A View From The Prison Cell
by Adriano Contreras | Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Gaza’s stores are stocked with goods again. Bananas and oranges line the grocery store entrances. Electronics stores have piled televisions, laundry machines, and cameras. Just nine months ago these stores were bare or closed.

The attack last winter by Israeli forces seized the traffic of goods into Gaza. Gasoline eventually became scarce. Students like Mona, a resident of Jabaliya in Gaza, was dependent on buses to get to her university. She had to walk the distance from the camp to the Islamic University of Gaza in the center of Gaza City. The halted traffic of the tunnels put much of life in Gaza on hold.

Governed by the political party Hamas, life in Gaza has improved. Whereas the old ruling party Fatah instituted corruption, caused fighting amongst Palestinians, and made compromises with Israel, Hamas has done the opposite. According to locals, crime is virtually gone. Their election has created unity amongst Palestinians in Gaza even though not everyone is politically aligned with the Hamas party. The resistance has taken precedent to the politic scene.

Even if the siege was lifted, intimidation, control and occupation of Gaza would continue. Mona’s friend, Areej, explained to me the early morning phone calls by the Israeli state telling people their residence would be bombed that day. Sometimes they were bombed. Sometimes they’d ask for assistance in stopping the resistance. Daily bombings claim lives or ruin villages. During my stay in Gaza nearly 25 people lost their lives to Israeli bombs. The Gaza river has been dried up and no longer useful for transportation. Fishermen on the coast take the risk of being injured by the pot-shots from warships in the distance. Pot-shots I had the chance of listening to during the morning of the 8th. Attempts to plant crops in new areas invite aerial demolition, as countless of olive and orange groves have been decimated for years.

Life in Gaza is like prison. You can only eat what’s made available to you. If you want a luxury, you can attempt to have one smuggled in. If you do get it in then you pay top dollar for it. If you try to rise above the prison limits, punishment awaits. Once in a while a visitor from the outside world is allowed to come in and is usually forced to leave way before the prisoner would like you to. Your fate, ultimately left to the prison warden who decides the conditions of your imprisonment on a daily basis. Like the exoneration of someone imprisoned, the freedom of the people of Gaza will depend on the type of movement built in the outside world to end the punishment.

Aside from violence, demoralization is a tactic of Israeli apartheid. The list of items blocked from entering Gaza includes indulgences like chocolate, tea, and coffee as well as essentials like candles, clothing, and shoes. There’s no cinema in Gaza. No McDonald’s (perhaps a good thing). No theme park. Barely, if any, recreational parks. From time to time street parties and concerts take place. I would suggest checking out the documentary Slingshot Hip Hop for a look at the hip hop scene in Gaza and the West Bank.

There are a number of universities in Gaza. Even they are no safe haven. Last year’s attack saw bombings on the busy street where 2 adjacent universities are located. Hundreds of students targeted.

Engineers and scientists graduate by the dozens. What good are those degrees if no building materials are allowed in to Gaza. There’s no jobs for them. Therefore, not a single building has been rebuilt since last year’s massacre.

These conditions force people to rely totally on each other for survival. With a steel wall being erected along the Egyptian border, what recourse will Gaza have left? If the tunnels that keep them alive are shut, what will become of Gaza? What shape will the resistance take in Gaza and internationally?

My trip to Gaza has cemented the things I’ve been reading about. The resilience of the people in the face of Israeli apartheid, the destruction, the daily shelling, the stalled commerce, and abandoned Israeli settlements. I now have mental pictures and relationships that have taken the words off the pages in my books and given greater sense to my ideas and commitment to fighting for justice in Palestine.

Tags: convoy, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Palestine

12:20 am. Viva Palestina.