22 May 2009
Interview with Sami Al Najar, who lost his hand in an Israeli attack on his boat.
Interview with Ebraheem Al Najar, father of fisherman who was killed by Israeli forces.
Tag: Fishermen
Hopes and dreams on the Gaza coast
Ayman Mohyeldin | Al Jazeera
20 May 2009
Every day, as the sun sets on the coast of Gaza, people make their way to the coffee shop-lined beaches and the pot-holed streets that run parallel to its coastline.
On the terrace of the famed Al Deira Hotel, patrons jostle for position, sipping sweet Arabic coffee as the sounds of legendary Arab musicians delicately waft through the air, mingling with the aroma of flavoured tobacco.
They all share one aim – to gaze out into the Mediterranean Sea as its turquoise waters transform into blue, then purple and then disappear into the moonlit night.
Another day has passed in Gaza.
For the few minutes where the sun and water meet and the sky glows warm, people here are moved by a deep beauty and for those few minutes, the beaming smiles of children frolicking in the sand, the laughter of friends and the line of fishermen setting out into the horizon suspend Gaza’s seemingly eternal suffering.
It is that time of year again, when temperatures rise and where the coast of Gaza takes on a whole new different meaning.
In this tiny territory caged in by Israel on two sides, north and east, and by Egypt to the south, Gaza’s west coast becomes its gateway to a world of possibilities and a painful reminder of its limited realities.
Gaza’s shoreline is a deceptive one. Its long, white sandy beaches are the ideal location for luxury hotels, trendy cafes, a vibrant nightlife, boutique shops, a palm-tree lined promenade for the health-conscious jogger, the inspired artist seeking to capture its beauty or the local street vendor selling traditional Palestinian handicrafts.
With its year-round, perfect Mediterranean weather, rich history at the crossroads of continents and civilisations and Arab hospitality, Gaza should be a tourist haven and entrepreneur’s dream.
Businesses, corporations and financial towers should be vying for this prime real estate.
Instead, today its 41km-long poorly paved corniche road is marked with potholes. Sections of it have been destroyed by Israeli air raids over the years.
A journey from its northern border to the south can take hours to travel, as you zig-zag through the destroyed stretches of road and the rubble of buildings levelled during Israel’s recent war.
Refugee camps
All along the coastal stretch, crowded and dirty refugee camps edge closer to the water, squeezing every inhabitable inch available.
The drive along the coast is marked by the smell of raw sewage spewing out into the sea at various points. The coast’s most underdeveloped stretches are the scars from where Israel maintained its military outposts and illegal settlements that were a chokehold on the Gaza Strip.
When the Israeli military and settlers pulled out in 2005, they left behind the land and the coast but left Gaza in ruins, caged in and cut off from the outside world.
Since 2006, when Hamas won democratic elections that were recognised by international observers as free and fair, Israel has imposed an increasingly stifling siege on Gaza, restricting everything that comes in and out of the strip.
The vast majority of the 1.5 million Palestinians living here have not been allowed to leave this territory, which is approximately 360sq km in size.
Every facet of life in Gaza has been restricted beyond imagination by Israel, crippling the economy and increasing the psychological pressure on the territory’s people.
Nowhere else in Gaza is the economy more visibly in tatters then along its coast. Its hotels, once buzzing with vacationing Palestinians from the diaspora and the sounds of wedding parties during the summer, are a faint echo of their past.
A pyramid-shaped building on Gaza’s northern shore was supposed to be the Movenpick Hotel. But it, like Gaza, never realised its full potential. Today it stands nearly complete but hollow, scarred by war yet towering over the pristine sands of the sea.
For centuries, generations of Gaza’s fishermen set sail from its port cities, earning a livelihood for their families, feeding hundreds of local restaurants and giving the territory a distinct fish flavour to its food.
In Rafah, fishermen annually prepared for the sardine harvest this time of the year. This would have been peak season for them. Today, these fishermen are not allowed to exceed three nautical miles off the coast, far short from what is legally permissible by international law.
When they do try to fish beyond the imposed limits, they are harassed, shot at and detained by the Israeli navy, which patrols Gaza coast ferociously.
