With little to lose, Gaza’s men drawn to border protests
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Marwan Shtewi is poor, unemployed and at the age of 32 has never even left the Gaza Strip.
With few prospects and little to fear, Shtewi is among the crowds of young men who put themselves on the front lines of violent protests along the border with Israel, risking their lives in a weekly showdown meant to draw attention to the dire conditions of Gaza.
While protest organizers voice slogans of defending Jerusalem and returning to the lost homes of their forefathers in Israel, it is the desperation among young men like Shtewi that has been the driving force in the demonstrations. Recovering from a gunshot wound to his arm that sent shrapnel into his abdomen, Shtewi says his protest days are now behind him and he only dreams of finally finding a job.
“I want to see peace and hope and prosperity spread in Gaza when I get out of the hospital,” he said from his hospital bed.
The Hamas-led organizers of what they called the Great March of Return initially billed the six-week protests as a call to break through the border fence and return to homes that were lost 70 years ago during the war surrounding Israel’s creation. Two-thirds of Gaza’s 2 million people are descendants of refugees who either fled or were forced from their homes.
But most protesters say they are simply driven by desperation caused by a decade-long blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militants seized power from the internationally backed Palestinian Authority in 2007.
Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction, from building up its military capabilities.
The blockade has largely sealed Gaza’s borders, greatly limiting the movement of people and goods in and out of the territory. The rival Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, has added to the pressure by cutting salaries to its former workforce and limiting electricity transmission.
The results are staggering. Gazans receive only several hours of electricity a day, unable to predict when power will come on. Tap water is undrinkable, and the Mediterranean beachfront smells from the tons of untreated sewage dumped into it each day. Unemployment is over 40 percent, and among young men like Shtewi, joblessness is even higher, at nearly two-thirds.
The di cult conditions have created a seemingly endless pool of disa ected youth ready to square o against the Israeli snipers over the border.
Tens of thousands of people have joined the gatherings each week. Most keep a safe distance from the border fence, but small groups of young men have pushed to the front lines to snip o pieces of the structure with wire cutters, or hurl flaming tires, firebombs and stones toward the Israeli troops.
Shtewi said he “sometimes” throws stones or sets tires on fire, but most of the time he just stands there to kill time. “The protests are a new way to break the boredom,” he said.
He said it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and try to damage the fence. But, he added, “sometimes fear overwhelms me, and I hide behind people because I’m afraid of being shot.”
Israeli gunfire has killed more than 110 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more since the protests began on March 30. On Monday, 59 people were killed in the deadliest day of cross-border violence since a 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. Shtewi was among some 1,300 others wounded by live fire.
With his left arm and abdomen covered in bandages, he struggled to remember what happened when he was shot.
“I went with the youths and was almost at the fence. There was random shooting and tear gas,” he said. “A jeep came and fired tear gas. I was hit. I don’t know how and when I ended up here.”
The high casualty count has drawn international condemnations against Israel and accusations that it is using disproportionate force. Just one soldier has been wounded.
Israel accuses Hamas of exploiting civilians and putting them in harm’s way by encouraging them to rush the fence. It also says the militants are using the large crowds and thick black smoke as cover to plant bombs, fire at troops and try to break through the border to carry out attacks.