Last week, Israel barred a UNESCO fact-finding mission from entering the country, charging that the Palestinians had ‘politicized’ the mission before it had even arrived. The mission was tasked with looking into conditions of historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, something Israel apparently found to be very threatening.

Looking at the state of Jerusalem’s eastern sector today, it is understandable why Israel would not want UNESCO or anyone else walking around the Old City, especially the Palestinian-populated parts of it. Because anyone who does, will see the devastation that Israel and its settlers have wreaked on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world.

Excavation works are being conducted in and around the Aqsa Mosque to make way for more Jewish construction at the place where Waqf authorities say Ottoman and Abbasid artifacts have long been tucked away. A Muslim graveyard is being dug up just outside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, to build – ironically – a museum of tolerance. Today, two stores were forcefully taken over by Jewish settlers in Al Hakari, one of the neighborhoods in the Muslim quarter and every day, it seems that more and more homes are either being demolished by Israeli municipality authorities or being taken over by Jewish settlers.

The “Judiazation” of Jerusalem is a term many Palestinians and Arabs use for what Israel is doing in the city. In a nutshell, it is the long-term plan Israel is gradually carrying out to change the Arab Palestinian character of Jerusalem. This means demolishing old and historical structures, displacing Palestinians, handing over their homes to settlers and trying to erase the Palestinian or Arab history of the city.

The sad truth is that, on the surface, Israel has succeeded in this to a large extent. Pockets of Jewish settlers now live in the heart of Muslim quarters and aim to take over more and more. Sheikh Jarrah, one of the more affluent Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, is now pierced with Jewish flags waving from homes that have been wrestled from their Palestinian owners, and Israel’s light rail train cuts right down through Palestinian neighborhoods outside of the city center. The train, of course, is not meant to service the Palestinian population but rather to connect Jewish neighborhoods and settlements in the city, but the area confiscated from Shufat and Beit Hanina for its construction simply fell into the plan.

What the UNESCO mission would not have seen even if they made it into the Old City is the overall humiliation that the Palestinian population of Jerusalem must endure on a daily basis because of Israel’s military occupation. Trips to the Israeli ministry of interior must be made just to prove that one lives in the city for fear that their residency rights may be revoked; young Palestinian men are stopped randomly by Israeli soldiers to check their ID cards or just to harass them, and settlers are always given the luxury of maximum security whenever they walk the streets. If settlers want to march through the city, the Palestinians are told to close their shops, are barred for hours from reaching their homes if they run along the path of the march and are always the ones blamed if any kind of confrontation between the two sides breaks out.

Jerusalem is being squeezed by these measures more and more each day. But there is always that glimmer of hope, that strength that shines through proving that all is not lost. On Shavuot, Israeli settlers and extremists poured into the Old City, singing loudly, banging on the shop doors and waving huge Israeli flags. The sight was disconcerting to say the least. However, the afternoon of that same day, at Damascus Gate, passersby were met with a completely different scene. Palestinian flags waved in determined Palestinian hands under the threatening eye of heavily armed Israeli police and soldiers. The youths were fearless, demanding freedom, with strong, unrelenting voices.

The sight of the Palestinian flag waving at the entrance to Damascus Gate was a breath of fresh air. All is not lost and never will be because hope is eternal and determination and strength come from a never-ending spring.

That day at Damascus Gate is what all Palestinians must keep in their minds’ eye in spite of the daily oppression of the occupation. No matter how many missions Israel bars from entering or how many houses it takes over, there will always be those brave souls who, despite the risks, will always raise Palestine’s flag.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.

There is no point falling into the pit of countering the claims being made about the death of Mohammed Al Durra, the 12-year old boy from Gaza whose videotaped killing was seen around the world. The boy, crouching in fear behind is equally afraid father as bullets whizzed around them, was killed admittedly by the Israeli army. Later, the army recanted after investigating the tape, saying Durra was killed by Palestinian fire instead. Well now, Israel is changing its story altogether, saying he was not killed at all. In fact, he was probably not even wounded and the French channel that broadcast the footage and brought some pretty bad rap to Israel, had most likely filmed a charade.

