The Gaza Strip - Documentary Film

Forward by Susan Brannon Film by James Longley James Longley went to the Gaza Strip for three months and made a documentary film in 2001. This was before the settler's were forced to leave and gives a true prospective on life for the Gazans just as things started to get worse. James Longley decided to release his film for free online only a few months ago so more people will have access to view the Gazan realities. He first released his film in 2002 at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival and the place was packed. Longley also produced "Iraq in Fragments" and was awarded three jury awards at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature. His short film Sari's Mother premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short. In 2009, Longley was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship "Genius Grant. This film begins with an introductory to the live in the Gaza Strip and the tension increases in the film while the tension is increasing in the Strip. Parts of this film clearly shows crimes against humanity...when the Israelis dropped chemical canisters onto Khan Younis, Gaza of an unknown substance. At the time, the population was going about their business, along with shooting nearby. The children were coming home from school and the men were working and the then the canisters of some sort of smell-less gas that tasted like sugar or mint was released onto the general population. The film focuses on the lives of the children and you can clearly see the effects of the trauma in their lives. You can follow along through some of the lives of these Gazan children and understand that the children had to grow up quickly with the sounds of bullets, rockets, tanks and loosing their homes. They lost friends, parents, uncles and brothers. One of the children decides that it is better to die than live like the way that his life has led and reflects what life means to him. There are scenes that describe the aftermath at the hospital explaining that some boys picked up some boxing gloves that the Israeli tank dropped off to play with it. Inside was some metal, they thought they could sell it. One boy took the metal ball out of the glove and tried to break it. It exploded and was killed instantly. Two other boys were injured and taken to the hospital.t This film is an eyewitness to The aftermath of the destroyed homes in Khan Younis, the shooting when the families attempt to clean up the mess. You can hear the shooting while the families live in small tents near their destroyed homes. In the end there is utter devastation, inside of the Gaza Strip, in the neighborhoods inside of the Gazan border. It is my hopes that the world does not forget the Gazans and continue to ignore the plight that their lives have taken. After the shooting of this film, life has become much worse for those that live in the Gaza Strip.

Death in Gaza Pt 1/6

Here are smaller portions of the documentary film Death in Gaza by James Miller, who was killed in Rafah, Gaza while shooting (no pun intended) this film. For background on this film view this post (and/or the full documentary!) I included this for those who do not have fast internet, like myself!  
Death In Gaza Part 1/6

 
Death in Gaza Full Documentary and explanation
Death In Gaza Pt.1/6
Death In Gaza Pt. 2/6 
Death in Gaza Pt. 3/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 4/6  
Death in Gaza Pt. 5/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 6/6

Four Years of the Intifada

Four Years of the Intifada
The First Victim was a 47 year old disabled man. One Day after the 4 Year mark, there has been3,342 Palestinians killed since September 28, 2000.
Susan Brannon Yesterday three Palestinians were killed in Nablus and one in Rafah and one in Khan Younis. Read the article below to see the violations of Human Rights Issues due to war. The beginning of five years of occupation. A total 4,342 Palestinians and Israelis killed. Of those 1,008 were Israeli and 3,334 Palestinian. 82% of Palestinians killed were civilians.
621 Children Killed under the age of 17 10,000 Chilren have been injured 424 Palestinians killed by assassinations 100 Women in Prison 377 Children in Prison $1 Billion dollars of damage in the infrastructure 50% of Agricultural losses 298 Schools shelled or broken, where 4 children killed No drinking water in Gaza Water consumption is 5 times more for Israelis Settler water consumption is 20 times more 703 movement restrictions 55 women forced to give birth at checkpoints with 20 loosing their children The Wall is twice as high and three times as long as the Berlin Wall 40,000 Palestinians are imprisoned inside the Wall at Qalqalia 22,000 homes have been destroyed in Rafah, Gaza For more details click here A day and the life in Palestine read below: The Palestinian Monitor reports: Israeli soldiers killed Saleh Ibrahim Balalo, a 47- year-old mentally disabled man, when he left his house during a curfew in the Jenin refugee camp. Due to his condition he was not aware that a curfew was in place. He was shot in the chest and killed instantly. This is the second day the Jenin camp has been subject to military operations in which Israelis are conducting a house-to-house search campaign. Yesterday Israeli forces invaded Jenin with 70 military vehicles, two Apache helicopters, and one surveillance aircraft. Yesterday three Palestinians were killed in Nablus. Sayel Jibara, a father of ten from the village of Salem, was driving people from Nablus to his village when he decided to bypass a checkpoint that had closed the road. Near the Alom Morei settlement, an Israeli settler in a car stopped them, ordered the driver and three passengers to exit the car, and shot the driver at close range, killing him. According to witnesses, there was no provocation or reason for the killing. Jibara is the breadwinner for his children, aged 2 to 16, three of whom have problems with their eyes, as well as his wife, father, and mother. He was killed while trying to make the money to feed his family. The two other Palestinians killed in Nablus were Ammar Abu Nafiseh, age 21, and Ahmed Nidal el-Tirawi, age 18, from the Balata refugee camp. Israeli forces invaded the camp yesterday and closed all the entrances except one southern entrance, where they stationed five Jeeps. Throughout the day, young people came to the area to throw stones at the Jeeps, and Israelis responded with live fire. Ammar was killed by one bullet to his chest and one to his leg. Ahmed was killed by one live bullet to his eye. Yesterday, a Palestinian named Masoud al-Shaher, 31 years old from Rafah, was killed when Israelis fired a missile at his car from an Apache helicopter in an attempt to assassinate Mohamad Suleyman Abu Nasireh in Abasan village in Khan Younis. Abu Nasireh survived and is in moderate condition with shrapnel wounds. In Khan Younis, Said al-Madhoun, 61 years old, was killed when Israelis from Navet Kalim settlement opened fire in a civilian area. Al-Madhoun was visiting a relative who works in an Elementary School for Boys run by the UN. According to an eye-witness, Said was shot by a live bullet to his stomach while he was standing in the yard of the school.

Rembering Mazen

Rembering Mazen
Yumi, who's been living as well as working in Rafah, the southernmost town of the Gaza Strip, for nearly a year and half, engaging in a psycho-social program for the Palestinian youth in Rafan as a Japanese NGO worker.
This is not the first sad news that I received from her, but another sad news about a kid in Rafah. On 30 August, one of the children she's been working with, Mazen (15), was shot to death, IN FRONT OF his house, which is located very close to the border ... probably one of the most dangerous borders today. Please spare a little of your time to read the letter from her and a moment to pray for Mazen. Read, “A moment for Mazen”
Another Day, Another Life I had a feeling that one day it would happen. In June 2003, I started working with youths living closest to the Rafah border. These kids live in the most extraordinary circumstances where, for the past 4 years, they've had front-seats to the sound of gunfire and periodic explosions on a nearly daily/nightly basis. The very proximity of their homes to the border increases their exposure to danger. Military watchtowers, built behind the 8m iron wall along the border, often fire at will at the surrounding houses and any moving objects. The areas closest to the border are also subject to frequent military incursions of all scales, large and small, which, in the name of “security”, often leave behind demolished houses, destroyed infrastructure, injuries and death. More... A letter, “A Death in the Family” The following letter was written by a Japanese, Yumi Terahata living in Rafah, the southernmost area of the Gaza Strip. The letter was written shortly after the death of her "brother" .