From Dec. 26 to Dec. 30 MPT members David and Joe were guests at Holy Family Parish in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine, and also guests of a Palestinian family in the city of Rafah, on the Egyptian border about 18 miles south of Gaza City.

The following is the text of three interviews with people in Rafah.

These kids could be tomorrow’s “collateral damage” associated with an Israeli military incursion.

Walls (seen in the background) were damaged and bullet-ridden by an Israeli attack in recent years.

INTERVIEW WITH FIVE HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS:

Joe:  With Israel’s closing of the Erez crossing into Gaza Strip, leaving the door just slightly ajar, what is the most serious effect of this on people here?

Students:  Fifty- two people, some of them children, have died in Gaza Strip during 2007. These people were trying to get out of Gaza Strip into Israel to get urgently needed medical treatment, but the Israeli army did not let them in. If the situation remains like this with the closing of the border, it will be catastrophic. Children will die, and they will not live their childhood. We don't know why the Israeli army kills the children.[1]

Joe:  What are some effects of the Israeli policy of blocking many items from coming in at the Erez crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip?

Students:  Medicines are becoming scarcer at the hospitals, and there is a shortage of medical equipment also.

Sometimes food is allowed to be brought in, but it is very expensive. Since last year the prices have risen 200 to 300 percent. With growing unemployment, people cannot afford to buy the food they need. Most of the time people just eat beans.

We are seeing a growing crime rate because of this situation.

There are frequent cutoffs of electricity, which can ruin machinery and also make it impossible for us to study at night, which affects our learning. This could also result in the death of a patient on the operating table. The power outages can last for six hours a day, every day.

Transportation has gotten very expensive. For some bus rides within Rafah, the fare has increased from one shekel to two or two fifty, which we can't afford. [The exchange rate is currently 3.84 Israeli shekels per US dollar.]

Now that we have told you all this, what are you going to do for us? We want to live in peace like all the other Arab countries and all the peoples of the world.

Joe:  Do you feel a certain sense of accomplishment and pride now that the Israelis have left and Palestinians themselves are running Gaza, in spite of all the difficulties?

Students:  After the Israelis left, there are no more checkpoints, so we are not suffering like before, especially between Gaza City and other cities. It used to take several hours to get from Rafah to Gaza City. The students really suffered having to go to Gaza City for studies.

But even now the Israelis, especially their air force, have not really left us. The army makes incursions from time to time to arrest people and kill those they want to kill, especially from the air. When they were still here in Gaza Strip, they lost many soldiers, so now it is safer for them just to enter and kill. The reality for us is the same: they kill and take people prisoner, especially the leaders.[2]

Joe:  What happened to the Israeli settlers’ houses when their army forced them to leave Gaza Strip in 2005?

Students:  The Israelis destroyed the settlement houses before they left. We heard that the Israeli government had said that they could leave the houses for the Palestinians, but Palestinian families are much larger than the Israeli families so they did not want to take these houses because they were too small.

So the Israeli army destroyed all the houses before they left Gaza Strip, explaining that they did not want to leave the settlers the hope of going back some time to Gaza. We are glad that the Israeli army did this; at least we can say that the settlers will not come back.

Joe:  Is it nice to be able to go to the beach [Mediterranean]?

Students:  For a long time access to the beach had been closed by the Israeli occupation, so we did not go there. Now that it is open, some people are really scared to go to the sea because of what happened to a girl’s family. The Gale family were on the beach, and the Israelis fired at them from the water, killing her family. All the people saw this. She was screaming and saying very sad things like: "Mom and Dad, why have you left me?" People were really sad to see this, so most are scared to go to the beach.

I would really like to know why the Israelis are subjecting us to all of this: the siege, closing the crossing.[3] What is the reason that they don't let us live and have a good life and peace?

Joe:  Why do you think the Israeli government decided to pull out, forcing the settlers to leave and withdrawing the army?

Students:  Because of our strong resistance. Besides, this is not their land to stay in. However, they might come  back, since the wall is still here; that has not changed. The Israeli soldiers are killing the leaders to make it easy for them to return and control this territory again. They enter Gaza Strip now dressed in Palestinian outfits, go to the houses of the people they want and take them, and return to Israel.  We Palestinians are not bad people. We do not treat our prisoners as Israelis treat our people in their jails. When an Israeli is killed by the Palestinians, they make it really big news; but when a Palestinian is killed, an old man or a woman or child, it is nothing and they don't talk about it.