The reason why I will not waste my time countering this claim is that even with the great lengths the Israeli government went to to prove that the boy was never killed, it could not provide any irrefutable proof that Mohammed Al Durra – who would be 25 now – is still alive. No pictures, no testimonies, no hospital or morgue officials giving statements to refute his death, have been provided. Only sketchy information about ‘poor quality footage’ and the fact that it seems as though the boy moved his arm after he had slumped over his father following the explosion.

My point is this: indeed, Mohammed Durra’s death was at least one of the catalysts that fueled the second Intifada, and thus, was an important event in the history of the Palestinians. However, more importantly – most importantly to me –is the fact that this is about a boy who died in sheer terror, with his distraught father futilely trying to shelter him from the barrage of bullets coming their way.

Mohammed Al Durra was a boy, with a life, a family and friends. He died a horrible death and now he is being made to die a second one. I did not know Mohammed or his family, but I can only imagine how awful it must be for them to read these claims now and feel the pain of losing their child all over again. If nothing else, this is disrespect for human life of the worst kind.

Some may postulate that the rehashing of the Durra case is a personal jab at the French cameraman who shot the footage, Charles Enderlin. Perhaps. But as a Palestinian who has seen the pain endured by numerous families who receive the horrible news that their sons or daughters have been killed by the Israeli army, my concern is for his family and for his memory. He should be left to rest in peace. If Israel has axes to grind with French journalists or with the international community for holding it accountable for its actions, then so be it. Israel is not lacking in the public relations department.

That being said, there is just one decent thing left to do. Leave Mohammed Al Durra and his memory alone.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.

This week Palestinians will commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel was founded. Every year, Palestinians hang placards pointing to the right of return, they carry keys symbolizing the homes they were forced to leave and could not return to and remember the Palestine that was lost to them 65 years ago.

This year will be no different. Every May 15, Palestinian recall their catastrophe and demand justice. They demand that they are granted the right of return for those who were made refugees virtually overnight and were then relegate to a life they did not choose. But more than anything, they demand recognition of the tragedy that befell them rather than a denial that it ever happened, or worse, that it was of their own making.

It has been 65 years since Israel was established in 1948, which means those who were cast into exile are either very old or have long passed. Those who experienced the Nakba are now few and far between, clinging to those few precious memories of a small garden in front of their house in Jaffa or of the salty smell of the sea in their neighborhood in Haifa. The rest of us are either descendants of these refugees or ordinary Palestinians who feel their cause is our cause because we are one people.

But the Palestinians have made one thing clear. The refugee issue will not die with the last refugee. It is felt nationwide, the loss, the injustice and the fact that those who were forced from their homes have mostly passed, longing for their beloved homes.

We cannot turn back time. What was lost has been altered, destroyed, changed or taken over by Israel’s newcomers. What we can do is hold on to the right to be recognized, for the injustice to be rectified in word and deed and for Palestine to never be lost in our minds or hearts.

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.

“I wish I was burned along with them, I wish I was with them in heaven now,” said Nehad Bashir, mother of Nadine, a six-year-old girl, Farah, a five-year-old girl, and Sabri, a four-year-old boy.

Nehad had to light a candle in her children’s room in Deir al-Balah, as central Gaza was going through a power cut brought about by a two-months-long fuel crisis.

“We never used candles before”

“On Sunday afternoon, I brought Nadine back from the school and both Farah and Sabri joined me. I was told that Nadine had a little electric shock at the school, so I wanted to bring her back home,” said the grieving mother.

Bashir said that she never used candles before then but had no choice that evening as their electricity would not work.

“They were little kids and they feared the darkness, so I had to keep some light inside their room. On Sunday evening, after I played music on the tape recorder and they danced cheerfully in front of me, I put them all in their room to have some sleep and I also wanted to sleep after a long day. Two hours later I woke up with screaming inside my home.”

“Sabri, my youngest and only son, used to fill our lives with laughter. He used to fight with his elder sisters often, imitating the famous American wrestler John Cena. He used to hold a plastic stick, with which he played with his sisters while wrestling them,” the children’s father, Raed Bashir, said.

Only a few fragments of clothes remained inside a partially-burned cupboard in the children’s bedroom. Raed, a taxi driver, was working when the fire began.

“A few hours earlier, I discovered that the electric lights I have weren’t working, so I brought candles for the first time ever to light my home as I was heading to work. I didn’t know that this candlelight would have caused the death of my dear children,” Raed said.

