A Palestinian girl stands in a tent used as a temporary shelter in Jabaliya in northern Gaza on 28 June 2009, following the destruction of several residential areas during Israel`s winter offensive. [MaanImages/Wissam Nassar]
Part IV of the Narratives Under Siege series by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights .
Ma'an - Salah Jalal Abu Leila lives in a crowded tent with his family of 12 beside a dusty main street in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya; they have been living here for more than a year.
"Our home was completely destroyed in the war. I worked for 16 years in Israel to build my home and in one attack the Israelis destroyed everything I worked to build," Abu Leila says.
Unemployed since 2002, when he was denied access to his job in Israel, Salah is unable to rent an apartment and move from his government-allocated tent like the rest of the families who, too, were forced to take up temporary residence on this patch of sand after their homes were destroyed during the latest Israeli military offensive in December 2008 and January 2009.
Almost none of these families, however — and Salah's as well — have been able to begin to rebuild their homes and resume their lives due to the ban on construction materials as part of the total closure imposed by Israel since June 2007. For Salah and his family, life has been put on hold and he has little choice but to wait for the opportunity to begin again.
Over 16,000 homes were damaged during the latest Israeli offensive, 2,114 of which — like Salah's — were completely destroyed. As a result, more than 51,000 Palestinians were made homeless. Most sought refuge with family members in Gaza's urban centers, adding to the already highly congested living conditions in the Gaza Strip.
Without cement, steel, lumber, or glass — all denied entry by Israel and Egypt — most of those displaced during the war remain so more than one year after the vicious attack. Their homes and other civilians buildings which were reduced to rubble by Israeli rockets continue to serve as a striking reminder of the extensive damage wrought by the war, and the inability to repair them and return home has greatly exacerbated the psychosocial distress of the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza who are forced to live amidst the ruins.
Since June 2007, when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Israel has tightened its grip on the coastal territory, shifting to a policy of complete closure which allows only the bare minimum level of humanitarian assistance — enough to sustain life and little more — from a policy of selective closure employed since the early 1990s. While Salah's home remains in ruins due in large part to the ban of construction goods under the complete closure, the misery caused to him by the Israeli-imposed closure did not begin in 2007.
Salah worked as a plumber in Israel for 16 years, one of the 26,000 Palestinians from Gaza who used to commute daily to Israel for work. Beginning in 2002, however, the Israeli-controlled Erez border crossing was closed for Palestinian civilians and Salah lost his coveted job. Sitting on his dirt floor, chickens and children scurrying around him, he speaks of his 16 years in Israel with nostalgia:
"The money was very good then. I could support my family with no problem and I had very good relationships with my Israeli colleagues. Sometimes our families would get together for dinner and celebrations," he says.
Now only approximately 100 people cross through the Erez crossing per day and these are either international aid workers or Palestinians seeking urgent medical treatment. For Salah, the restriction of movement has meant unemployment and poverty: after losing his job in Israel, he returned to a job market in Gaza where unemployment now runs close to 55 percent.
"Since 2002 I have not been able to go to Israel to work and now I have been unemployed for many years. I have no money to rent an apartment in Gaza City like the other families who were living in this area. I have 12 children. How can I take care of them? How long can we all live in one tent? I asked the government to help me, but they said there is nothing they can do because they cannot get the material to build new houses. I am a Palestinian civilian. I am not political. What did I do to deserve this?"
Salah is far from alone in his difficult situation. Just across the street in Beit Lahiya, in an empty office above a semi-operational gas station, lives Sabah Al-Attar and her family. "Our home was completely destroyed on the first day of the war [27 December 2008]," Sabah explains, waving her arms in an emphatic gesture to illustrate the totality of the destruction.
"Since then we have been living in an empty office above a petrol station nearby," she says, "but the government discovered us and is forcing us to leave because it is very dangerous to live here due to the large gas tank directly below us. They say if we don't leave by the end of the month, we will have to pay a 10,000 [shekel] fine."
For over a year Sabah and her family have been living in an empty office on the second floor of this gas station. Their home was destroyed and the tent provided to them was confiscated. Because of the dangerous living conditions, Sabah's family is being forced to leave, although they have nowhere to go.
After the war, Sabah and her family were simply glad that they survived the attack: as their home was being bombed, they were fired upon by Israeli troops as they attempted to evacuated the burning building. They are grateful to have each other, but more than a year later, still homeless, jobless and with no support, this remains all that they have as they try to gather the pieces of their broken lives.
"We don't have anywhere to go. We have no home, no work, nothing," she says.
Under the new arrangement announced in early July by the Israeli authorities following international condemnation of the raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters, Israel will permit increased flows of construction materials for PA-approved projects overseen by international organizations. The reconstruction of family homes, like Salah's and Sabah's, falls outside the scope of most of these projects, however. Essential construction goods like cement and lumber beams will continue to be denied entry to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip by Israel as "dual-use goods" — meaning that they ostensibly possess military use — despite the fact that these goods do not appear on any internationally-recognized dual use list.