We want all the prisoners to come back to their families.

Joe: How many Palestinians in Gaza Strip have been killed this year by the Israeli military?

Students: Almost three hundred. Others have been killed by the reduced amount of medicines and food that are allowed in. If the situation remains like this, malnutrition could become a serious problem.

Tell the people in the U.S. to stand by us, and tell them what is really happening. Write about the children, comparing life for children here and in Israel. The children especially live in fear under this situation. They are always scared.

We just need peace and safety and that the Israelis leave and let us live our lives.

We want the refugees to come back to Palestine again, and we want the Israelis to open the crossing point to let the sick people go to receive treatment.

We have never seen the West Bank or Jerusalem. We are in Gaza Strip, which is Palestine, and the West Bank is Palestine, but we have never seen it. We want to see Jerusalem. The Israelis control everything, even people going to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

INTERVIEW WITH OUR DRIVER IN RAFAH:

Joe:  How has the tightening of the crossing point affected the supply of gasoline?

Driver:  Before the closure, we were receiving 100,000 liters of gasoline a day from the Israelis; but now, about 40,000.  This makes it hard for people to move around, to sell their products and buy what they need. We have food just for one day at a time.

Two days ago I had an emergency: my daughter got seriously sick and I didn't have gasoline to take her to the doctor.

The price of gasoline has risen now to five shekels per liter. Seven years ago it cost two shekels. So people now are walking rather than driving. For instance, if I want to go to Gaza City, I will not take my car or a private cab. I will share a large cab for seven people.

There is also a problem with car parts. Many cannot be found in Gaza Strip now. Or a part that cost 100 shekels before the border closure now costs 200.

Cigarettes used to cost eight shekels but now cost eighteen per pack, and this is for poor quality cigarettes.

Joe:  How do you feel about Jewish people?

Driver:  When Israelis speak about us, they say we are all bad. But when we Palestinians talk about them, we distinguish among Israelis, Jews, and army. Jews are different from army, and Palestinians live in Israel too.

If someone comes to your house and says I am going to kill you, what would you think, what would you do? You would defend yourself.

Joe:  What are some other effects of the reduced trade with Israel due to the tightening of the crossing?

Driver:  On our recent Muslim holy day, we wanted to follow our religious custom of sacrificing a cow or a goat.  But this year because the Israelis did not allow cows or goats to be brought into Gaza Strip, the people could not sacrifice an animal. Years ago we paid 1200 shekels for an animal, but now the price was 1800 which was out of reach for many people.

Some people sacrificed a cow which was only one year old instead of the two years required by religious custom; the imams allowed this.

This kind of life makes you die. Many young people of eighteen or twenty years of age want to leave because of the situation.

I challenge you to find any kind of building materials in the shops, because the Israelis don't allow them into Gaza Strip. This means that no more houses are being built. I wanted to build a new room but could not do it. Many people want to improve their home but can't.

A friend of mine decided to paint his car. He sanded off the first coat of paint but then couldn't find any paint to finish the job.

There are no new shoes or jackets in the stores.

Joe:  Does Israel block everything from coming in?

Driver:  No building materials at all are coming in. You can't fix anything in your house. They let some food items in, for example, flour, but the price has increased from one hundred to one hundred sixty shekels. Some fruit is allowed in, but the higher quality  fruit is exported to other countries.

Sometimes sugar and cooking oil are allowed in, but not always. Apples used to cost three or four shekels per kilogram, but now cost eight per kilo, and they are not always in the market.

But I’m doing OK. At least I can buy what my children need, and we are surviving.

Joe:  Who set the prices, the businesspeople according to the law of supply and demand?

Driver:  Let me explain. The materials we need are brought to the crossing checkpoint by Israeli trucks, but they have to wait there up to three days or more, and the Palestinians have to pay for this delay. Then the truckers charge more for their cargo when they load it onto the Palestinian trucks. And sometimes the fruit is rotten.

Let me tell you about a building project for Palestinians whose homes were demolished by the Israelis. People were expecting to move into their homes in August of this year, 2007, but they are still waiting for the work to be finished since no building materials are allowed in. Some families are living in one room while they wait.

If Israel allowed us to have trade and travel with Egypt, that would be good. But we can't. Why not? If this closure continues, it will take ten hours by donkey to get to Gaza City, whereas by car it takes one hour. This is really disgusting.

