WITNESS-Return to Gaza

[Purveyor]

GAZA STRIP, July 27 (Reuters) - The air smelt of falafel cooking oil -- used by drivers to power their cars -- and a hint of sewage.

I was in Gaza for the first time since before the Israelis pulled out in 2005. The place where I lived intermittently for six years was -- utterly -- gone.

Beaches that once swarmed with people, gypsies dancing in Egyptian costumes barely covering their bodies to the cheers of young men and women, alcohol in some restaurants, the silver teeming of fish in the crowded market -- gone.

Demand for fish has slumped because as sewage is pumped into the sea, people are afraid to eat it.

At Erez border crossing, I stood for 15 minutes shut in a compartment like an airlock facing a concrete wall with another thick steel door carved in it, iron bars on the sides, and security cameras watching from above.

People said they had been trapped there for more than hour, watched by some soldier but unable to communicate with anyone.

"You have to stand in front of the door so they can see you and open the gate," shouted a worker through the iron bars, as he repaired damage done by a suicide bomber in May.

REUTERS: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L5993877.htm

[notfullofit]

1. 'Those who are not Hamas are treated badly'

is this the way they treat each other?

snip..
I went to a supermarket in the luxurious al-Rimal neighbourhood and asked the shop owner about how conditions have changed.

My question sparked a heated debate among the customers. One woman passionately defended Hamas while others complained of worsening conditions under the Islamist group.

"I never felt safe under Fatah's secular regime of thieves and corrupt people. Now under Hamas, who believe in God, I feel safe," said the woman who only gave her name as Um Ahmad.

She was interrupted by another woman.

"Those who are not Hamas are treated badly. I was detained and interrogated for criticising Hamas and then sacked from my job," she said.

A man who had been employed by the Palestinian Authority in the coastal enclave said that during his seven-day detention, he was interrogated about why he had drunk beer eight years ago.

Many women have always gone about covered in Gaza, where religious traditions have been stronger than in some other Palestinian areas. Some continue to walk around without scarves. But headcoverings seemed more common.

A woman who, like many others, refused to give her name, said she never wore the headscarf before in Gaza.

"Hamas doesn't impose the scarf on us but we are forced to wear it to avoid the stinging comments we hear from their men and women on the streets," she said.

[Vegasaurus]

3. Hamas has made life much much worse for the innocent Palestinians

I think blame should go to them for how much the quality of life has been reduced.

[Violet_Crumble]

2. The people of Gaza have suffered so much...

I really hope there's an end to it in sight, though I'm not holding my breath waiting...