Sad Ramadan in Ghaza

GHAZA- Dalal Abu-Aisha, 14, has been plunged into sadness at the beginning of this Ramadan; for the first time she will be alone for the break of fasting. Her parents, two brothers and a sister were killed during the Zionist offensive against the Ghaza strip in January.

•     The teenager does not want to talk about that day when she lost all her family. But her young aunt, Umm Adel, 29, who cares for her now, explained that her wounds are deep.
  
      "Now that Ramadan began, she remembers the meal before dawn, break of fasting with family and gifts she received from her father," she says.
  
      "She always seems distracted. She spends her time on the internet or watching TV. This is a very intelligent child but her studies have suffered (of war)," says the aunt.
  
      For Dalal's uncle, Rashad, 37, Ramadan is the worst that the family has ever known: the basic necessities are lacking, as gifts, and prices reach highs in the markets.
  
      "The war has caused so much suffering; it is more than we can bear. Dalal's life is difficult, as for all the children of martyrs," he says.
  
      According to the Palestinian emergency services, over 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the Zionist cowardly offensive in 22 days (27 December 2008 - January 18, 2009).
  
      Another family very hard hit during the war, the family al-Samouni, Ramadan begins in a tent erected on the rubble of her home, south of Ghaza city.
  
      And as Dalal, Almaza al-Samouni, 13, will take over the evening meal with her mother and six brothers and sisters, all killed during the conflict. A total of 29 family members al-Samouni, many of them children, were killed in a bombing on 5 January. Almaza's father was injured.
  
      "I will never forget my mother and my sisters," says the girl. "Ramadan is hard without them. I am sad because my mother is not there to prepare the meal for breaking the fast, and my father, wounded and can not work."
  
      "The month of Ramadan reopens wounds and revives our suffering," adds the father of Almaza, Ibrahim. "My wife, my children, my brothers and sisters and my uncles, all were killed and homes destroyed. There will never be happiness," he continues.
  
      This Ramadan is difficult even for those who have been bereaved. Indeed, the Ghaza strip is subject to a strict blockade by Israel since taking control of the territory by the Islamist movement Hamas in June 2007. Reconstruction has stalled.
  
      At a conference in Egypt on March 2, the international community has pledged some 4.5 billion dollars to rebuild Ghaza and revive the Palestinian economy, but refuses that such aid is paid directly to Hamas.
  
      On the markets, many stalls are empty and available products, often imported through smuggling tunnels between Egypt and the territory of Ghaza, reach unreasonable prices.
  
      Father of seven children, Sami, 40, will spend the little money he had managed to save at the expense of the school year.
  
      "Most people in Ghaza are without jobs and have no source of income," he says. "They do not know when the next disaster will occur or how they can cope."
  
      
  Ennaharonline / M. O.