Land Day: Photos of the day
HAPPY PALESTINE LAND DAY!
“Two Palestinian boys in Lebanon look south from Beaufort Castle on Land Day” – via Ben Wedeman
More photos here
Iran: March 8th – Freedom. Justice, Equality. Our Right!
[Click on image for details]
In related news:
“What do you want us to do?”
We don’t want intervention, we want attention. We need the media attention to be on Iran. The more the international community condemns what is happening, the more the international media reports it, the more pressure the regime is under. This will save lives …
Quote of the day
“It is the very balance between destruction and rebuilding, despair and hope, occupation and perseverance that makes the Palestinian people powerful. Their power cannot be demonstrated in numbers, but it can be felt, experienced, and understood.” – Ramzy Baroud
Resilience: Gaza farmers grow crops on roofs
From The Electronic Intifada
“Beit Hanoun is an important place for such gardens. It’s near the border with Israel, and much agricultural land has been destroyed repeatedly by the Israeli army,” he says. The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee reports that up to 75,000 dunams (a dunam equals 1,000 square meters) of prime agricultural land has been destroyed by Israeli bulldozers and bombings.
“Also many farmers are unable to access their land because of the Israelis,” Shabat adds. The Israeli imposition of a “buffer zone” along Gaza’s borders swallows at least a third of Gaza’s farmland and renders lethal any border regions farmers try to access. This land formerly produced wheat, barley and a variety of fruits and nuts; it was Gaza’s food basket.
“Many people have left their homes and land near border areas, because they are afraid of the constant Israeli shooting and shelling attacks,” Shabat says. Beit Hanoun is now a waterless, treeless landscape.
On the flat, square, cement roof of another Beit Hanoun home, Ahed Shabat, 42, looks after the plants and vegetables growing in tubs and cement planters amidst hung laundry and water tanks.
“We grow things we can use year round, like garlic and onions,” he says. “But also seasonal plants like spinach, parsley, radishes, eggplant, corn, okra and chili peppers.
“We also grow flowers and herbs to use in tea, like mint, mirimiyya and zaatar,” he adds. The latter two herbs, that commonly grow wild in the hills of the occupied West Bank, are a staple for most Palestinians’ tea, and have medicinal uses. – MORE
leave a comment