No one can deny the he or she does not know Gaza strip and its great people. Gaza strip is located in Palestine (a besieged strip from Palestine) and it has the most populous area around the world. It has about 1.79 million people (26400 people per kilometer).
Gaza is always full of crises and bad situations with dead conditions. It`s affected by any country around it or even far of it. This great strip was living in good conditions before the occupation besieged it. It was besieged in 2006 after the legislative elections. As a result, all the ports were closed from the two sides (Egyptian and Israeli). So Gaza felled of crises and touchable problems from that time. The average of sick people has increased and the diseases have spread. Many poor people have emerged in Gaza and the poverty began to increase gradually, so Gaza was suffering with no answers from the other countries.
In that siege, Gazans did not relinquish and they stayed patient with faith of Allah. They did not lose the mercy of Allah and used to make Salah( Praying) daily and nightly to Allah to get them their main rights of life. They always say that Allah is with them and will never forget them.
All the world know that Gaza has about 97% of literate people full of genius youth, so a bunch of these clever people has invented underground passages between Gaza and Egypt used for importing and exporting the missed goods called ( Gaza tunnels). That news made Gazans happy and proud of their genius clever inventors. This news began to emerge in the other countries. Some of them refused that and the other agreed with the great people of the great strip and became proud of being supporters of Gaza.
Gaza tunnels became the only nerve of life for Gazans. They import what they missed from major and even minor goods. They import petrol for power stations and power generators. They import cement which Gaza lost for four years. They even export some goods. The tragic sarcastic thing is that the tunnels are used for people to travel by. So the tunnels are great way for feeding and serving Gaza and its people.
Of course the nation in Gaza is related directly to Egypt and its people. We all know what happened in Egypt in January of 2011. The Egyptians made a great revolutions called 25th of January revolution. They were protesting daily and nightly until they made the ousted president Mubarak step down. And these days the Egyptians are protesting in order to oust Mohammad Mursi and finally they did. But the problem is now Egypt is divided into two sides, the first one are is Mursi`s supporters and the other is the opposition of Mursi. So All these problems affect Gaza and its fate.
As a result, The tunnels were blocked and even the Rafah crossing point which opened recently. The blocking of tunnels and the crossing point of Rafah resulted many bad situations and problems in Gaza.
1-No Petrol.
2-No Gas.
3-No Cement.
4-No main goods.
* The Effects of Lacking Petrol on Gaza:
Petrol is the column of the industry revolution. It`s used in factories and power stations and even for transportation and boats. And of course Gaza uses it in industry and for vehicles and even for the only station power. The lacking of petrol made many bad conditions in Gaza. It made many cars and vans stop. Most of ambulances and fire trucks have stopped suddenly. Many factories and bakeries stopped of working. The streets in Gaza became empty of vehicles and even of people. Many fishers stayed home because of lacking the petrol for their boats. There are about 3700 fishers has stopped working and they have big families need food daily and they are hundreds of other workers stopped of working those days.
Lacking of petrol resulted many accidents in Gaza like firing homes and choking children of smoking when the families make fire instead of the light of power. Many children have killed of using fire and candles to make lights.
*The Effects of Lacking Gas on Gaza:
Gas is used in many ways and for many usages. No home can stand without gas. The housewife uses it for cooking and boiling water for showering, but in Gaza those days, the housewives sit in their homes without gas. They use the fire for cooking and boiling water. That resulted many fire accidents and killed many families in Gaza recently. Nowadays every home must has fire to cook by and many of them don`t have the wood for fire.
*The Effects of Lacking Cement on Gaza:
Gaza has about more than 40000 building workers. Lacking of cement and its derivatives resulted many problems in Gaza and made those entire workers stay home with no work nor money to feed their families and even their children.
*The Effects of Lacking Main Goods on Gaza:
The tunnels opened in order to get the main goods that lost in Gaza. In the recent events in Egypt and after blocking the tunnels and the ports from the two sides, most of main goods were missed from Gaza and that of course warns of what will happen in Gaza of starvations and poverty.
The tunnels solved about 70% of Gaza requirements. Many of unemployers got new jobs with good salaries and could feed their families easily, but now 95% of those workers have no job to get money by.
So will the world look at Gaza and see what does it need?
Will the Egyptian army open the tunnels again and let the people of Gaza complete their short life on their land safely?
Gaza strip hopes to get answers soon because its people are dying slowly!!!!!

