Gaza

We finally made it to Gaza. This has been on our hearts and minds since we got here, and we have been looking for ways to get the appropriate permissions. This has been such an integral part to my parents' ministry, and currently, they are the only representatives of the Bible Society who are able to enter. There has recently been activity in Gaza by an extremist group that self-identifies as a branch of ISIS, and the Hamas government has been trying to keep this movement from growing. The situation has a lot of people on high alert, and we were advised not to try to spend the night this time. This left us with a short window of time when all of the checkpoints would be open to enter, finish all of the visa paperwork, visit families, and reenter Israel. 

We left our house at precisely 6:37ish, and headed for the border crossing at Erez. This is the primary land crossing from Israel, and really, the only way in or out of the place. The first barrier is Israeli border control. A massive hanger-like structure, full of modern surveillance technology and heavily armed civilian guards, it is mainly empty. It was built to handle the flow of thousands of daily commuters into Israel, once an essential aspect of the Gaza economy, but which has come to nearly a complete halt. Permission to leave is nearly impossible to obtain unless due to medical emergencies, and Israeli citizens are banned from entering. Once you leave the enormous building, you begin the long walk. Because Erez is exclusively a pedestrian crossing, travelers have to walk the 15 minutes through the militarized buffer zone through a serpentine, caged pathway, covered by a corrugated roof. Enterprising Gazans drive golf carts back and forth, giving rides to those who might need them.

At the end of the caged walkway you arrive at the second checkpoint, Fatah. This is the controlling party of Palestine, and due to the unique political climate, are necessary at this crossing, not because they have any control over Gaza, but because Israel and Hamas refuse to acknowledge each other's legitimacy, Fatah has to stand between them so that an authorized border-crossing can take place. Picture it as two middle school rivals shunning each other, passing angry notes back and forth through a inoffensive mutual proxy. Finally, the Hamas border is reached, and the cultural transformation is complete. The advanced defensive technology and powerful industrial fans you saw in Israel are replaced by a few corrugated shacks and an effectively old-fashioned manual luggage search. Once your papers are deemed to be in order, you are finally able to enter Gaza.

We were met at the Hamas border by a friend of the Bible Society, a Muslim man who has picked my parents up from this ordeal several times. We climb into a taxi micro bus and begin working our way toward Gaza City. The first task was to get pictures taken for our permission cards that we had applied for. We stopped at a small studio and posed. Because resources like water and electricity are very tightly regulated for Gaza, the studio was lit upon our arrival by a small, 1/2 horsepower diesel generator that whirred, wheezed and grinded as the photographer's strobe lights drained the available wattage. Driving through the city to the municipal building, we could not avoid noticing signs of the destruction last summer's conflict with Israel produced. Half of an apartment building would be destroyed by aircraft fire, debris and material still blocking the main street a year later, but there would still be a store open for business on the ground floor. This is a region still reeling from the realities of war-time struggle, yet there is no visible hope of rebuilding.

After submitting our applications for return visas at the municipal building we were given a surprise mission. Our connection from the Bible Society had arranged, without our knowledge, that we would spend part of what remained of our time in Gaza visiting families who had been given powerful water filters by the Bible Society. Since there are no representatives of the Bible Society remaining permanently in Gaza, we were sent to follow up on these gifts, and reinforce the connection. The families we visited seemed as surprised by the visit as we were, but these four Muslim families were gracious and all sweetly invited us in, proud to show off their new filter systems, undoubtedly the most valuable possessions they had. Water in Gaza, when they are allowed to get it, is not safe to drink from the tap, is expensive to buy and filtration is difficult and inconsistent. For these families, to have a safe, steady supply of water is essential and rare.

After showing us his filter, the father of one family wanted to show us around what had been his neighborhood. It is difficult to describe the destruction. We tried taking a few pictures, but the scope is difficult to capture. Entire city blocks are rubble. Skeletal structures of former homes, mosques, supermarkets and hospitals were still being sifted through by packs of young boys, trying to find scraps of rebar and metal. The whole buildings that did remain, pock marked with thousands of bullet holes and units shot out by tank shells, showed that people were still trying to live among the ruins, hanging out their laundry in the hot sun.

We ended our time in Gaza at our friends house whom we had hosted here in Jerusalem around Easter time. We ate way more delicious food than we should have, and enjoyed our last hour out of the sun and heat. We keep being reminded that we have a room reserved just for us, and if we return to Gaza in the next few weeks, it will be their house we stay at. Unfortunately, we had to get back to the Erez crossing before it closed at 3PM, and it is a bad idea to try your luck when there are three, somewhat hostile borders to cross in order to get back home. On the walk back through the caged path, we could feel the full 105 degrees, and were happy to get back to the air conditioned car and to take long showers when we got back to Jerusalem.