This week we talk with the two spokespersons for Gaza’s Ark here in Canada, David Heap and Ehab Lotayef, who update us on the project and what people here can do to help. We reached David in Italy where he is promoting the Ark project and then spoke with Ehab in Montreal.

Our final piece of music is by Lebanese singer Marcel Khalife, Walking Tall, and we dedicate it to the proud Gazan people who continue to walk tall and resist the Israeli occupation until they are able to live free and with dignity.

Download an audio file of today’s entire show to listen at home on your computer:

• VOP_May17_2013_32kbps.mp3 (32 kbps encoding)

17 May 2013

This has been a productive week for Gaza’s Ark, we were excited to announce  that we have finally purchased the fishing vessel that we will now converted into Gaza’s Ark, plus we had our second release of Palestinian products that will be exported aboard the Ark. While on the personal front I spent a night on the water doing some accompaniment work with Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza and also spent some time in the Jabalia Refugee Camp.

The moment we have been working towards for the last 12 months finally arrived this week and we are now the proud owners of a 24 meter fishing trawler that we will covert into a cargo vessel to export Palestinian products from the only port in the Mediterranean currently closed to shipping. Even though the size of our cargo vessel will only allow us to attempt to export a symbolic amount of products from Gaza. Our main aim is to raise awareness of Israel’s strangulation of the Gazan economy, that prior to the blockade was an export based economy. Exports are currently at just 2% of pre blockade levels, this has resulted in a youth unemployment rate of around 50% and this figure does not take into account the levels of under employment which are rampant in the Gaza Strip. You can find the official purchase announcement here >  http://www.gazaark.org/2013/05/14/breaking-we-have-purchased-gazas-ark/

This week also the second release of products that will be available for sale through the Gaza Ark project. The second release focused on Palestinian agricultural products and includes > Honey, Debes – which is a date molasses, Maftoul – Palestinian couscous, Za’atar and Dugga – which are herb mixes. For more details on the these products check out the products page on the Gaza Ark website > http://www.gazaark.org/products/

Tuesday night I finally got to do some accompaniment work with Palestinian fishermen in Gaza, fishermen in Gaza are on the front line of the blockade. As Israel has unilaterally, in violation of the Oslo accords, limited their fishing zone to three nautical miles from the coast of Gaza. This means that they are unable to access to majority of their fish stocks that inhabit the rocky bottom nine nautical miles from shore. In addition to this fishermen are often attacked by the Israeli Navy within the this three-mile limit, these attack have resulted in injury and even the deaths of Palestinian fishermen in Gaza. The reduced profitability caused by the three-mile limit and the risk of attack by the Israeli Navy have resulted in the number of fishermen in Gaza falling from over 10000 to just over 3500 who fish the waters off Gaza currently. After 12 hours work by 14 crew, they only had 15 barely half full creates of fish to show for their nights work and no fish over 10cm in length. Check out my photo’s from the night here >http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.478190475584236.1073741836.158095294260424&type=1

Finally this week I was taken on a guided tour of the Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza yesterday, at last count in 2002 the camp had a registered population of 103,646 inhabitants. The camp only covers an area of 1.4 km² making it one of the most densely populated places on earth. The camps proximity to the Israel boarder means in has been the scene of much Israeli violence, but despite all this, what struck me most on my tour was the joy that the children of the camp found in their impoverished surroundings. It was a real lesson in appreciating what you have and not concerning yourself with what you can’t attain > Thank you for this lesson in perspective Jabalia : ] Check out my photo’s from the tour here > http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.478705638866053.1073741839.158095294260424&type=1

The sun setting over the three-mile buoy off the coast of Gaza.

The kids of Jabalia Refugee Camp.

We have purchased Gaza’s Ark 

With your help, we will sail towards justice

When Palestinians and other people of conscience mark Nakba (Catastrophe) Day on May 15, they insist that the world acknowledge the history of Palestinian dispossession since 1948.  As world leaders have ignored Palestinian dispossession in general, they have also ignored the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza under the  Israeli blockade. Gaza's Ark is a people-to-people campaign to force the injustices faced by Palestinians in Gaza back onto the world's agenda. 