Raed spoke about how he had been married for 17 years before his first child was born.

“I married two wives before marrying the mother of Farah, Nadine and Sabri. One of them died; I got divorced from the other one and neither of them delivered children. Believe me, my brother, I cannot describe my feelings at this moment,” he said.

“They called me Uncle”

“I still cannot believe that three innocent children died this way,” Abu Khader Bashir, Raed’s cousin, said. “They were such cute and polite kids, may they rest in peace.”

Samir Shahin, a grocer in the Hikr neighborhood, recalled: “Every day they come over to my grocery store to buy some cookies or chocolates. They used to be so cheerful. They called me ‘Uncle,’ something I very rarely hear from other kids in the neighborhood.”

Raed’s nephew, Alaa Bashir, traced the events on that day.

“It was about 8:05 in the evening when we were informed by neighbors and passersby that there was a big fire inside the second story of the building, where my uncle’s apartment is located,” he said.

“Because of the buzzing of our power generator and that of the neighbors, we were unable to recognize what happened until we got upstairs and found a fire inside the children’s room. We called the fire brigade but it was late, so we stormed the room and wrapped the children up with blankets. There was lots of smoke inside. The children suffocated and were burned.”

The children’s mother and her baby, Reem, were evacuated from the apartment through a balcony.

The entire apartment now is full of black spots on the walls.

Israel’s stranglehold

On the day of the fire, Gaza’s 1.6 million residents experienced severe power cuts. The fuel crisis broke out almost two months earlier. Last Wednesday, Gaza’s main power plant resumed operation after a sufficient quantity of industrial fuel was pumped into the plant.

Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, has since then demanded that fuel for the power plant be sent through the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. Yet Egypt refused and instead offered to send fuel through Israeli-controlled crossings, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Eventually, Hamas and PA officials agreed in Cairo to transport the fuel through Israeli-controlled crossings. The partial resolution of the fuel crisis occurred after Hamas agreed to pay the PA directly for Israeli-supplied fuel.

Hamas had wanted to break the Israeli stranglehold over fuel supplies and Israel’s blockade of Gaza, in place for more than five years now.

But this is too little, too late for the Bashir family.

“I just pray to God that my children will be the last victims of this situation,” Raed Bashir said.

Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer based in the Gaza Strip.

It was not a chemical plant, nor a nuclear facility, nor a manufacturer of weapons of mass destruction. But almost all the rubble of the entirely destroyed factory was covered in white, with white chunks everywhere. These were pieces of cheese, butter and yoghurt -- some of the products made by the Dalloul dairy factory in southern Gaza City.

Israeli warplanes bombed the factory shortly after midnight last Thursday through Friday night, 1-2 April, leaving the building, all its equipment and the distribution van completely destroyed.

"At 12:30am we heard a very loud explosion nearby," said owner Mutassim Dalloul as he inspected the wreckage on Friday morning. "I got downstairs to find my factory completely destroyed. Everything inside, including the machines, the power generator and all our products, [was destroyed]."

This was not the first Israeli attack on the factory.

"During the January 2009 war on Gaza, Israeli warplanes hit my factory, inflicting an estimated loss of half a million dollars. However, my brothers and I decided to rebuild it, so we now have a newly-destroyed dairy," Dalloul said. He estimated the losses from the latest attack to be at least $100,000.

The Dalloul dairy is located in southern Gaza City, far away from the Gaza-Israel boundary. The factory distributed its products all over the city.

"At least 60 family members used to be supported from the work at this diary. I myself have a family of nine, including myself and my wife. My two brothers along with a number of other workers used to work at this factory, trying to get by under these harsh circumstances," Dalloul patiently explained, despite his loss.

The attack on the Dalloul factory was part of about a dozen air raids carried out across the Gaza Strip in what Israel said was a response to rockets fired from Gaza into nearby Israeli towns (Palestinian resistance factions for their part say their rocket fire is a response to constant Israeli attacks on Gaza). Israeli leaders have publicly threatened harsh attacks on the territory after Palestinian resistance fighters killed two Israeli soldiers when an Israeli patrol made an incursion into the Gaza Strip last week.

International officials have warned in recent days against an escalation in violence, and the Palestinian prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, called for international intervention to prevent further deterioration. Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported on 5 April that representatives of all Palestinian factions in Gaza, except for Fatah which declined to attend, had met to discuss a moratorium on rocket fire into Israel, while reserving the right to self-defense.

