A blessed and terrible month for the world’s Muslims

The days are long and the nights are full of newscasts.

Simply put, this has not been our month. 

I am not the most active Muslim — I like going to the mosque for taraweeh, but not every night. I like to read Quran, but at an embarrassingly sluggish pace. Still, I know that Ramadan is supposed to be the month of prayer, charity, and, if we do it right, forgiveness. But this year, it feels more like Ramadan has been a month of tragedy, hatred, and crippling sadness. We hate and kill each other, other people hate and kill us, and meanwhile, most of us would rather the warmongers and ideologists would leave us out of it so we could live and pray in peace. When it comes to human beings, I have become a cynic. I don’t believe that any one side in any conflict is good — I think everyone is pretty awful, to tell the truth.  

Bad things that have happened to Muslims (and, really, to humanity) this Ramadan:

• Bangladesh. The Rohingya, a stateless and persecuted Muslim minority, have been banned from marrying in Bangladesh to prevent those fleeing from violence in Myanmar from marrying citizens and receiving citizenship. The ban also means they cannot marry each other, and they are prohibited by law from living together out of a state-recognized marriage.
• China. Chinese authorities continue to try to erase the Islamic identity of Uighur Muslims by banning fasting, certain types of clothing, and unapproved Islamic literature.   
• Iraq. When Muslims kill each other, we all lose. No matter what political agenda the different factions espouse, the (often execution-style) murder of civilians is always a tragedy. Iraq Body Count puts the number of casualties at 802 in the first 17 days of July alone. 
• Syria. The UN has literally given up on keeping track of the number of dead in Syria’s ongoing civil war. Last week, photos of children swimming in bomb craters were all over the internet — just another reminder that it is the children who pay the price for the wars waged by men. 
• Malaysia. A commercial flight blown out of the sky and 298 people dead for nothing. 
• Afghanistan. The dead almost seem to run together since the U.S. invasion in 2001, so it’s important to note the 89 dead in a car bomb attack on a busy market three days ago. Way to keep that Ramadan spirit alive.
• Gaza. This one hurts the most, maybe because I have Palestinian roots, or maybe because people the world over seem to be actually, truly convinced that it is justified. This isn’t a new conflict. Gaza has been losing a teenager every week or two to IDF bullets for years with no fanfare. But since three Israeli teenagers were murdered (no evidence at all proving who killed them has been released), Palestinian teenager Mohammad Abu Khdeir was brutally burned alive, more than 1,000 have been arrested in the West Bank, and (as of writing this), the death toll in Gaza has reached 265. Israel claims they are only hitting terrorist targets, but they have hit multiple hospitals, homes, schools, and mosques. 

Good things that have happened to Muslims (and humanity) this Ramadan (and every Ramadan):

• Surat Al Baqarah, 185-186:

شَہۡرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانُ هُدً۬ى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَـٰتٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡهُدَىٰ وَٱلۡفُرۡقَانِ‌ۚ فَمَن شَہِدَ مِنكُمُ ٱلشَّہۡرَ فَلۡيَصُمۡهُ‌ۖ وَمَن ڪَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوۡ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ۬ فَعِدَّةٌ۬ مِّنۡ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ‌ۗ يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ بِڪُمُ ٱلۡيُسۡرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِڪُمُ ٱلۡعُسۡرَ وَلِتُڪۡمِلُواْ ٱلۡعِدَّةَ وَلِتُڪَبِّرُواْ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَٮٰكُمۡ وَلَعَلَّڪُمۡ تَشۡكُرُونَ (١٨٥) وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِى عَنِّى فَإِنِّى قَرِيبٌ‌ۖ أُجِيبُ دَعۡوَةَ ٱلدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ‌ۖ فَلۡيَسۡتَجِيبُواْ لِى وَلۡيُؤۡمِنُواْ بِى لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَرۡشُدُونَ

 

The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the Criterion (of right and wrong). And whosoever of you is present, let him fast the month, and whosoever of you is sick or on a journey, (let him fast the same) number of other days. Allah desireth for you ease; He desireth not hardship for you; and (He desireth) that ye should complete the period, and that ye should magnify Allah for having guided you, and that peradventure ye may be thankful. (185) And when My servants question thee concerning Me, then surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he crieth unto Me. So let them hear My call and let them trust in Me, in order that they may be led aright. (186)