Gaza City’s fish market was known for its colourful array of seafood, from crabs to shrimps, sharks to local catches. The fish market at the port was so renowned that it was the preferred market for Israeli Jews, whose own coast dwarfs the length of Gaza’s.
Back then, as it is today, Gaza was under Israeli military control but unlike now, Palestinians and Israelis were allowed to move freely between the two territories.
Gaza’s gateway to the world was through its port. The blueprints had been already drawn up. The Gaza City Port was to be transformed into a modern day commercial trading hub, bringing cargo vessels from Europe, Africa and Asia across the Mediterranean Sea.
But that, too, never materialised. Today, empty vessels and rusted and decrepit dinner-boats encrust the port.
Besides the economic potential – or lack thereof – the coast has also come to symbolise something immeasurable.
At a time when the Palestinian people are under a siege that has prevented them from exercising their most basic rights and freedoms, the Gaza coast has become an important psychological tool.
Escapism
It has become a vehicle to escape their daily struggles.
Anyone who approaches the coast and stares aimlessly out at the horizon is forced to dream. Dream about what, it’s up to them, but they find themselves thinking about what lies beyond their immediate physical limitations.
One simply cannot look at its beautiful waters and not imagine what lies beyond. Your brain begins to race with endless possibilities about the rest of the world. You immediately ask yourself “what if”?
What if Gaza was not under siege? What if I could take a ferry to Cyprus? What if Gaza was free to pursue its economic potential?
A few minutes staring at the coast and one suddenly realises the people are thinking about everything and anything that has nothing to do with Gaza. When people are thinking about Gaza – it is not about Gaza as it is, but what it could or should be.
As a good friend of mine who regularly frequents the Al Deira Hotel terrace put it: “Typical of the melancholy and pride of living in Gaza, its sea not only inspires unending spirit and wonder but it also, often times, instills a sense of sorrow as one sees this great symbol of freedom one is unable to touch.
But Gaza’s sea will continue to inspire freedom no matter the circumstances.”
So it is that, as the sun sets on its shores and the light merges with nightfall, days become weeks and months become years, Gaza’s besieged coast becomes an outlet to nothing but hope for its people.
Israeli navy damages Gazan fishing boats
ISM Gaza | Fishing Under Fire
20 May 2009
These are some of the “hassakas” , small fishing boats of poor Palestinian fishermen in Salateen, Gaza Strip, damaged by the Israeli Navy. The first two were stolen in March 2009 and were returned after two months, about a week ago, in this condition. The third one was destroyed in 2006 by Israeli Navy shelling of the beach.
Israeli forces abduct Gazan fishermen
ISM Gaza | Fishing Under Fire
21 April 2009
At least 4 Palestinian fishermen were abducted and 2 fishing boats stolen today by the Israeli navy in yet another act of piracy. According to initial unconfirmed information provided by their colleagues, the abducted hassaka fishermen are Khader Al Saedee and Saleem Al Noaman from Gaza, while Raed Athman and Mohammed Awada are from Rafah and were onboard a motor hassaka.
Since the end of the recent onslaught on Gaza, at least 28 fishermen have been abducted, 13 fishing boats stolen and not returned and at least 5 fishermen have been injured in the sea whilst others have reportedly been injured on the shore.
Testimonies of abducted Gazan fishermen
ISM Gaza | Fishing Under Fire
13 April 2009
These testimonies were given to ISM Gaza Strip volunteers on April 9th 2009
Izhaq Mohammed Zayed, 46
On Monday 6th April 2009, Izhaq Zayed was with his son, Rassim, in a hassaka (small fishing boat) off the coast of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. Izhaq was feeling unwell and asked Rassim to take him back to shore to go to hospital. Around the same time, an Israeli naval zodiac approached them and a soldier shot in the air. Rassim told the Israelis that his father was ill and needed to go to hospital, but they refused to let them go. An officer ordered a soldier to shoot at the boat and the soldier fired about 20 shots in close range. Rassim told them,
“If something happens to my father you are responsible. Either let me take him to the hospital or you take him.”
