The little known beauty of Gaza, which had just started its first nature reserve in Wadi Gaza last year - given time and resources they can rebuild
Gaza Instagrammer finding beauty in Gaza Strip with her photos: "Pray for us to be steadfast and may God ease our long night"
Gaza as a beautiful place which needs time and resources to rebuild
Gaza Instagrammer finding beauty in Gaza Strip with her photos: "Pray for us to be steadfast and may God ease our long night"
This may help counteract the view that Gaza City is a city of Hamas fighters and Gaza Strip some sort of military encampment. This is a humanitarian post not a political one. It is aligned with UNICEF, UNWRA, the WHO, Oxfam etc. NOT Hamas. What Hamas did is horrific but the ordinary Gaza civilians are non combatants. See:
More about this at the end.
I think the main message from the humanitarian organizations is "Don't let the Hamas terrorists destroy your own humanity and empathy for fellow humans in distress".
It is their only country for 2.2 million people, the only place they know directly, everwhere else they see on their laptops, in photos, but can never visit just because they were born in Gaza strip. But they find beauty in their life there, they even have started on their first ever nature reserve which for many in Gaza is going to be the only nature reserve they can ever visit. That’s Wadi Gaza - the one in the news as the wadi they have to move to go south of.
You can read this post also on SubStack here, where the embedded videos will play properly and also the Instagram images embed properly. It is free to read as are all my blog posts there which are copies of posts here:
This blog post is sad - but also it is about their resilience. I don’t mean the resilience of the fighters. I mean the resilience of the civilians born in that terrible situation, and what they managed to do despite repeated bombing and wars many times in the past. The many thousands dead can’t be restored to life and they mourn them. But after the war they can rebuild and let’s hope for a future of peace and an end to Hamas control of the strip and an end to the nearly two decades long blockade of Gaza strip.
This is a blog post about the beauty of Gaza strip, it ends with a sad message from a Gazan photographer who has taken many beautiful photos of her city and now sees it bombed to ruin with so many she knows touched by the war, people close to them killed. She asks for us to pray for them to stay steadfast in their long night.
BEAUTY IN CIVILIAN LIFE IN GAZA CITY
Here is a video of civilian life in Gaza city:
If clicking on that video doesn’t work click here:
Video: Gaza City Like You've Never Seen Before
Video: Inside Gaza's epic parkour squad - BBC
GAZA STRIPS FIRST AND ONLY NATURE RESERVE - THE WORLD HERITAGE SITE OF WADI GAZA AND WETLANDS - CLEAN UP OPERATION
You may have heard that the people in Gaza city were told to evacuate south of Wadi Gaza. They had just completed the first year of a decade long project to clean up this wadi and restore its biodiversity and it is going to be their first ever nature reserve which for many in Gaza will be the only nature reserve they can ever visit in their lives.
This is what it looks like today (at least before the bombing)
Also:
Of course they likely have to clean it up again after the bombing
It is just the start of a decade long project, and those areas they have cleaned will be transformed as it continues.
How they restored it:
video: Wadi Gaza cleaning- final results
GAZA CITY — The road meandering towards Gaza Valley is notorious for the stench of pollution choking the plant and animal life that once flourished in the Palestinian enclave’s biggest wetland.
That is expected to change after the sullied habitat was declared Gaza’s first nature reserve, set for a UN-backed, decade-long clean-up effort under the territory’s Hamas rulers.
“The valley will return to its beautiful natural state” for local people to walk through and enjoy, said Jaber Abu Hajeer, the mayor of the area known as Wadi Gaza.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/pollution-clean-up-aims-to-create-gazas-first-nature-reserve/
They have no real waste disposal system and they opened the first wastewater treatment plant on 23rd March 2022.
They have no safe landfills.
Only on 23 March did the territory open its first wastewater treatment plant, a plant that had been held up for years because of Israeli prohibitions on what Palestinians in Gaza can import.
