Happy New Year & Id El Fitr

Poverty = Crime against humanity

Ha'aretz carries an interesting article today: the Israeli ministry of health has officially declared that a family of 5 needs minimum 2600 NIS just for food in order to stay healthy!
Food prices have increased immensely over the last year: 23%

The minimum wage stands at about 4000 NIS but many families receive much less than that, especially when they are dependent on welfare. Many families of parents who do work do not reach the minimum wage and sometimes receive some supplements.
Personally i know many families who have to get by on much much less: mum & 6 kids: 2100 NIS, mum & 5 kids 1700NIS and I could go on. the implications are obvious.

Rent has gone up like crazy, as has the cost of public transport.
The average cost of a parcel of school books for one child in Jaffa stands at about 700 NIS.

So do the math....

People living on a minimum wage have no chance of providing reasonable food for their families. People dependent on social security much less so.

This is not a given, but the result of ill conceived policies, made by politicians and their money-grabbing friends. Those who make those poolicies are criminals, out to make more money by cutting off where they can. Who cares if the kids of he poor are ill fed?

One can define crime as "tresspassing the law". Keeping the minimum wage as low as it is and cutting the social security payments again and again is a form of violence aganist those dependent on it, a crime.

Brother, can you spare me a dime?

So Lehrman Bro. fell and Merril Lynch did too. AIG is in major trouble, "but here all is well". Or so the varous commentors on radio tell me. Here? Nah, we're fine.
Sure, ofcourse, and there is "nothing to worry about". Wild globalization. Israel's privatised pension funds are heavily invested in the US property and mortgage market. Much money has been invested in the over-valued Eastern European property market as well. And when they start to loose, you, me and the rest of us loose.

But there is more and it is all bad.
Over the last so many years Israel has privatised its civil services more and more, putting the responsibility in the hands of so many well-meaning NGO's , while providing some of them with partial financial support, on the expectation the Jewish communities abroad will somehow donate the rest.
"Shnor" has been retermed "fundraising and then "resource development", but it is still the same: wealthier Jews in the US and Europe donate to Israeli NGO's taking care of education, health, housing, welfare, the elderly, food security etc.. The state is less and less responsible and we all accept it.
The 2nd Lebanon war showed how dangerous that is, when the poor, elderly and weak were left hungry and thirsty in the shelters and even in their homes because they couldn't make it down the stairs to the bombshelters in time, in their wheelchairs and with their rollators. After all, the electricity had been cut off and the elevator didn't work and the nurses and social workers had run off to the south and the center, out of reach of the missiles.
"The system" did not function and it was shocking.
But the privatization continued and still does.
Yet those same NGO's have more trouble raising money, as the devalued dollar made their donations of less value and at the same time America's Jewish community donated less.
And now they will give even less and the dollar will go down even more.
NGO's in Israel will stop providing services or provide less services to less people and perhaps of a lesser quality.
Some will stop alltogether.
The poor will be paying first as always. But all of us are loosing now. Loosing our pensions, becoming much poorer. All of us. The rich will, perhaps, give up a skiing holiday or buy a cheaper car.
The rest of us? Brother (or sister) can you spare me a dime? Yes capitalism is really "wonderful".

Mum & 6 young kids from Jaffa, no eviction (yet)

S is married with 6 young children, all students or in (pre) kindergarden. Her kids are good students; one of her girls is about to begin an academic program for gifted kids, while still in high school.

Yet all isn't rosy. S lost her social insurance payments for several months (yes, the usual burocratic flunks) and couldn't afford the rent as a result.

And once you stop receiving social security, you also stop receiving rent support....

The house owner evicted her and as she and her children had nowhere to go, she squatted a nearby 2 bedroom appartment belonging to a social housing company, now almost three months ago. The flat had been empty for a very long time and was in a terrible condition: no sinks, no kitchen, the bathroom barely functional.

It had become a hang-out place for local drug addicts.