We are excited to announce today that we have bought the boat that will become Gaza's Ark! 

Your generous support has allowed us to reach this milestone. Your continued strong support will be crucial to our direct action campaign to challenge the blockade by sailing out from the port of Gaza with Palestinian exports for international markets.

We have made the down-payment to the boat’s previous owners but still have to pay the balance of the price, in addition to raising the funds required to rebuild and convert this fishing boat into a cargo vessel. With the help of donors like you we have raised over $90,000 to date (of an estimated campaign budget of about $US300,000).

Your continued support is the only way to ensure that the work will continue. Any amount is welcome, from $1 to $10,000 but if you can afford it, please be generous.

Since there are currently no cargo vessels in Gaza, we have purchased a fishing boat whose previous owners, like all fishers in Gaza, have difficulty making a living because of the violent restrictions imposed on Palestinian fishing boats by the Israeli government and we will convert it to a cargo vessel. 

Much rebuilding is required and we are pleased that we will provide some work opportunities in Gaza where the illegal blockade has caused massive unemployment. Work on the boat will begin in a few days and it is critical that we have money in hand to ensure that the work will not be delayed, in the short term, due to lack of funds.  We also need to make the remaining boat payments to the seller on time.

We need you to be a part of this public challenge to the complicity of our governments with the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza.  The Palestinian port of Gaza must be open for marine traffic like every other Mediterranean port. We will not rest until that happens – please help us work towards that goal. The pace of our campaign's progress depends on the generosity of supporters like you, and on your willingness to help us recruit other individuals and organizations. 

Please visit our website, which features regular updates about the campaign and many ways to donate. There you will also find information about our Palestinian Trade not Aid initiative, and links to the ongoing Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns for Palestinian freedom of movement, including freedom of sailing for the Palestinian fishing fleet.

Please support Gaza’s Ark in any way you can, spread the word of the campaign to your contacts, friends and family. This will help the project progress as quickly as possible. 

Together we can help end the blockade of Gaza!

Please donate generously http://www.gazaark.org/donate

By Rosa Schiano

On May 1st many countries celebrate the achievement of workers on Labor Day weekend. In Gaza too, workers celebrated labour day in a demonstration in the centre of Gaza City. Yet, for the Palestinian fishermen there was nothing to celebrate.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning on May 1st 2013, a Palestinian fisherman was seriously injured when Israeli naval vessels off the coast of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats that were within 3 nautical miles of the Gaza coast.During the attack, a piece of the engine that is used to pull in the nets, smashed into the head of 51 year old Karim Adel Al Baker from Gaza City, leaving him seriously injured.

Adel Najjar Baker was transported to the hospital and then to the European Hospital in Khan Younis. We headed to the hospital to check on his condition.Adel is in the Intensive care unit. A document in the hospital room reads,“Time of admission: 5am”We spoke with Dr. Yasser AlKhaldi, head of the Intensive Care Unit of the European hospital. Dr. AlKhadi told us that Adel has suffered a serious head injury and that he had arrived at the hospital unconscious.The doctor added that Adel has undergone surgery to relieve the pressure from the bone fragments from the skull and that he was now under artificial ventilation.
Adel has suffered a depressed skull fracture (a depressed skull fracture is a break to the bone of the skull with depression caused by the bone going into the brain).Dr. AlKhaldi added that there was an improvement to the condition of Adel and they have started to reduce the sedatives.

During the visit we met Aatef Baker’s brother Adel. “Adel was on a fishing boat together with eleven fishermen. While he was fishing, the Israeli navy opened fire, a bullet hit an object on the boat, it fell on his head, causing the trauma. We were near the border with Egypt, 2 miles from the coast. “, said Aatef.We left the hospital and took the contacts of Dr. Adel AlKhaldi and family in order to be updated on his condition.