 

• Surat Al Qadr

إِنَّآ أَنزَلۡنَـٰهُ فِى لَيۡلَةِ ٱلۡقَدۡرِ (١) وَمَآ أَدۡرَٮٰكَ مَا لَيۡلَةُ ٱلۡقَدۡرِ (٢) لَيۡلَةُ ٱلۡقَدۡرِ خَيۡرٌ۬ مِّنۡ أَلۡفِ شَہۡرٍ۬ (٣) تَنَزَّلُ ٱلۡمَلَـٰٓٮِٕكَةُ وَٱلرُّوحُ فِيہَا بِإِذۡنِ رَبِّہِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمۡرٍ۬ (٤) سَلَـٰمٌ هِىَ حَتَّىٰ مَطۡلَعِ ٱلۡفَجۡرِ (٥)

 

Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Qadr. (1) Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Night of Qadris! (2)The Night of Qadr is better than a thousand months. (3) The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees. (4) (The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn. (5)

 

I don’t really have much else to say, except that, no matter how cynical I may be about other people, I feel blessed to know that I can always rely on God. Maybe this is our month — we just can’t see it right now.

As always, there is much to be grateful for. God, please help us to make the most of these last 10 days of Ramadan. Ameen.

On security and freedom of speech

Today, some Jordanians have called on bloggers to draw attention to the 18 Jordanian citizens who are currently languishing in Jordanian prisons for things that they have said. They’ve been charged with things like undermining the regime, chanting illegal slogans and trying to change the constitution by illegal means (whatever that means).

I don’t know much about the individual cases of these prisoners. I have a hard time keeping up with what Jordanian law allows people to say and what it doesn’t. I am not an expert or an activist. Most of what I know about my country, I’ve experienced in classrooms, malls, coffeeshops and from behind my laptop. I’ll be the first to admit that there is a lot that I don’t know.

But here’s what I do know.

I know that there cannot be a government that truly represents its people as long as such a thing as “illegal slogans” exists. As long as people can go to jail for what they say or what they believe, then there is no freedom. It’s that simple.

Many people argue that some speech has to be suppressed to maintain security. In my personal opinion, that is bullshit. If I can’t be honest about my views without fearing imprisonment or police beatings, then how secure can I possibly be? When I lower my voice and look over my shoulder before discussing my political views in public, it’s because I don’t feel safe. Every time I read about a protest for a cause I support and then don’t go, it’s because I don’t feel safe. And why should I feel safe, when there are 18 people in jail right now for being bold enough to express themselves and to stand up for their views? These archaic and oppressive laws aren’t making us secure. They are taking away our basic human rights.

Jordan is my favorite place in the world. I love this country; I really do. But I probably don’t love it as much as the 18 prisoners of conscience who are currently serving time in our prisons. Unlike me, they had the courage to try to effect change. They had the courage to be honest and tell officials that there is room for improvement. What could be more patriotic than trying to make your country better? Whether or not you agree with their message or their methods, try to recognize that our best chance for progress relies on us listening to differing opinions. For that to happen, we need to live in an environment where we feel free to make our opinions known.

I am all for law and order, and when people infringe on other people’s rights, they should be punished. But there are people in our jails today for “illegal slogans.” That is wrong, plain and simple.

Our silence is killing them

Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising, more than 2,000 people have been killed by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and 3,000 more have disappeared. I say President al-Assad, but that’s probably not the right way to describe him. Most presidents aren’t appointed into the position after their father’s deaths. Most don’t run for the presidency unopposed, and most don’t win with a literally unbelievable 97 percent of the total votes. It would be more accurate to call him a dictator, an autocrat, or even a murderer. But, no matter what the Syrian people want, he’s still calling himself a president, and he doesn’t seem likely to give that up any time soon.

