Amazing Day

I was fortunate to have someone loan me their computer and hope to catch up on what's been happening.
Yesterday I was very sick and sent back to the hotel by taxi. It's probably a very good thing I didn't go because the day involved walking in the hot Palestinian sun. Others have given me detailed accounts of the day and will share pictures. I ended up sleeping about 20 hours; just taking bathroom breaks.

Today we visited the Palestinian Human Rights Agency. Very interesting talk about what's being done legally about all the violations during the 23 day war. Most violations are on the part of Israel, but some pertain to Fatah and Hamas.Law suits are being prepared by human rights organizations and other countries citing the abuses. Documentation of the violations is quite thorough with many agencies noting the same abuses in their reports.
We viewed their display of weapons used during the Dec-Jan bombardment by Israel. Naturally, it's disturbing to see the remains of shells, missiles, bombs and other weapons. They caused the injury or death of many Gazans. The most disturbing aspect was finding far too many stamped "made in the USA"!


From there we traveled to the beach and tried to have lunch by the Mediterranean, It was a lovey setting; children (all boys) playing in the water, kites flying in the sky, boys on horseback riding through the sand and surf.

A beautiful gray pony stood quietly in the Mediterranean

The waves splashed against the pony's face and sides; every once in a while she would turn around wanting to be splashed on the other side. Our lunch did not arrive. We finally had to leave or be late for our appointment. Much later we returned to enjoy eating by the Mediterranean; the Gazan "sea-horse" continued bathing in the sea.

Our second visit was the Gaza Community Mental Health Agency. The discussion involved the impact of the war on children. They are suffering from depression...there is no post-traumatic syndrome, there's only traumatic syndrome. They're experiencing times of aggression, clinging to their parents, anger, fear, learning difficulties. These are only words and can't begin to describe what the children are experiencing. They've lost family members, their friends, their houses, seen death, watched their parents be humiliated and their lives destroyed.
They also spoke about mental health in Israel, victimization, surviving and the need to heal.

Our third visit was to the Qattan Center for Children it is funded by a foundation set up by the family of a Palestinian who's now living in England and very wealthy. Their building is amazing, very modern with an enormous library with over 1000,000 books. Just a beautiful facility and wonderful programs. They are even looking for volunteers, speaking Arabic isn't necessary and you may volunteer for any length of time.

This evening we talked to a young woman from the Palestinian Youth Committee. She had received four scholarships to study in the US and England. When she tried to leave Gaza she wasn't allowed to cross the border into Egypt, Jordan or Israel. This is a familiar story! Also Palestinians who've gone to another country often are often not allowed to re-enter Gaza. They are told their paper work isn't in order, sometimes they are denied the proper visa, there are many excuses given. The bottom line is, they may not return. This policy has to be a collaborative decision between Egypt and Israel. It makes no sense to deny a person entry to their own country. Gaza certainly doesn't deny re-entry to her own citizens.

Have to return this computer to Joyce. Trip is interesting, informative, disturbing and at the same time wonderful.