"I cannot imagine what my factory has to do with the ongoing situation," Dalloul said. "Can you see a homemade rocket? Can you see a single bullet? Can you see a gun? Why did they attack my dairy?"

Since June 2007 -- when Israel tightened its blockade of Gaza -- the economy has sunk into a deep depression as unemployment has hit as high as 70 percent. Poverty among the 1.5 million residents has reached unprecedented levels with more than 80 percent of the population dependent on food aid provided by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees. The dire situation is the result of Israel's closure, according to numerous international assessments. Although Israel erratically opens border crossings for the import of food and other basic necessities to Gaza, only a fraction of the people's requirements get in.

Dalloul's was one of the few dairies meeting Gaza's needs. In one corner of the factory, Haroun Dalloul, who worked at the factory, was picking up pieces of cheese. "I didn't imagine I would get up this sad morning to throw the cheese into trash cans, instead of helping distribute it," he said.

Mustafa al-Qayed, a local resident, expressed resentment at the attack: "The destroyed factory used to provide our neighborhood with milk and cheese daily." He noted that the prices of the locally-made products were much lower than the Israeli products that were occasionally imported into Gaza.

According to economic assessments in Gaza, approximately 95 percent of Gaza's local industrial facilities have been forced to shut down because of the closure of Gaza's commercial crossings. The closing of the these facilities has rendered more than 70,000 Gaza laborers jobless. Dalloul's dairy, along with several metal workshops Israel also destroyed in the latest attacks, were vital to Gaza's economy.

During its December 2008-January 2009 attack on Gaza, Israel destroyed a number of other facilities central to Gaza's food supply, including the al-Badr flour mill -- the only functioning one in in the territory -- and the Sawafiry chicken farm which supplied the vast majority of the territory's eggs. The UN-commissioned Goldstone report found that these attacks, as well as others on Gaza's water, food and agricultural infrastructure, appeared to be part of a deliberate pattern and constituted violations of the right to food, as well as possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

However, manufacturers like Dalloul are determined to get their businesses back up and running.

"The same way we rebuilt our factory that was bombarded during the war, we are determined to rebuild this one," Mutassim Dalloul said. "We are determined with a great deal of hope to resume our production, to say to our enemy that whatever you do will never make us succumb."

Meanwhile, Dalloul greeted well-wishers arriving to the factory offering sympathy and support.

Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer based in the Gaza Strip.

More than six months after Israel's winter invasion of Gaza, a number of partially or largely damaged universities await reconstruction. Raw materials essential for rebuilding are unavailable in Gaza primarily because of Israel's 26-month blockade of the tiny territory. Coupled with the wide-scale destruction from Israel's 22-day onslaught, the siege has crippled most aspects of public life for Gaza's 1.5 million residents.

In late December 2008, Israeli operated, American-made F-16 jets bombed Gaza's Islamic University. The university's laboratories and several buildings were destroyed.

Dr. Kamalin Shaath, President of the Islamic University, explained that "The buildings are still demolished, all we did was remove the rubble. We are looking forward to beginning the reconstruction."

Dr. Shaath added that "The students of the engineering faculty lost their graduation projects. Other sectors in Gaza were impacted due to the destruction of the laboratories. For example, the agriculture sector used to benefit from the university's labs for testing soil."

Ahmad al-Asmar, a student at the Islamic University of Gaza, explained that he has been "greatly impacted and saddened due to the destruction of our laboratories. However, we are determined to continue our academic life."

To cope with the needs of students and faculty the university has created makeshift labs. The university also sent out messages of protest to relevant international organizations like the International Federation of Universities. However, Dr. Shaath stated that "All we received from various bodies were merely message of verbal solidarity. I can understand there must he some kind of political pressure. But I can assure you that we are determined to keep up our academic life, despite such a great loss."

There is a similar scene at nearby al-Aqsa University, which was also damaged during Israel's invasion. The entire community education facility that was under-construction was completely destroyed. Also destroyed was al-Azhar University of Gaza's agricultural college and its Spanish institute. According to university officials at the al-Aqsa University, financial losses due to the invasion are estimated at more than $1.5 million dollars.

