Daniel Lubetzky

I got a note from a friend in Gaza a couple weeks before the latest breakdown of the cease-fire, which means what you read below has only gotten worse.

"you can hear the people complaining about the situation and cursing the day that Hamas was voted in. The people say that Hamas had tricked them into voting for it and after that Hamas had destroyed their lives."

Full letter…

A letter from Gaza

    June 2008 marked the anniversary for Hamas military coup and the take over of the Gaza Strip by Hamas militia. For the people of the Strip, the 12 months went by very slow, since bad times always pass slowly. It took One year only to destroy the private Sector and the Public sector in the tiny Strip. In reaction to Hamas military take over of Gaza on June 16, 2007, Israel imposed a total siege on the people of Gaza. For the past 16 months no one in the Strip was able to build a single room, this because the construction sector had crumbled it seceded to exist. You can’t find a single bag of cement, also it’s near impossible to get steal. The agriculture sector is near dead, Israel stopped supplying the Strip with the seeds and the pesticides. Also, Israel doesn’t allow the farmers in Gaza to export their products, in particular strawberries& floors, to Europe.

You need to wait for two weeks in order to fill up the gas canister, and sometimes the whole month goes without gas. You can’t go the gas station in order to fill up your car with fuel; you must find fuel in the black market smuggled from Egypt. The USAID after the military coup froze, and withdraw the funds which were allocated to the reconstruction of the streets; consequently almost all the streets in the Strip were left half way done. If you go to shop for clothe& shoes you will be disappointed; the choices are limited and the quality is very bad, this because the merchants can’t import any thing into the Strip. The electric appliance stores are empty, and the furniture stores are also empty.

The Palestinian armed forces and the police, which are loyal to President Abbas didn’t report to work for the past 16 months. Almost for two months now, the health sector and the education sector, which are loyal to President Abbas in Gaza strip, are on open strike. You go the clinic and you don’t find a doctor to examine you. The students are taught by unqualified teachers, because their teachers are on strike. If you want to travel for any purpose you can’t, because the crossings are closed for the past 16 months.

The people are tired; you can see this on their faces. In the streets, in the taxi and any where you can hear the people complaining about the situation and cursing the day that Hamas was voted in. The people say that Hamas had tricked them into voting for it and after that Hamas had destroyed their lives.

The big problem is that the Gazans don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel; Israel is happy with the cease fire and doesn’t want to send its soldiers into the Strip, Fatah in Gaza can’t retake the Strip from Hamas and Abbas is irrelevant since he is too far in the West Bank. No one for now is interested in retaking/liberating Gaza from Hamas. This means that the Gazans have to suffer more, and have to see Gaza turned into Taliban Afghanistan or Soumal Sharia courts.