Safe World for Women Logo

Women of Chididi

An urban garden in Gaza

Recovery in Gaza - Garden by Garden

In Gaza organisations such as the Palestinian Agricultural Rights Committee (PARC) and the Union of Agricultural Worker Committees (UAWC) are rebuilding urban gardens destroyed during the 2008 Israeli military operation.

UAWC, in particular, works to empower women through collectives, leadership and skills training, and small project management.

Reflections three years after Operation Cast Lead

Source: Mina Remy | Grassroots International

Three years ago the Israeli Defense Force launched Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. The offensive left a trail of death and destruction in its wake, including hundreds dead, thousands displaced, and nearly the entire 1.5 million-person population traumatized and hungry. In the years since the bombing stopped and tanks rolled through agricultural fields, recovery has been slow.

Even so, Gazans remain steadfast in their determination to rebuild their homes and lives, despite the ongoing Israeli-imposed siege, which will approach its fifth year in 2012. The siege painstakingly circumscribes what can be brought in and out of Gaza, and keeps potential dual-use goods to a trickle. Dual-use goods are materials that can be used for both civilian and military purposes and includes basics such as building materials, cooking gas and petrol. While the Israeli government claims it limits imports of these goods into Gaza because of security concerns, in reality these restrictions impose extreme hardship on the everyday lives of families in Gaza.

Although international organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, USAID, etc., can now import limited quantities of construction materials into Gaza, there remains a chasm between what they can import and what is needed to rebuild Gaza.

The siege also means Gazans are a captive population with limited mobility. The majority of Gazans cannot leave the strip to visit family or access medical services; and very few non-Gazans can enter. In response to vigorous condemnation by humanitarian activists for this collective punishment, the Israeli government claims to have eased the siege by allowing more goods to enter Gaza. In reality, the Israeli-controlled crossings are closed more often than not and goods cannot reach Gaza via its heavily patrolled coast.

Harvesting wheat in GazaWomen harvesting wheat in Gaza 'Buffer Zone' | Photo: International Solidarity MovementThe siege restricts farmers’ access to their agricultural land as well as curtails Gazans’ use of maritime waters by squeezing them between ever encroaching buffer zones. In 2011, Gazans lost their legally approved fishing space when Israel further restricted fishers catch to within three nautical miles off the coast of Gaza. In contrast, the Israeli government agreed that fishers would have access to twenty nautical miles when it signed the 1995 Interim Agreement with the PLO. This new limit represents a significant loss of income for fisher families, and creates devastating barriers to food sovereignty for their broader communities.

Restricted access to farmland and maritime waters has led to a precipitous decline in the population’s nutritional and material welfare at a time when domestic production of food is vital. According to B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, the siege has led to 40% unemployment rate and, correspondingly, over 50% of the population now lives in poverty.

Despite these realities, Gazans have been slowly rebuilding their lives with the help of local, grassroots organizations, including Grassroots International partners. For example, shortly after Cast Lead ended the Palestinian Agricultural Rights Committee (PARC) began rehabilitating urban gardens bombed or deliberately damaged by Israeli tanks during the operation and expanding the number of gardens in the strip.

Photo: Grassroots InternationalPhoto: Grassroots InternationalBefore Cast Lead, these urban gardens had served as a lifeline for Gazan families with limited access to fresh fruit and vegetables.

PARC has reestablished hundreds of gardens and implemented new programs to train and support families starting gardens. Based on PARC’s success, the urban garden model is now being replicated by other agencies throughout Gaza and the West Bank, thereby working with many more families towards the goal of food sovereignty.

Another local organization and Grassroots International partner, the Union of Agricultural Worker Committees (UAWC) empowers women through collectives, leadership and skills training, and small project management. UAWC’s activities advance women’s participation in Gaza’s formal economy, while highlighting the importance of women’s economic contribution in household economies.

Meanwhile, the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme continues to educate, diagnose and treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an illness which is rampant in the Gazan population as a result of Cast Lead and years of bombing. With proper diagnosis and treatment, Gazans who suffer from PTSD, including many children, are re-integrated into family life and society.

These organizations’ work is buttressed by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), which advocates for the rule of law in the occupied territories, respect and defense of human rights, and accountability when human rights and international law violations occur. PCHR is a partner of Grassroots International and a global leader in documenting and working to address human rights abuses.

Unlike some conventional wars – which often also disproportionately affect civilians – the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead has not ushered in a promise of reconstruction or a return to normal in Gaza. Still under siege, normal is a long way off, but Gazans are finding ways to survive and recover, garden by garden and hope by hope.

~

Grassroots International

Growing hope and fighting hunger on the Gaza Strip

Source: GRIST - 2009

Grassroots partners with the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), a progressive organization that runs an "Urban Gardens" initiative.

To date, PARC has set up 1,000 urban gardens in Gaza. Last year, Grassroots granted $25,000 to PARC's "Urban Agriculture for Food Security and Increased Income Project." PARC also runs a Farm-to-Table program sourcing local food from Gazan farmers for Gazans in need of food aid - a model worth emulating globally.

