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Letters from Gaza

October 10, 2006

Gaza is bleeding

Due to freezing of the international financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority following the victory of Hamas in January 2006, the government was unable to pay salaries for about 160,000 civil servants and security personnel who are feeding more than 1000,000 of their family members in Gaza Strip.

One of the outcomes of the months long siege and the economic pressure in Gaza and the West Bank is the intensification of the internal tensions among different factions in Palestine. In an attempt to resolve internal dispute and to confront the sansctions the president of the Palestinian Authority Abu Mazen and Hamas leaders begun negotiations to form a unified government. So far this process did not produce any concrete results. A series of internal clashes between Hamas and Fateh supporters erupted over the past few months.

The violence intensified in September, coinciding with the strike organized by the union of governmental employees in the beginning of the school year. The strike was criticized by people in Gaza, who did not want their children to be out of school after a long summer holiday. They also know that they could not blame the government for the current situation when the international community is relaying on the financial restrictions to put pressure on the government to change some of its policies. This has deepened the division among Palestinians.

On the October 1st, the internal clashes escalated when the government called for their executive security members to prevent demonstrations of soldiers and police that have not received their salaries for months. Tens of soldiers and militants marched through the streets holding weapons. The clashes in the streets were bloody. They spread all over Gaza Strip and went on for hours. More than ten people were killed and up to 134 civilians injured, 11 of them critically.

AFSC office is in the section of the city where many of the governmental, university, and the military buildings are located. We could see the clashes very close to our office. It was particularly painful to watch young people getting involved in the fighting. We were not able to leave the office for hours due to the danger on the street. Many civilians, especially students going home were injured and killed. It was so hard to talk to anybody that day. All of us were shocked, angered and disappointed by what happened during this sad and bloody day. The next morning I was on my way to the office when I saw tens of middle and high school students demonstrating in the streets against Hamas and the government instead of demonstrating against the violence itself. It is very sad that we reached this point. There is again more division. What kind of impact the current situation is having on the young people and what kind of values or principles are they learning from their community and surroundings. I was thinking about the popular achievement in Gaza and the great stories we have about youth and their accomplishments. I thought about the social phenomena that are restricting young people from raising their voice. I do believe that we are doing good job. And we need to go deeper with the PA process to attract more young people and help them become aware of their potential. We need to provide them with different tools and skills that will enable them to have positive role in their communities. They need to be able to build their community and to defend and demand their right to live in peace and prosperity.

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