The issue with Gaza fisherman not being able to cross the 3 mile limit imposed by Apartheid Israel is malnutrition. The limit restricts the diet citizens in the Strip consume. Gazans eat "50 percent less than average daily protein intake across the Arab world". After Oslo the restriction was 20 miles, lowered down to around 12, then 6 during the siege, and now 3.
Today a demonstration was organized starting from the Salateen roundabout in Beit Lahya and ending Sudaniyya area near the Beit Lahya port. About 70 individuals were present for the half kilometer walk including local and international activists.
It was around 11a.m. when we left the roundabout. We passed tents, new residence of families whose homes were destroyed or demolished.
The Sudaniyya area is also called the Wa'ha. It is where Huda Ghalyeh's family was slaughtered in 2006, whilst Lebanon was being bombed (I wrote about her here.) I looked at the place, so forlorn, so empty, so deserted. Occupation! The control of every aspect of your life, not by you! Ahead, I could see the Israeli factories, with smoke coming out of them. How convenient... they also intentionally place polluting factories near the Palestinians.
We remained on the shore for around two hours. There were three gunboats ahead passing by and moving around. I felt observed, as if their gazes bore into my body piercing it with hatred. There were fishermen amongst us, and I passed by two who were elderly men. "Look at the stories his face tells," said a comrade. I asked the old fishermen if I could take a photo of him. He said no. I asked again could I take it, if it was only for me. He said yes - (so, excuse me for not including it). I asked him what he thought about the demonstration. He said it will not prevent them from firing at him and killing him tomorrow. He asked me what I thought about the demonstration. I said it is written in notebooks and that a "journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." He smiled, but did not seem convinced. I stood in awe, in front of this humble man. A young man came forward to speak to me about my previous inquiry into the drinking water and usable water resources gaza relied on. The old man eyed Mohammad as he spoke to me. Vibrant, full of hopes, dreams, full of wishes. Defying occupation, "forbidden dreams." In that moment, I saw that old man as Mohammad. Striken by frustration and death the Israeli Apartheid system inflicted upon his years of living. I look to the right. Huda Ghalyeh's cyring face appears. I look to the sea, the gunboats sailing illegally. I look to my left, houses demolished to dest, little fishermen chambers deserted. The sky? The sky existed. without F16s this time, or Apaches, or Surveillance planes buzzing. The sea was not blue. It was grey.
I asked a comrade and dear friend once, "should we speak about the cumulative death and the humanitarian (do not confuse this with "humanitarian activist" which I am not!) aspect"? I told him i disliked "humanitarian" as a category because it creates "pity", and blurs the just-ness and morality of the cause. This cause is political before anything else, with a humanitarian crisis resulting. He said, "Our stories are not told to the world, let us convey them at each opportunity. They need to be written.."
They are being written... the suffering must be noted. It is a result of the colonization, occupation, and repression of the Zionist entity and the Apartheid system it imposes. Every tear, ever drop of blood, every crushed dream... Are your pens still taking notes?
Natli Abu Shakra is a Lebanese solidarity activist and blogger based in Gaza Strip.
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