Under Israeli Apartheid, 85% of Gazans below poverty line

Open Salon - Trying to make a living as a farmer in Gaza these days is taking a toll on the family ties so integral to the Palestinian culture. Traditionally, occupations are passed from father to son for generations, and their tie to the land is particularly strong. Before Israel imposed a suffocating blockade on the 14-kilometer-long Gaza Strip in 2007 (as punishment for electing Hamas as its governing party), farmers could make a good living growing carnations and strawberries for export and vegetables for the local market.

But now, sons are watching their fathers struggle just to make ends meet, and are either forced to get second jobs or are looking for different futures for themselves and their families – at the same time that their fathers need them on the farm more than ever, because they can no longer afford to hire additional help.

“Our young people are no longer optimistic about the future; farming seems like a dead end to them,” says Ahmad Shafi, chair of the Gaza Cooperative Association for Produce and Marketing of Vegetables, through an interpreter. Shafi was born to a farmer and has six sons himself – two are now engineers in the United States, three teach as well as farm their family’s 50 dunums (12 acres) and one is still a student. He adds that with 85 percent of Gazans now below the poverty line – including farmers. Read more.