I felt a sense of helplessness and anguish, but at the same time I was hoping with all my might that Adel was strong enough to survive, that he would be strong enough this time.

Karim Adel Al Baker, 51, in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (Photo by Rosa Schiano)

The next day we went to visit the family of Adel in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.
Adel has 7 daughters and 2 sons, one of whom is a fisherman. A cousin of Adel, Mostafa Baker, told us that perhaps they would later evaluate the possibility of a transfer to another hospital.
The house was full of women and children and they occasionally fixed their eyes on us.
“The entire family gathered here because we’re waiting for news. Adel’s brother is coming back from the hospital”, said Mostafa.
“The attacks and arrests affect our lives. With no fish we have no money,” exclaimed a woman of the family Um Eid Baker, adding, “remember when our fathers were able to reach 12 miles from the coast.”
Adel Baker worked for 30 years as a fisherman, and was the only person in the family to have a job, his family has no other sources of income.
“This is the normally the best season for fishermen” said Mostafa, “the major season for sardines.” The family then specified that the fishermen, because of the limit of the 3 nautical miles from the coast, are forced to go to Rafah in order to fish, and even enter Egyptian waters, a move that involves great expense especially for fuel.
During our conversation, Aatef, the brother of Adel, returned from the hospital carrying the hospital report.
The hospital report specified that Baker and Adel was transferred from Al Najjar to the European hospital, having suffered a head injury and damage to the brain. It indicates the need for surgery and treatment. In addition, the report specifies: “Al Aqsa conditions”, an expression which is used to define someone injured or a victim of Israeli aggression.
Then we met Sobeh El-Hessi, a fisherman who was on board the vessel along with Adel Baker, as well as the manager of the vessel.
“We were fishing the waters on the border between Egypt and Palestinian waters. At 2 am the Israeli navy started shooting, we were about 2 nautical miles from the coast,” he began to tell Sobeh. “We tried to hide from the bullets. Then when soldiers stopped shooting, we saw the body of Adel Baker lying on the floor and we thought he’d been hit by a bullet wound to the head. Then we realized that it was not a bullet, but a heavy object that is part of the engine, and Adel had a large wound to the head. I called the Union of the fishermen to communicate that someone was wounded and asked for an ambulance. Adel A Hasaka was carried to the beach and the ambulance was ready to take him to hospital, it was about 3 in the morning, “, Sobeh told us.
The fishermen had entered Egyptian waters and were returning to Palestinian waters when the attack happened.
The next day the fishermen did not go fishing.
Sobeh told us also with concern about the recent Israeli attacks with water cannons. The attacks are happening in fact even at a distance of 10 metres between the fishing vessels and the Israeli military.
Just over a year ago a fisherman was killed by a short circuit as a result of an Israeli attack with a water cannon.
The Israeli army directs their high pressure water cannons directly at the power supply, they shoot at networks, the engine, thus causing accidents. There is also the danger of electric shock or heavy machinery collisions such that with Adel.
“Fishermen can see the fish beyond three miles, but can not pass through them,” said Sobeh as he described the living conditions of the fishermen of Gaza.
“When the Israeli soldiers shoot we escape, but we can not support our families. These last few days have been tough. Prior to the war the Israeli attacks occurred at a greater distance, but after the war the Navy began to get very close and soldiers are shooting more than usual, “says Sobeh.
The eyes of Sobeh el Hessi are sad, frightened, but also angry about what happened to Adel.

