Gaza Gateway

How to Build the Home of Your Dreams in Gaza

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:54:45 +0000

Building the “perfect home” is a dream shared by many people, especially if you are one of the tenants of the 3,500 homes that were destroyed or of the 56,000 homes that were damaged in last year’s military operation in the Gaza Strip. This week, we’ve pulled together some instructions to help you build your dream house in Gaza. Make sure to keep these useful tips handy!

First of all, because of Israel’s prohibition on the entry of building materials to the Strip since the June 2007 start of the closure, we will need to use locally available materials. Mud will be used to build the foundation and the walls of the house, easily found during the wintertime in Gaza’s natural surroundings. Make sure to avoid collecting mud from areas where raw sewage flows. Have patience, once the ban on the entry of spare parts, equipment and fuel is lifted, the water and sewage systems will operate at better capacity.

We’ll need to mix the mud with gravel. Due to Israel’s ban on the entry of this material, we will use limestone instead. To the limestone-mud mixture, add rocks found scattered around the area and mix for a long time until a thick mass is formed. In order to hasten the hardening of the mud, approach the nearest wheat field, cut off some shafts of wheat, and add them to the mixture. Place the mud into a baking dish, wait until it dries and presto — you now have material to make bricks and begin construction!

One of the mud houses recently built in Gaza, which serves as an example of the way the Strip's residents are coping with the ban on the transfer of raw materials.

Now, to build the house. For the support structures we will need iron. However, as you can already guess, since June 2007, Israel has prevented the entry of iron to the Gaza Strip. If you can afford to pay for the iron available in Gaza coming in via the tunnels at 4000 shekels ($1,060) a ton compared to only 2600 ($690) before the closure, fantastic! If not, you will need to mix sand, straw and glue and then roll the mixture into long beams.

Next, we will use the most basic building material, which we have avoided using so far: cement. Cement, the entry of which is also banned by Israel, will be purchased from the tunnel operators. Due to the fact that cement is extremely expensive — 900 shekels ($238) a ton, compared with about 450 shekels ($119) before the closure — we will only use it to build the bathroom, though we’re itching to use it for the rest of the house!

We’re almost finished. All that’s left to build is the roof and for this we will use plates of glass. Finally, something that is found in Gaza! Despite the prohibition on the transfer of glass to Gaza for two and a half years, since the end of December 2009, glass is no longer considered a security threat, and so far about 100 trucks of glass have entered the Strip.

Now, after all your hard work, turn on the light switch that you’ve just installed and look around at the fruits of your labor. Oh, is there a blackout in the area again? At least you can enjoy the magnificent view of the sky and the light of the stars shining through the glass ceiling of your cozy, little house.

Gisha reiterates its call on Israel to lift the ban on the entry of building materials so that people in Gaza may rebuild their homes with dignity.

Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Jan 31 – Feb 27

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:50:28 +0000

Source: PalTrade, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Coordination Committee in Gaza

Annual graph and background information»

Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply – Jan 31 – Feb 27

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:50:06 +0000

Source: PalTrade and the Palestinian Crossings and Borders Committee in Gaza

Annual graph and background information»

Occupational Hazards

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:03:56 +0000

In Gaza, even scrap metal collection has its hazards.

OCHA reminds us this week in its monitor of the “buffer zone” in place inside Gaza, an area in which the Israeli military prevents Gaza residents from getting within 300 meters of the border between Israel and Gaza – even those trying to earn an unlikely livelihood. This week, OCHA reports, Israeli soldiers entered Gaza and arrested 10 Palestinian civilians who were collecting scrap metal near the border; they were later released.

Arrests in this area and sporadic incursions are of course a clear reminder to Gaza residents that Israel still exercises control over their lives, even if control over the movement of goods and people, felt via an invisible hand, has a greater effect on their lives.

Factory in Gaza

A ban on the entrance of raw materials, for example, has closed factories and contributed to Gaza’s X% unemployment rate – which may have driven those 10 people to risk nearing the border for the few shekels they could earn selling scrap metal. Other job-seekers are looking to the public sector, as the Hamas government is one of the few employers hiring. It was reported last week that 14,000 candidates responded to a call for 1,000 positions in the police – also a risk, given the fact that civilian police have been targeted in Israeli airstrikes.