The Israelis ordered them to go west, further out to sea. When they arrived at a yellow boundary marker, they were ordered to tie their hassaka to it. Then they noticed another three hassakas that had also been forced to come to the yellow buoy. The Israelis in the zodiac began to interrogate the fishermen about their names and communicate by radio to the Israeli gunboat that was nearby. They ordered the fishermen to stand up and take their clothes off. Izhaq was lying on the hassaka, still sick. He refused to stand, saying that he couldn’t. The Israelis threatened to shoot him. They asked him to take off his jacket and again he refused saying that he was feeling cold. Again they threatened to shoot at him. Then they asked all the fishermen (apart from two minors) to jump in the water and swim to the larger naval vessel. The two boys stayed in the hassaka. Then they threw Izhaq a tire and he grabbed it and they pulled him. However he fell in the water. The soldiers grabbed him violently (he showed his bruises)
On arrival at Ashdod he was taken to see a doctor who asked what was wrong with him. He said that he had a headache and his stomach was aching. The doctor asked whether he had drunk any sea water. Izhaq said he hadn’t. The doctor challenged him, saying that a soldier reported that he had been drinking seawater. Izhaq explained that he had been vomiting and had just washed his mouth out with seawater. The doctor checked his heart and back and gave him a pill (he doesn’t know what it was). He had to sign a paper to acknowledge that he had been attended by a doctor. Then they took him away, searched him, gave him clothes and began to interrogate him.
The interrogators accused him that he had been found in a ‘restricted’ zone and that the soldiers who arrested him had claimed he was in Dugeet (northern part of Gaza close to the Green Line). He told them this wasn’t true and that they should bring the soldier who said that because he was lying. Izhaq said that he had been taken from Al Waha (which is in the ‘permitted’ area). The interrogators asked how he could prove this. He explained that he has a room in Al Waha which he goes back and forth from.
Then the interrogators asked about his family’s financial situation:
– What do your daughters’ husbands do for a living?
– They are all fishermen.
– How much do you make from fishing?
– 20 NIS per day.
– Did you work in Israel.
– Yes.
– How much money you were earning?
– 250 NIS per day.
– What can you do with 20 NIS?
– Nothing.
– Wasn’t working in Israel better?
– Now the crossing is closed.
– Work with us and we will pay you.
– No.
– Why not?
– Because I don’t want to.
– Do the Palestinian police come to the beach?
– No.
– When you lose your nets do you go to the Palestinian navy station?
– No.
– Why?
– Because you bombed their offices.
– Where do you go to?
– To Al Mina (the port of Gaza City).
– Do you go to *** **** from the syndicate?
– Yes. What about my hassaka?
– It will stay here.
– I have nets that cost $1,000. Tomorrow the weather will be windy and I will lose them.
– How old is your son, Rassim?
– 22.
– Is he engaged?
– Yes.
– Do you want him to get married?
– Yes, but I can’t afford his wedding.
– Help us and we will enable you to get him married quickly.
– What does that mean?
– We will call you on your mobile…
– Why?
– To tell you when we are going to give you your hassaka.
– Do I know you to talk to you on the phone?
– You talk to your boss in Israel. He still phone you sometimes. I want also to be your friend.
– No
– Why?
– Because you abducted me and you prevent me from providing for my family. You took me when I was only 100 meters from the shore. You took my hassaka and my nets and some of the nets are still at sea.
Then they brought about 50 copies of a sketch that was supposed to show the ‘permitted’ and ‘restricted’ areas (see photo). The sketch is hand made and has no dimensions. The Israeli navy no longer recognizes the Oslo Agreement which allows Palestinian fishermen to fish as far out as 20 nautical miles from the Gazan coast, yet at the same time demands the fishermen to respect ‘area K’ which is in Palestinian territorial waters, adjacent to Israeli waters but according to Oslo is a non-fishing area. Also, the sketch doesn’t show any dimensions to indicate how far from the coast the Palestinian fishermen are ‘allowed’ to fish. The Israelis asked the abducted fishermen to distribute these papers amongst their colleagues.