PRAY FOR GAZA PLEASE!

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Ahmad and his family were living in Alafola village in Palestine. Their life was full of happiness and relaxation. Ahmad was working in a small farm in harvesting olive trees. He and his family were always visiting their farm in the morning. They were eating and using what they got from their farm like olives and olive oil. Ahmad had few cows and goats that he used to cow and eat their meat. He also had a group of hens with a rooster to get eggs from.
Once, Ahmad heard from his neighbors that the Israelis attacked the neighboring villages and kicked the people out. He was afraid of what he heard and was asking himself” what will we do if they attack ours? I have a big family of six and two small babies”. Ahmad and his wife Mariam could not sleep that night thinking of what they heard.
In a foggy morning, Ahmad heard a massive missile was shot beside his home and suddenly his home shook, so he said that the bomb was just the beginning of the war on their village. He went to his farm to see what happened to the tame animals. In the way to the farm, Ahmad met his friend and started to speak about the bad situations in the village and what happened to Ahmad`s home. Accidently, while they are speaking, a shell was shot by them and his friend got a fragment in his neck. Ahmad was shocked and took his friend to the hospital.
The next morning and after Ahmad went back home from the hospital, he found large groups of Israeli soldiers were around the village. They were warning its people that they would destroy it if they did not leave, so Ahmad noticed many villagers started to emigrate towards the neighboring villages and cities. Firstly, Ahmad did not go out and stayed home with his family, but when the Israeli army attacked them in their home and warned them that they will destroy it, Ahmad and the family left their home and hastened towards Gaza forgetting everything in their home. The family decided to go to Gaza because it`s empty of soldiers as they thought.
On the way to Gaza, the family had neither food nor water to feed even their little children. They forgot everything in their home. They were lucky that it was cold so that they were not too thirsty, but it was a strict situation for the innocent family. Finally the the hard situation forced them to start on their way to Gaza. They were not alone in that time going to Gaza. They were immigrating with many other villagers and citizens from Aka, Jaffa, Ramlah and Haifa. When the family arrived in Gaza after a difficult time of sacrifices, they got a small tent to live in and two dishes of soup with some pieces of bread. Mariam (the wife) distributed the food to all children, but while she was doing that, she began to scream and cry ”Where is my daughter Ayaaaah???” she left her middle daughter Ayah in their home in Alafola. The wife did not stop crying. She said that she is the first responsible for her daughter’s loss, but her husband Ahmad came to her and assured her that he will return to the village and look for the girl. The wife firstly refused and did not let him go. She said” we lost one from the family and we cannot lose another one, please don`t go!!” but in the same time she needs her daughter back to hug and kiss her. In the night, the family went to sleep sadly, but could not sleep. They were thinking of the girl and the home. They were thinking of what happened to him and to their neighbors who lost many of their children there. Finally the wife slept and the husband started his way to return to Alafola to get the daughter.
Ahmad began his strict trip to Alafola. He passed Gaza`s borders and some other blocks hardly to arrive the distention of his home. He thought was about to die of the bullets in that area. Finally he arrived the village and was shocked when he saw his home in a conflagration and about to collapse. He began to scream and cry. He entered the home and suddenly found his daughter passed out through the smoke. He picked her up and threw himself out through the window of the home. The father was so sad about his daughter’s condition and at the same time happy because he found the girl safe and sound.
Ahmad stayed in front of his home for moments thinking of his home how it was and how it is now. He decided to go back to Gaza, but two Israeli soldiers saw him with the unconscious girl . They stopped him and asked him to leave the girl and go out the village. Ahmad refused, but the soldiers warned him that they will kill him with the girl inthe same time, so Ahmad told them” I prefer to die beside my daughter to go to Jannah with each other Inshallah” .You can shot me with my daughter now. The soldiers forced him to leave the girl and then they hit him. One of the soldiers went to the girl and started to swear at her then he killed her and stamped on her face by his boots. The father began to cry and scream for his daughter, so the soldiers carried him out the village and he completed his way to Gaza with a huge mountain of depression. When he arrived Gaza and entered the tent, he and the wife began to cry and wail between their children. They were crying about their home and girl. They were crying about their bad situations. They were crying about what happened to Palestine and its people.
After 20 years of sadness and depression, the family developed their tent to a small home consisting of two small rooms and a bath. The UNRWA helped them in that home and gave them food and water. The children became young and Ahmad with the wife got too old.
One cloudy evening, an Israeli jeep came to Ahmad`s home to arrest his oldest son Mohammad. Ahmad could not force them to leave Mohammad because he was too old, so the son forced away leaving them alone. He had not even a knife to defend himself with. Finally he went to the jail where the soldiers were. They beat him and swore at him on the way to the jail. When they arrived at the jail, the jailers carried Mohammad in and began to torture him and ask him why he was throwing stones at the soldiers, but Ahmad said ”this is our right to defend ourselves and resist you. This is our land and no one can take it from us. We will get the freedom soon Inshallah”.
Mariam was so sad about their bad experiences. She tolerated a lot but was always saying” I lost my home in Alafola, I lost my daughter, I lost my son, but I will not lose my homeland ‘Palestine’. One day we will return.
Story by Mohammad Arafat, Gaza.

