World

Despondent Gazans Return to Destroyed Homes

Published

10 years ago

March 31, 2015

A Palestinian girl walks next to destroyed houses, in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, Monday, March 30, 2015. Despondent over the slow pace of post-war reconstruction, displaced Gazans have begun to return to their damaged homes, patching up the structures with blankets and plastic sheets and living in the unstable and unsafe structures while they wait for promised aid to arrive. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

FARES AKRAM, Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Despondent over the slow pace of post-war reconstruction, displaced Gazans have begun to return to their damaged homes, patching up the structures with cinder blocks and plastic sheets and living in the unstable and unsafe buildings while they wait for promised aid to arrive.

The returns reflect a failure by local authorities and the international community to rebuild Gaza after a devastating war between Israel and Hamas militants last summer. Officials say most of the more than $5 billion of international aid that was pledged never materialized, and returning residents say that small subsidies they received — and their patience — have run out.

“We have lost hope. There is no hope and nobody is interesting in helping us,” said Mohammed Afana, a 27-year-old resident of Shaaf, a neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.

An estimated 18,000 homes throughout Gaza were destroyed during the 50-day war, displacing 110,000 people, according to the United Nations. Less than 10,000 people are still living in U.N. schools that have been turned into shelters.

Shaaf, located close to the Israeli border, was among the hardest hit districts. Israeli ground forces took up positions on the eastern edges of the neighborhood, and Hamas said that its fighters engaged Israeli forces in the area.

An alley off the main street leads to a neighborhood of battered homes. In the middle of the neighborhood lie the remains of the four-story building where Afana and his extended family once lived.

After the war, the United Nations gave families small subsidies to rent apartments elsewhere in Gaza while their homes could be repaired. Afana received $1,300 — enough cash to support his family for three months. He then moved into a crowded home with his wife’s family.

Weeks ago, he decided to return to the damaged first floor of his original home with his wife, two children, parents and a sister. The top two floors of the building are destroyed, and chunks of concrete and twisted metal bars dangle down. Most of the exterior walls on the ground and first floors are destroyed.

Although the house is unsuitable for living, the Afanas rebuilt some exterior walls with secondhand cinderblock. The rest are covered with huge blankets or plastic sheets.

“We can’t find something better. I wish we can find an apartment with a rental subsidy. We would move immediately if we found one,” Afana said, standing in front of a makeshift wall make from different-colored bricks.

Inside the home, the kitchen has been turned into a bedroom, since it still has a wall. Openings in the remaining walls are covered by wooden boards. There are no windows and the floor tile is pocked and uneven.

“Every day, every week, the wind rips off the sheets. That’s how we live,” he said. “Death is more honorable than this life.”

One of five brothers from a family of builders and construction workers, Afana said he could rebuild the home in two weeks if cement and money were available.

In all, hundreds of neighborhood residents, including his brother’s family living upstairs, have returned to their bombed-out homes.

Such scenes are a far cry from what was envisioned when world donors pledged $5.4 billion to rebuild Gaza in October, just weeks after the fighting had ended.

Frode Mauring, the U.N. Development Programme’s special representative, said he believes only 5 to 10 percent of the pledges have been delivered.

“This is a huge concern,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s a shame that not everybody has been helped.”

There are many sources of blame. Donors have not followed through on pledges. Israel has been slow in allowing construction materials into Gaza, though in recent months, it has worked with the U.N. to set up a mechanism to allow larger quantities to enter.

But more than anything, an ongoing battle between Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority appears to have paralyzed reconstruction efforts.

Hamas seized Gaza from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ forces in 2007, and despite a reconciliation deal last year, Hamas remains firmly in control. Abbas’ Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank, has demanded a foothold in Gaza, saying only it can ensure reconstruction proceeds properly.

Since December, only 150,000 tons of rubble was cleared from east Gaza City — less than 10 percent of an estimated 2 million tons that need to be removed, according to Mauring.

Mauring said the U.N. had hoped to provide rental subsidies for two years. “The fact that from time to time there has not been enough money is very regrettable,” he said.

Israel launched the military operation last July in response to heavy rocket fire from Gaza by Palestinian militants.

More than 2,100 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed in the fighting, while 72 people died on the Israeli side. Israel has blamed Hamas for the heavy civilian death toll and damage to residential areas, pointing to the group’s use of crowded neighborhoods for cover while firing rockets.

About a dozen families received some relief in temporary trailer caravans donated by Jordan and Oman. In Shaaf, some trailers have now been placed inside of gutted homes.

The wealthy Gulf state of Qatar is also giving people a glimmer of hope. Qatar, the largest single contributor at Gaza’s rebuilding conference with $1 billion pledged, reached an agreement with Israel to deliver construction materials for Qatari-funded projects.