The footage coming out of Syria is disturbing. There are tanks shelling houses, there are secret police shooting peaceful protesters, and there are so many children dying, leaving behind bodies full of bullets. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Syria was being invaded — It’s hard to accept that anyone would actually do this to their own country. But the fact of the matter is, these are Arabs fighting other Arabs, an army turned against its own people. It’s horrible to watch, but, sadly, it’s really not all that surprising. And, although, someone as cynical as me probably shouldn’t be surprised by the Arab world’s reaction (or lack of reaction) to such a brutal crackdown, I still am.

If these were Israeli tanks barrelling down Arab streets, any Arab streets, there would be a swift, angry Arab reaction. Why is this any different? Why are we only capable of a passionate response when the bad guys are foreign? Everyone knows that the Arab world is full of rulers that don’t really represent their people. I don’t think most intelligent people would argue that what’s going on in Syria is right or moral. So why aren’t we doing anything about it? Or, better yet, why aren’t we SAYING anything about it? Where is the condemnation from Arab countries? Do we still have an Arab League or have they given up pretending they stand for anything? It’s like they don’t even care that dozens of people have been dying every day this week. When the same was happening in Gaza in winter of 2008, and Palestinians were dying at the hands of Israelis, there was action, from governments and civilians across the Middle East. Where is that fire? Where is that Arab compassion today?

The fact that an Arab regime is responsible for this violence means, in my opinion, that Arabs have an even bigger responsibility to step up and do what they can to stop this. The same goes for the crisis in Somalia; people who are calling themselves Muslims have been turning their country into a wasteland, and we’ve stood back and looked the other way for years. Is it because they’re Muslims too? We can’t just turn the other way because the people doing the killing share our culture. We need to tell them that, because of our culture, because of our morals and our religion and our sense of brotherhood/sisterhood to those who share it, we won’t let them kill innocent people in our name.

As long as we’re silent, we’re complicit. There may not be much that we can do, but caring would be a good start.

**

Also, please sign this petition asking India, Brazil and South Africa to put pressure on Syria to save thousands of “disappeared” (read: kidnapped) Syrian civilians… And if you hear of a local protest against al-Assad’s regime, please go. It’s Ramadan and these people need your support. Just because Arab governments are going to insist on being useless doesn’t mean the rest of us have to do the same.

Musings of an almost-graduate

Tomorrow will be my last day as a University of Jordan student. I’ll walk in, take a test, and walk out a freaking graduate.

Freaking graduation

I’m not really that excited about it and I’m beginning to wonder if I really get the significance of this final day as a BA student. After four years of going to classes I hated, wading through literal unwashed masses to get around campus, being forced to enter bathrooms with horrors so unfathomable that I can’t even put them into words, and praying on floors that ALWAYS smelled like feet, I am finally free of the University of Jordan. I did my time and am finally getting my diploma. But instead of feeling the expected rush of relief, all I can think about is how hot it’s going to be tomorrow and that I’m going to have to face major traffic to get to a 4 p.m. exam.

I mean, I’m happy that there’s probably going to be plenty of parking at 4 p.m. But I have a feeling that’s not supposed to be what I’m happy about.

I know that part of the problem is that, while this may be my last exam at JU (or UJ… four years and I’m still not sure which), it is NOT my last exam ever. In a month or so, I’m off the states for a year to study journalism. Knowing I’m still going to have another year of papers to write and exams to take kind of dulls the thrill of finishing up this degree. Another thing, which I’m a little ashamed to admit, is that I haven’t really worked that hard as a literature student. I didn’t cut corners; I read what I was assigned to read, whether I loved it or hated it. But, with or without literature classes, I would have been reading. It doesn’t feel like much of an achievement to spend four years doing something you probably would have done anyway.

But while I would never recommend for anyone to study English literature at JU (it just sounds better than UJ), I enjoyed it. I had fun talking about everything with a bunch of strangers (one of whom eventually became a friend) in my oral skills class. I had an epiphany reading Where Angels Fear to Tread for my first novel course, and a blast working on a group project on The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf for my second one. I read a lot of poems, which I had never really been into before, and a lot of short stories, which I used to actively hate. I even recently wrote a short story of my own and, for the first time in my life, read my own work aloud in front of an audience. I’m even kind of glad I was forced to read all of those classical Arabic poems about war and horses during my freshman year.

