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    • Archive for July, 2010

    Meet the Gaza Bloggers

    Posted in Posts on 07/31/2010 12:54 pm by Laila El-Haddad

    It’s been 3 years since I’ve been back to Gaza. I won’t lie: the first thing I wanted to do was to eat some Ba7ri figs. I’ve missed them.

    Otherwise, I needed some time to get re-acquainted. It sounds silly to say you need to get re-acquainted with a place you’ve known your whole life, but so much has happened since I was last here in July of 2007 (namely, the attempted Fateh coup and Cast Lead).

    Its not always as easy as it seems. Everyone’s an expert on the “situation” here-whether locally or abroad. And there are exactly 1.6 million passionate opinions in Gaza. People-taxi drivers, shopkeepers, street sweepers-will claim only they know how things REALLY went down on any given day- and that they can back it up with evidence from a second cousin “who saw it all with his own eyes”; and if you take things at face value, you’ll be inclined to believe what they tell you.

    But enough of that, of which you can read more in my upcoming Guardian article.

    The other thing I wanted to do immediately was meet with Gaza’s burgeoning blogging community.

    In this photo from Left to Right: @ibrahim_jabour (Ibrahim Jabour) @ibashar (Bashar Lubbad) @asmaagaza (Asmaa AlGhoul) @ibtihal4 (Ibtihal Aloul) @abuelsharif (Sharim Al-Sharif)

    Though blogging has never taken off in Palestine as it has in other Middle Eastern States, such as Iraq, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, with Palestinians largely preferring social forums like Facebook or chat rooms, over the past three years it has gained notable speed.

    I sat down with 7 bloggers in Gaza City a few days ago (in what we hope to make a regular occurrence). I won’t bore you with the analytical details, which I hope to save for an article I’m publishing (somewhere…), but I would like to introduce them. I should note that most blog in Arabic, not English, and their audiences vary (for one, its primarily Egyptian; another, the Arab world; few seem to have a local following).

    My general takeaway: Most people assume the Palestinian blogosphere, or the Palestinian political spectrum in general, is monolithic. By way of example, Bashar is an observant Muslim with Sufi practices, but he is critical of both the Hamas government in Gaza and that of Fateh in the West Bank, where most people assume an “either or” categorization of individuals here.

    As one of the bloggerettes explained “people outside expect us all to be wrapped in a kaffiya, throwing stones, and to be stalwarts of the Palestinian cause every second of everyday, and we feel we don’t want to disappoint but we are human beings and sometimes we just want to blog about what’s on our mind.”

    And so they feel sometimes they are stuck between obligations and expectations-whether that is blogging about the “cause” or being criticized for complaining about it locally (meaning, domestic disunity). Blogging has opened up new horizons for them, they told me, but even the virtual world has its non-virtual limits, with most of them unable to travel outside of Gaza (Ibrahim, for example, wanted to attend a start-up conference but was denied a travel permit).

    They admit there is still a very immature understanding in Gaza of what a blog is, and what an effective blogging looks like. Many people think it is simply a space to copy/paste recycled text, forwards, graphic pictures, and so on, explained Asmaa. In addition, it should be noted that blogging for a domestic audience is very difference than blogging for a regional Arab one, or a Western foreign one, a point that Bashar and I were discussing this evening when we ran into each other at the shop by my dad’s apartment.

    Beyond these initial assessments, the purpose of this post is mainly to introduce you to them. All are roughly 25, give or take 2 years. So without further ado, I give you the Gaza Bloggers (and pardon the incomplete bios, I failed to write everything down!)

    Lina al-sharif
    Live from Gaza: 360km2 of chao

    http://livefromgaza.wordpress.com/

    Sameeha Elwan
    http://sameeha88.wordpress.com/
    Sameeha is a recent English lit graduate from Gaza’s IUG

    Mohamed Suliman
    Gaza: diaries of peace and war

    http://msuliman.wordpress.com/

    Bashar Lubbad
    Day job: The Palestinian Institute for Conflict Resolution
    Self-described Internet addict; cynical, snarky, passionate
    Co-founded local web-based youth national reconciliation movements “Enough”, “Wake-up”, and “Nzra (Perspective)” مبادرات اصحى، بكفي، و نظرة
    www.ibashar.wordpress.com

    http://twitter.com/ibashar

    http://facebook.com/ibashar

    Bashar also tweeted his discovery of another Gaza based bloggers-

    Rana Baker http://ranabaker.wordpress.com/

    Sharif Al-Sharif
    Day job: communications officer at a local NGO (hope I got that right Sharif)
    Sharifo.jeeran.com
    Description: Sarcastic, cynical (are you sesing a theme here?) tries to avoid politics “but everything is political here!”
    Twitter: Abuelsharif