They also brought a map showing Gaza and asked Izhaq to point out his house. He told the interrogators he didn’t know where it was on the map. He was asked where his house is in relation to Al Iman Mosque and he told them it’s to the east of the mosque. Then they asked him who his neighbors are and when he told them they showed him his house on the map. After the interrogation he was again handcuffed and blindfolded. At 9.30pm the fishermen were shackled together.
At 10.00pm they were put on a bus to be taken to the Erez crossing. Later, after their blindfolds were removed at the crossing, they saw they were being guarded by seven soldiers. At Erez, the border soldiers asked the naval soldiers why these people had been arrested. They were told that the Palestinian fishermen were fishing in a restricted area. Izhaq told the officer that this was a lie and that they had been fishing in a permitted area.
The Israelis released them and warned them that they had five minutes to reach the Palestinian side of the crossing. The fishermen asked the Israelis to give them some money to take a taxi home because they were barefoot. The Israelis refused and told them that if they don’t go straight ahead to the other side of the crossing they would shoot them.
Ahmed Assad Hamad Sultan, 15
Ahmed was fishing with his brother Abed, 21, about 100-150 meters from the shore. The Israeli zodiac approached and ordered them to go west but they refused. The fishermen told them that it was the last time to fish there. The Israelis in the zodiac forced them by shooting to go west to the mark.
There they were ordered to take their clothes off. All the fishermen swam to the larger gunboat but two youths remained in two different hassakas. The Israelis in the zodiac told them to jump in the water. The boys pleaded, explaining that they couldn’t swim. Then they threw them a tire and pulled them to the zodiac, where they were handcuffed very tightly and blindfolded. Although they were naked and cold, they were covered with a wet blanket which was very heavy and tight on their chests, causing them difficulty to breathe. They took the two boys to Ashdod in the zodiac.
Ahmed was hit in the back when he asked for food. None of the fishermen were given anything to eat during their detention, only water.
Riffat Zayed Zayed, 20
Riffat was out in a hassaka, assisted by his brother Neshat, 12, who suffers from a chronic disease. While they were collecting their nets, an Israeli naval zodiac appeared and soldiers ordered them head west. At first they ignored this demand. The Israelis began to shoot but they ignored them again. The Israelis threatened to shoot them. Riffat was forced to cut their nets in order to leave the area.
When they arrived at the mark, they tied the hassakas. They took their clothes off and stayed in the cold for 20 minutes. Then they were ordered to jump in the cold water and swim to the larger gunboat. When they arrived, the soldiers seized them then blindfolded and handcuffed them. They pushed Riffat’s head down and covered him with a blanket.
Only when they arrived in Ashdod were they given trousers. There he asked to use a toilet but was made to wait for 20 minutes. When he asked for food he was tied to a chair.. Then he was taken to a doctor who declared he was fit. Only then he was given a shirt. He was taken for interrogation where they untied his hands and uncovered his eyes.
He was asked how much he earns from the sea, to which he replied 15-20 NIS per day maximum. The interrogators said they would pay him 200-250 NIS if he let them know how much the other fishermen are earning. He told them he didn’t want to. They said that if he collaborated with them, they would return his hassaka and nets. He replied that if he had to collaborate, then he didn’t want his property back. So they told him he wouldn’t get them back.
They blindfolded and handcuffed him again. When he said that he wanted to go home, the soldiers kicked the chair he was in which threw him about two meters across the room. The fishermen could smell the soldiers preparing coffee in front of them but they weren’t given any, only water. At 5.30 Riffat tried to uncover his eyes to see the time so a soldier hit him. He was forced onto the ground and kept there. On the bus to Erez a similar incident occurred.
Alaa Mohammed Joma Sultan, 15
Alaa also said that the soldiers hit him in the back. Alaa has been injured in the past when he fell whilst trying to escape from Israeli gunfire on the shore.
Some of the fishermen have been abducted in the past. However they say that it was the first time that the Israelis also took children.
The Israelis didn’t say if and when they will return the four hassakas. As for the six hassakas stolen in March, three of the fishermen have been phoned in connection with their possible return.