Ahmed Sourani, is PARC's project director in Gaza City (PARC works in the West Bank as well). He says that urban gardens are vital not just for food security but as a way to empower women, and a way to "revitalize" agriculture in general. Household gardens are a part of Gazan culture, he explains, and says, "Since women are the primary caretakers of these gardens, the status of women will advance as this vital food source expands in the community."

PARC provides women with vegetable and fruit seeds, and gives them rigorous training in how to maintain a garden: they learn about composting, fencing, irrigation, and how to make and use natural "green" pesticides. Women learn how to turn any scrap of land-even on a rooftop-into a blossoming garden.

Women are also taught how to raise rabbits, which are notoriously easy to breed. PARC incorporates animal husbandry into its training because, explains Sourani, chicken and other sources of protein are so prohibitively expensive. Between the gardening and the animal husbandry, a number of households can become almost completely self-sufficient.

Um Abdullah, who lives in the bleak al-Maghazzi district, is just one example: she grows corn, spinach, cabbage, eggplant, beans, peas, zucchini...even alfalfa for her rabbits. And in fact, PARC has helped Um Abdullah raise not just rabbits, but pigeons, chicken and ducks. They've helped her grow trees like orange, lemon, peach, palm, and pear. Her urban garden provides more than food security for her family, it provides financial security; it's her livelihood.

Add comment


Security code
Refresh

Donate to Safe World

Profile Information

Application afterLoad: 0.001 seconds, 0.72 MB
Application afterInitialise: 0.038 seconds, 2.46 MB
Application afterRoute: 0.093 seconds, 10.00 MB
Application afterDispatch: 0.174 seconds, 11.97 MB
Application afterRender: 3.396 seconds, 27.82 MB

Memory Usage

29239552

27 queries logged

  1. DELETE
      FROM jos_session
      WHERE ( TIME < '1337609913' )
  2. SELECT *
      FROM jos_session
      WHERE session_id = '18b202bn68bankj4sbta6j5pr6'
  3. UPDATE `jos_session`
      SET `time`='1337617113',`userid`='0',`usertype`='',`username`='',`gid`='0',`guest`='1',`client_id`='0'
      WHERE session_id='18b202bn68bankj4sbta6j5pr6'
  4. SELECT *
      FROM jos_components
      WHERE parent = 0
  5. SELECT folder AS TYPE, element AS name, params
      FROM jos_plugins
      WHERE published >= 1
      AND access <= 0
      ORDER BY ordering
  6. SELECT `query`
      FROM `jos_admintools_wafexceptions`
      WHERE (`option` IS NULL)
      AND (`view` IS NULL)
      GROUP BY `query`
      ORDER BY `query` ASC
  7. SELECT *
      FROM `jos_admintools_ipautoban`
      WHERE `ip` = '38.107.179.240'
  8. SELECT `value`
      FROM `jos_admintools_storage`
      WHERE `key` = 'cparams'
  9. SELECT `source`
      FROM `jos_admintools_redirects`
      WHERE (`dest` = 'environment/env-middle-east/1804-recovery-in-gaza-garden-by-garden.html' OR `dest` = 'environment/env-middle-east/1804-recovery-in-gaza-garden-by-garden.html')
      AND `published` = 1
      ORDER BY `ordering` DESC
      LIMIT 0,1
  10. INSERT IGNORE INTO `jos_redj_visited_urls` (`id`, `visited_url`)
      VALUES (NULL, 'http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/environment/env-middle-east/1804-recovery-in-gaza-garden-by-garden.html')
  11. INSERT IGNORE INTO `jos_redj_referer_urls` (`id`, `referer_url`, `domain`)
      VALUES (NULL, '', '')
  12. INSERT INTO `jos_redj_referers` (`id`, `visited_url`, `referer_url`, `hits`, `last_visit`)
      VALUES (NULL, (SELECT `id`
      FROM `jos_redj_visited_urls`
      WHERE `visited_url` = 'http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/environment/env-middle-east/1804-recovery-in-gaza-garden-by-garden.html'), (SELECT `id`
      FROM `jos_redj_referer_urls`
      WHERE `referer_url` = ''), 1, '2012-05-21 17:18:33' )
      ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE `hits` = `hits` + 1, `last_visit` = '2012-05-21 17:18:33'
  13. SELECT *
      FROM jos_redj
      WHERE ( (('/environment/env-middle-east/1804-recovery-in-gaza-garden-by-garden.html' REGEXP BINARY fromurl)>0
      AND case_sensitive<>'0') OR (('/environment/env-middle-east/1804-recovery-in-gaza-garden-by-garden.html' REGEXP fromurl)>0
      AND case_sensitive='0') )
      AND published='1'
      ORDER BY ordering
  14. SELECT id, parent_id, VALUE, name, lft, rgt
      FROM jos_core_acl_aro_groups
      WHERE id=23
  15. SELECT template
      FROM jos_templates_menu
      WHERE client_id = 0
      AND (menuid = 0 OR menuid = 991)
      ORDER BY menuid DESC
      LIMIT 0, 1
  16. SELECT a.*, u.name AS author, u.usertype, cc.title AS category, s.title AS SECTION, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug, g.name AS groups, s.published AS sec_pub, cc.published AS cat_pub, s.access AS sec_access, cc.access AS cat_access  
      FROM jos_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      LEFT JOIN jos_sections AS s
      ON s.id = cc.SECTION
      AND s.scope = "content"
      LEFT JOIN jos_users AS u
      ON u.id = a.created_by
      LEFT JOIN jos_groups AS g
      ON a.access = g.id
      WHERE a.id = 1804
      AND (  ( a.created_by = 0 )    OR  ( a.state = 1
      AND ( a.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_up <= '2012-05-21 16:18:33' )
      AND ( a.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_down >= '2012-05-21 16:18:33' )   )    OR  ( a.state = -1 )  )
  17. UPDATE jos_content
      SET hits = ( hits + 1 )
      WHERE id='1804'
  18. SELECT g.*
      FROM jos_core_acl_aro_groups AS g
      INNER JOIN jos_core_acl_groups_aro_map AS gm
      ON gm.group_id = g.id
      INNER JOIN jos_core_acl_aro AS ao
      ON ao.id = gm.aro_id
      WHERE ao.VALUE='62'
      ORDER BY g.id
  19. SELECT g.*
      FROM jos_core_acl_aro_groups AS g
      INNER JOIN jos_core_acl_groups_aro_map AS gm
      ON gm.group_id = g.id
      INNER JOIN jos_core_acl_aro AS ao
      ON ao.id = gm.aro_id
      WHERE ao.VALUE='62'
      ORDER BY g.id
  20. SELECT a.id, a.sectionid, a.access, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug
      FROM jos_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      WHERE a.id = 1804
  21. SELECT COUNT(*)

