We woke up at 5am today (which meant that I got three hours of sleep as Lubna's, my host mom, family came over to visit last night and in true Palestinian style fed us a lot of very good food). Our day began by meeting fishermen and hearing how their lives have been affected by the siege. They have lost 10 men and countless have been injured from shootings, sometimes within the permitted 3km range. During the last war, the port was strategically heavily damaged as this is a foundation of the Gazan economy, as were farms and factories as mentioned earlier. The fishermen used to take four hours collecting fish, but now because there are so few fish within the three km that they are permitted to travel off shore, they now spend 10 to 20 minutes. After we talked with the men we got to go out with them on a boat which was fascinating. The Gaza city skyline is gorgeous against the sunrise.
After eating an odd breakfast of hummus mixed with bread, we got to see a tunnel! We weren't allowed to bring our cameras and we had to be quick as the area is being bombed regularly. I couldn't see the bottom - they are 14 metres deep and are several hundred metres long (they go into the bordering Egyptian town of Rafah), and there are several hundreds of them. Their construction, as I later found out from a lecture from local businessman, began 10 years ago to smuggle weapons, but now it is more profitable and necessary to ship goods, as only simple staples are allowed in through the Israeli borders (pretty much everything we eat is shipped in through there. It's so cool / sad to see the pop cans all scraped up and think of where they have been). 70% of all products in Gaza are smuggled, and therefore everything is very expensive (usually the same price as in Israel), however Gazans earn an income with a ratio of 1:30 of what the Israelis make. Even the petrol here is smuggled in. All cement that has come into Gaza to rebuild has come through the tunnels, which as you can imagine means that there is a significant shortage of cement. Even if people have the money to rebuild, they can't find the supplies.
We then met with UNRWA director John Ging, who so eloquently stated that there is a "deficit of truth in policy and decision making" which results in fundamentally flawed policies which are fuelled by propoganda. He reiterated what we have heard so often and have come to understand: the people in Gaza are not hostile - the conditions are hostile. Because of propoganda-filled policies, there has become almost a self-fulfilling prophecy phenomenon wherein the Palestinians act in ways that are produced by Israeli policies. He believes that accountability begets protection, and that a loss of confidence in the rule and application of law begets violence. The siege, the closed crossing points, the settlements and their expansion, and the building of the separation wall are all violations of international law and yet nothing has been done to hold Israel accountable. Does it not make sense then that the Palestinians feel that they have nothing left to do but take matters into their own hands? The international community has truly let this nation down by crumbling to partisan politics.
We concluded the evening by separating the boys and girls and having BBQs. The girls ate a LOT of meat, smoked sheesha, and learned how to dance - I'm really, really not very good :( Apparently the boys spent the evening chasing a rooster to eat (which they didn't end up eating) and playing silly games - not surprising :)
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