40,000 Gaza Fisherman Out Of
Work
The Gaza Fishing Industry
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Israel Crushes The Arab Fishing Industry
Gaza's 40,000 fishermen have been deprived of their livelihood.
Before the siege, they caught 3,000 tons of fish a year; now it is 500
tons. The fishing season begins with the advent of winter, when
schools of fish migrate from the Nile Delta and the waters off Turkey
toward the Gaza area. But few of them are now entangled in the nets of
Gaza's fishermen. Today, most of the fish can be found about 10 miles
offshore, in an area that is off-limits to the fishermen. Israel has
restricted them to a six-mile limit, though sometimes navy boats
attack at three miles - just to keep the fishermen honest.
The siege makes it hard to obtain fuel for the fishing vessels, and
also the sea is polluted with 50 million liters of sewage every day,
following the collapse of the sewage infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's fish markets are also closed to merchants from Gaza.
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Gun Boats Shoot Arabs For Practice
Hardest of all, though, are the naval attacks. Every few days the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) publishes reports from its
volunteers in Gaza about attacks on fishermen. Sometimes the naval
boats ram the wretched craft, sometimes the sailors use high-pressure
water hoses on the fishermen, hurtling them into the sea, and
sometimes they open lethal fire on them. The boat of Mohammed and his
friend, Ahmad Bardaawi, came under such fire for about 20 minutes,
until the two managed to get away, with Bardaawi rowing for all he was
worth. A bullet slammed into Mohammed's leg, however, and it was hours
before he reached the hospital, after a long, exhausting and bloody
journey along the Rafah coast with his friend.
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