That last statement can be attributed to graduation goggles*

I guess what I’m saying is, despite the university’s best efforts, I actually learned a lot during my four years at JU (yeah, JU). I never was in love with the place but I will miss it. It’s where I let go of who I was in high school and grew into a full-fledged person. It’s hard to really track changes in your own personality, but I can feel the difference when I run into people from school that I haven’t seen in a while.  I’m not a different person, but I am different. Maybe I’m just a little older… but it’s good to feel my age for once.

So tomorrow I will walk in, take a test, and walk out a graduate. Soon there’ll be a robe and then a diploma to prove it. It’s ironic that I’ve had to read so many books just for one piece of paper… But of course that’s the kind of thing I notice. I’m a literature student. Well, at least until 4 p.m. tomorrow I am.

*For those of you who aren’t obsessed with How I Met Your Mother: http://how-i-met-your-mother.wikia.com/wiki/Graduation_Goggles

Protests, reform and – Oh look! Football!

The last few months have been months of extreme change across the Middle East. From regime changes in Tunisia and Egypt to violent government suppression in Libya, Syria and Yemen, the Arab world has been on fire and revolution has been on everyone’s minds. Just a few weeks ago in Jordan, there was no where you could go where televisions weren’t always set to the news or where you could escape from images of the violence happening in the countries surrounding us.

Of course, that was before Jordan collectively changed the channel to watch Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Disclaimer: I have no idea who these people are

This headline from the Jordan Times sums it up nicely: “El Clasico boosts businesses, takes youths’ minds off ‘depressing’ regional news.”  As one Real Madrid fan put it:

“Finally we found something enjoyable on TV rather than watching demonstrations taken place in different Arab countries.”

Because revolutions are depressing. It’s stressful to have Al-Jazeera blaring at you 24/7, replaying the same clips of wounded people in hospitals or Qaddafi making threats, over and over again! What’s even MORE depressing is when things get shaken up here in Jordan, a man dies during a protest and no one can agree on who is to blame. So let’s just bury our heads in the sand, pretend that nothing is going on and cheer on a bunch of footballers from countries most of us have probably never been to. If “we” win, maybe we’ll feel like we’ve accomplished something again.

Just to be clear here, I am biased against football. I hardly ever watch it and, if it wasn’t the only thing on during the World Cup, I probably never would. Still, this is not a rant against football, the European League or its fans. This is a rant about our willingness, no, our need to be distracted. Instead of facing the reality of our world, we throw ourselves into TV shows, sports, gossip – basically anything but ourselves, our own countries and our own opinions. I’m not exempting myself from this. I just finished watching an episode of Glee to help me forget about all the work I’m supposed to be doing; it’s escapism, another gramme of soma to keep me from feeling too much about anything.

I know that political discord isn’t fun, especially when people are so divided. But to be honest, in the couple days following the March 24 protests, I learned more about my Facebook friends than I have in years of knowing them. I didn’t like a lot of what I saw, but at least what I was seeing was real. If we want to advance as a people, we need to cut the small talk and start saying what we really think, even if it’s not going to be popular.

This really happened. Discuss.

A few weeks ago, cars were decked out with Jordanian flags – today, there are street vendors peddling European clubs’ logos at traffic stops. It’s not that I think we don’t all deserve a little fun sometimes. I just think there are some things worth being depressed over.

Irony at its finest

It’s 6 pm, two days before all of my assignments are due for the semester. I had decided to work on the last paper I would have to write for my psychology class, but when I opened the Word file, it looked unhappily blank and I felt my brain would need a bit of a warm-up before I would actually be able to write anything.

…So I decided to visit CollegeHumor.com. Yes, bad idea. I have a tendency to get stuck there.

Anyway, I watched this video about a hand model called The Worst Person in the World, which, you know, she probably never killed anyone or anything, but wow, she was terrible! But then an ad comes up that, at first, made me laugh, but then made me feel guilty. Boo.

You are the kind of person who squeezes every minute out of every hour out of every day.

…

The T Mobile G2 by HTC…. It’s as turbo-charged as you.

T Mobile? Know your audience.
Now I have a video of a cute little French girl making up a fairy tale to watch, but then I have psychology homework to do!