In Gaza, going fishing now means going to face an army.
As reported consistently by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the Israeli attacks against Palestinian fishermen constitute a violation of international humanitarian law. Notably this is covered in article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Not to mention the right to work and the right to a life with dignity.
Indiscriminate attacks against civilians constitute war crimes.
Israel has progressively imposed restrictions on Palestinian fishermen’s access to the sea. The 20 nautical miles established under the agreements of Jericho in 1994 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), were reduced to 12 miles under the Bertini Agreement in 2002. In 2006, the area permitted for Palestinian fishing was reduced to 6 nautical miles from the coast. Following the Israeli military offensive “Cast Lead” (2008-2009) Israel imposed a limit of 3 nautical miles from the coast, preventing the Palestinians access to 85% of the water to which they are entitled according to the agreements of Jericho 1994.
The agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinian resistance after the Israeli military offensive in November 2012, “Pillar of Defense,” allowed Gazan fishermen back out to 6 nautical miles from the coast. Despite these agreements, the Israeli navy has not stopped attacks on Gaza fishermen, even within this limit. In March 2013, Israel imposed once again the 3 nautical mile limit, saying that the decision had been taken following the sending of some Palestinian rockets towards Israel.
In Gaza, there are currently about 4,000 registered fishermen, while in 2000 there were about 10,000. In the last ten years, the numbers have declined since Israel began to impose restrictions on access to the sea and used violence to enforce them, arrests and more attacks, forcing fishermen to abandon their work and deny them the only source of livelihood for their families. Many fishermen, with courage and determination, continue to risk their life in order to support their families.

At the time of writing, the conditions of Adel Baker have slightly improved, but he is still unconscious in the ICU. While Adel Baker fights on in the hospital, many fishermen are at sea facing the daily risk of new attacks. It is inevitable, given this barbarity that another one of them will soon be facing a similar fight just like Adel is right now.
While the international community remains in horrible silence, our thoughts and our hearts are on the side of these brave men.

Source

Please come back!

by Hadani Ditmars – First published in Haaretz 29 January 2013

Native peoples from all over the world joined together on Monday as part of an international day of solidarity with Idle No More, an indigenous uprising that has supporters across the globe.

Idle No More began in Canada, but it has sparked support from peoples including North African Tuaregs and New Zealand Maoris.

And with the many messages of support that came on Monday from indigenous peoples across the globe were messages of solidarity from Palestinians – both in their historic homeland and flung throughout the diaspora.

On the homepage of the Canada Palestine Association (CPA) is a link proclaiming "Palestinians in Solidarity with Idle No More and Indigenous Rights."

It opens with an excerpt from the Mahmoud Darwish poem, "The Last Speech of the 'Red Indian' to the White Man":

"You who come from beyond the sea, bent on war,

don’t cut down the tree of our names,

don’t gallop your flaming horses across

the open plains …

Don’t bury your God

in books that back up your claim of

your land over our land …”

Signatories to the statement include groups ranging from the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network to the One Democratic State Group in Gaza to the US Palestinian Community Network, as well as dozens of individuals from Toronto to Ramallah.

Canadian aboriginals are also known as First Nations. And while solidarity between Palestinians and First Nations has existed for decades, says Toronto-based Canadian native poet and activist Lee Maracle, Idle No More has “crystallized” the relationship.

“The links between peoples are clearer,” she says. “We’re both colonized. They’re after our resources in the North,” she says, citing the controversial tar sands bitumen extraction projects in Alberta, “and land and resources in the Middle East.”

Maracle and her family have been working side by side with Palestinian activists for years. During Operation Pillar of Defense last year, her daughter, Columpa Bobb, took documentary photos of young native activists in Winnipeg, who joined with Palestinian-Canadians and others in protest.

Maracle remembers meeting Mahmoud Darwish at a public reading in Vancouver in 1976 to welcome the Palestinian delegation attending the UN Habitat conference on human settlement. There, she read his poetry in English, and he read it in Arabic.

Hearing his work, she says she felt an intrinsic connection. “He spoke to something so old inside my body it felt like floating in a sea of forever,” Maracle says.

In 2006, when Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine accepted a paid visit to Israel from the Canadian Jewish Congress, she wrote a letter to the AFN, saying, "This is tantamount to laying a wreath at [South African leader John] Vorster’s grave in the interest of [honoring apartheid] or traveling to the U.S. to share the values of the Custer Committee celebrating the massacre at Wounded Knee [an 1890 massacre of Indians by the U.S. cavalry in South Dakota]."