These job-seekers in Gaza may not have dreamed of a career in metals-trading or law enforcement, but without the raw materials necessary to engage in gainful production – it looks like they will risk their lives to pursue it.

Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply – Jan 24 – Feb 20

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:29:42 +0000

Source: PalTrade and the Palestinian Crossings and Borders Committee in Gaza

Annual graph and background information»

Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Jan 24 – Feb 20

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:27:56 +0000

Source: PalTrade, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Coordination Committee in Gaza

Annual graph and background information»

Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Jan 17 – Feb 13

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:06:27 +0000

Source: PalTrade, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Coordination Committee in Gaza

Annual graph and background information»

Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply – Jan 17 – Feb 13

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:06:05 +0000

Source: PalTrade and the Palestinian Crossings and Borders Committee in Gaza

Annual graph and background information»

A One-Man Campaign

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:05:45 +0000

It doesn’t often happen that we get to report success stories, but this week Ayman Quader “made it”. Ayman, a 23-year-old student from the Gaza Strip, overcame numerous obstacles to reach his goal. After working tirelessly and contacting anyone who would listen to his story, he received his longed-for transit permit from Israel in order to exit the Gaza Strip and travel to University of Jaume in Spain, to pursue a graduate degree in Peace, Conflict & Development Studies (how appropriate!).

On November 3, 2009, Ayman received his acceptance letter from the university, and from that moment he began his journey on an obstacle course to receive the necessary transit permit from Israel to leave Gaza. First up, the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee refused to forward his application to the Israeli District Coordination Office (DCO), noting that the DCO does not accept applications from students, but Ayman did not give up. His next step was to contact Gisha who appealed to the Spanish Embassy. This was necessary because Israel makes a transit permit conditional on an official request from the student’s destination country and requires its diplomats to escort the student from the Erez border crossing between Israel and Gaza to the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Israel and Jordan – an awkward arrangement that overburdens diplomats and restricts students.

Ayman, who knew the fate of most others who had submitted similar applications, simultaneously launched a media “campaign“, which started on his blog, continued on the Facebook group he created, and reached a peak with his starring role in countless articles in the local and Spanish press. His efforts ultimately bore fruit, and Ayman, who has meanwhile become a media star in Spain, received his transit permit from Israel to travel to Spain. Ayman’s story has a happy ending, but there are still close to 600 young people waiting in Gaza for exit permits to travel abroad to study. Ayman, finish your degree in conflict resolution and come back quickly! Your talents are sorely needed.

Journey towards the Center of a Grim Reality

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:17:44 +0000

Articles recently published about the tunnel trade in the Gaza Strip describe the relatively new industry in an adventurous light, even daring – the Indiana Jones of the Middle East. However, the problem is that adopting this perspective may obscure the overall picture.

Indeed, the tunnels industry at the Gaza-Egypt border has become “one of the largest branches of Gaza’s economy”, if not the largest. Yet the industry’s success is directly linked to Israel’s closure policy, which allows for the passage of “humanitarian goods” only (“humanitarian goods” are yet to be defined). Ironically, this new economy is proving most profitable for the Hamas government, which oversees tunnel mining and operations, and which collects taxes from tunnel owners. The hundreds of tunnels operating today in Gaza and the thousands of people employed in them account for about two-thirds of the goods entering Gaza.

Although there are a few making big bucks off of the tunnel trade, in contrast, most residents of the Gaza Strip face a grim reality. The industry, by its very nature, is a testament to this. Many young people are forced, because they have no alternative employment options, to work in the tunnels and sometimes remain working underground for days on end. Since the start of the closure, approximately 110 people have been killed on the job, among them 30 children. The total number of people wounded due to tunnel related incidents such as suffocation and entrapment as a result of explosions, air strikes and collapses stands at approximately 190.

A clip produced by B’Tselem endeavors to illustrate, if only a little, this reality.