…
Gaza produces around 2,000 tons of solid waste per day or an average of 730,000 tons annually, according to the UN. This is the equivalent of one kilogram of waste per person per day, with variations between cities and villages.
Nearly two-thirds of the solid waste is organic, said Dr. Abdelmajid Nassar, a professor of environmental engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza. Eleven percent, according to a 2015 study he authored, is plastic, 12 percent paper and carton waste, 7 percent metallic waste, and 5 percent unspecified.
Absent space for safe landfills and even with the new wastewater treatment plant, which will cater to half Gaza’s population, such high numbers are dangerous in Gaza’s crowded environs, Nassar said, and are only set to rise.
Yet they created their first nature reserve around the Wadi Gaza and opened their first sewage treatment plant.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/restoring-wadi-gaza-after-years-neglect/35186
This is their master plan for Wadi Gaza their first nature reserve.
Video: Wadi Gaza master plan, full HD version
MORE BACKGROUND ABOUT WADI GAZA - WORLD HERITAGE SITE AND FED BY TREATED WASTEWATER FROM GAZA CITY
It's a Unesco world heritage site
QUOTE STARTS
The Wadi is distinct for its twists and turns, notably it makes eight curves when it crosses the Gaza Strip. The Wadi banks also support a number of terraces. Its width varies from place to place, and gets wider near its mouth where it reaches about 100 m. Six wadis end into the main Wadi, the most important of which are Abu Qatroun Wadi and Ghalbeh Wadi. Abu Qatroun Wadi cuts through the area north and Ghalbeh Wadi cuts through the area south of Wadi Gaza.
The geographical position of Palestine and the location of the Gaza Strip at the corner of the land bridge connecting the continents of Africa and Eurasia, make it a bottleneck for migratory birds. The passage of many migratory birds between the Orient and the Nile valley also takes place through the Gaza Strip. Thousands of ducks, herons, storks, cranes, flamingos, waders, raptors, quails, passerines and other birds have been reported to pass through the Gaza Strip. The most common endemic bird is the Palestinian sunbird (Nectarinia osea) found throughout the year at the Gaza Strip.
Studies show that there is an urgent need to protect the Wadi Gaza and it’s surrounding vegetation communities as these habitats contain the highest value for the flora and fauna. The threats to these habitats are quite severe, Wadi Gaza faces many environmental problems that affect the public health and is used as a point to collect sewage from the middle area refugee camps and as a solid waste-dumping site.
Geographic location:
Wadi Gaza springs from the Negev hills and the southern heights of Hebron. The length of the Wadi is about 105 km from its source, and extends from the Truce line in East Gaza to the coast where it discharges into the sea. It is located centrally along the Gaza Strip coast, and is bordered in the north-west by the sea, the south-east by the Bureij Camp, the south-west by the Nuseirat Camp, and the north by Al-Zahra’ City. The maximum elevation of the Wadi is 30 meters above sea level, dropping to sea level where it reaches the Mediterranean Sea. Its circuitous route through the Gaza Strip reaches 7 km. The tributaries feeding Wadi Gaza have their sources in the central mountain areas, the low heights north of the Negev, and the west and southwest parts of the Hebron Mountains.
Justification of Outstanding Universal Value
Wadi Gaza is considered as one of the most important coastal wetlands located on the Eastern Mediterranean Basin, very rich in biological diversity (both flora and fauna). The wadi is also a station point for the migratory routes from north to south and from south to north. In addition, being the biggest in Gaza and having a special outstanding landscape, and being one of the biggest in Palestine, it has the potential for being a recreational area attracting people from different areas.
More about it here:
QUOTE STARTS
Renewed hope and the ongoing fight for Gaza’s wetlands
Wetland ecosystems harbour rich biodiversity and provide a wide range of services such as water purification, flood mitigation and erosion control.
They also play a role in combatting extreme weather events like floods, and store vast amounts of carbon; so their conservation can help curb climate change. Yet the world has lost 87 percent of natural wetlands in the last three centuries.