Mohammad Arafat sent me this story about Gaza and what happened to his friend. He wishes me to share it.

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In 2004 a group of Birmingham councillors went on a privately funded fact-finding visit to Palestine and Israel. This included a visit to Bethlehem, although it was uncertain whether we would get in due to “military operations” taking place. The day before we had been in Jerusalem when a bus was blown up by a police officer from Bethlehem. As a result the army went in to blow up his house home to a dozen or so others. This video includes a visit to the ruins and interview with friends and family.
The film begins with a drive through the narrow streets of Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity. The commentary is by George Rishmawi, then working as a guide for the Holy Land Trust. Our driver is Isa (Jesus). We go inside the church where age old murals are peppered with gunshot holes. We had met with President Yasser Arafat earlier that day in January 2004 who had invited us to stay for dinner when we learned that we may not be able to get to Bethlehem, but we decided to go anyway.
In Bethlehem we see the electrified barbed wire, since replaced by a huge concrete wall and then buildings shelled by Israeli gunships and artillery. We visit a home to see locally made artifacts, speak to the owner of the empty Bethlehem Hotel and end the day at a well-known restaurant in a Bedouin tent.

Israel’s secretive nuclear activities are shrouded in mystery, and that is how this rogue state likes to conduct its business with assassination high on the agenda. Only the action of Mordechai Vanunu exposed what President John F Kennedy had suspected. The question still remains did he pay with his life for persisting in asking the right questions? When Yasser Arafat became ill suddenly towards the end of 2004 exhaustive tests failed to find what was causing his deteriorating condition. Following his death there was no trace of poisoning. Now Al Jazeera have commissioned further studies looking in a new direction, the possible use of polonium, discovered by Marie Curie and the cause of death of her own daughter after an accidental leakage in the laboratory.
“At least two people connected with Israel’s nuclear program also reportedly died after exposure to the element, according to the limited literature on the subject.
But polonium’s most famous victim was Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy-turned-dissident who died in London in 2006 after a lingering illness. A British inquiry found that he was poisoned with polonium slipped into his tea at a sushi restaurant.
There is little scientific consensus about the symptoms of polonium poisoning, mostly because there are so few recorded cases. Litvinenko suffered severe diarrhea, weight loss, and vomiting, all of which were symptoms Arafat exhibited in the days and weeks after he initially fell ill.
Animal studies have found similar symptoms, which lingered for weeks – depending on the dosage – until the subject died. “The primary radiation target… is the gastrointestinal tract,” said an American study conducted in 1991, “activating the ‘vomiting centre’ in the brainstem.”
Scientists in Lausanne found elevated levels of the element on Arafat’s belongings – in some cases, they were ten times higher than those on control subjects, random samples which were tested for comparison.” Source Al Jazeera 4/6/2012.

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When I was in the Palestinian territories and Israel in early 2004 we discussed Mordechai Vanunu who was still held in prison where he had served 18 years, much in solitary confinement. This after being lured to Rome where he was kidnapped (presumably illegally by Mossad who seem to be immune to international law) and smuggled back to Israel. He has spent 8 further years restricted to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He is widely regarded as a spy and traitor and so continues to be harassed.
Now is the time for the Israeli government to show good will. I seriously wonder if it is capable of doing this. Any report you read on this bunch shows them laying into everybody and anybody, except that is the settlers to whom Netanahyu continues to give away Palestinian land and property. Extreme is not the word to describe these actions, but since the US appears powerless to deal with him it continues,
The following are letters published in the Guardian which coincide with a day of action called by the Free Mordechai Vanunu cause on Facebook, supported by 5,500 people.

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