In this respect, it is easy to understand Salah's pessimism with regard to the recent announcements. "I have no hope that the materials will be let in under the new policy. I hoped for three years now that the closure would end, but nothing has changed." For now, there is little he can do but wait.
Ma'an - Salah Jalal Abu Leila lives in a crowded tent with his family of 12 beside a dusty main street in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya; they have been living here for more than a year.
"Our home was completely destroyed in the war. I worked for 16 years in Israel to build my home and in one attack the Israelis destroyed everything I worked to build," Abu Leila says.
Unemployed since 2002, when he was denied access to his job in Israel, Salah is unable to rent an apartment and move from his government-allocated tent like the rest of the families who, too, were forced to take up temporary residence on this patch of sand after their homes were destroyed during the latest Israeli military offensive in December 2008 and January 2009.
Almost none of these families, however — and Salah's as well — have been able to begin to rebuild their homes and resume their lives due to the ban on construction materials as part of the total closure imposed by Israel since June 2007. For Salah and his family, life has been put on hold and he has little choice but to wait for the opportunity to begin again.
Over 16,000 homes were damaged during the latest Israeli offensive, 2,114 of which — like Salah's — were completely destroyed. As a result, more than 51,000 Palestinians were made homeless. Most sought refuge with family members in Gaza's urban centers, adding to the already highly congested living conditions in the Gaza Strip.
Without cement, steel, lumber, or glass — all denied entry by Israel and Egypt — most of those displaced during the war remain so more than one year after the vicious attack. Their homes and other civilians buildings which were reduced to rubble by Israeli rockets continue to serve as a striking reminder of the extensive damage wrought by the war, and the inability to repair them and return home has greatly exacerbated the psychosocial distress of the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza who are forced to live amidst the ruins.
Since June 2007, when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Israel has tightened its grip on the coastal territory, shifting to a policy of complete closure which allows only the bare minimum level of humanitarian assistance — enough to sustain life and little more — from a policy of selective closure employed since the early 1990s. While Salah's home remains in ruins due in large part to the ban of construction goods under the complete closure, the misery caused to him by the Israeli-imposed closure did not begin in 2007.
Salah worked as a plumber in Israel for 16 years, one of the 26,000 Palestinians from Gaza who used to commute daily to Israel for work. Beginning in 2002, however, the Israeli-controlled Erez border crossing was closed for Palestinian civilians and Salah lost his coveted job. Sitting on his dirt floor, chickens and children scurrying around him, he speaks of his 16 years in Israel with nostalgia:
"The money was very good then. I could support my family with no problem and I had very good relationships with my Israeli colleagues. Sometimes our families would get together for dinner and celebrations," he says.
Now only approximately 100 people cross through the Erez crossing per day and these are either international aid workers or Palestinians seeking urgent medical treatment. For Salah, the restriction of movement has meant unemployment and poverty: after losing his job in Israel, he returned to a job market in Gaza where unemployment now runs close to 55 percent.
"Since 2002 I have not been able to go to Israel to work and now I have been unemployed for many years. I have no money to rent an apartment in Gaza City like the other families who were living in this area. I have 12 children. How can I take care of them? How long can we all live in one tent? I asked the government to help me, but they said there is nothing they can do because they cannot get the material to build new houses. I am a Palestinian civilian. I am not political. What did I do to deserve this?"
Salah is far from alone in his difficult situation. Just across the street in Beit Lahiya, in an empty office above a semi-operational gas station, lives Sabah Al-Attar and her family. "Our home was completely destroyed on the first day of the war [27 December 2008]," Sabah explains, waving her arms in an emphatic gesture to illustrate the totality of the destruction.
"Since then we have been living in an empty office above a petrol station nearby," she says, "but the government discovered us and is forcing us to leave because it is very dangerous to live here due to the large gas tank directly below us. They say if we don't leave by the end of the month, we will have to pay a 10,000 [shekel] fine."
For over a year Sabah and her family have been living in an empty office on the second floor of this gas station. Their home was destroyed and the tent provided to them was confiscated. Because of the dangerous living conditions, Sabah's family is being forced to leave, although they have nowhere to go.
After the war, Sabah and her family were simply glad that they survived the attack: as their home was being bombed, they were fired upon by Israeli troops as they attempted to evacuated the burning building. They are grateful to have each other, but more than a year later, still homeless, jobless and with no support, this remains all that they have as they try to gather the pieces of their broken lives.
"We don't have anywhere to go. We have no home, no work, nothing," she says.
Under the new arrangement announced in early July by the Israeli authorities following international condemnation of the raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters, Israel will permit increased flows of construction materials for PA-approved projects overseen by international organizations. The reconstruction of family homes, like Salah's and Sabah's, falls outside the scope of most of these projects, however. Essential construction goods like cement and lumber beams will continue to be denied entry to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip by Israel as "dual-use goods" — meaning that they ostensibly possess military use — despite the fact that these goods do not appear on any internationally-recognized dual use list.
In this respect, it is easy to understand Salah's pessimism with regard to the recent announcements. "I have no hope that the materials will be let in under the new policy. I hoped for three years now that the closure would end, but nothing has changed." For now, there is little he can do but wait.
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