Israel recently began allowing 1,000 tons of cement into Gaza each day for the Qatari projects. Qatar said it will rebuild 1,000 housing units and announced that three families were given $10,000 stipends to kick off the reconstruction.

The three beneficiaries were brothers from the Abu Jamea family, which lost 24 members in an Israeli airstrike that destroyed their apartment building in July.

Since then, Bassam Abu Jamea, whose pregnant wife and three children were among the dead, has been living in a rental home not far from the rubble.

On a recent morning, Abu Jamea woke up to the sound of officials visiting the site. Among them was a Qatari official who told him he had been selected for the project.

“It goes without saying. Our lives have begun to be happy again, because we will have a new home again,” he said.

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Newsom, Pelosi Welcome Election of First American Pope; Call for Unity and Compassion

“In his first address, he reminded us that God loves each and every person,” said Newsom. “We trust that he will shepherd us through the best of the Church’s teachings: to respect human dignity, care for the poor, and wish for the common good of us all.” Newsom also expressed hope that the pontiff’s leadership would serve as a unifying force in a time of global instability.

Published

1 day ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Pope Leo XIV. Screenshot.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom on May 8 issued a statement congratulating Pope Leo XIV on his historic election as the first American to lead the Catholic Church.

The announcement has drawn widespread reaction from U.S. leaders, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called the moment spiritually significant and aligned with the values of service and social justice.

In their statement, the Newsoms expressed hope that the newly elected pope would guide the Church with a focus on compassion, dignity, and care for the most vulnerable. Newsom said he and the First Partner joined others around the world in celebrating the milestone and were encouraged by the pope’s first message.

Newsom also expressed hope that the pontiff’s leadership would serve as a unifying force in a time of global instability.

“May he remind us that our better angels are not far away — they’re always within us, waiting to be heard,” he said.

Pelosi, a devout Catholic, also welcomed the pope’s election and noted his symbolic connection to earlier church leaders who championed workers’ rights and social equality.

“It is heartening that His Holiness continued the blessing that Pope Francis gave on Easter Sunday: ‘God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail,’” said Pelosi.

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Retired Bay Area Journalist Finds Success in Paris with Black History Tours

In the late 90s, Stevenson finally realized her dream of living in Paris, now with her daughter. She started exploring the history of Africans in the city and would go on to teach others the same. Her business, which she named Black Paris Tours (BPT), received a significant boost when a family friend gave her a stack of cash and encouraged her to expand on the knowledge that she had only started to share with people she knew.

Published

3 months ago

February 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Ricki Stevenson, Blacks in Paris. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

There were two things Oakland-born, East Palo Alto-raised Ricki Stevenson always dreamed of:

Going to New York as a newscaster to tell the true story of Blacks in America.
Living and working in Paris one day.

Her dreams of life in Paris began when she was three years old and her mother, a former professional dancer, took her to see Josephine Baker perform. She was 11 when her parents took her to the Stanford University campus to meet James Baldwin, who was speaking about his book, “The Fire Next Time.” Ricki says that’s when she knew she’d one day live in Paris, “the city of light!”

But before that would ever happen, she had a tumultuous career as a newscaster across the country that was inspired by her family’s history.

Stevenson recalls marching with Cesar Chavez as he fought for labor rights for farm workers in California.

“Are we Mexican too?” she asked her parents. “No, but we will fight for everyone’s human rights,” they responded to her.

Ironically, Ricki’s paternal family roots went back to Greenwood, Oklahoma, infamous for the 1921 bombing of Black Wall Street. A time when Black people had oil wells, banks, and a thriving business community.

This background would propel her into a 25-year journalism career that gave her the opportunity to interview greats like President Jimmy Carter, PLO leader Yassir Arafat, James Baldwin, Rev. Jesse Jackson, UN Ambassador Andrew Young, Miriam Makeba, and the leaders of South African liberation movements.

A job offer from KCBS radio brought her back to the Bay Area in the 1980s. Then came the switch to TV when she was hired as a Silicon Valley business reporter with KSTS TV, working at the first Black-owned television station in northern CA (created and owned by John Douglas). Along the way, Stevenson worked as an entertainment reporter with BET; coproduced, with her disc jockey brother Isaac, a Bay Area show called “Magic Number Video;” lived in Saudi Arabia; worked as an international travel reporter with News Travel Network; and worked at KRON TV a news anchor and talk show host.

In 1997, Stevenson realized her dream of living in Paris with her young daughter, Dedie. She started exploring the history of Africans in the city and would go on to teach others the same. Her business, which she named Black Paris Tours (BPT), received a significant boost when a family friend, Admiral Robert Toney put a chunk of money in her hand. He said, “Ricki, my wife and I have been coming to Paris for 20 years, but in just two days with you and Dedie, we’ve learned and seen more than we ever did before.”

