Back to school...

It's school... again!!!

Today, we started a new scholastic year here in Gaza, and all over Palestine..

This year children have to face too many obstacles, not that they haven't faced any in previous years, but as i said earlier, this year is "different", the first and most important obstacle is the infighting, people are scared that the fight will find its way into school rooms, which -if happened- may cause huge and terrible consequences.

The other major obstacle is suffering from is the extremely bad living conditions since last January, because of the international economic embargo on Hamas, which has increased after Hamas taking over Gaza and the closure of all crossing points either from or to Gaza.

Many students haven't bought new uniforms or bags for school this year, as most of the employees haven't received a salary for more than 6 months now, families are knocking charity organizations' doors looking for any assistance...

Another obstacle is the teachers' threatening to strike, as they haven't been paid also... which imposes children to find themselves in the middle of all what's happening and a tool of pressure on the two governments.

another ironic obstacle is the duality of governments, according to which government will the exams be? or even the weekly holiday... will it be Saturday or Thursday...!? i wonder...

What can i say but... "have a good year" and by the way... "Ramadan Kareem" :)

Darkness in Gaza

I'm holding my pen, not knowing where to start from...

Should i start with the ongoing show of killing and shooting of innocent people either by palestinians themselves or by israelies?

Or should it be the closure of Rafah Crossing (El-Mabar) and the increasing numbers of people stranded on the Egyptian side?

Or maybe i should talk about the salaries of thousands of poor PA employees who haven't received a penny since months, without any obvious reason... looks like everything is going wrong with out a reason from the first place!! which also reminds me of the large piles of garbage almost blocking Gaza's streets and the awful fumes that can knock you dead, all over the coastal strip, because of the municipality labourer's strike.. they also aren't receiving any salaries!!

Perhaps it should be the Decision of the EU to cut it's supplies of Fuel to the Strip, which allowed Isreal to announce "also" it's decision of cutting the Electricity supply it provides to Gaza. Well, looks like electricity now is also used in this revolting game of "who cracks first" that everybody is playing.. i think they are calling politics now a days... the only ones loosing and suffering and also "cracking" are the simple citizens... who have nothing to do with all this nonsense..

Schools are opening in few days, Ramadan is approaching and then comes Eid..all events that are known to be met with wonderful ceremonies and cheerful celebrations in such a way that makes you forget all the bitterness and sadness that we are all living... but this year.... it's different. You walk around in the streets, you see people with dark faces.. hollow looks... nothing is the same anymore. before we lived and went through bad and rough times, but... in the end, we still had each others. but now, it seems that we loosed everything, maybe even our cause... i'm afraid.

You rarely hear the word "Palestine" anymore, you switch the channels -in the few hours we have electricity in-, looking for any news about Jerusalem and the tunnels dug beneath it, but also.. zip.. nothing.. sigh.. All you can see are politicians throwing accusations here and there, pointing fingers and looking for someone to blame.

So much for a happy summer vacation... could things get any worse?!