Ayman al-Derawi, head of al-Aqsa University's Engineering Department, stated that "There are many essential goods and commodities that are lacking here because of the Israeli siege. We have had to place plastic covers over broken windows in order to cope with the situation."

International organizations have been unable or unwilling to assist the university because of Israel's siege and pressure by the United States. Dr. al-Derawi explained that an organization based in the United Arab Emirates "has offered a small portion of funding for an immediate reconstruction" of several buildings.

Ahmad Abu Aisha, an undergraduate math student at al-Aqsa University expressed his outrage at the situation, stating that "The Israeli army deliberately attempted to damage our academic life. More than one university was either partially or largely damaged."

In addition to the universities, an American school in northern Gaza was totally destroyed by Israel. Moreover, several schools run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) across Gaza were damaged by Israeli shelling. As the new academic year approaches, the third under Israel's siege, Gaza's universities and schools remain in desperate need of reconstruction.

Editor's note: due to an editing error, this article originally stated that it was al-Aqsa University's school of agriculture that was damaged during the Gaza invasion and that the financial losses to al-Aqsa University as a result were estimated at $6.5 billion instead of the correct $1.5 billion.

Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer based in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Education announced the results of the annual tawjihi -- the general secondary school examination -- on 21 July. Graduating high school students take exams either in the science stream or humanities stream, with those getting the highest grades best able to compete for university places.

It was the first time since Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007 that the Ministry announced result for both the West Bank and Gaza. In spite of Israel's 25-month siege and brutal winter invasion of Gaza, students in the tiny coastal territory must find time to study for the exam.

Abeer Abu Shawish, 18, achieved the highest score on the humanities exam in all of Gaza. Abeer lives with her family in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Her father and three brothers are all unemployed. Abeer and her five sisters assist her mother, who is a homemaker, with the household chores.

Sitting cheerfully at home, Abeer explained that "I cannot describe my feelings today. I feel like I am flying. I am excited. I am overwhelmed!" She added, "I used to study 10 hours a day, since the beginning of the school year last September. And now I am harvesting the fruits."

Surrounded by her family, Abeer greeted the many visitors who came to offer their congratulations on Tuesday. She explained that, "We are an ordinary Palestinian family. We were raised by our now ailing father, who taught us how to succeed in school." She added that her sister Nour received the highest score in Gaza in 2006, and her sister Amal the fifth highest score in 1999.

During Israel's invasion, Abeer like other Gaza residents lived in a constant state of fear and uncertainty. Yet, she found time to study and prepare for the exam. She explained that, "Prior to the war in late December 2008, I had a plan for studying for the tawjihi. One day, in the middle of the war, I heard shelling nearby at 11:00pm. However, I took a long deep breath and continued my studies. Although I was extremely upset by the Israeli attacks from air, sea and land, I told myself that I must succeed in order to fight the Israeli occupation with my own way, education!"

Abeer's mother, Umm Abed, expressed her extreme joy at Abeer's results. She said, "Thank God for this great success, Abeer is my fourth daughter and her other sisters, Nour and Amal, got similar results in previous years." Umm Abed added, "God willing, my daughter will pursue her education under better conditions."

Mousa Nashwan, a close friend of the family, voiced his appreciation for Abeer's success amidst their "dire conditions." He explained, "I am really very happy for them. My dear friend Abu al-Abed -- Abeer's father -- who is now ailing, has nothing to live on. He has one daughter who is a teacher, she is the only one who helps them."

Another Palestinian home in the Maghazi refugee camp was celebrating on Tuesday. Amna Mousa received the second highest grade in Gaza on the humanities section of the tawjihi. Amna explained that, "Despite the circumstances, including frequent Israeli attacks, the Israeli siege as well as the political rift here, I was determined to achieve success." She added that, "After the recent Israeli war, I had to reschedule my study time and now I am so happy for the outcome. I dedicate this to the victims of the last war, to Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails, and to prime minister Ismail Haniyeh."

While embracing his daughter, Amna's father explained that, "I am proud of Amna, thank God. I have been expecting this success for Amna even more than she was. Sometimes, I used to have pity on her, telling her to get some more sleep."

Abeer and Amna's success provides hope for everyone in Gaza that amidst the siege and deprivation, excellence and even joy can be found.

Rami Almeghari is a journalist and university lecturer based in the Gaza Strip.