Letters from Gaza
July 2, 2006
Dear friends and colleagues,
I am so pleased to finally have an opportunity to write to you in the sixth day of the current attack on Gaza. At last we got electricity for few hours at the office. However, I have to clarify that the time now is 6:45 pm after a long day of working without electricity. We feel isolated from the world.
I would like to share with you some of our experiences these days under the “Summer Rain" -- the name of the new Israeli military campaign against the people of Gaza.
I wish that I could talk about the preparations for my trip to US to attend the international planning meeting. Unfortunately, it is impossible to travel now.
We have to feel proud that life is continuing in spite of death that is surrounding us.
Nothing stops life.
There are many things that we can talk about. I wish that we can stop saying the same old story -- about invasion, killing, destruction, humiliation, bombing. We feel sad to do that forever, we wish that we have another story to tell.
However, we have the story of Public Achievement (PA) that keeps giving us power and energy to continue. I was worried that the situation will affect badly the work of the PA teams. Fortunately, that was not the case. All groups continue their work and insist on accomplish their tasks by the end of this month. Even those who live very close to the borders and don't sleep at all and are in constant danger due to the invasion, come and participate and do their part. This is unusual and unexpected and this is how young people live here.
So how does it look like to live in Gaza these days?
I will never forget the picture of small children here everywhere putting their small fingers in their ears to protect themselves from the loud sounds of the missiles falling on Gaza at any time. They learned how to do this but does it really work??
Last night I was sitting at my home looking into the small candle that is the only source of light for most of the nights now. Hearing the noise of people sitting in the public garden in front my home, I was thinking for how long will this collective punishment continue?
Does anybody care that the electricity is necessary for people’s survival? Gaza completely depends on electricity. People live in crowded high rises and water is not available for most of them because electric power is needed for water pumps and purifiers. The people are escaping from their high rises and small apartments to get some fresh air in Gaza’s hot and humid summer. They stay out till middle of night sitting in dark and waiting.
The stores are almost empty of food especially the items that need refrigeration. Many stores are closed and there are no fresh fruits and vegetables.
Borders are closed again and nobody can move in or out. Thousands of people are waiting by the borders to be able to come in and as many of them waiting to leave mostly for health emergencies.
I am dreaming, as are a majority of Palestinians, about getting some sleep. We close our eyes because we are tired, but during our sleep we hear the loud sound of missiles, which are fired with the purpose of disrupting people’s sleep and causing fear. A majority of the buildings have no windows or doors due to the effects of the shelling.
As for the office we do our work and try to reschedule some activities for more peaceful times., We tried to get a generator for the office but we had no luck in finding one.
Very warm regards to all of you.
Gaza Youth Program Director
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