Garbage again in Gaza

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Garbage again in Gaza

In July last year I posted something with the same title. Today, once
again I can see garbage while looking outside my window. The streets next
to my office are full of heaps of garbage because Gaza municipal workers
who did not receive their wages for over 4 months, are now on strike. It
is a direct outcome of the West's embargo and sanctions imposed on us here
in Palestine.

Ironically, the donkey carts business is flourishing as people hire carts
to collect the garbage. Last summer the candles and kerosene gas lamps
business took off after the Israeli occupying air forces bombed and
destroyed Gaza's only power plant during the infamous "Summer Rain"
military operation, an unprecented collective punishment against 1.4
million people in the Gaza Strip.

On my way to work I can smell smoke, as people are desperate to get rid of
the garbage. I can also see hundreds of workers protesting in front of the
Palestinian Legislative Council. I come across Palestinian journalists who
are protesting against the kidnapping of Mr. Alan Johnston, the BBC
reporter who has been abducted for one month and is still missing.

That is how I start one of my days; in my office I try to listen to some
relaxing music while dealing with some work pending issues. But in Gaza it
is difficult to relax. If you feed the details of daily life into any
computer, it will crash.