Friday, March 08, 2013

Kevin Neish's Gaza Dispatches - M6, '13

Kill Zone Transformed into Food Zone

by Kevin Neish

I toured the northern border buffer zone yesterday and took a few photos.

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What was a desert like waste land in November, (note the sand hill in the background),  the Palestinians have transformed into productive land.  Before the November ceasefire allowed the farmers back onto this land, all the areas in these photos was within the “shoot to kill” buffer zone. The IDF are still shooting farmers in spite of the supposed ceasefire, but the farmers are willing to take the risk to till their soil.

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The Palestinians are making the desert bloom again.  You’ll notice that are few buildings or infrastructure, as that was all repeatedly bulldozed since the 2008/09 assault.  The farmers are making the bare minimum investments of just mini green houses and irrigation pipes, as the IDF is still destroying these farms, but even so the production was amazing.

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Strawberries, onions and corn, altogether in one field.  The Palestinians are making the best and fastest use of the land with multiple plantings using the same little greenhouses and irrigation pipes.

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Crops of potatoes, right up to the desert border area, with an Israeli base just over the hill and the smoke stacks of Ashklon Israel in the near distance.

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Strawberries have never tasted so good.  Grown on newly liberated land.

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The Palestinian sheep don’t know the politics involved as theynow blissfully graze right up to the Israelis’ border wall.

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The Israeli border looks clearly defined but there are multiple walls, fences and perimeter roads which all eat into Palestinian farm land.

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Donkeys, compost and manpower are helping to produce food once again in the buffer zone in the shadow of the IDF wall.

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An automated machine gun tower, remotely controlled from Tel Aviv, looms over the Gazans’ fields.  The danger for the farmers is clear and present all the time, night and day.

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