analgesics for about 4 weeks.

(Photo: Rosa Schiano)) — (Photo by Rosa Schiano)

Dr. Al Attar stressed the psychological effect on patients who are aware of the a bullet still inside the body. “The patient will always have the impression of experiencing pain in the area where the bullet is, even if the pain is not real. There are social workers who can provide psychological support for this. Every Palestinian suffering since birth suffers some psychological problems”, concluded Dr. Al Attar.

During the last military offensive of November 2012, the al-Aqsa hospital has received many victims. “The hospital was full, we were trying to save those who were in better condition while others were dying patients in serious condition,” said Dr. Al Attar.

The arrangements for the cease-fire of 21 November 2012 established that the Israeli military forces should “refrain from hitting residents in areas along the border” and “cease hostilities in the Gaza Strip by land, by sea and by air, including raids and targeted killings.”

However, Israeli military attacks by land and sea have followed from the day after the ceasefire, and Israeli warplanes are flying over the sky constantly in the Gaza Strip. Four civilians were killed by the end of the military offensive “Pillar of Defense” and more than 90 civilians have been wounded.

These attacks against the civilian population of Gaza continue to occur amidst international silence.