The project in Wadi Gaza is raising hopes that what was destroyed can be restored in one of the world’s most beleaguered environments. “Wadi Gaza’s wetlands have historical importance, they are part of our heritage and are important for biodiversity here, so it’s important to rehabilitate them,” says Atrash.
But there are significant challenges. For Atrash, one of the biggest problems is the risk of floods.
During Marta’s visit to Gaza in March, 38,000 tonnes of garbage had been removed from the wetlands.
Israel has diverted water upstream to supply its growing population and industries, preventing the natural flow of rainwater to the lower lands in the Gaza Strip.
During heavy rains however, Israeli authorities release water downstream, resulting in catastrophic floods that have affected agricultural and residential areas in wet years, she explains.
Israel’s Water Authority did not respond to interview requests.
“There is also the problem of financing the project so that it can continue in a sustainable way,” adds Atrash.
Hilles says the difficulties lie not just with Israeli restrictions and control of water flows, but also with local authorities. “We need law enforcement and monitoring to make sure the region is protected,” he says.
For those who live near the wetlands, the new wastewater treatment plant and the removal of heaps of garbage are already making a difference.
“Now that [the valley] is cleaner it feels wider, there is more space for us,” says Abu Salman, sipping tea in his precarious dwellings in the eastern part of Wadi Gaza.
“At least now we can breathe a little.”
. From wasteland to wetlands: Nature’s comeback in the Gaza Strip
The wastewater is a major source of water. So long as Gaza city is getting drinking water from Israel, the Wadi will be filled with enough water to keep flowing slowly.
This is from a 2003 plan, I can’t find the details for the current UN plan for water supply.
QUOTE STARTS
Freshwater influences The main source of freshwater for the Wetland is groundwater from the coastal phreatic aquifer. The water table of the aquifer at the estuary lake intersects with the topography and emerges at the surface. No study has been conducted of the amount of groundwater feeding the Wetland but two estimates are available for the total quantity of standing water held by the wetland. These are 65,000 m3 from a 1999 survey (Goodson, 1999) and 81,000 m3 in 2000 (Alfaloji, 2002).
Another source of freshwater is storm water that accumulates during the rainy season. This storm water comes in flash floods that occur on approximately 10 days a year. Estimated volumes for the hydrological years 1994/1995 and 2000/2001 are 20 million m3 and 18.22 million m3. Since the early 1970s the volume of water began to diminish considerably due to the implementation of retaining dams and diversion schemes by Israel on the upper course of the Wadi.
Since then the volume and duration of flow have decreased significantly, and large flows are restricted to occasional flash floods sweeping down the Wadi bed in wet years.
Another source of water reaching Wadi Gaza is the untreated wastewater discharged from five wastewater outlets. Two of these are minor, but the other three are major outlets collecting wastewater from four residential areas adjacent to the Wadi. The total quantity of this wastewater is about 5000 m3/day (DANIDA, 2000). The volume is estimated to reach more than 7000 m3/day by the year 2003. In the beginning of June 2001 a channel was made permitting wastewater to reach the Wetland
7000 cubic meters a day is just a trickle. A small stream is < 5 cubic meters per second.
Suppose it is say 3.5 meters across and 1 meter deep. Then 7000 cubic meters a day means the water flows at 2 kilometer a day or about 2000/24 = 80 meters an hour.
If you were close to the water you'd notice not from a distance.
So it is a very small amount of water compared to European streams. It is perhaps similar to a large agricultural ditch.
But presumably for wet lands in Gaza strip that is enough water for a nature reserve ??
PHOTOGRAPHER SHARING PHOTOS OF THE BEAUTY OF GAZA STRIP ON INSTAGRAM
Here is a photographer sharing many photos of the beauty of Gaza Strip on Instragram.
So many beautiful photos and videos of her native Gaza.