S carried out the most necessary repairs and started living there.

Last week the police informed her she is baout to be evicted. In addition a criminal procedure was started against her, as squatting is a "crime" from a legal point of view.

S went to see her social worker who told her she could not help her and that S and her kids should leave the flat.

"If you have nowhere to go", so the social worker added, "the social services can take the kids away from you and place them in forster care." (which incidentally would cost a lot more than renting an appartment for the family).

S got very upset and said she "would never agree to this and does not intend to leave the flat, as she has nowhere to go. I might as well kill myself", she added. She said this in an angry tone and left.

A little while later she receive a call from the police, informing her the social worker had filed a complaint against her stating S had "threatened her".

S explained the situation to the police woman by phone and hopes that will be the end of the case.

She then went to the Popular Committee against Home Demolitions and received a court order that allows her to stay in the flat for the time being.

In spite of the order, the police and Halamish reps turned up this morning to evict her. People from the committee showed up to support her.

After S showed them the court order, they left. Shaken she and the kids are still in their home.

For the time being.

It could have turned into a disaster

Some time ago i wrote about a disaster waiting to happen. Today it almost did.

Right in the middle of the "Shem HaGdolim" housing estate there is a huge central gas tank, the opening of which was turned into the neighbourhood's children's monkey bars.

Pipes run from the tank all over the estate. Bad maintenance leaves them exposed and kids are kids, they love to climb and investigate. If they did so today, no one knows, but Samira of the recently formed neighbourhood committee, was among the first to notice, then her friend Zeinab, living on the bottom floor. A terrible gas smell had by then enveloped the neighbourhood. The ever changing wind made it difficult to locate its source. They called the gas company SuperGaz, then the fire department. The police soon arrived as well. After some two hours a gas technician arrived. It took a long time to locate the source of the leak. The gas in that area was closed off, until someone can come to repair, tomorrow morning some time.

It could have been worse. Samira and Zeinab noticed and called for help. But repair work and placing the big gas tank somewhere safer might not be such a bad idea. Halamish of course, Halamish, the public housing company thye are responsible for that sort of major construction.

Food safety measures and the violence of poverty

Aida fainted last week. From Hunger. She hadn't eaten in two days and that wasn't the first time it happened. She and Ramzi, her husband are both ill, but there is no money for the many medicines they need to take.
Aida doesn't see much, her glasses broke and she fixed them, with tape as there is no money to replace them.
Ramzi used to work transporting and lifting heavy objects such as fridges, washing machines etc. from the age of 18. Now in his late forties, his back and heart give him trouble. Social security recognised him as 30% disabled, not enough to warrant him disability pay. But he can no longer lift heavy things, and has no other job skills.
They have only child allowance as income. 400 NIS a month for them and their 5 young children aged 3-10. (They are supposed to receive 800 NIS, but as Ramzi has not paid national insurance while being ill and not working, he has a debt, which is being deducted) .
Yes, he is trying to correct the situation with the social security, but not being able to read and write makes it complicated.
And in the mean time, they were not able to pay the rent, so the house owner wants them to leave their flat in another two weeks.
They used to receive rent subsidy, but when Ramzi's social security payments were cancelled, the family's rent subsidy was automatically cancelled as well. One only receives rent subsidy is one is dependent on social security. They same goes for the discount in municipal taxes, which was cancelled. Ramzi and Aida don't see a way out.

It's not only Aida and Ramzi and their five kids who live in the small 1 bedroom flat, but also Aida's sister and her 4 children, who were kicked out of their flat two months ago by the bank after they couldn't meet the mortgage payments. That makes three adults and eleven children in a one bedroom flat. Her husband works but as the market is slow, his employer reduced his work to 3.5 days a week, "for the time being". His salary (minimum pay) doesn't always arrive on time. After they were kicked out of their flat, the bank sold it, for a low price. They still owe the bank money, although they paid the mortgage for more than 10 years.

