What does the truce mean to ordinary Gazans?

18 December 2008

It's now six months since Palestinian groups in Gaza and Israeli leaders agreed a tahdia (lull) in fighting. The tahdia or truce is due to either end or be renewed on 19 December. This week Oxfam's Mohammed Ali went into Jabalia camp, Gaza, to find out what people think about the tahdia (truce with Israeli) and what they think about whether or not it should be renewed. Here is what he heard:

Abed Alraouf Saedallah
Abed Alraouf Saedallah is 61 years old, he supports a family of 11. He works in a shop that experiences many black outs.

Most of the goods that he sells arrive in Gaza through the tunnels from Egypt. Even so, 90 per cent of the goods he normally sells are no longer available in the shop he works in, which has seriously weakened his business and income. Abed thinks that the truce has been a kind of rest for Palestinians, although he does not think that the truce, which is due to expire on Friday, will be extended.

"The truce was a rest for both sides, Palestinians and Israelis alike, but Israel has never implemented its part of the agreement. They kept the crossings closed, and there's been no gas, no electricity and no life even. I believe Israel was not committed to the truce because they are backed by the West and Eastern countries and they never care about what we want as Palestinians. All that matters to them is that they don't want to hear any sound of a rocket attack," he said. "From my point of view, Israel is trying to escalate their blockade in order to force Hamas and other Palestinian factions to accept the truce. Every day there are statements in the Israeli media talking about a possible Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. We Palestinians have nothing to lose either way. With or without truce, our conditions are the same and nothing changes."

Ismaeel Abu Khalil
Ismaeel Abu Khalil is a 19 year-old high school student who works in a grocery in Jabbalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

He has to work to provide his nine family members with food and other needs as his father is a sick old man. He does not think that the truce with Israel, which expires on Friday, should be extended as it has brought nothing to Palestinians.

"The Palestinians were more committed to the truce than Israel, as the big Palestinian factions suspended the rocket attacks to nearby Israeli cities. On the other hand, Israel opened the crossings partially but on most days closed them. If the situation is maintained as it is now, I believe that Palestinian factions will reject the extension. I am against the truce extension as it has not brought us anything and our lives have got more complicated," he said.

Mueen Muhara
Mueen Muhara is 38 years old and is married with seven children.

He has been jobless for more than five years. He used to work inside Israel but can no longer do so. Mueen said that unless the truce improves living conditions, it will not work.

"With or without the truce we are in a dire humanitarian situation... I think the Palestinian factions will not extend it, so we will go back to a cycle of violence, action and reaction, invasions, assassinations...etc," he said. "I don't expect Israel will do anything in favour of Palestinians, but they always do whatever helps them and only their side as long as they find support from the outside world."

Mohammed Omar
Mohammed Omar is 55 years old, and he is the only breadwinner for his nine family members.

He agrees with the truce and thinks that at least with the truce he feels safe from Israeli attacks.

"The truce is good for both sides. Palestinians needed it as much as the Israelis, but on a humanitarian level it has changed nothing. Israel needs the truce to be the way that best suits it, and I believe that the truce will be extended because everyone is interested in maintaining it.... With or without the truce we are very much a harmed and poor people, so at least I can be poor and safe, not poor and threatened."

Huda*(not her real name)
Huda is 47 years old. She has three sons and one daughter. She lives with her husband and her sons and their wives in Jabbalia in the north of the Gaza Strip. Her husband works as a clerk in the Jabbalia Health Care Centre, her oldest son works as an engineer, the second son is a police officer, and the third is unemployed. Huda wants a real and fair truce.

"Since six months ago, we have had almost no supplies through the crossings, no food, no medicine, no gas, no water. What truce are you talking about? I support the truce, but a truce that brings us basic rights as Palestinians, not a truce that is only good for Israelis... this served only one side, Israel," she said.

"I don't think that the truce will be extended, and to me, I don't think that Israel will be committed to the conditions of the truce. So I am against the truce. But if Israel was committed to the truce, then I would support it... Till when will we be without food and many other basics? Till when will we be left in such humiliating conditions while Israeli gets all the support from world? Israel and the West are facing us from the front, and the Arabs from the back... So no, I don't think the truce will change anything."

Aminah*(not her real name)
Aminah is 60 years old. She is a widow who lives alone. Her husband was killed at the age of 52 in March 2001 in an Israeli air strike while he was walking back home from the mosque. Her husband used to be an Imam from the Ministry of Religious Endowments.

"Our conditions as Palestinians are very difficult. People are burning wood to cook their food. I have no power in my home, so I sit in the street next to my house. I don't believe in the truce. Once I will see gas, electricity and food in the markets, then I will believe in the truce. I am against any immediate extension of it, because it only serves Israel and not us. We are simple people who ask only for food and simple life."

*The names of these women have been changed for security reasons