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Running short of concrete, Gazans build mud homes
 The dirt under Yousef Hamida's feet has become an unlikely resource: He is using it to build a home, a result of Israel's refusal to allow construction materials into the Gaza Strip.Which is the result of the "Palestinians" refusal to halt rocket attacks. Nah, they sold all the concrete to the Israelis to build the wall ... The farmer, who is among thousands of Gazans left homeless by Israel's recent military assault, spends his days making bricks from mud and straw. He hopes to complete a two-bedroom house for his wife and three children on the family's small plot of land in southern Gaza in the next few weeks. "All I want is to have walls that can shelter me and my family -- and here we are," said Hamida, 32, as he packed the mud into brick molds. Hamida's home is a sign of Gaza resourcefulness -- and a striking symbol of how little has changed since Israel ended its fierce three-week military operation in January. We'll see how resourceful it seems the next time a 500# bomb lands nearby or an earthquake hits the area. The offensive, meant to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks, destroyed 2,500 homes, badly damaged 1,000 others and left 30,000 in need of minor repairs, such as replacing broken windows, the U.N. estimates. That ought to keep them occupied for a while. Four months later, nothing has been rebuilt, despite international pledges of $5.2 billion in construction aid. Israel will not allow badly needed building materials into the coastal territory, citing security concerns. Israel and neighboring Egypt have kept Gaza under blockade since the militant Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007. Since then, they have allowed in humanitarian aid and small amounts of commercial goods. Given this article it looks like commerce in violins goes unabated. Israel will not let in large shipments of raw materials, fearing Hamas will use cement, metal and other basic goods to reinforce its weapons-smuggling tunnels and build rockets. Perhaps they can start smuggling mud . . . . Israel defense officials also say Hamas is bringing in cement through tunnels, though smugglers say Egypt clamped down on the shipments in April. I wonder how long it will be before they figure out that they can dehydrate the mud and rehydrate it on the other side of the tunnel in order to save on transportation costs. The blockade has forced thousands of Gazans to live in sprawling tent camps as they wait to rebuild their homes. Many others have used thick plastic greenhouse panels to replace smashed windows and old tin sheets weighed down with rocks to cover holes in roofs. But mud brick homes are for Gaza's lucky few. Most residents in the crowded strip live in apartment blocks and only a handful own land. They've got a full settling pond or two that they may be able to get some raw ... err ... "materials" to build homes from. Hamida's home was destroyed in an airstrike that targeted tunnels used to smuggle goods and weapons underneath the nearby Egyptian border. Since then, he has been living in a rented apartment in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. Running out of rent money, he met two neighbors building mud homes and decided to make his own. One neighbor has finished. The three-bedroom structure has a small kitchen, electricity, mud-brick beds and crevices in the smoothed-down walls for lamps. A family with nine children already lives there. Hamida's mud-brick home will cost $3,500, a fraction of the cost of a concrete home. It will be ready in weeks, and could last for generations. Maybe them "Palestinians" are smarter than I thought after all. "Our grandfathers lived in mud houses and some of them are still standing," Hamida said. You mean the ones that didn't pick up a gun? The building technique is simple: One friend hauls soil in a handcart, Hamida mixes it with water and straw, stomping it with his feet. He then packs it into a mold and leaves it to harden for a few days. The two-brick thick wall is cemented together with wet mud. Another friend is sorting out the sewage pipes, and Hamida will wire up his house when he's done. The windows will be wooden slats. Maybe they could dismantle a couple of those Kassams to make the sewage pipes with. Gaza's Hamas rulers say they intend to build a school, a clinic and a mosque out of mud-clay bricks but haven't begun yet, said Hamas Housing Minister Yousef al-Mansi. Ooh, wouldn't that be unislamic or something? Requests from international aid groups for help are still unanswered. Oh Christ, do they need mud aid now? The U.N. says it made a request to Israel in April to ship in more than 130,000 tons of cement and massive quantities of glass, paint, wood and steel to start rebuilding "We have made the request repeatedly, and it's not getting into Gaza," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the U.N. could not provide assurances the building materials would not taken by Hamas. "They can't, or won't, provide a guarantee," Palmor said. Chicken, meet Egg. For a lucky few, though, the answer to Gaza's housing problems lies in the ground. "I'm thinking about building my own house now," said Nidal Eid, 29, who is helping Hamida build his house. "God created Adam using mud," he said. "It's the source of life." Posted by: gorb 2009-05-07 |
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