It's almost Ramadan, time for reflection and and meeting the family. Festive dinners after a day of fasting. Well fasting is a regular one at Aida's home, There is no food. The festivities are far away.
School will also be starting for the children. But they do not have the books, pens and notebooks they need.
One of the children, a 10 year old boy, has been found to be extremely gifted and is supposed to enrol in a special educational program for gifted children. But he doesn't sleep well, he's scared of being out in the streets, having no home, nowhere to go. The school promised psychological counselling.
The boy's parents suffer from serious health problems and there is little chance of them finding good employment. Social security has been denied (yes it will probably be returned, but these procedures take time) and in the mean time there is no food. Soon there will be no home. Psychological counselling will not do much good. The young child will probably loose the chance of a lifetime, as the gifted children's program is demanding and the kid doesn't have the energy. Of course the family doesn't have the transport fees (it's in Tel Aviv) so he won't go.

Lately there have been political talks about food safety programs. There are also talks about additional cuts in social security payments in the coming budget.
Cuts cuts and more cuts. If social security payments would be higher and the bureaucracy dealing with them simpler and quicker there would be no need for food safety programs. The same goes of course for raising the minimum wage. After all, 60% of Israel's poor are WORKING poor.

Poverty and keeping people poor is a form of violence. Aida, Ramzi and their children and Aida's sister's family and so many others are victims of that violence.
Israel's ever widening social gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" is ethnically marked.

Almost Ramadan and almost the beginning of the school year, Ajami, Jaffa 2008

Shooting in Yefet Street, Jaffa

When a driver in his forties dared to comment upon the driving style of a young guy in Jaffa's Yefet street, on of the two guys in the young driver's car got out and shot the older driver, who , lightly wounded, took of for nearby Wolfson Hospital.

Last night i heard several volleys of shots in the area close to my home in Ajami. My neighbours stood out on their balcony and tried to see anything. We heard shouting, so assumed someone must have been hit.

Apartheid in Jaffa's Municipal Pool

The "Neve Golan" municipal pool in Jaffa's "HaBaal ShemTov" street serves kids and adults from all over Jaffa. A simple swimming pool, nothing luxurious, with green lawns around and plenty of corners for kids to play in.
Mothers and their children from all ethnic groups living in Jaffa make use of it. Not any longer.

From now no, monday will be a the "No Arabs Allowed" day. Officially.

I hope someone will take it to court and demand damages.

I hope nobody will come to the pool on Monday.

South Africa? Western Europe during certain periods?

Newly homeless in Jaffa

Fauziyeh Dake, in her late forties, fainted when her teenage son Salim wanted to explode himself with a cooking gaz container in the centre of their living-room this morning, the moment the municipality goons and special police forces came to demolish the family's home in "Pardes Dake" in Jaffa.

One of the older sons of the family was murdered some 3 years ago in the infamous "Benny the Fisherman" murder case. Since then the family's youngest son, Salim, finds it hard to get organised and to live a regular life.
The family has been fighting a legal battle over the last 6 years against the demolition order that the Tel Aviv municipality took out on their only home.
The Dake orange grove, located in the center of Jaffa and Bat Yam's urban sprawl, is privately owned land by Jaffa's Dake family. According to the city development plan the grove, home to the large Dake clan, is considered agricultural land.
As a result there is no building plan and as a result of that, one cannot get a building permit. However, the grove stopped being a grove ages ago and the land is home to the large Dake clan.
Who cannot legally build any homes on it, because it still is "agricultural land".
Mousa Dake successfully fought a legal battle when the court decided it is in fact illegal for the municipality to take out demolition orders for homes in the pardes, but that decree did not help Fauzieh and her husband, Abu Jalal Dake, whose demolition order preceded that decree (appealed by the municipality in the supreme court). The municipality did not bother to inform them of the approaching demolition (which they should have, in writing) and took them by surprise. As a result nothing could be done to prevent the disaster. Destroying a family's only home is an act of extreme violence.
The illegal procedure used by the Tel Aviv municipality should not come as a surprise; If they would have warned the family, they could and would have gone to court and stood a good chance to win, given the new decision on the grove. But there are other interests.