AFN's Israel visit underscored a sort of battle of dueling narratives, with right-wing Zionist groups trying to claim kinship with First Nations on the grounds that both were “aboriginal” peoples.

Furthermore, the indigenous issue in North America has been used by former Israeli prime ministers like Ariel Sharon to justify occupation and settlements in Palestine – throwing it in the face of those who criticized Israeli treatment of Palestinians.

"We have learned a lot from you Americans, how you moved West," Sharon once remarked to a US official. And while many have compared the likes of Gaza to a large American “Indian reservation,” it’s notable that the reserve system in Canada was what some say inspired South Africa’s Bantustans.

In fact, says Hanna Kawas, a Palestinian-Canadian journalist and longtime activist for indigenous struggles both in Canada and the Middle East, “The Zionist movement was also built on the South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Algeria and other European settler colonialist models of the same era,“ and as such, should not be supported by indigenous peoples in Canada.

Kawas, who lives near Vancouver, has attended Idle No More protests over the past several weeks but emphasizes that, “While we’re [indigenous Canadians and Palestinians] not hiding our support for each other, we’re [Palestinians] not trying to further our own agenda – but rather to advance theirs.”

Kawas’ support for indigenous rights stretches back to the 70s, when he first arrived in Canada (his family were refugees from Bethlehem). He remembers First Nations activists coming out to protest a 1975 visit to Vancouver by Moshe Dayan, and also took part in many protests to free American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier, who was extradited from Canada at the request of the FBI. Peltier is still in a U.S. prison.

He also describes a meeting that the Canada Palestine Association had with a First Nations group of female elders. That happened in Vancouver in 2006, when the groups gathered to speak about then AFN head Chief Phil Fontaine’s visit to Israel

Fontaine, Kawas says, is "a first Nations Abbas," referring to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "He's part of a corrupt leadership that does not represent the grassroots."

“The elders invited us to speak about our position and agreed with us. After the meeting they gave us a special eagle feather as a present – which I consider my visa and my passport to this land,” he said.

For 34-year-old Vancouverite Mike Krebs, a student of political geography who has indigenous Blackfoot ancestry, the connection between the Palestinian and indigenous Canadian struggle is a “natural one.”

Krebs met his extended Blackfoot family, who still live on a reserve in rural Alberta, the same year that the second Palestinian intifada began. That was a coincidence, he says, that gave fuel to his activism.

He remembers attending a talk in Vancouver by Israeli human rights activist Jeff Halper in 2001.

“He showed us a slide of different maps of Palestine – one from pre-'47, one from '48, '67 and 2000 – and that’s when the connection clicked for me, this image of a shrinking land,” Krebs says.

In Vancouver, Krebs collaborated with Palestinian activist and academic Dana Olwan to produce an article for an Australian journal called "Settler Colonial Studies," comparing Canada and Israel. “We were just naturally interested in each other's struggles,” he says.

But there are important differences, he notes.

“Palestinians have far less mobility than indigenous Canadians and face daily IDF assaults and frequent attacks from settlers, but have not lost their language, as many First Nations have. And the scale of genocide is greater amongst First Nations who saw their populations decimated.”

Comparisons can also be exploited by right-wing pundits who have demonized both First Nations and Palestinian activists as “terrorists.”

But the real commonality lies in the land.

“Both peoples have a deep sense of relationship to and responsibility for the land,” says Krebs. “And when that land is taken away, it destroys the culture.”

Citing Ben-Gurion’s 1948 statement, “The old will die and the young will forget,” Krebs says the assumption from both Canadian and Israeli authorities was that both peoples would die off or assimilate.

“Well we haven’t all died, or gone away. We’re still here and getting stronger. There’s a political and cultural revitalization going on that neither Canada nor Israel might have expected or wanted,” he says.