INTERVIEW WITH FIDA QISHTA, OUR GUIDE AND TRANSLATOR:

Joe:  How has the more restrictive policy at the crossing affected you?

Fida:  When I returned to Gaza in 2006 from a speaking tour, the electricity was out six hours a day. Water was on two days, off two days.

I have thought about starting some projects, but the Israelis might shoot rockets at my building and say they are targeting the resistance. Who would listen to me if I say "no, this is my project"?

Joe:  The Hamas party, which won the legislative elections in 2006, took power here in Gaza Strip in June, 2007. How is the situation here for the people?

Fida:  Now with Hamas in power, we are safer in the streets. Before, we were scared to go out and to go to Gaza City. Fatah blamed problems on Hamas, Hamas on Fatah. We didn't know who was responsible. Now there is just one head of government, Hamas. We have a saying in Arabic: a boat with two leaders will get lost and sink.  Now in Gaza Strip there is one leader.

Joe:  Do you think anything positive will come from the recent Annapolis meeting?

Fida:  At Annapolis there was much talk of money, seven billion for the Palestinian Authority. But they didn't talk about the people.

We need to have a window to the world, to go out. We are in a box, and it is closed. We don't see anything. Children say that the most important thing for them is to see the outside world – not just on TV, but we want to touch and feel things, at least to go to Egypt [half a mile away, just over the border].

Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are totally different from Gaza Strip – the streets, the life. Oh my gosh! Have you seen greens here in Gaza, green trees?

We live, but we are not really alive. You can see me talking to you, but inside I'm a dead body.  I'm not the Fida everyone knows.

At Annapolis the Israelis as always said we will do this or that, but we don't know when they will do this or that. They say “tomorrow,” and tomorrow they say “tomorrow,” but you will never catch their tomorrow.

There is no agreement about the return of the refugees, or Palestinian access to Jerusalem. People would like to pray there. You like your church, we like our mosques. Why don't the Israelis allow people to go there?

We are peace-loving, yes, but we don't want it this way – pushing the Palestinians to do things in Gaza Strip we don't want to do. On my speaking tour in the US, many people asked me: when will you recognize the Israelis? But many people don't recognize and respect us.

Joe:  Are we talking about a vicious cycle of violence here?

Fida:  The Israelis left Gaza Strip because the resistance here pushed them out. We can break the cycle of violence by respecting each other. If they respect us as human beings who want to have a good life, we will respect them.

I remember when, in 1989, my family and I went to Israel, to Haifa, and we had fun at the zoo and visited Jewish friends and stayed with them. They respected us, and we respected them. 

But something has changed totally in the last seven years. We didn’t start it -- the Israelis did. They saw Palestinians increasing in numbers and they wanted to stop it. They thought that with an Intifada[1] they would kill thousands of us.

Joe:  Did Ariel Sharon provoke the Intifada by entering the Al-Aqsa mosque?

Fida:  Yes, with two thousand soldiers. They told the Palestinians they wanted to visit the Al-Aqsa mosque. Sharon said they wanted to touch the mosque, to get in. But he was not allowing the Palestinians to get to Jerusalem to visit their mosque; nevertheless, he went in, giving himself permission. 

He challenged the Palestinian people, saying: “I will do this because I want to do it, because I have the power.” He touched part of their house against their will, deliberately making the Palestinians angry. We could not go to Jerusalem to our main mosque, but he went there. I felt angry.

When you enter a mosque you have to remove your shoes out of respect. Why? Because you might have something dirty on your shoes. But Sharon entered not only with his two shoes on but along with two thousand soldiers with their shoes on.  It would be like a Muslim breaking your cross.

Head watchman in middle, Fida on right,

stalled construction in background.

INTERVIEW WITH HEAD WATCHMAN AT A STALLED HOUSING CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN RAFAH:

Joe: What effects have you seen and felt from Israel’s tightening of the crossing point?

Watchman: Over fifty people have died this year because of that.

Also, a friend’s wife was pregnant and needs an injection every month, but it is not available here in Gaza Strip. She could die any day. The medication cannot be brought in, and she cannot go out.

Joe: How is your work here affected?

Watchman: On Aug. 7 the work on this 300-unit housing construction project stopped because the Israelis would not allow building materials in. This put four hundred workers out of work.