Part of the Dake family reportedly signed agreements to sell their homes to a wealthy land developer, Samuel Flato Sharon, who wants to destroy the existing homes and build another closed compound for the wealthy. Fauziyeh and her family did not sign such an agreement. Many other families don't either.
Many of the families who did not sign, have received demolition orders. Is there a connection there? Hard to prove but a question that needs to be asked.

Although the answer comes too late for Fauzieh and her family. Where can they go? Where can they stay? What will the future hold for them?

Salim, the youngest is supposed to be under house arrest. The only question is where? He doesn't have a house any longer....

Home demolition right now, people needed

The home of Jalal Dake in Izak Harif street in Jaffa is being demolished tight now
We need people there NOW.

The French Hospital mmm Sorry, Hotel and Apartment Complex

A French women's convent constructed a hospital in Jaffa in the late 19nth century. The sisters provided medical care for Jaffa's people of all religions and social groups. Countless people from Jaffa were born in the building and received top medical care during their life time. Wounded Palestinians were treated in it during 1948. The very religious sisters spent their lives and energy caring for Jaffa's ill and infirm.

In the spooky cellars there still are some ancient travel boxes of some of those sisters.

The large and imposing building was one the very outskirts of the city at the time of its construction.

After 1948 the building became a mental health clinic, and a few years ago it was closed. The last sisters are very old now, and they moved to a smaller place just opposite.

The lovely building, constructed around a courtyard, stood empty for some years, although there were ways of getting inside and travelling in the eerie cellars downstairs, the morgue or climbing up to to roof for a lovely view of Jaffa. Some people (guess who) held great picknicks with a good wine and food on the very illegal roofttop.

All that is finished and over now. The building is to become a boutique hotel and appartment building for the wealthy. "Electra" Real Estate bought the place and will be investing some 60 million $ in the rennovation.

Although i am happy the building will not be demolished, it's a pity it will not serve the local community, like it did through out its history as a place of care and aid.

Municipal Generosity

Yediot Ahronot carries an interesting article today about affordable housing in Tel Aviv.

The Tel Aviv Jaffa municipality will subsidize 2000 appartments for young couples in Tel Aviv, or so the title says.

However, when you read the article, one starts to wonder. The suggested solutions relate to young families with a monthly income of 9000 NIS. Now what?

The average income in Israel is about 7.300 NIS.

The minimum income stands at about 4.000 NIS.

Families on welfare need to survive on as little as 2.000 NIS a month (and sometimes receive rent subsidy for another 500 NIS).

To my understanding it is the poorest who need housing subsidy the most.

Yet this "revolutionary" project doesn't take them into account at all. Supposedly the housing ministry assists the very poor, therefore the municipality wnats to assist those who need it but do not receive aid. But in reality that assumption is a farce, the poor are becoming homeless quickly as they cannot afford the rent and the queue for public housing takes years and years. The tiny rent subsidy they receive -if they're lucky enough to navigate the burocracy involved- covers the rent of a doghouse at most, not a 1 room flat in Tel Aviv, for a family with 3 children...

The municipal (remember it's municipal election year?) "generosity" relates to wealthier groups of of young professionals perhaps.

"Getting rid of them?"

That what it feels like, "being gotten rid of", says Aida, in her late thirties, mother of five.

She left school when she was 10 and got married at age 13. Her mum died soon after. She had 5 children, the youngest of them 5 years old.

"I never learned anything, i don't know how to read nor write. That's why i want my daughter to be a good student, i'll do anything so she'll finish school. See how she reads and writes? Have you seen her school report? She's a good student!"
Aida looks at 13 year old Zeinab, just back from the community swimming pool. Hair still wet, reading a library book while munching a piece of bread. Later on Zeinab will go to a local grocery store where she cleans, a summer job. She receives less than the legal minimum wage, but is happy to be able to help out.