Hip-hop article on 7iber.com!

An article of mine is being featured on 7iber.com! Check it out!

Click here –> Hip hop, Jordanian style

Thaer on the left, "Ripsta" on the right

Thanks again to Thaer and Abu Ghazaleh, two really nice guys. They gave me some great suggestions for Arab (and non-Arab) hip hop artists to check out, here are some of my favorites:
The Narcicyst ft Shadia Mansour – Hamdulillah
Omar Offendum – Straight Street
Kenny Mohammad, beatboxing

All-time Favorite Cover Songs (Pt II)

It’s been a while since I posted my first list of cover songs, and since then I’ve heard a bunch that blow those other ones completely out of the water. In no particular order:

 

Obadiah Parker – Hey Ya

I love the original by Outkast, but this cover is on a whole different level. No, I can’t dance to it, but I can actually hear the amazing lyrics.

 

Sinead O’Connor – War

This is considerably less controversial now that we know that she was right about chronic child abuse within the priesthood. If she hadn’t torn up that picture of the pope, people would have been talking about her haunting rendition of a great Bob Marley song the next day instead of how evil that bald Irish lady was.

 

Ray LaMontagne – Crazy

Amazing. The original track is good, but this is just incredible.

 

To be continued…

“Due Date” is tons of fun, but unoriginal

 

I didn't know that was what they were calling the Hangover sequel...

 

There are road trips taken with strangers and then there are road trips taken with strangers who happen to be Zach Galifianakis. If given the chance, I’d probably pick the first option, but I would send a friend with Zach so I could hear the hilarious details later on.

Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) is a nervous father-to-be trying to get to his wife in time for the birth of their first child when Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis), an aspiring actor, comes crashing into his life. After an incident involving switched baggage, drug paraphernalia and an air marshal, both men are put on the no-fly list and Peter has no other option but to drive cross country with Ethan – or, more accurately, with Ethan, his bulldog Sunny, and the remains of Ethan’s father kept conveniently in a coffee can. Hilarity ensues.

Caught in a bad bromance...

And I do mean hilarity. Ethan is an optimistic, fun-loving guy who claims to have survived the last 23 years on sheer luck. This becomes easier to believe as their trip progresses and Ethan, with no effort on his own part, comes ever closer to killing his travel companion. It does not become easier to believe that Galifianakis is 23 years old. And while Downey mostly plays straight man to Galifianakis’ particular brand of crazy, he is not just there to feed him jokes. Peter’s got his own issues, including a serious anger management problem, making him the kind of anti-hero that is easy to root against. No matter what hijinks Ethan got the pair of them into, I didn’t feel bad for Peter; I cheered against him. It’s more fun that way.

Due Date is not the kind of movie that demands repeated viewings. There are a lot of cheap jokes, most of which rely on shock value and would probably feel stale the second time around. There are also a lot that are just not funny. Thankfully, not all of the best jokes were featured in the trailer, and there are plenty of other laugh-out-loud moments throughout. Downey does a great job portraying an extraordinary amount of sarcasm and condescension and Galifianakis never fails to deliver the laughs. He has a perm, for crying out loud.

Right below the slap-stick surface, there is the vaguest inkling of a question about fatherhood and what it really means; Peter doesn’t know his father, but Ethan keeps his close, talking about his dad’s life and fondly patting the coffee can where his remains now reside. But there wasn’t really time to embrace that theme; there were one-liners to deliver and sardonic comments to be returned! There were also miles and miles to cover, with most of the time spent in the car accompanied by great music. Due Date’s soundtrack, including tracks from Sam and Dave, Neil Young and Wolfmother, would be a great addition to any road trip, with or without Galifianakis.

Pictured: Funny

Due Date is episodic, hopping along from one far-fetched situation to the next. The problem is not that the events are unrealistic; suspending disbelief is part of the cinema experience. No, the problem is that there is nothing to make the audience care whether or not Peter gets home in time for his wife’s cesarean. We see nothing of their relationship to make us worry about its success; come to think of it, there’s no real justification for why Peter is so far from home so close to the scheduled birth. The pregnant wife seems more like a plot device, there to provide an arbitrary deadline to this impromptu road trip, than a real character.

