THE HANDSTAND October Issue 2010

MIDEAST: Dreaming of Fish, and Flowers
Mohammed Omer
GAZA CITY, Sep 16 (IPS) - As the many colours of the fish andflowers slowly disappear from the Gaza landscape, the alreadygrim prospects of the besieged residents begins to look evenbleaker.Fishing was a profession that used to keep thousands offishermen and their families fed, but with Israel restrictingthe movements of fishermen, the catches are diminishing.The same fate has overtaken the local flower farmers whosecarnations were the delight of lovers and loved ones acrossEurope. Gaza used to export 75 million flowers to the EU dutyfree, before Israel embargoed all export.There is little movement on the harbour during the day. Only afew fishing boats line the piers of the Gaza Strip."The fish are waiting, but the fishermen are being kept away,"says Zaki Al- Habeel, 33- year-old, father of seven. But justbefore sunset, he is ready to go fishing.Al-Habeel is not allowed to go as far out as he used to. Thefishermen have been set a limit of three miles. "But it is notreally three full miles," he says.Often he is only a mile-and-a-half out before the Israeli navyfires at him. Al-Habeel and his brothers who are all fishermenrisk injuries and damage to equipment every time they sail out.Over the last decade, the Israeli navy has increasinglyrestricted Palestinian access to fishing zones along the Gazabeach, a UN report revealed last month.The United Nations Office for the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs (UNOCHA) compiled the report in cooperation with theWorld Food Programme (WFP).The report said Palestinian fishermen have been barred from 85percent of the naval territory to which they are entitled underthe Oslo Agreement of 1993 between Israel and the PLO.The report also focused on the buffer zone between Israel andGaza where farmers are shot at for tilling their own lands. Thereport mentions 22 Palestinians killed and 146 wounded in suchincidents since January 2009.Yet the farmers and fishermen continue to access theseprohibited areas, risking their life and limb.As Al-Habeel says, he and his brothers "have to feed ourfamilies". The last time, the Israeli navy shot out the fuellines that are connected to his boat. Al-Habeel was justrelieved they did not hit the small fuel tank, which isexpensive and hard to find.Last month, a 22-year-old fisherman was hospitalised withgunshot injuries, when he was perhaps a little more than twomiles from the shore, other fishermen said.The plight of the flower growers is just as wretched.Gaza-grown carnations, marketed under the brand name Coral,were popular all over Europe. But the situation has been goingdownhill for a while. In 2008, IPS had interviewed the carnationfarmer Majed Hadaeid when his situation was quite desperate.He had owned a 130-dunam (32-acre) farm yielding 16-17 millioncarnations a year in 30 different varieties and colours. Thisyear he has lost his entire four-million-dollar business, and isburdened with debts amounting to 1.5 million dollars.There is a faint hope though. The European Campaign to Breakthe Siege on Gaza announced in July that more than 9,000delegates have applied to take a 'freedom flotilla' to Gaza.They are raising 100,000 euros to send an Irish ship thisautumn.Hadaeid hopes these aid boats from Europe will help the otherfarmers to survive. "We need the flotillas to keep upcontinuous pressure on Israel," he said.The fishermen nostalgically remember that day in August 2008when the first flotilla arrived and members of the Free GazaMovement joined them on their boats.Al-Habeel says, "We were then able to get as far as six milesto fish."Everyone cheers the news of another flotilla. Fatima Subhi, a49-year-old, schoolteacher said, "I welcome such delegations."The news has not all been positive though. In May this year,Israelis attacked the Turkish aid boat Mavi Marmara killingmany people on board, including a Turkish-American passenger.Turkish flags are seen at almost every street corner. Adish-seller is wearing a Turkish flag as a T-shirt. "They shedtheir blood for us, so we wear their flag over our hearts," hesays.This summer, quite a few Turkish names have appeared on shopfronts. There is the Marmara Restaurant, the Istanbul Café anda ladies cosmetics shop simply called Istanbul.Samir Al-Ejjel, who owns a shop selling carnations, hasdesigned a bouquet he calls Erdogan in honour of the TurkishPrime Minister and has a Turkish flag flying outside his shop.There was a report in the Israeli daily Maariv last week thatthousands of activists from Western nations, as well as fromArab countries and even Israeli citizens, were preparing to senda flotilla of 30 ships.Al-Habeel likes to think that the many different people whocame by land or sea were just like the wide varieties of fishhe used to catch.As he waits hopefully for the flotillas to return, a youngerfisherman talks about the "beautiful ladies" who were on board."The Israelis do not dare to shoot at (European) women," he sayswith a smile."Those flotillas gave us hope that rights can be protected -even under gunfire," he added.In the past, the fishermen and flower farmers have appealed tothe EU for support. But with governments turning a deaf ear,they call on humanitarian activists from around the world. Theyhold on to the hope that by Christmas there will be morevarieties of fish on the table here, and colourful Gazacarnations in the markets of Europe. (FIN/2010)