Aida is worried. She lost the legal fight for her flat and as of September 20th she will have nowhere to live.
She submitted a request for rent subsidy and received as answer that she'll receive 700 NIS monthly. Her income stands at 2200 NIS. Rent for a modest 2 bedroom flat in Jaffa stands today at at least 3000 NIS a month.

Aida doesn't know what to do. She has not yet told her younger kids they have to move. What can she tell them? That they will move out into the streets?
Her 5 year old son suffers from severe asthma and hardly went to kindergarden this year. She has to stay with him, in order to care for him. How can she work? She started two job this year but each time they told her to go, after she had to leave early in order to care for her young son.

Aida is desperate. But no one seems to care. When she tells her story to her social worker, she's met with understanding and sympathy, but there is no solution in sight. Aida's on the waiting list for social housing. She may be there for many years to come, as there is a severe shortage and the list is very long.
Rent subsidy is supposed to help her, but the cuts have been severe and the rent has gone up. She has been looking around and around, but there are no flats she can afford.

As she says: "they simply try to get rid of me, where can i go? "

I don't know what to answer her.

Shooting at Jaffa's "Shem HaGdolim" Housing Estate, No One Physically Hurt

Twelve year old M is very scared. His slightly older brother plays it cool, but i notice he is not comfortable. Looking around, watching his back. Their mother screams from the window, she wants them to come home, upstairs, now, right now. She asks me to come up as well, a coffee, a drink whatever. Just have the kids come upstairs, where it is safe. And for once they listen to her, and run up to the second floor flat they share with their mum and their many bothers and sisters.

The police are all around. Looking for evidence and signs, spent cartridges, whatever.

Some two hours ago in bright daylight, 2 hooded men shot at someone in the Shem HaGdolim housing estate.

Several young children were playing outside when the two arrived, shot at someone or in the direction of someone and escaped.

From what i heard no one was hurt, but everyone is scared. The police arrived but by then the attackers had escaped and in any case they could not be recognised. Besides, as still shaking , 12 year old, M told me, "even if i knew who they were, i would be too scared to say anything".

Two weeks ago they tried to kidnap someone from the neighborhood. Somehow it was prevented. Says M.; "They would have found his body floating in the sea after a few weeks, that's how they do it. Or perhaps never. That's how people disappear". M is only 12 years old, but wise for his age.

Jaffa for sale

"Keter Plastic" (or the "Keter Group") is one of the world's leading plastic consumers' products manufacturers. Almost completely privately owned, little information is available in the public domain.

"Keter" was (is?) one of the main sponsors of the HaPoel Tel Aviv soccer team. I don't know a thing about soccer, but HaPoel and Bloomfield and Jaffa go together and i do not have to listen to the news to know the outcome of a game: i can hear the shouting and screaming from my home in Ajami, which is not exactly close to "Bloomfield".

"Keter" was started by Sami Sagol's (one of the current owners) father as a small plastic facory in Jaffa, between the flea market , the Siksik Mosque and Jerusalem Boulevard, many years ago.

One of those places providing employment under fair conditions to many of Jaffa's people, from all backgrounds.

Over time the Jaffa premises became too small and new factories were opened all over the country and then the world.

However, so i was told, Sami could not face the idea of sending the workers, who had served his father so well, home, and kept the Jaffa premises open for many years. There was something special between the owner of the huge international plastic conglomerate and the employees of the "old place" that went beyond "employer - employees'" relations.

Over time the employees became old and the factory stopped operating. The store was kept open.

Last week the factory premises were sold for some 27 million $ to developers.

There is something sad about loosing a place of employment. It's even sadder, when that loss adds directly to the current gentrification process in Jaffa.

And what will happen to do "Siksik Mosque located on those premises? It used to belong, and perhaps still does, to the Siksik Waqf, a family run charity. They never sold the mosque.

