This is my last day in Gaza before I head back to Cairo and then home to DC. And it's strange, but I'm feeling "homesick" already. I feel both that I should stay here to show solidarity with the people  -- joining the ISM (International Solidarity Movement) to help fishermen and farmers make a living -- and to get to know this unique wedge of land and its population a little better. Today was jampacked with activities, starting with a tour of some of the most war-ravaged areas of Gaza (the bitter) and ending with a delightful evening with new friends I've made here who I hope will be lifelong acquaintances (the sweet).

The Bitter 

While in Gaza, I ran into a British doctor who is doing volunteer reconstructive surgery. He is spending his time in Gaza City, and he commented that life here is nowhere near as bad as he thought it would be. People are getting on with their lives and appear to be following a relatively normal routine. There are demolished buildings, of course, but they are  relatively isolated pockets.

  
A shattered police station in Gaza City, with still-standing structures on either side.

However, he clearly had not talked much to the city's residents, or traveled outside the Strip's largest "metropolis." According to the medical director at Alwada Hospital, "caged rat syndrome is developing (in Gaza) at full speed now." Up to 80 percent of children (even in Gaza City) are showing signs of behavioral problems ranging from insomnia, to depression, to violence. Keeping them from finding identity and stability with extremist groups is a struggle, reports one of my new friends here. That struggle -- exacerbated by unemployment of 70% -- often results in side effects of their own for adults, including a sharp uptick in smoking and domestic violence.

Get out of Gaza City, and you see an utter devastation from the Israeli bombing -- both from unmanned surveillance drones and piloted F-16s -- that defies the imagination. In one area in the north, we saw what was once a neighborhood of 72 homes and 17 small factories that churned out cement and other building materials. As of January, however, it is a mass of rubble.

  

 
When this home was bombed, the ambulance driven by the father of the house was literally smashed.

 
This woman is standing in front of the new home she and her husband had just finished building -- when the Israelis bombed it. 

Only now is Unicef managing to erect some tents for the homeless families to shelter in.  Since Israel isn't allowing any building materials to be  imported for fear of helping Hamas, it could be a very long time before these families get more permanent relief.

Such deprivation is insult added to injury for Palestinians who originally moved to Gaza as refugees after they were forced off land that became Israel in 1948. And then there are some who were imprisoned because they resisted. One woman we talked to, at a center that offers services to women who need support after such a trauma, had been imprisoned in Israel three times, the last time for two years. Her harsh treatment included torture in various forms: exposure to extreme temperature changes, unbearably loud music, long periods in which she was forced to hold a heavy chair above her head without relaxing her arms or sitting down, eye gouging, kicking and prolonged, cramped confinement. She didn't, however, let it break her spirit, and the center has helped her.

 
A former Israeli prisoner recounts her experience.

The Sweet

If you are one of those people who turns up his or her nose at Facebook, you don't know what you're missing. Because of my membership in the site's Palestine network, and my clearly activist profile, I have received friend requests from a number of individuals in both the West Bank and Gaza. I have accepted almost all of them, and both in October (when I traveled to the West Bank) and this week, I used our "connection" as an opportunity to forge new friendships and learn firsthand about the areas I was visiting. While in Gaza, I met four of my new Facebook friends while we drank tea and smoked chicha. And I felt extremely fortunate to have made their acquaintance...I am pretty sure I have good friends now who will help guide me each time I return.

I only hope I can return the favor some day. But first we have to force open those borders -- and keep them open!! Please speak up to your senators and representatives! My new friends, and the rest of the residents of Gaza, deserve to be able to go to school wherever they like and get a job that will support their families. Is that too much to ask?