This was her last set of photos before the bombing
This was her last video I think, the other reels after it are slide shows.
BBC story about her ‘My Beautiful Gaza”
Sadly of course her last two images are of ruins. She writes about her pain and asks for us to pray for them to be steadfast and for God to ease their long night:
In wars, the paradoxes differ. Each of us has an injury and one of us can alleviate the other by mentioning the misfortune of another and under the title of those who see the misfortune that of another, underestimate his misfortune, and in fact, everyone is infected, but it is a way I do not know how to describe it to alleviate
For those whose husband died, they told her that a woman lost her husband and children, praise be to God, your children are with you, and those who lost her children tell her about a woman who lost her husband and her children, and those who have lost them, tell her another story, for those who lost their roof fell on them, there was no shelter left for them, it is death and destruction of homes, and those who buried the bodies of her family, others turned her bodies into ashes
And they did not print a farewell kiss on their foreheads, and those who lost their job and money were not given to them by money or children, those who lost an old age told him that young people of rose age are martyred, and so the people continue to humiliate wound by wound and pain with more pain than him, and this is a pain on top of pain.
Pray for us to be steadfast and may God ease our long night
This is another instagram account with beautiful photos of Gaza
https://www.instagram.com/gaza_beauty
This war will end like the other wars there and then they can rebuild.
Let's hope to a peaceful future without Hamas and with their rights respected and able to travel out of Gaza Strip and return as they wish like nearly all other citizens of our planet.
BACKGROUND FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT WELL AWARE OF THE HUMANITARIAN PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GAZA STRIP AND THE LAW OF ARMED CONDUCT
If you have followed me closely over the last couple of weeks you’ll know that my focus is on the humanitarian situation and the law of armed conduct not political. But for those who don’t then I need to give some context.
My aim for this blog post was to present something positive to help people who find the humanitarian crisis hard to cope with as well as to help others to understand that there are non combatants in Gaza strip and indeed that of course as in any country the vast majority are non combatants and nothing to do with Hamas,
I also have a separate blog post on the military / ethical situation should have linked to that will do now.
There is so much misunderstanding of this on social media.
International humantiarian law protects all non combatants. Even if they voted in Hamas which they didn’t as Hamas took over with a miltiary coup they would still be protected persons under the Geneva Convention. E.g. most Rusisan civiliansn voted for Putin but are not held responsible under international humanitarian law for the Bucha killings. It’s like that.
These are non combatants that I’m talking about, ordinary folk like you and me whose only “wrongdoing” was to be born in Gaza strip. It doesn’t matter what their religion, what their beliefs, whether they have been pacifist all their lives, whether they are doctors, nurses, photographers, aid workers, journalists. Israel thinks it has the right to punish them all for being born in a country that is controlled by Hamas.
All the international aid agencies, humanitarian organizations and under international law this intepretation is wrong. This is collective punishment which is not permitted under the Geneva convention of 1949. It WAS permitted in world war II. Most people arguing for Israel use examples from world war II to justify their conduct but Israel itself has moved on from then.
It is also an ethical thing. It is understandable to respond with a red mist of anger that gets directed at everyone in Gaza strip but that is to let the cruelty of Hamas to Israeli citizens rob you of your natural human empathy for other humans who are suffering.
Surely, if you were in Gaza Strip yourself you would want to rescue babies and kids trapped in the rubble.
There are 40,000 Hamas terrorists. There are 2.2 million civilians. The civilians do NOT support Hamas. Many are Fatah who renounced violence 30 years ago. There is a small minority of 1000 Christians. The last Christians in Gaza lock themselves in a church to avoid bombs and exile: ‘Our place is here’
Nearly half are children. One of the organizations most vocal is UNICEF. This is from before the war. After 15 years of blockade, four out of five children in Gaza say they are living with depression, grief and fear | Save the Children International
These tweets all have embedded videos but you may find they don’t show in Quora if so click through to Twitter (click on the date on the tweet) or Nitter to watch the video.