Years after BPT took off, Ricki met Nawo Carol Crawford and Miguel Overton Guerra, who she recruited as senior scholar guides for Black Paris Tours.

Guerra says he is proud of his work with Black Paris Tours in that it provides a wealth of information about the rich legacy of African and African American history and influence in Paris and Europe.

“I tend to have a feeling for history always being a means of a reference point backwards … you start to understand the history, that it isn’t just the United States, that it began with African people,” Guerra says.

He said that it’s been a pleasure to watch people learn something they didn’t know before and to take them through the city to key points in Black history, like hangout spots for writers like Baldwin and Richard Wright, restaurants in the busiest parts of Paris, the home of Josephine Baker and so much more.

Although the tours are open to all, Guerra hopes that those of African descent from all over the world can embrace that they don’t have to just stay where they are because movies and media have portrayed cities like Paris to be only white, it’s multicultural and accepting to all.

“We’ve been here, and we’ve been there, going way back when. And we shouldn’t be considered or consider ourselves to be strangers in any place that we go to,” he said.

Stevenson notes they’ve had 150,000 people take their tour over the years, with notables like former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Smokey Robinson, Steve Harvey, Miriam Makeba, and more.

Friends and former media colleagues of Stevenson compliment the BPT crew on their knowledge of the city and their ability to always keep it interesting.

“He [Guerra] just had a deep, deep wealth of knowledge and he was constantly supplanting information with historical facts and the like. I love that it was demonstrating and showing how Black people have thrived in Paris or contributed to the culture in Paris,” Candice Francis said.

She toured in the summer of 2022 and stated that in the two weeks that they visited Paris, BPT was the highlight of her trip. She shared that she was proud of Stevenson and the life she’d managed to manifest and build for herself.

“Even if you’re visiting Paris for the tenth time, if you haven’t taken the tour, then by all means, take it,” Francis emphasized.

Magaly Muñoz, Gay Plair and Paul Cobb also contributed to this story. You can book your own adventure with Black Paris Tours at www.blackparistour.com.

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COMMENTARY: Will a Dictator’s Loss Change Trump’s Tune?

What’s happened in Syria has the potential of reshaping the politics of the entire Middle East. The U.S. can’t afford to sit back and do nothing. Now is the time to exert peaceful, diplomatic influence on how Syria maintains stability and goes forward with a new democracy.

Published

5 months ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Emil Guillermo

In our polarized country, half of America can’t wait, while many of us still wonder, “where’s Kamala?”

I hope President-elect Trump — who famously said during the campaign that he’d be a dictator on day one — eats his words.

Dictators aren’t doing so well these days.

Last weekend, the dictator Bashar al-Assad was run out of Syria and sought exile with his puppet master/dictator Vladimir Putin of Russia. In just about two weeks, a coalition of rebels applied enough pressure to end a family regime in Syria that lasted 50 years.

al-Assad’s wealthy family dictatorship plundered Syria and ruled in terror.

It sounds all too familiar to Filipino Americans, many of whom came to the U.S. fleeing the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

al-Assad’s end was different from the Filipinos who forged a peaceful People Power movement that chased the Marcos family to Hawaii where they sought refuge from their U.S. puppet handlers.

But as in Manila, there was cheering on the streets of Syria. Men, women, and children. Christian, Muslims, different sects and ethnicities, all united against al-Assad.

al-Assad has been described as a genocidal narco-trafficking tyrant, whose friends were America’s biggest enemies, Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia, said Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, on CNN.

Moustafa said it was amazing that there would be no more Russian airstrikes, no more al-Assad gulags torturing civilians. “To see good triumph over evil is an amazing thing,” he added.

But last weekend has some trickle down.

Consider that we are talking about al-Assad, the one Tulsi Gabbard consorted with and hyped to her colleagues when she was in Congress. Now Assad has been shamed into exile with his puppet master Russia, and Gabbard wants to be the U.S. director of national security? Given her wrongheaded judgment on al-Assad, can she be trusted with any national secrets?

It’s still not over in Syria, as now there will be a scramble to see what kind of governing democracy emerges.

Predictably, Donald Trump has said, “The United States should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved.”

Nouveau isolationism?

Overall, the ouster of the dictator should give Trump pause.

If by nominating MAGA loyalists like Gabbard, Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel, Trump’s testing the evolution to strongman rule in the U.S., he should consider what happened before last weekend.

In South Korea, a weak president tried to declare martial law and was voted down by Parliament. That’s a faux strongman.

Let’s hope Trump learns a lesson from the week’s news.

The next president sets the tone for a politics that’s already toxic.

He needs to remember the joy in Syria this week when an autocrat was dumped in the name of freedom and democracy.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning Bay Area journalist. His commentaries are on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. Or join him at www.patreon.com/emilamok