By Hani Mahmoud
There is a popular idea among observers nowadays that Gaza is enjoying a great deal of economic stability. With the overflow of goods from the tunnels,
Gazans have all of their needs met; thus Israel is not responsible and does not feel compelled to uplift the siege.
Almost a year ago, the British Prime Minister David Cameron described the Gaza Strip as a prison camp as it festered under blockade by Israel and Egypt. Cameron had the bravery to appeal to the Israeli government to open its borders crossing immediately to allow the flow of people, aid and goods.
Broadly, the Jewish community's reaction to Cameron's remarks concerning the siege of Gaza was quite familiar. Proponents of the continuous blocked argued with harsh criticism to Cameron's remark that Gaza overflowing beaches, bustling markets, shopping malls, and cafes suggest otherwise. Furthermore, they stated that prisons do not have shopping malls.
The Real Siege:
To respond to the argument that Gaza is enjoying an economic boom, one ought to realize that most of the cash flow into Gaza is largely due to foreign aid. As NGOs taking over the entire Gaza Strip, it is really difficult to regard that as a form of economic prosperity.
While there is some truth in what the proponents of the siege are advocating for; yet they have largely failed to spot the real siege. The population of Gaza is suffering from collection of terrible past experiences: restriction of movement, continues wars and attacks, homes demolition… etc All of that combined have led to the emergence of a mentality that is quite limited in its thinking and productivity.
Admittedly, there is an agreement among Palestinians that currently there is no economic crisis. However, too much emphasis on this issue would likely to make us missing the point. For Palestinians the word prison speaks more to the impact of the years of violent conflict and economic isolation have had on Gaza psyche. Proponents of the blockade have failed to address the issues relevant the Palestinians' experience: the continuous stress and ongoing trauma. With the ample of events, Palestinians are at a continuous level of high stress and human rights violations and traumas as a result of Israeli invasions and wars. It is really desperation making life extra difficult for Palestinians living in Gaza.
In this regard, desperation constitutes a constant state of fear that deprives people from the utilization of their cognitive capacity, and eventually taking over their life ending up making bad decision. In fact, no matter how economically you might be prosperous, the feeling of being despair will remain visible because of the imprint left by the past collective experiences. Therefore, societal channels, cultural institutions and the education system would often support something like mentality under siege; and therefore it is extremely difficult to change. The tragedy here is that even under new circumstances, society members search for evidence to validate their societal beliefs about siege and continue to maintain them.
The Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) reported that the effects of subsisting in the Gaza environment are troubling. Additionally, levels of posttraumatic stress disorder are high. A recent report by the same organization concluded that two-thirds of the population still suffers symptoms of posttraumatic stress. With regard to children, the impact appears to be worse. It is not unusual among Gaza children to display anxiety, hyperactivity, and aggression. Furthermore, sings of violence are always visible in their behavior.
As one Gazan artist put it while gazing at the sky, there is nothing happy about Gaza to paint… it is all about blood, destruction, and martyrs images." it is a solid articulation of the tough experience Gaza has been through.
Stark, Dreadful and Inescapable:
This new kind of mentality as I am referring to (mentality under siege) is quite visible in the streets of the Gaza strip. From the Rafah crossing in the south to Ertz checkpoint in the north, the images of war are everywhere in Gaza. If not immediate damage of an invasion or an air strike, they are in murals of violence and hardship displayed in the walls of the city, in the torn posters of young men embracing their weapon, and in the wall writing and graffiti urging resistance.
The stark reality of this is the dominating perception that things will remain the way they are. Largely, people in Gaza have been pushed to the limit in which they acquiesce that their misery and suffering are part of their daily life activities. As a result, Gaza ended up being a very dysfunctional society that is very dependent on foreign aid and the food stamps given by the UN and other international NGOs.
Among the things that are quite dreadful in Gaza are domestic violence and drug abuses, particularly painkillers and sedatives. As a result of that, it is quite common to articulate this sense of anger and frustration verbally as well as physically.
It might be helpful to point out that the most damaging thing is the feeling that there is no way out, no way to change Gaza's future. Several attempts of reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah have failed or have been failed. Peace with Israel seems entirely impossible. Even after the Shalit's deal, the hope for the siege to be lifted is hard to comprehend to most, impossible to many.