Hadani Ditmars' ancestors fled Lebanon a century ago for Canada, where they were adopted by a Haida Indian chief. She is the author of "Dancing in the No-Fly Zone: a Woman's Journey Through Iraq," and belongs to the Eagle Clan.

World-renowned physicist confirms he is boycotting next month's Presidential Conference at urging of Palestinian activists and academics

by Yarden Skop, 8 May 2013

        Once a traditional craft practiced by village women, Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery has become an important symbol of Palestinian culture. Embroidered pieces can be found in the homes of most Palestinian families in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel and the Diaspora beyond, adorning the walls of houses in Jerusalem, villas in the Gulf, and cement block houses in refugee camps.
        The popularity of embroidery springs from both its beauty and its association with the Palestine of the past. Common patterns reflect the millennia-long history of the foreign occupations and date as far back as the Canaanites, who lived in the area over three thousand years ago.

         The handicraft also symbolizes the traditional rural lifestyle of Palestine, much of which was lost after the 1948 creation of the state of Israel. Embroidery was the principle decoration of rural women’s clothing. It was part of a village woman’s daily routine and a means of showing off her persona skills and social identity. The patterns, colours and quality of the dress reflected a woman’s social standing, marital status and wealth.
         Although the Palestinian cultural landscape has changed dramatically in the last sixty years, cross-stitch embroidery has remained a vibrant handicraft because, for many Palestinians, it is a familiar reminder of Palestine in the days of their grandparents or great grandparents.

         These dresses was sewn and then embroidered by hand by Palestinian women living in the towns of Idna, and Al Khalil (Hebron), both located in the West Bank.  The dresses are sold through the “Women in Hebron” Jaffa Cooperatives, in the Souq of the Old City of Al Khalil (Hebron).  The shop is managed by two Palestinian women, Laila and Nawal, who are the only female shopkeepers in the entire souq.

1. Size 10-18 (M-XL) – $250

2. Size 10-18 (M-XL) – $263

3. Size 10-18 (M-XL) – $250

By Dr. Bill Dienst

I’ve been coming to Gaza for a long time.

My first was in 1985 and this is now my seventh trip to the region.  In the 80’s, there were no substantial physical barriers between Gaza and Israel.

Many Gazans worked as day laborers in Israel and many spoke Hebrew.  Group taxis traveled freely between East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and directly into Gaza City.  The society here in Gaza was much more Westernized and secular than it is today.  Women wore blue jeans and ponytails; the hijab and the naqab were not nearly as ubiquitous as they are today.  It was hardly a perfect relationship between Israelis and Palestinians; more of a privileged class and servant class based on the birthright of whether or not one was born Jewish.  But there was abundant interaction between the two societies back then.

Then came the first intifada and then the Oslo “Peace Process” which was really a “Piece Process.”  This culminated in the division of the two societies and the isolation of Gaza from the rest of the world.  There was false hope then and a second intifada.  Gaza was locked down as a consequence and became the world’s largest prison.

When I re-entered Gaza some 18 years later in 2003, it was a much different world.  Dr. Haidar Abdul Shafi, a respected physician and civic leader here in Gaza, explained to me why he had walked out of the Madrid Peace negotiations in 1991.  “I concluded that the Israelis were negotiating in bad faith,” he said.  It took me a while to fully understand what he was talking about, but slowly it became clear.  Gaza was now surrounded by a hideous “Berlin Wall”.  Rachel Corrie had just been mowed down by a giant bulldozer.  Houses and apartment blocks were being systematically destroyed under the orders of Ariel Sharon “to look for tunnels” which are used to smuggle goods from Egypt. Many tunnels were found and destroyed, but even more tunnels were built in their place and remain today.  Over 2000 people in Rafah were made homeless as a direct result of Israel’s pursuit of the tunnels.