30 newborns on ventilators are going to die because of lack of fuel.
https://twitter.com/UNICEF/status/1717565662758101126
On Nitter: UNICEF/status/1717565662758101126
Last night UNRWA's @JulietteTouma said that "if we do not get that fuel that we urgently need" in Gaza tonight, "we will have to take some very tough decisions tomorrow morning that no humanitarian aid worker should be forced to make".
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1717275801165476165
On Nitter: SkyNews/status/1717275801165476165
I’m in the UK. I know readers in the USA get a different message, very little coverage of the humanitarian situation. But here, especially in Scotland where I live, we get constant coverage of the humanitarian situation in Gaza strip, fills our TV news alongside the plight of the hostages and the plight of journalists, doctors, aid workers, in Gaza strip and the plight of foreign and dual nationality citizens trapped in Gaza strip unable to leave.
The mother-in-law of Humza Yousaf, first minister of Scotland, a Scottish lady, the granny of his kids, is in Gaza, unable to leave and her neighbourhood bombed.
https://twitter.com/HumzaYousaf/status/1712744173126750323
She is a retired nurse from Dundee, and was there for a few days visiting his brother-in-law's family (he's a doctor) and her husband's 92 mother.
Details: Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf tells of war’s impact on in-laws in Gaza
Humza Yousaf took over from Nicola Sturgeon and heads the SNP party and the Scottish devolved government. The granny of his kids is still trapped in Gaza strip and could be killed at any moment by the bombs. He has asked the UK government to raise this with Israel, the need to let British citizens leave Gaza Strip but Rishi Sunak isn’t answering his calls.
Israel are continuing the blockade. They say to ask Hamas for help for the fuel. They say Hamas have more than 500,000 liters of fuel in surface storage tanks near Rafah crossing.
https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1716884494131868138
This is not plausible, Hamas fuel would not be stored on the surface where Israel could easily bomb it. Their fuel will be buried deep in underground bunkers as far from any bomb strikes as they can get it.
Also, 500,000 litres is less than Gaza strip uses a day. 600,000 needed for water and desalination not including electricity, hospitals, transport.
That’s from this report from 16th October.
QUOTE 600,000 litres of fuel are needed in Gaza per day to operate water and desalinization plants. .
Israel also say that they will let in food etc when Hamas release the hostages.
Of course ordinary people in Gaza strip aren’t Hamas and can’t release the hostages and can’t get fuel from Hamas.
Hamas will have stockpiles for their fighters. But one day of supply for 2.2 million civilians would be months of supplies for a few fighters in underground tunnels. So they are not likely to give it up. Even if they did it would only be one day of supply, and the civilians would still have no water and no electricity after that one day and Israel would never believe Hamas had given up all their fuel stocks.
The main hope here is continued pressure from their partners. So far US and UK have been very muted in their response saying they are sure Israel will keep to humanitarian law against clear evidence that they are not.
But at some point hopefully they turn around and say they can’t support Israel unconditionally when it breaks international humanitarian law.
Israel seem set to keep up the fuel blockade until all the hostages are released. But Hamas are not likely to release all the hostages. So its a deadlock that ordinary Gaza strip civilians cant do anything about.
Both acts are illegal. It is illegal to have hostages. It is illegal to do collective punishment of civilians.
What Hamas did is more obviously and violently illegal than what Israel did as they directly targeted civilians in an especially horrific way.
Back at the time of World War II what Israel is doing would also be legal.
But in a modern world what Israel is doing now is not legal under international humanitarian law. We have moved on from those times the Geneva conventions were established in response to the horrors of World War II
For this reason, because we have moved on since World War II globally, I don't think Israel is going to be permitted to cut off fuel all the way until 2.2. million people die, it is mainly a question of when they are forced to stop.
The purpose of this blog post is to highlight the lives of the non combatants in Gaza Strip.
