For a Few Precious Hours, Gazans Try to Live a Normal Life

By Mohammed Omer

Gazans enjoy a day at the beach (Photo M. Omer).

A TRUE SENSE of calm has yet to fully materialize in Gaza’s cities, where decay and tragic devastation still pervade. But weary Gazans are able to escape their horrifying realities, however temporarily, at the beach—which, before 2005, only Israeli settlers living in Gaza were allowed to enjoy.

Still, most Gazans are aware that this respite may be merely the quiet before a new storm of violence. Sitting with her family, Umm Mohammed Barakat, 46 years old, watched her children playing in the sand. For her kids, this beach visit was the first in many years. They gazed at the waves rushing in and ebbing out, and reveled in watching the blue sky change to brilliant hues as the sun descends below the horizon—a sight truly best appreciated from the beach.

The Barakat family came here to enjoy themselves, to stop thinking about the bloody days of Hamas and Fatah infighting, to get on with their lives…once again. “I’m here to forget all our painful suffering, to give birth to new hope, and to return laughter to smileless faces traumatized by the last appalling weeks of violence in Gaza,” Umm Mohammed explained, adding: “We want to distract our children from the ghastly nightmares they have on a nightly basis, to let them experience and think about something beautiful and different.”

Her husband, also at the beach for the first time in many years, preferred not to comment on the situation. “I don’t want to spoil our picnic by recalling the bloody days just past. We have been through enough and have already relived too many bad memories,” he said. “I crave fresh ocean air, away from the putrid smells of bullets’ smoke, burned tires, and the dusty rubble of destroyed houses.”

Of the hundreds injured and killed during the fighting between Hamas and Fatah, victims came from both factions—but also included many civilians who happened to be passing by on the street at the wrong time. Today the Gaza beach teemed with people, all sharing the same simple hope of escaping from the morbid and severe situation imposed upon them, and enjoying life again.

Following the Hamas takeover of Gaza, many Gazans believe that the Strip is now safer than during the days when it was rife with internal fighting. Currently, there is now only one ruling party in Gaza: Hamas. “Now, I can be outside with friends as late as I want—sometimes until 2 in the morning—before I return home,” 24-year-old Belal said, adding: “No one will shoot at me, stop me, or harass me, because there aren’t any gunmen and masked men in the streets now.”

And while it is still nearly impossible to find transportation, or even people, on the streets late at night, since most Gazans are still unsure about the current situation and prefer to keep indoors, many nonetheless agree that it’s comparatively much safer than it was during the last few months.

Yousef Abdullah, on the beach with his four children, not only survived the recent factional infighting, but previously survived Israel’s bloody June raids on Al Qarara, KhanYounis, which left four Palestinians dead and four others injured. Explaining that his family was terrified to leave their home, Abdullah, 30, said he had barely managed to convince them to come to the beach. Nevertheless, he added, he had to try: “I must transform the atmosphere of apprehensive horror my family is living in to one where they can enjoy the beach, enjoy nature.”

Along with those reacquainting themselves with the beauty of the sea, others have come to complain to the waves about their inescapable frustration, anger and deep sorrow.

Looming over this seaside attempt to resume living a normal life is the continuing Israeli and international siege imposed on the Gaza Strip: borders are closed—trapping the sick and wounded inside Gaza—and severely limited supplies are dwindling quickly. Added to this is the growing ominous threat of new Israeli attacks on Gaza. New Defense Minister Ehud Barak has vowed that Israel will launch attacks on Gaza in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the mainstream media continues to ignore the devastating effects of the more than year-old sanctions on a desperate population, and instead backs Israel’s decision to strangle the people of Gaza.

Many have managed to flee Gaza: Palestinians loyal to Fatah, holders of British, U.S. and European passports, and 80 Russian and Belarussian nationals, including 48 children, were evacuated from Gaza in late June. U.N. Aid agencies warned of a “major humanitarian crisis” in the Hamas-held, and therefore internationally snubbed, Gaza Strip, where food stocks will be depleted in July unless Israel lifts its cargo blockade. Currently vital supplies only trickle in through the Kerem Shalom crossing, which has a capacity of just 15 trucks a day. Reopening the Karni crossing, which can handle up to 200 trucks a day, is crucial, according to U.N. agencies. Red Cross spokesman Bernard Barrett reported that his agency had sent medicine to treat the hundreds of people wounded in the Hamas-Fatah fighting, and planned to ship more.

In Gaza, order was being established, with Hamas barring civilians from carrying weapons in public and banning masked men from the streets. A group dubbing itself “Volunteers for God” directed traffic at jammed intersections and junctions throughout the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-affiliated Executive Force went to all shops and markets to announce the decision that storeowners must freeze prices in view of the food shortage, since prior experiences saw shopkeepers raise prices once the borders had been closed. Another 700 Hamas volunteers in green caps and yellow safety jackets visited schools to ensure the law was implemented during secondary students’ final exams.

Although the majority of Gazans respect laws under Hamas, that is no guarantee that either Hamas or the civilians of Gaza will ever win the support of the international community, the U.S. administration, and the European Union. Those Gazan civilians who made it to the beach on a lovely day in June, therefore, must cherish it as a rare break from unending emergencies.

Mohammed Omer, winner of New America Media’s Best Youth Voice award, reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be reached at <gazanews@yahoo.com>.