Sweet water, orchards and memory

Jerusalem Boulevard is being prepared for the underground (which in Jaffa will be above ground) or light railway or whatever they want to call that train of long planning but little practice.

As a result, parts of the road are blocked for various preparations. Traffic jams are the obvious result and swearing drivers of short patience-span the unavoidable outcome.

During the works in the northern part of the boulevard archeological findings caused a further stop in order to investigate the nature of the findings; Apparently during the Byzantine period there were wells and pools for the irrigation of the orchards surrounding Jaffa at that time (way before the Orange of Jaffa fame was introduced).

Jaffa was a wealthy town due to its natural harbour, sweet water wells (now destryoed by our less than carefull use of water as well as pollution - almost no water well in Tel Aviv west of the Ayalon is usable) and good land.

The archeological findings surrounding the oldder parts of the town, which started expanding during the 19th century) all point to Jaffa's wealthy past.

It is said that in the past a small stream ran along what is now Jerusalem Boulevard. Perhaps. On old maps it is indicated.

Most drivers swear when they hear about yet another arechological dig (there's another one going on on a small street leading from Boustrous (or Raziel, if you prefer today's name) to "Dr. Leck".

I'm quite moved by them, excited. A little bit of the past. I wonder what archeologists in another 500 years or so will excavate and think of us :) with our plastic bottles, plastic bags and other bits of garbage to last eternity.

Sheikh Bassam

Sheikh Bassam was buried yesterday at Tassa, the cemetary he fought for.

Sheikh Bassam is on of those people everybody in Jaffa knew. A religious leader to some, a good listener to others. careful with his judgement and supportive of those in distress.
Sheikh Bassam had been ill for many years, and as a result of his illness he drove around Jaffa in a small cart, always with a smile, always with patience for the many people who encountered him on the streets and asked for his assistance, his ideas or maybe just a listening ear.

The burial ceremony left from the Mahmoudia Mosque and was attended by many people form Jaffa and from all over the country

Shem HaGdolim 2

It is unbearably hot inside Salwa's* clean and cosy home; A living room and a bedroom shared by her, 2 of her adult children and a number of grand children.
A very young boy sits on the floor making a drawing and school books and copybooks are scattered on the small table, the holiday is about to begin, but there is still homework to be made. "Being good students, that's the only way for them to get out of here", says Salwa, while smiling at the earnest face of her little granddaughter. The girl doesn't notice it, she's concentrated on writing an exercise.
It is stifling and humid inside.
However, opening the window is a very bad idea. The over flowing sewage is right underneath her ground-level flat's window and entrance door. The smell is unbearable.
Getting out of here (meaning, the Shem Hagdolim housing estate owned by Halamish) is not an option for Fatma herself. Disease and long hospitalizations made it impossible for her to work. She has to get by on her social security payments. She cannot afford to live elsewhere. But she hopes her grandchildren will be able to escape. "Escape" is the word Salwa uses. Escape from the jungle.
We called the municipality "106" and after about half an hour of waiting a guy called Shmuel promised us they would send someone. "Yes today, or tomorrow". They will contact Salwa so she can show them the problem. This was Thursday.
On Friday morning we call again. This time, after "only" 25 minutes a guy called Rafi anwers. He checks on his computer and states someone had been over there (no one contacted Salwa), but it is NOT the municipality's problem, the house-owners should take care of it. I explain to Rafi the
buildings are Halamish public housing and they don't work on friday. Moreover, we contacted them on Thursday and they said it's not their problem.
Rafi insists it IS the owners' problem "and we will send them a letter". "When will this letter be sent?" we ask. Well, in sunday a report will be filed by the men who checked the problem. After the report has been filed, we will check who the owner is and we will send him a letter."
Patiently i explain to Rafi that we are talking Halamish here, not private owners. And that Halamish has already been contacted but they claim it is the municipality's responsibility.
I also explain to Rafi that we are dealing with a river of shit, flooding the entrance to a large apartment block where many children live. Maybe they can come and carry out the necessary repairs and fight over the paying the bills afterwards? After all Halamish is a municipal housing company, so it doesn't matter very much in the end if the work is paid by the municipality or by Halamish.
Rafi is not convinced.

