Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Mohammed Asad
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UN launches summer activities to help Gaza cope with war traumas
UNRWA today held the official opening ceremony of the 2022 Gaza Summer Fun Weeks, which will run from 25 June to 28 July. The ceremony was held at the UNRWA Jabalia Elementary Co-ed School B, and was attended by the head of UNRWA’s Staff Affairs, Ben Majekodunmi, Deputy Director of…
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Underground food: Palestine’s answer to Mandi
If you attend a function in the Middle East you are likely to be served Mandi, a traditional dish that originated from Hadhramaut, Yemen, consisting mainly of meat and rice with a special blend of spices, cooked in a pit underground. This dish was exported across the Gulf and to the…
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Gaza students take part in first TEDEd event
Ten students in Gaza were able to take part in a TEDEd Club, discussing the challenges they face living under occupation and siege. Where the student, Lianne Abu Shaaban, addressed the horror she experienced in the last war. She outlined how her parents tried to explain the events to…
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Gaza’s students showcase innovative ways to improve life under occupation
Students in Gaza showcased their technological creations during an event held by the Ministry of Education, with many hoping their ideals can help improve the lives of those living under occupation. Among the innovations was a robot that sows seeds on agricultural land. This could become a useful tool for farmers in Gaza whose…
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Palestinians call on UNRWA to rebuild homes destroy by Israel’s bombs
Palestinians in Gaza held a protest today calling for UNRWA to stop delaying the rebuilding of demolished homes and its recent efforts to refer the work to other parties. Angry citizens burned tyres in front of the UNRWA headquarters, west of Gaza City, calling on the UN administration to take…
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Catering kitchens help bring Gaza’s families together for iftar
These enterprises offer a number of traditional dishes including musakhan, mansaf and rice with different types of meat, which locals prefer during their gatherings. Saad Al-Din Al-Rayes, who owns one such business in Gaza City, says: “What distinguishes this type of kitchen to restaurants is the manner in which we cook, the type…
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Gaza weaves rugs from recycled plastics
Old plastic bottles and other waste are being collected in Gaza and treated to use to make rugs. Once collected, the plastic is treated, shredded and turned into small granules which are washed, dyed and dissolved to transform them into the necessary shape to allow for them to be woven…
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Gaza protests PA’s halt of payments to poorest families
Palestinians will hold a sit-in outside the headquarters of the UNDP in Gaza City to demand payments to resume for families in need in the besieged enclave after they ceased more than a year ago. The High Commission for Claiming the Rights of the Poor and Beneficiaries of Social Affairs…
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Street Workouts in a Palestinian garden in Gaza
Moaz Al-Shognobi, his brother and cousin regularly meet in his family’s garden to improve their balance and practice Street Workouts. They turned to the sport when most of its followers were abandoning it in Gaza due to the lack of sports clubs which taught the skills needed. Street Workouts relied…
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Gaza lifts import taxes from flour, wheat as prices rise
Palestinian authorities in Gaza have agreed to put in place customs exemptions for importers of flour and wheat in an effect to mitigate rising global prices as a result of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Prices of flour and wheat being brought into the besieged enclave through Egypt have risen 20 per cent…
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Women carve a path for themselves as carpenters in Gaza
Seven girls from a Bedouin village in the northern Gaza Strip were able to break with tradition and establish themselves as carpenters, making educational tools for schools. This is a result of the Zeina Association and Cooperative for Handicraft in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip’s training, which helps the women safely operate tools and make…
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Gaza holds picture exhibit to mark Aqsa Week
A picture exhibit of Al-Aqsa Mosque was showcased in Al-Omari Mosque in Gaza to mark Aqsa Week. Organised by the Jerusalem Department of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the exhibition provided clear pictures of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound through time and the Israeli occupation’s attempts to Judaise it. Aqsa Week is being…
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UNRWA prepares 54 emergency shelters in Gaza
UNRWA has prepared 54 shelters to house displaced Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, the director of the organisation in Gaza said during a conference today. Speaking from Gaza, Thomas White said: “We aspire to increase the number of shelters so that we can meet the requirements of any emergency need…
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Gazans swim in winter to improve healing
It’s winter but every morning in Gaza dozens of Palestinians wake up early, go to the beach and swim for 15-20 minutes. This daily exercise, which takes place regardless of the weather, has had a positive effect on their bodies and their minds, they say. On the beach participants complete a…
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Gaza journalists stand in support of sacked DW staff
Palestinians in Gaza held a stand in solidarity with journalists dismissed by German media institution Deutsche Welle after being accused of anti-Semitism. Scores of journalists and representatives of media organisations, government and legal professions took part in the event which was organised by the Palestinian Media Forum. The participants in the vigil carried banners of…
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At 86, is this Gaza’s oldest barber?
Eighty-six-year-old Palestinian barber Ismail Al-Khatib refuses to retire. He continues to open up his barber shop in Firas Market, one of the oldest and most popular markets in Gaza City every morning. Al-Khatib and his son work until sunset every day in a profession that the octogenarian began practicing nearly…
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An international forum has shed light on the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip
The Days of Palestine Foundation, in partnership with the October 16 group and We Are Not Numbers, have held an international forum in the besieged Gaza Strip. “The Siege of Gaza, an Ongoing Crime” was the first forum of its kind in the occupied territory, and was intended to shed…
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Bees: The latest victims of Israel’s strikes on Gaza
Israeli occupation planes sprayed herbicides on the farms located near the Gaza-Israel fence once again this weekend, to kill vegetation in the area. The regular attacks, which decimates the crops of local farmers, have also had a detrimental effect on the Strip’s bee population. “I was working on beekeeping in…
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Traditional ovens help Gazans overcome unemployment and fuel shortage
Finding himself unemployed as a result of the outbreak of the coronavirus in Gaza, 36-year-old baker Ehab Atef Oud turned his hand from making bread to producing the perfect implement to bake with; clay ovens. “I used to work in a bakery in Abasan Al-Kabira. Due to the outbreak of…
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Three large wastewater treatment plants put into operation in Gaza
Operating the three wastewater treatment plants located in the east of the Refugee camp of Al Burij, middle of the Gaza Strip, is part of a project aimed to solve the issue of critical water situation in the besieged enclave. The wastewater treatment plants went into test operation at the…
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Gaza’s students get a lesson from Mr Robot
A teacher in Gaza has created a robot to help modernise education in Palestinian schools. Engineering teacher at Al-Basma Modern School, Hassan Al-Razi, and two colleagues created ‘Mr Robot’, the first such invention in the besieged Strip. The 26-year-old said the robot was “a modern innovation and an unusual method in Palestinian…
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Fish farming to meet Gaza’s consumption needs
The farming project is located in the Hattin district, west of the Khan Yunis governorate in the south of the Gaza Strip, and is supervised by teams specialised in hatching, breeding and fattening the fish. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the project started in 2009 and has continued…
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EU will support steps towards Palestinian unity, officials say
The situation in Gaza is a priority for the European Union and officials there are happy to provide whatever help is needed to unite Palestinians to help improve it, officials visiting the enclave said earlier today. EU Representative to the PA, Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff, said: “The humanitarian situation is a source of great…
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Calming Gaza’s waters and protecting its shores
A new project has been launched to help calm the waves which crash into Gaza’s shores and protect seaside properties. Engineer Nasser Thabet said this is the first of its kind measure in Gaza, which it is hoped will see the waves slowed and calmed upon their approach to the…