Dear Folks,

I can't believe my trip is half over..so much is happening that a short readable email just can't convey it all..so a few snapshots: I participated in the at the weekly Womens' protest' for our prisoners' (hundreds of women and children holding pictures of their sons, fathers, brothers and uncles held in Israeli jails) and yesterday joined the Palestinian non violent protest deep within the Israeli established 'buffer zone' which constitutes up to one kilometer of the most arable land in Gaza. Because more internationals were present, the Palestinians were able to use this demonstration to begin removing a stacked roll of razor wire marking 150 metres from the border, symbolically reclaiming their land.. the Israeli response was to shoot rounds of live fire over our heads. I am just thankful that these episodes of fire were probably intentionally warning shots.

Blind mother with picture of son

Removing boundary wire

You have descriptions of the Iftar meals with Palestinian families which have continued almost each night.The electricity continues to go off for 4-10 hours at a time..generators have a difficult time keeping up..(and when generators go on specks of black ash fly on my just washed clothes hanging on the balcony...think of the effect on lungs!) I just can't imagine this being a part of daily life especially with this incredible heat, during the month of Ramadan when 15-17 hours of total fast takes place.Just joining the Palestinians through the hot buffer zone walk without any water but the young women tell me that acknowledging their own thirst simply reminds them of those who have never have water all year round.... I am so glad I am here during Ramadan and able to be immersed in the quiet, sincere and very communal spirit of Islam..this opportunity is simply not available in the West..the perspective we get is so tragically distorted.

I'd like to briefly focus on two events which to me represent the hope of Gaza which is always so apparent in the poverty...effective 75% unemployment of very bright (98%) literacy rate very eager mostly young people who, despite all that has happened, seem to feel more in common with their technologically savvy goal oriented neighbor Israel than way less focused Egypt. I have had many talks with so many just plain Palestinians who share a huge political diversity. Hamas is certainly not revered here but by maintaining the Israeli imposed blockade we are just fermenting extremism. I am more deeply disturbed over the reports from, I think, thoughtful sources who tell me that Hamas (Gaza) and Palestinian Authority ( West Bank) finally achieved reconciliation but the US stepped in declaring, if an agreement is enacted, US AID would cut off aid to the West Bank; the reasoning being that it would be easier to have the Palestinian Authority accept whatever 'peace' deal Israel might offer. If this is true, it is a huge disaster for Palestine and for the US.

First is my visit with the 40 some children of the Samouni family whom I have described as suffering tremendously during the Israeli invasion. This family has become symbolic of the loss of many families in Gaza where multiple family members, their homes and farms were completely destroyed.

I went back with a group of young Palestinian adults who have been trained by a psychosocial group, similar to mine from Germany...these volunteers go out daily to work with the children( for 7 months) and the German trainers consistently return to evaluate the work.

I recognized many of these youngsters and am so delighted by the smiles and squeals of laughter; so different than the silence and haunted eyes of 14 months ago during my first visit.We had tons of fun together and I will go back on Saturday with some new games courtesy of Boston based Project Joy. Now, if we can just help this very well German trained Palestinian team sharing their expertise resources with the other groups I will be working with we might encourage kernels of real coordination of resources and experiences.

...back to the Samounis: similarly, 14 months ago no reconstruction of the land had taken place other than the one field Arafat had replanted so "the green would make the children feel safe". The world community has joined in rebuilding some of the homes,a large barn and green houses..likewise the barren the land full of tank treads, and metal has been replaced with small fields of very green crops. This is not only a symbol of loss in Gaza it is also a symbol of what the world can achieve.

The other experience I want to share (get out your computers and checkbooks to support Boston based Grassroots International, an outstanding development organization which REALLY partners and funds the work I will describe)is the result of a simple contact I made to visit the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee(PARC) a Palestinian nonprofit that works to develop long term agricultural and food resources in Gaza. During the Israeli invasion the army used the PARC facility as a prison and in the process destroyed the building ( the army comes, not knocking on the door but with tanks smashing through the walls), computerized records and research as well as the model farm built on principles of sustainable agriculture. I was eager only to see if/what reconstruction had taken place yet my colleague and I were treated to an outstanding discussion with Ahmed Sourani, a senior staff,on the state of agriculture and the buffer zone in Gaza.(He has posted two articles on the Grassroots International web site). PARC has the buffer zone divided width wise into 3 parts each marking 300 metres into its area and PARC's focus is on reclaiming the farmland in areas 1 and 2 by restoring the obliterated Palestinian farms and so repopulating the area. By contrast, our Palestinian demonstration had taken us half way through zone 3 lying immediately next to the Israeli fence which Ahmed said the Palestinian farmers actually utilized for their climbing fruits and vegetables until 2002). Ahmed and his work with PARC combined real development work..very unusual in the efforts in Gaza where most of the efforts go to short term relief and crisis management. It is reported that none of the $700 million given after the Israeli Army invasion was allotted to agriculture! After our discussion, Ahmed gave us a car and driver and arranged a field trip for us to visit some of the small family agricultural income generating projects in the Beit Hanoun area. We were escorted by Rawayah (spelling?,sorry), an amazing woman who not only heads the local association and so directs local funding but is beautiful and manages her own family of 7 children. We visited 8 projects: 3 backyard large vegetable gardens, a honey bee, goat raising , mini market, chickens and a greenhouse facility. Rawayah's 'hats' include market and project analyst, veterinarian, social worker, supervisor, program evaluator all within the community where she is so well known and so respected... Houda, who volunteers with this association, insisted we join her amazing family for another wonderful Iftar feast.

Enough for now..please continue opposing HR 1553 winding through the House and check out Grassroots International. Below I am gong to paste an email response from a neighbor who DID call our Congressman...we simply cannot allow the US to become part of any military involvement with Iran,

Take care,

Ridgely