      FROM jos_jcomments

      WHERE object_id = 1804

      AND object_group = 'com_content'

      AND published = 1
  22. SELECT *
      FROM jos_tagmeta
      WHERE ( (('/environment/env-middle-east/1804-recovery-in-gaza-garden-by-garden.html' REGEXP BINARY uri)>0
      AND case_sensitive<>'0') OR (('/environment/env-middle-east/1804-recovery-in-gaza-garden-by-garden.html' REGEXP uri)>0
      AND case_sensitive='0') )
      AND published='1'
      ORDER BY ordering
  23. SELECT id, title, module, POSITION, content, showtitle, control, params
      FROM jos_modules AS m
      LEFT JOIN jos_modules_menu AS mm
      ON mm.moduleid = m.id
      WHERE m.published = 1
      AND m.access <= 0
      AND m.client_id = 0
      AND ( mm.menuid = 991 OR mm.menuid = 0 )
      ORDER BY POSITION, ordering
  24. SELECT a.id, a.catid, a.sectionid AS secid, a.title AS atitle, c.title AS ctitle, s.title AS stitle, a.introtext, a.fulltext, a.created, u.name, a.created_by_alias, a.hits, a.access,
    CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(':', a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug,
    CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(c.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(':', c.id, c.alias) ELSE c.id END AS catslug

      FROM jos_content AS a

      INNER JOIN jos_sections AS s
      ON s.id = a.sectionid

      INNER JOIN jos_categories AS c
      ON c.id = a.catid

      LEFT JOIN jos_users AS u
      ON u.id = a.created_by

      WHERE a.state = 1
      AND a.sectionid > 0

      AND (a.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_up <= '2012-05-21 16:18:33')

      AND (a.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_down >= '2012-05-21 16:18:33')
     
      AND s.access <= 0
      AND c.access <= 0
      AND a.access <= 0
      AND (s.id=90)
     
      AND s.published = 1
      AND c.published = 1
     
      ORDER BY a.created DESC
      LIMIT 0, 8
  25. SELECT a.id, a.catid, a.sectionid AS secid, a.title AS atitle, c.title AS ctitle, s.title AS stitle, a.introtext, a.fulltext, a.created, u.name, a.created_by_alias, a.hits, a.access,
    CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(':', a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug,
    CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(c.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(':', c.id, c.alias) ELSE c.id END AS catslug

      FROM jos_content AS a

      INNER JOIN jos_sections AS s
      ON s.id = a.sectionid

      INNER JOIN jos_categories AS c
      ON c.id = a.catid

      LEFT JOIN jos_users AS u
      ON u.id = a.created_by

      WHERE a.state = 1
      AND a.sectionid > 0

      AND (a.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_up <= '2012-05-21 16:18:33')

      AND (a.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_down >= '2012-05-21 16:18:33')
     
      AND s.access <= 0
      AND c.access <= 0
      AND a.access <= 0
      AND (s.id=90)
     
      AND s.published = 1
      AND c.published = 1
     
      ORDER BY a.hits DESC
      LIMIT 0, 5
  26. SELECT `value`
      FROM `jos_admintools_storage`
      WHERE `key` = 'cparams'
  27. SELECT *
      FROM jos_modules
      WHERE client_id = 0
      AND access <= 0
      AND ( title='Search' )  
      AND published = 1
      ORDER BY ordering
      LIMIT 1

Language Files Loaded

Untranslated Strings Diagnostic

None

Untranslated Strings Designer

None