As I walked through the tight alleyways of Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza earlier this year, I was followed by dozens of curious barefoot children, fascinated that a foreigner had made them a visit. The siege on Gaza has made it nearly impossible for outsiders to enter.
With the children a few steps behind me, smiling and giggling, I made my way through the dusty camp, being greeted and welcomed by Palestinians who came to their doorways as we passed.
I gratefully accepted an invitation from a fisher’s wife to come into their home to see how they lived. She offered me tea on a small silver tray as we stood in her dark kitchen adjacent to one other room, which made up their whole house. Her husband sat on the floor untangling his fishing line after risking his life that day in the sea.
At the time of my visit, Israel had reduced the fishing zone for Gazan fishermen to only three nautical miles. If anyone dared to cross it, they became shooting targets for the Israeli Navy.
At night you could see a line of lights just off the shore, as the fishermen gambled with their lives in hope of catching some fish from sewage-infested waters. The lack of electricity has left the sewage treatment plant basically inoperable, resulting in a swamp of raw human waste pouring directly into the Mediterranean.
Refer to the article at Green Left Weekly. The article is a wholesale, unsigned endorsement by the Green Left of the Palestinian cause which is published in order to make readers aware of the forces in our society striving to delegitimise Israel.