In 2006 I entered Gaza during a time of assault.  The streets of Beit Hanoun were ripped apart after a Qassam missile had killed an Israeli woman in Sderot.  Over 85 Palestinians were killed in Beit Hanoun and then an additional 19 members of the Al Athamna family were massacred as they slept in their beds.  I interviewed some of the grief stricken survivors a few days after their onslaught.  Apache attack helicopters reigned death and destruction from the skies directly above us; we rushed to the Kamal Adwan Hospital to assist local doctors as 5 young men in their 20s died right in front of us.  It was a time of palpable fear for me, as I shared for the first time, the fear that local Gazans feel routinely.

In 2008, I entered Gaza by boat. I was part of the maiden voyage of the Free Gaza Movement; we were the first boats to arrive from international waters in 41 years.  Gaza had been under a tightening siege.  There were 40,000 people on the shores of the Gaza Marina waiting to greet us.  It was a time of euphoria as we demonstrated to the people of Gaza that there are many of us around the world have not forgotten them; many around the world who do care about them after all.  There were several more boat trips and then flotillas.  Then there was the massacre on the Mavi Marmara. My Italian friend Vittorio Arrigoni was martyred two years ago, and he is still remembered by the people of Gaza today.

Then there was the horror of Cast Lead. I last entered Gaza again in October 2009 in its aftermath. The streets were filled with entire blocks of rubble; entire neighborhoods had been leveled; the siege had been tightened still and there were no resources like concrete to rebuild.  Dr. Marwan Assalya, the general surgeon at Al Awda Hospital where we were assigned, shared horrific photographs of people he had cared for during the previous winter. There were pictures or victims of white phosphorus attacks with second, third and fourth degree burns all over their bodies.  There were recipients of DIME weaponry who had had their arms completely sheared off by vaporized micro-shrapnel.  Patients who survived lingered, only to succumb later to sepsis; or if they survived that, to cancer, as a direct result of the tungsten heavy metal vapor supplied by the US arms industry.  And there were pictures of drone victims who had had both legs blown off; These were the survivors; there were no pictures of the ones blown completely to smithereens.

So now it is April 2013 and I enter Gaza again.  We enter through Erez and we are forced this time to sit through a one hour PowerPoint presentation by the Israeli military outlining how benevolent Israel tries to help, and how these ungrateful Palestinians respond with rockets and are their own worst enemy.  I try not to grimace; I try not to hurt myself biting my lip. I try not to vomit or show any indication of what I am thinking.  We just want to get through this, so we can enter Gaza and be with our friends.

So now we are here in Gaza.  Our medical team disperses to various assignments.  Dr. Bob Haynes and I are teaching elements of Advanced Cardiac Life Support at Shifa and Public Aid hospitals.  We are giving lectures to very bright young medical and nursing students at Al Azhar and Islamic Universities.

We are being greeted by smiling and attentive students who still show hope and amazing resiliency for their future.  In Gaza, hope springs eternal, Phoenix keeps rising miraculously from the ashes, especially among the youth.

Now the tunnel economy has flourished in spite of the siege.  There are now donkey carts hauling around Egyptian cement everywhere, and there are shiny new cars I haven’t seen before which have been brought in through the tunnels in the south.  The nicer parts of Gaza City are showing new shops and new businesses.  But while some are prospering, many others among the many poor are languishing and lost in time.  The refugee camps we visit seem even more soiled and overcrowded than before, and there is trash everywhere.  The UN is running out of money to maintain its food assistance program and people are revolting. The Hamas government is getting more forceful in their enforcement of traditional Islamic law. In spite of this, the people in these camps remain courteous, curious to see us and friendly.  Gaza is a pressure cooker.  The UN predicts that Gaza may become inhabitable after 2020.

But we will keep coming back as long as we can.  Our conscience demands this of us.

- Dr. Bill Dienst is a rural family and emergency room physician from Omak, Washington. He is a graduate of the UW School of Medicine and Tacoma Family Medicine Family Practice Residency Program. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.