    Ibrahim al jabour
    Day job: IT consultant
    clickontech.net/arabic
    Twitter: Ibrahim_Jabour

    Ibtihal Al Aloul
    ibtihalinlife.blogspot.com
    Twitter: ibtihal4
    “local coordinator working to support democracy and empower young people to make a positive change”

    Asmaa Alghoul, Journalist
    Asmagaza.wordpress.com
    Co-founder of “Wake-Up” with Bashar

    Yasmeen El Khoudary
    yelkhoudary.blogspot.com
    Day job: works at CHF Intl

    Ola Anan
    fromghazza.blogspot.com

     

    Gaza City rocked by massive explosion

    Posted in Posts on 07/31/2010 07:21 am by Laila El-Haddad

    It was getting a little too quiet; true, there has been a “calm” lately and a unilateral ceasefire of sorts but still. Last night just as Noor had nodded off to bed a massive explosion rocked our entire building, shaking our windows nearly off their hinges. Our electricity was out, and we forgot to put batteries in the radio. I logged onto the net with dial-up since the DSL went out with the power but no news had yet appeared. Yousuf slept through the entire thing, while Noor began to scream that she was afraid. Reflexively, I found myself clenching my mother’s arm who was asleep beside me.

    A few hours later we learned Israeli F-16 fighter jets struck a security complex, previously occupied by Fateh and now by Hamas security, near the beach only a couple of kilometers away. The location is directly adjacent to a seaside park we visited two days ago-and where nearly 1000 residents were at last night, enjoying an evening by the sea before fleeing in panic.

    The jets also struck Nuseirat refugee camp and a location in southern Gaza.

    Reports are conflicted regarding fatalities, but it appears at least one man was killed, Issa al-Batran, whose wife and five children were killed in 5 previous attempts on his life by Israeli forces) in the attack on Nuseirat. 17 others were injured as well, including several children.

    The attacks (two others in central and northern Gaza) reportedly came in response to a grad rocket fired at Ashkelon the day before, claimed by the Popular Resistance Committees’ military wing the Salah al-Din Brigades. The rocket itself was a response to an Israeli attack on the southern Gaza town of Rafah, which injured several people last week.

    And so it goes.

     

    Brilliant billboard activism

    Posted in Posts on 07/30/2010 05:10 am by Laila El-Haddad

    No comment needed!! ! بدون تعليق

    Billboard activism for Palestine around California and New Mexico in the United States.

     

    Midnight breadmaking in Gaza

    Posted in Posts on 07/25/2010 10:21 pm by Laila El-Haddad

    Video thumbnail. Click to play
    Click To Play

    Here’s a short clip of a young Palestinian man hand-tossing and baking traditional Palestinian Taboon Saj bread on a griddle around midnight. Around him one can hear a symphony of generators, which power basic appliances during 8 hour rotating electricity cuts. At night residents of the city escape outdoors to beat the suffocating indoor heat until the electricity comes back on.

    Incidentally, after this visit, Yousuf thinks he’s a dough tossing expert-and has managed to knock down two cups, one vase, one pot…and the list goes on :)

     

    My other project: the Gaza Kitchen

    Posted in Posts on 07/23/2010 06:19 pm by Laila El-Haddad

    Madrid-based journalist Maggie Schmitt and myself are working on a new book project with Just World Publishing tentatively titled The Gaza Kitchen. Its will include stories and recipes from the Gaza Strip, but goes further to explore the influence of migration patterns, refugee glows, politics, and siege on Gaza’s cuisine. For those familiar with my obsession with all things food related work you know this is a long time coming!

    Here is the still nascent website with an introduction to the book: http://gazakitchens.wordpress.com/

     

    The Shalit Sweepstakes

    Posted in Posts on 07/23/2010 05:44 pm by Laila El-Haddad

    Also known as “Who Wants to a Millionaire!” : Gaza edition.

    The Shin Bet has taken to calling Palestinian land lines on a daily basis with a prerecorded audio message asking people: “Do you want to become a millionaire? Well now you can! And no annoying TV hosts or suspense involved! You don’t have to be smart-in fact its probably better that you’re not because you have to be a dumbass to take this message seriously! It can be your destiny, like the kid from Slumdog millionaire! All you have to do is provide us with information leading to the release of Gilad Shalit, and you can have your share of 10 million dollars! Yes you!”

    OK, so I editorialized a bit. But you get the picture (the first and last parts are actually true).