That baby has great fashion sense.

Based on the trailer, I predicted Due Date to be a slightly less funny version of The Hangover, and I can honestly say that the movie was exactly what I expected. Same director, same lead actor and same basic premise: weird guy makes regular road trip into crazy adventure. I had been wondering how many more jokes there could be on the subject, but truthfully, there were a lot of good ones. If you enjoyed The Hangover, then you’ll like Due Date. If you didn’t enjoy The Hangover, then I don’t understand your sense of humor.

There are two possible ways to look at this spin-off that isn’t supposed to be a spin-off. Either Galifianakis has been typecast as the quirky, socially inept travel partner, or “road trips with Galifianakis” has become its own comedic sub-genre on par with “Seth Rogen stoner flicks” and other strangely specific recurrent roles. Either way, Due Date is funny. It doesn’t demand a watch, but it is worth one.

Trailer:

Getting aid while under blockade

Taken from BBC.co.uk

For such a small piece of land, the Gaza Strip sure has seen a lot of heartache.

The 139-square-mile sliver of territory is bordered by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, and, for the last 61 years, has been handed off from one ruling power to another like a hot potato. In 2007, it was Hamas’s turn, and since then the strip has been on lockdown. A blockade, enforced by both Egypt and Israel, has kept goods from going in or coming out of Gaza without Israeli permission, creating a society dependent on humanitarian aid and smuggled goods.

The stated goal of the blockade is to keep weapons from ending up in the hands of Hamas, a vocally anti-Israel group, categorized by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization. This policy, however, has also had a profound impact on 1.6 million citizens of Gaza, almost half of whom are below the age of 14 and 70 percent of whom are refugees under the care of UN agencies.

The effect of the blockade became more profound in December 2008, when the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel fell apart, culminating in a three week Israeli offensive that left 13 Israelis and more than 1,400 Palestinians dead. Palestinian homes, schools, universities and hospitals were destroyed and, because of the inability to import construction materials, have largely remained destroyed.

In May 2010, a coalition of pro-Palestinian organizations organized an aid flotilla which planned to defy the naval blockade and deliver supplies, including the prohibited cement, directly to the Gaza Strip. Instead, Israel Defense Forces boarded the boats at sea, and nine people aboard the Turkish-commissioned Mavi Marmara were killed. Both the IDF and the ship’s passengers claim that the other party instigated the fighting, but either way, what motivated the boat’s passengers to take such a risk? Is there no better way to get supplies into Gaza?

Trucks of Humanitarian Aid

There are three main ways Gaza receives supplies, but only one of which Israel approves. Humanitarian aid, dispatched by the truckload, regularly leaves Jordan for the Gaza Strip, and with Israel’s permission. “We send food, money and medical supplies,” said Abdullah Sarhan, an employee with the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization. The JHCO has sent over 300 aid convoys to the Gaza Strip since the end of the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli offensive, the most recent of which was dispatched on May 30 and consisted of 20 trucks of supplies.  Much of the supplies are donated by Jordanian civil societies and charities, but the JHCO has also dispatched goods supplied by other countries, such as Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Kuwait.

“We don’t send anything we know is forbidden [to enter the Strip],” Sarhan said, but when it comes to the Gaza blockade, what is forbidden can change from one day to the next. Israeli authorities have not publically declared what items are prohibited from entering the Strip, but, according to a list compiled by Gisha, an Israeli nonprofit, banned goods, which include weapons and construction materials, also include jam, vinegar, fresh meat, fishing rods, newspapers, and A4 paper. “Dates aren’t allowed either,” Sarhan added.

There is “neither rhyme nor reason” to it, said Peter Ford, representative of UNRWA’s commissioner-general in Amman.  UNRWA, the United Nations agency concerned with Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries, is responsible for collecting and distributing the incoming aid in the Gaza Strip.  The JHCO hires a shipping company to drive its convoys from Jordan to Gaza, passing through Israel along the way. “The aid is inspected twice,” said Ford. “First at the Jordan-Israel border and again at Erez crossing prior to entering Gaza.”  Inspections are carried out by Israeli customs and security personnel, who sometimes bar trucks from entering without making the reasons for their decisions known. For example, a Human Rights Watch report states that, as of October 2009, 11 truckloads of stationery had been held up in Israel for more than a year, denied access to the Gaza Strip. The only other way for Gazans to get their hands on basic school supplies that season was to smuggle them in.

