When I was here in February this year the community had already filled in the craters, levelled out the land, erected fences and with help (from Australian Government funds) were repairing and rebuilding the water infrastructure. And despite these setbacks most of the farmers in the area re-planted crops in time for the season. Water is life, and today, with the repair of the water pump and the other work, the farming area is almost unrecognisable. Talk about resilience, this is not a behaviour that you can teach, this is not an attitude that is natural - but here in Gaza, as in many fragile contexts, people have learnt that if it is going to get done, they need to do it.
The neighbours came together and replanted, repaired and rehabilitated. Today, citrus trees are in fruit, vegetables are being harvested and the bees are producing honey. (But not a lot yet.) Before the war Abd Kareem's bees were producing about 50kg of honey per hive, but today, with a limited supply of food, while the production is improving, it is only about 6-8kg per hive. The citrus trees have flowered but, take a quick panoramic view of the area and there are not many other trees or flowers, it's pretty barren on this, the Gaza side, of the separation wall.
But on the other side of the impenetrable 60km, 7-9m high grey concrete slabs punctuated regularly by imposing fortified guard towers - on the Israeli side of the separation wall - there is lots of food for bees. And so it is that these Gazan bees are ignoring the blockade rules, the separation wall, the dual purpose list and the politics of humankind. They are buzzing the wall, helping out the Israeli farmers by pollinating their crops, pinching the nectar and returning to produce Gazan honey.
Now that's what I call a peace initiative.