It is not meant as political, but it is meant to highlight humanitarian law as with the many posts from UNRWA, UNICEF etc.
Sadly just to mention and talk about the need to uphold humanitarian law is taken by many as making you an apologist for Hamas. I am not in ANY WAY. What Hamas did is horrific.
But Gaza strip civilians are non combatants. They are not responsible for what Hamas did. An instagrammer who spends her life taking photos of “My Beautiful Gaza” is not a combatant by any stretch of the imagination, more are the many doctors, nurses, relief workers, children or 98% of the population of Gaza strip.
But Gaza strip civilians are non combatants. They are not responsible for what Hamas did. An instagrammer who spends her life taking photos of “My Beautiful Gaza” is not a combatant by any stretch of the imagination, more are the many doctors, nurses, relief workers, children or 98% of the population of Gaza strip.
Hamas did win the parlimentary election in 2006, even then Southern Gaza voted for Fatah and Northern Gaza Strip for Hamas and 6 of the districts were won by Fatah, 15 by Hamas. 2006 Palestinian legislative election - Wikipedia
This would have led to a powersharing government under the PLO as in the West Bank, because of their constitution ,and because the president is still Fatah who renounced violence over 30 years ago.
So Hamas wouldn’t have had control without their military coup in 2007.
From Wikipedia which is reasonably reliable on this topic:
QUOTE The semi-constitutional and semi-presidential Basic Law gave President and Government a shared political power. Fatah refused to cooperate with Hamas. The powerful Fatah-backed President Abbas was supported by the international community and more or less tolerated by Israel. The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority and the parliament on the other hand were boycotted, and international financial aid was rendered via Abbas, bypassing the Palestinian Government. Because Fatah and Hamas did not co-operate, the parliament became dysfunctional and the PA suffered financial distress.
. 2006 elections and Hamas-government
However, Hamas took over with a military coup in 2007. in the Battle of Gaza.
. Battle of Gaza (2007) - WikipediaThe wishes of the population of Gaza today are not known. Hamas hasn’t held any elections, and half the Gaza population today is less than 18 and wasn’t even born in 2007, never mind eligible to vote back then.
More importantly under international law, by the Geneva Convention 4 after World War II, non-combatants aren’t held responsible for actions of the people they vote for or for war crimes by combatants. E.g. ordinary Russian civilians who voted for Putin are not responsible for the Bucha massacre.
Actually other Russian soldiers also are not responsible for the Bucha war crimes. The individual soldiers who committed them are. So also are their officers and generals so long as it can be established that they knew about them and didn’t stop them or facilitated them. Even Putin is responsible if he knew about them and took no action to stop them. That is very clear. But ordinary Russian soldiers are not held responsible for them under international law.
Similarly with Hamas. The Hamas leadership claim it was intended as a military operation and not terrorism. This doesn’t seem very plausible. But if it was established then they wouldn’t be responsible for these particular war crimes. That is why they reason like that.
If you think it through carefully you can see it would be impossible to do it any other way. How could people be held responsible for things they didn’t authorize and had no capability to prevent? They could be prosecuted under laws about membership of a terrorist organization but not under laws on war crimes if they weren’t involved in the crimes.
In World War II, it was permitted to punish non combatants for war crimes by their government. But that was changed in the 4th Geneva convention in 1949
See:
I do think this is not going to be permitted to go all the way until 2.2. million people die of lack of water. Humans can only last 3 days without water. Less in hot conditions.
At some point this blockade will stop. Israel hopes that Hamas will release all the hostages. That is one way it can stop. The other way is increasing pressure from the US and UK to uphold humanitarian law and to release the blockade. One or other of those two things will happen. I think it is implausible that Hamas will release all the hostages though they may release all the non military hostages and perhaps enough so that Israel feels it can let in some fuel.
But it shouldn’t be linked like this. International law is clear. Hostages should be released, full stop. The blockade should be stopped, full stop. Neither should be linked to the other by either side.
See also