Smuggling Tunnels

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been closed for most of the three years that Hamas has been in control of the coastal enclave. That, however, has not been enough to keep Egyptian goods out of Gazan hands. An extensive system of tunnels that used to be used primarily to smuggle weapons has now become the source of at least 80 percent of Gaza’s imports, according to World Bank statistics.

International media, from the Christian Science Monitor to Germany’s Spiegel magazine, have reported that the tunnels are used to smuggle all kinds of goods, such as fuel, light bulbs, rice and even sheep. The tunnels have become so widespread that Hamas has reportedly begun to regulate them, forcing tunnel owners to pay taxes on the goods they bring in. But while owning a tunnel may now be a relatively risk-free enterprise in the Gaza Strip, the fates of those who dig and operate the tunnels are less certain.

Besides the dangers posed by collapsing tunnels, tunnel diggers have also been killed by Israeli air strikes and Egyptian explosions. In April 2010, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohri reportedly told ArabNews.com that at least 40 smugglers had been poisoned by toxic gases since the blockade was first established in 2007. In January 2010, Egyptian authorities announced plans to construct a steel wall along the Egyptian-Gaza border that will descend 100 feet below ground. This attempt to shut down the smuggling industry may lead to increased resourcefulness on the part of Gazan smugglers, or it may sever the Gaza Strip’s only dependable lifeline to the outside world.

Aid from Activists

The deaths aboard the Mavi Marmara may have garnered the most international attention, but the passengers aboard the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla were not the first foreign activists to attempt to defy the naval blockade. Eight previous attempts to bring humanitarian aid have occurred since the siege on Gaza began, three of which were organized by Viva Palestina, a registered British charity. In December 2009, Nicholas Hall, a sixty-year-old man from York, departed with the organization’s third convoy to the Gaza Strip. Hall rode with the 150-vehicle convoy in a fully-stocked ambulance across ten countries spanning two continents, ending up in Aqaba, Jordan’s port to the Red Sea.

According to Hall, bringing the aid in this way had three purposes. “One is [raising] political awareness throughout the countries that we were traveling through. The second is actually delivering the aid, and the third is breaking the isolation.” After arriving in Aqaba, Egyptian authorities informed the activists that they would have to enter the Gaza Strip not by sea, but through the Egyptian city of Al Arish. Once all of the people and goods had arrived, Al Arish authorities demanded 59 vehicles be handed over to Israel, which the activists refused. Peaceful demonstrations turned into violent clashes, and, according to convoy members, about 20 activists required hospitalization.

By the time the aid convoy successfully entered the Gaza Strip, Hall had been forced to return to York due to personal obligations. A former town planner and therapeutic gardening enthusiast, Hall has no real ties to Palestine. In fact, part of what has motivated him to get involved in the pro-Palestine movement is the role his British forefathers played in the establishment of Israel in the Middle East. “All of the insecurity we’ve got, all the terrorism that we’ve experienced and all of the loss of civil liberties,” he said. “It’s all traceable back to the injustice of 1948.” He also credits the sense that he had been “conned” for much of his life. “For 30 years, [I was hearing] all this stuff about Israel as the victim when actually they were oppressors and I didn’t know. And that really makes me…” he paused, searching for the right word. “Cross.”

Changes to Come?

Although the Mavi Marmara failed to deliver its cargo directly to Gaza, it has managed to draw attention to the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip. In response to international outcry, Egypt has reopened the Rafah border crossing to some civilian traffic, and Israel has announced its intention to loosen restrictions on the coastal enclave. However, it is easy to remain cynical. “The situation is very fluid,” said Ford of UNRWA. “Speaking from experience, we can’t assume there will be an agreement on easing the blockade or, if there was an agreement, that it would be implemented.”

“We’re not expecting a breakthrough any time soon.”