    Apparently this has been going on for some time now. My father, who was visiting the US and with whom I just returned to Gaza, told me he heard the same message repeating itself over a year ago. I’ll try to record it next time I heard it for blog documentation purposes, and then maybe, for a new “Shin Bet punk’d” along the lines of this brilliant piece of activism from the days of Cast Lead.

     

    In Gaza

    Posted in Posts on 07/23/2010 06:06 am by Laila El-Haddad

    Well, as those following my twitter feed may already now, we have made it into Gaza safe and sound. Apologies for taking a while to update my blog/twitter: I was without internet access for several days while traveling, and then without electricity for 10 hour stretches when we made it to Gaza. We are trying to found a way around this by buying something akin to an internet data card.

    In any case, I flew from Washington to London to Cairo, and thank God there were no complications ala 2009 there this time. I then took a taxi across Sinai, staying awake the entire way to keep my sleepy driver entertained. We had to stop just ahead of the Suez Canal for a few hours, which was shut down to allow several US naval ships passage (to where? one driver said towards Iran, as they did last month).

    During this pause, I met a young Palestinian mother (originally from Lydd) who lives in Dubai. She was taking her 1 year old to Gaza to add him to her hawia (Israeli-issued Gaza ID), as I was doing with Noor. However because he had only a “temporary” Palestinian Authority passport issued to him by the Palestinian embassy (with their limited authority) in the UAE, the Egyptians would only grant him a 7 day visa “under security surveillance” (seriously, it said that in his visa, I saw it! ” تحت السيطرة الأمنية ” ).

    We made it to Arish by morning, where I joined forces with Yousuf, Noor and my parents. The next day we drove to the border, which has been open on a regular basis for several weeks now (note: the border is still closed to all non Gaza ID card-carrying Palestinians, to foreigners, and generally to everyone else with rare exceptions).

    The border was a breeze-the first time in my life I remember it being so easy (which goes to show that, no surprises, if it was open on a regular basis like most airports and border crossings are, there would be no backlog and jam; also shows that the policy of closure beforehand was very much intended as collective punishment). The Hamas-run Palestinian side of the crossing, now void of EU observers or Presidential guard (just “border security”) was incredibly organized and smooth. But then, the problem has always been being able to actually reach the terminal, what with all the Egyptian/ Israeli restrictions on who gets to travel and when. People seem happy with the internal security situation-one of the only issues around which people seem to agree.

    As we drove from Rafah to Gaza City, Yousuf kept asking when “we’d reach Gaza” and why there weren’t any traffic lights :)

    Amazingly, he also jumped for cover every time he heard firecrackers going off, worried they might be shelling.

    I have yet to re-orient myself and adjust my schedule to the long electricity outages. At night, our street turns into one large noisy orchestra of generators. They comes in all shapes and sizes, and power everything from shops to pharmacies to homes.

    Its summer here, school’s out and summer camps are winding to a close as Ramadan nears. The humid heat burns your eyes at times.

    As I upgrade my internet, I hope to be posting much more videos and photos, so stay tuned !

     

    Gaza bound

    Posted in Posts on 07/16/2010 09:31 am by Laila El-Haddad

    Well, by now I should have been writing this message from Gaza-or at the very least from Egypt. However not surprisingly my plans have been postponed yet again, this time due to an “IT malfunction” in the computer system of the British Consulate in NY, who require I go through a ridiculously cumbersome procedure to obtain a transit visa so I can fly through Heathrow Airport. Don’t ask.

    That said, my passport was set to arrive one day later than my flight, and we were faced with the prospect of canceling our entire trip. Instead, we decided to send our kids along with their grandparents to wait for me in Egypt (they are now in Arish by the border) as the airlines suggested it would be easier to find a single seat than 3 seats when re-booking.

    And off they went. I spent an ulcer-inducing day of uncertainty-being told I couldn’t get my ticket refunded, re-booked, or even rerouted and that there were simply no seats on the Cairo flights from Heathrow on BA. Good ‘ol BA, gotta love ‘em (incidentally, since my post several years ago “I complain, therefore I am” they have now added “Palestinian Occupied Territory” to their drop-down menu of “countries”).

    Finally, through some small miracle and lots of du’a, the travel agent was able to convince a woman at the airlines to refund my ticket and rebook me at the earliest for Sunday evening while charging me a nominal fee (ok…more like $500…but I’ll try to forget that part).

    More updates as I travel, inshallah. There is yet the obstacle of getting past Cairo Airport, though I am armed with a multiple exit re-entry visa this time, one can never be certain.