The stench is horrid.

In the afternoon, Salwa's son calls a friend who works for a company providing sewage services to the municipality. The friend loans equipment from his boss. We do not ask questions. After several hours of work, assisted by several men from the housing estate the problem is solved. For the time being.
The friend informs us the sewage system is in bad condition and this type of things can happen again and again. More serious repair works are urgently necessary.

We will send letters to Halamish and the municipality and i guess they will pass on the responsibility to each other.

Shem HaGdolim, they call this housing estate. The "jungle" is what the inhabitants call it.

Later, over dinner at my friend Aisha's*, i tell her about today's developments (earlier she overheard my phone conversation with the municipality). She informs me that when she was working as a nurse, they used to get a special "danger" addition to their salary, when they made house-calls in "the jungle". They were not allowed to go in there alone, only 2 nurses were allowed to make house calls in the jungle together. "If something happens to one, the other one can call for help".

Shem HaGdolim indeed


*names have been changed for the sake of confidentiality

Jungle fever

Last friday a neighbourhood committee was formed in Saknet AlArabi, or, as this neighbourhood is known in Jaffa, "the Jungle". No, not my name, that's what everybody calls it, it implying what perhaps should be known as Israel's public worst housing estate. The official address is "Shem Hagdolim Street. I guess "HaGdolim" refers to the biggest drug dealers (for those not able to read Hebrew, the street name means "the name of the great") .

The neighbourhood (most of it is public housing owned by "Halamish") is plagued by great poverty (read: not enough food on the table in many homes) , very high crime rates, much violence, few kids complete school, drugs all around. A place with very little hope. It's also filthy beyond description and dangerous: All of the estate shares two open garbage containers which tend to overflow. The wind and the stray cats and rats do the rest. The sewage flows freely in some areas. There is no light in the staircases and corridors and the stairs have no bannisters in most cases. There are no post-boxes. The gaz balloons stand here and there, unprotected, while the central gaz supply has become unsafe, yet its cover is used by the jungle's small children as "monkey-bars" for lack of anything else close by. The electricity wires are exposed in many of the staircases, which, given the darkness and the running sewage (whenever you see green weeds and grass growing somewhere in that desperate place, make sure you watch your step, that's where the sewage runs through) in many of the buildings is simply an accident waiting to happen.
Most of the neighbourhood's families have been disconnected from the central gaz company, as they cannot afford the very high bills. Instead they made their own, unsafe, gaz connection with private gaz cannisters standing and laying about here and there, waiting for an accident to happen.
This is the kind of area in which the police only enter in big groups with a helicopter flying above.

Some time ago the youth club was closed. Less time ago the only youth leader was fired. Maintenance of both the public and private space is non existent. In public housing estates that responsibility is shared by the housing company and the municipality. But they don't care. they haven't cared for many years in fact.
Most of the people living there were robbed of their original homes in Ajami and Jabaliya and offered a flat in the complex as a solution to their housing problem. There is much anger and frustration, when people living in the Jungle see what has become of the homes they were kicked out from. These have been turned into villas for the very wealthy and sold for much money while they, the original owners got stuck in a slum beyond description.

The jungle has become a place of despair from which it is almost impossible to escape.
Yet there is also solidarity and strength. And those led to the establishment of a neighbourhood committee being establishment. True, a few less successful attempts have been made before, but this time it feels and looks different. People, women and men from all buildings, are focused and with the help of activists and lawyer Rasha Asaf the first steps were undertaken.

loud shooting just beside my house...

Just heard it; a volley of about 6 shots outside my house. Everybody is running into the direction of the sounds.
There is screaming outside.