October 16 2012  by Avi Melamed On October 7, 2012 the Estelle (boat) left Naples, Italy heading for the Gaza Strip. Reportedly, the boat is carrying goods for the people of Gaza like games, musical instruments, cement, etc.  The organizers announced that their goal is to draw the world’s attention to the suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip caused by the Israeli siege. On many occasions, both in briefings as well as in articles, I have discussed everyday life in the Gaza Strip.  Each time I talk about this issue I emphasize the following: Many people in Gaza struggle economically.  However, the narrative of the “humanitarian crisis” and the “suffering of the people of Gaza” (caused by the Israeli siege) that…

October 13, 2012 by Avi Melamed Apparently some areas in The Gaza Strip are in good company. According to the article published on Arabic news website, hadhara.net, entitled “In Central Gaza $20,000 a Square Meter” the price for buying a piece of property on Gaza City’s main street, Omar Almukhtar – as the article’s title suggests – could cost you as much as $20,000 a square-meter. The price for one square-meter in the Jabalyah Refugee Camp on the coast could go up to $18,000. These prices resemble the prices of properties in major cities in the West. Please don’t misunderstand me – most people in the Gaza Strip struggle financially.  However, there are millionaires in The Gaza Strip.  Some one…

January 23, 2012 by Avi Melamed From its inception in the 1980s, Hamas has portrayed itself as a movement deeply rooted in Islamic principles and dedicated to the teachings of the Quran. Concentrating its attention on building a power base in the Gaza Strip, Hamas has proclaimed as its primary purpose the development of programs intended to improve the lives of the Palestinian people. In January 2006 Palestinians voters registered their support for Hamas’ stated goals by electing a majority of the organization’s slate of candidates to the Palestinian parliament, thereby constituting a strong opposition to the block of delegates representing the views of the Palestinian Authority. Eighteen months later, in June 2007, Hamas mounted a bloody coup that wrested…