Gaza Lives On at the Bristol Palestine Film Festival

“The Israeli blockade may have taken a heavy toll on Gazans, but this film reveals life and hope among the devastation.”

Kamal Khalaf is a construction worker and father of five from Gaza who lost his job in 2007 when Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the Strip after Hamas took control of the territory. With the siege came the ban of construction materials, including steel and cement and with that widespread unemployment within the construction industry.

Before the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza were built to bring in goods, as an alternative Gazans attempted to build mud houses to live in. After the 2008-2009 war they reconstructed buildings from the aftermath of the destruction by collecting stones from the rubble and grinding them to make concrete and steel.

Khalaf asks the owner of a house he is rebuilding if he is scared it will be destroyed again. He replies: “Even if they destroy it every hour I’ll rebuild it again and again.” The UN estimates that during Israel’s war on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 alone, 60,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

Khalaf’s story is documented in Gaza Lives On, an Al Jazeera Network Production that will be screened on Monday 9 December as part of the Bristol Palestine Film Festival. From the media to the farming industry, it follows the lives of Gazans living in the Strip under siege.

The tunnels, which have provided a lifeline for Gazans by bringing in food, medicine, car parts and cement, have also reunited families and delivered brides to grooms; May Waedeh, originally from Ramallah, was refused permission by the Israeli government to travel to Gaza to be with her husband Mohammed.

Instead she travelled for four days to Jordan, then on to Egypt and finally through underground to meet him in Gaza. Now they live together in Nuseirat refugee camp on the Strip. “I almost died just to get to Gaza” she says.

Later, sitting on the beach where she and Mohammed got married, she says, “how beautiful the sunset is… look how beautiful the sea is… I wish I could sail in the sea on a ship.”

Abu Anwar Jahjouh lives in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza and is now selling corn on the beach. Jahjouh explains that in the past the Strip would export oranges, lemons and grapefruits but the ships stopped coming after the 1967 Six-Day War.

“The more Israel is determined to wipe out our land, the more determined we are to survive,” he says.

Much of Gaza’s arable land and fishing waters are inaccessible due to the siege, the destruction caused by war and the fact that Israel uproot and bulldoze the land there on a regular basis. As a result, many Gazans now rely on humanitarian aid to live.

Gaza Lives On is an intimate portrait of daily life in the Gaza Strip. It is the story of ordinary people, hit hard by the siege yet who still find hope and beauty in their everyday lives.

“The Israeli blockade may have taken a heavy toll on Gazans, but this film reveals life and hope among the devastation.”

Kamal Khalaf is a construction worker and father of five from Gaza who lost his job in 2007 when Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the Strip after Hamas took control of the territory. With the siege came the ban of construction materials, including steel and cement and with that widespread unemployment within the construction industry.

Before the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza were built to bring in goods, as an alternative Gazans attempted to build mud houses to live in. After the 2008-2009 war they reconstructed buildings from the aftermath of the destruction by collecting stones from the rubble and grinding them to make concrete and steel.

Khalaf asks the owner of a house he is rebuilding if he is scared it will be destroyed again. He replies: “Even if they destroy it every hour I’ll rebuild it again and again.” The UN estimates that during Israel’s war on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 alone, 60,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

Khalaf’s story is documented in Gaza Lives On, an Al Jazeera Network Production that will be screened on Monday 9 December as part of the Bristol Palestine Film Festival. From the media to the farming industry, it follows the lives of Gazans living in the Strip under siege.

The tunnels, which have provided a lifeline for Gazans by bringing in food, medicine, car parts and cement, have also reunited families and delivered brides to grooms; May Waedeh, originally from Ramallah, was refused permission by the Israeli government to travel to Gaza to be with her husband Mohammed.

Instead she travelled for four days to Jordan, then on to Egypt and finally through underground to meet him in Gaza. Now they live together in Nuseirat refugee camp on the Strip. “I almost died just to get to Gaza” she says.

Later, sitting on the beach where she and Mohammed got married, she says, “how beautiful the sunset is… look how beautiful the sea is… I wish I could sail in the sea on a ship.”

Abu Anwar Jahjouh lives in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza and is now selling corn on the beach. Jahjouh explains that in the past the Strip would export oranges, lemons and grapefruits but the ships stopped coming after the 1967 Six-Day War.

“The more Israel is determined to wipe out our land, the more determined we are to survive,” he says.

Much of Gaza’s arable land and fishing waters are inaccessible due to the siege, the destruction caused by war and the fact that Israel uproot and bulldoze the land there on a regular basis. As a result, many Gazans now rely on humanitarian aid to live.

Gaza Lives On is an intimate portrait of daily life in the Gaza Strip. It is the story of ordinary people, hit hard by the siege yet who still find hope and beauty in their everyday lives.