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Gaza is under siege. The Israeli blockade has severely limited goods coming into or going out of Gaza, including food, medical and agricultural supplies.
This summer, Christian Aid's partners, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, gave camera phones to ordinary citizens in Gaza, and asked them to send photos and texts to show how the blockade has affected their every day lives. Abu Meri (father of Meri) is about 52 years old - he doesn't know his exact age. He lives in a town in the middle of the Gaza Strip, with his wife, his mother, four sons and four daughters.
Christian Aid
In April 2008 Abu Meri's farmland was
destroyed by Israeli bulldozers for the
third time. Abu is unable to afford the
farming equipment he needs to re-build
his farm - even though he sold his wife'
s jewellery to help raise the funds. "
These trees that I stand in front of
used to be fruitful - now they are
nothing more than firewood. Such trees
and plants are my only source of living -
I used to cover all the needs of my
family from them. Overnight I lost my
living resource"
REF:
Christian Aid
"Since the demolition of the crops on my
land and my greenhouse, my sons and I
started to work as labourers on my
brother's land. We want to work to re-
build my own land but it costs too much -
farms need a lot of machinery and
equipment - like the hoses I use to
water the fields, or the plastic
sheeting I need to cover a greenhouse"
REF:
Christian Aid
"Three of my sons graduated from
university but they have been jobless so
far as the opportunities to find jobs in
the Gaza Strip have become so hard under
the siege. So they work with me to meet
the family's needs. My other five
children are still students. I keep
trying hard so my children can continue
their studies"
REF:
Christian Aid
"Because of the shortage of fuel in
local markets and rising prices, I no
longer use my car, that used to help me
in delivering goods to markets and
bringing them home too. Before I used
the car to get from my house in town to
my land, now I have to go by horse and
cart"
REF:
Christian Aid
"I don't feel any better regarding the
recent truce between Israeli and Hamas
on the one hand and Fatah and Hamas on
the other. There's still no fuel to
operate the water pump to generate water
to irrigate my land. I appeal to all
parties to intervene to help Palestinian
farmers and solve their problems.
Cultivation of our land is the only
source of living for poor farmers like
me. I hope there will be a truce that
brings peace to me, my children and my
farmland"
REF:
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
