Last week, I was fortunate enough to to be part of a meeting with the Mayor of Gaza, actually the Mayor of Biet Lahia Municipality, one of the districts in Gaza. The experience, I tell you, was nothing like I imagined it would be. I didn't even know that he was coming to my office until the Palestinian working with us told me about it that morning. He is the second-in-command from Hamas in Gaza, which is obviously a very important position. We had to use an interpreter to exchange ideas and views, but that hardly dampened our spirits. He could speak English, which he did at certain instances, but chose to speak his mother tongue most of the time.
He came to our office in order to discuss a project we are planning to implement in Gaza, namely micro-financing, and to look into its viability given the prevailing context. One thing people should know- Gaza is still not stable. According to information, Gaza is under 24 hour surveillance from satellites and unmanned drones flying over their skies. They are being watched every day, every minute of their lives!! The wall surrounding Gaza is not of mere concrete, its been installed with sophisticated weaponry; come within less than 400m of it and sensors trigger a firing mechanism that will shoot to kill. Artificial intelligence cannot differentiate between an attacker, and someone who is innocent. Everything should be bought from the Israeli's, thus those in Gaza pay a premium for almost everything. To overcome this problem people living in Gaza have dug tunnels from their homes, more than 3000 of them which can even reach Egypt. Through these tunnels they smuggle anything and everything.
The mayor's quote about the women of Gaza: we depend on our women, they are as strong as our men. Masha Allah!! When I heard him utter those words, I felt so grateful for the people of Palestine, because Allah has blessed them even in harsh times. Indeed, women can be such a source of strength in difficult times, when all hope seems lost, all options have been exhausted. Let their tender touch, soft words and encouragement invigorate and rejuvenate those fighting to free Palestine.
He came to our office in order to discuss a project we are planning to implement in Gaza, namely micro-financing, and to look into its viability given the prevailing context. One thing people should know- Gaza is still not stable. According to information, Gaza is under 24 hour surveillance from satellites and unmanned drones flying over their skies. They are being watched every day, every minute of their lives!! The wall surrounding Gaza is not of mere concrete, its been installed with sophisticated weaponry; come within less than 400m of it and sensors trigger a firing mechanism that will shoot to kill. Artificial intelligence cannot differentiate between an attacker, and someone who is innocent. Everything should be bought from the Israeli's, thus those in Gaza pay a premium for almost everything. To overcome this problem people living in Gaza have dug tunnels from their homes, more than 3000 of them which can even reach Egypt. Through these tunnels they smuggle anything and everything.
The mayor's quote about the women of Gaza: we depend on our women, they are as strong as our men. Masha Allah!! When I heard him utter those words, I felt so grateful for the people of Palestine, because Allah has blessed them even in harsh times. Indeed, women can be such a source of strength in difficult times, when all hope seems lost, all options have been exhausted. Let their tender touch, soft words and encouragement invigorate and rejuvenate those fighting to free Palestine.
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