Damage to infrastructure, the deaths of members and leaders, and a squeeze on resources make it difficult for the co-op sector to continue.
Co-ops are well known for their resilience, particularly in times of crisis – but this resilience is being tested in Gaza after a year of war.
More than 43,000 Gazans have been killed so far, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, making the current war the deadliest for Palestinians in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Damage to co-op infrastructure, the deaths of members, including leaders, and limited resources are making it difficult for co-ops to continue operating, and winter will only make this harder. The conflict also makes data collection difficult for co-ops.
Edin Abu Taha, chair of the Union of Housing Cooperatives (UHC) in Palestine (a member of Cooperative Housing International), estimates that 80% of co-op societies in agriculture, housing, crafts, savings and credit, services, fishery, and livestock have been damaged in the conflict.
“Examples of the damage have been obtained with great difficulty due to the danger of moving or travelling throughout the Gaza Strip,” he says, adding that preparations are under way to accurately assess the damage to co-operatives.
The war has hit the local food supply and economic security for co-operatives, their members, and their families, says Taha. Initial figures, he claims, indicate that 11,000 families in the Gaza Strip have lost their livelihood from working or dealing in co-operatives. Some co-op employees have lost their lives in the conflict, while others have been severely injured and are now unable to work.
“The agricultural lands belonging to the co-operatives were bulldozed, and hundreds of thousands of fruit trees were destroyed,” he adds. “The farmers themselves were bombed, irrigation methods and basic services such as electricity were cut off, and farmers were prevented from exporting their agricultural products, or even harvesting them. The war also affected vegetable traders and the co-operatives’ ability to market their products.”
The fisheries sector was also badly hit, with boats and ships destroyed and fishermen killed off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Among those who died was the chair of the Co-operative Fishery Association of Gaza, along with his son and grandson. All the co-op’s facilities were destroyed – including its headquarters, ice factory, marketing outlet and restaurant.
The Agricultural Cooperative Society for Producers of Strawberries and Vegetables in Beit Lahia also recently lost one of its members, Jamal Hassan Marouf Abu Subhi, in the bombing of northern Gaza. Taha says that so far, 166 co-op members have been confirmed dead, including leaders of co-operatives in Gaza.
“There are still many missing who may have been trapped under the rubble, as there is no accurate information about them,” Taha says. “The difficulty in identifying the extent of the injuries increases due to the exposure of all health institutions, including hospitals, to attacks and bombing, which makes it difficult to obtain specific information about the condition of co-operative members who were injured in this devastating war. The co-operative housing sector was the most affected by the war and its damages, as most of the towers and housing units belonging to the co-operative housing associations were destroyed, especially in the northern Gaza Strip and in Gaza City.”
In May, a UN report estimated that 80,000 homes had been destroyed in the conflict. And even when the war ends, the crisis will continue: the UN warns that the job of removing 40 million tonnes of rubble from the bombing could take 15 years and cost between US$500m and 600m.
“The Gaza Strip is no longer suitable for housing after it was completely destroyed by the Israeli army,” says Taha. “There are currently no functioning housing co-operatives because they were destroyed and their members and families were displaced. “The steadfastness that the members of housing co-operatives and their families have succeeded in is to stay alive, under inhumane conditions and severe shortages of medicine, food, and all the requirements of life.”
The Israeli government claims its actions are targeting military objectives, and not civilians. But in June, a UN Human Rights Office report warned against “the extensive use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas, have failed to ensure that they effectively distinguish between civilians and fighters”.
Meanwhile, co-ops and their members are braced for winter, while NGOs worry that hunger facing Gazans will worsen. Before the war, there were 500 lorries entering the territory each day, according to UN figures – but this number has now fallen to just 50.
In September, Refugees International warned that “without a more widespread and enduring course correction on aid access, civilian protection, and humanitarian security, there remains a grave risk of famine conditions spiralling once again”.
Meanwhile, in Israel, some politicians are calling for a block on all aid to Gaza unless all Israeli prisoners are released.
“The humanitarian conditions are catastrophic in all areas of life, and with the approach of winter, the displaced face great risks that can cause illness or death,” says Taha. “The Gaza Strip is now considered a disaster area.”
With emergency supplies – including food, medicine, and shelter – urgently needed, there is scope for co-ops in other countries to help, he adds. “Relief can be provided either directly through international agencies such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)” he says, “or through the Ministry of Social Development in the Palestinian National Authority government through its headquarters in the city of Ramallah in coordination with the Ministry of Labor, the Cooperative Labor Authority, and the General Cooperative Union or through the General Cooperative Union.
“This option has been successfully tested, and aid has been delivered directly to the co-operatives in the Gaza Strip and the families of the co-operative members there.”
He adds: “Support can also be provided to make the initiatives undertaken by co-operatives successful for their members. Several initiatives have succeeded and their humanitarian activities can be expanded to support food and humanitarian security for the families of co-operative members, especially members of housing co-operatives whose housing units were destroyed and who became displaced and homeless.
“Due to the destruction of residential towers in co-operative housing projects, members of housing co-operatives need urgent shelter. Due to the lack of caravans for temporary housing, members of housing co-operatives need tents, tarpaulins, and all the necessities of life inside the tent, especially cleaning tools, cooking, and protection from rain and wind.”
Among those already offering support from abroad is Catalan housing co-op Sostre Civic, which is working with UHC to help co-operators in Gaza produce a video that raises awareness about the war’s impact on the movement.
But housing co-op members who have been made homeless have more fundamental needs, says Taha: tarpaulins, reinforced nylon rolls for tents, sanitary packages for personal and family hygiene, winter blankets, mattresses, and winter clothes for children, women and the elderly. He adds that housing co-operatives in Gaza do not have the capabilities to provide any kind of support to their members, since all of their headquarters and, in some cases, 85% of their housing stocks have been destroyed.
“In addition to the ongoing bombing – which has now gone on for a year on all areas of the Gaza Strip – and the failure to reach a truce or ceasefire agreement … the circumstances that the co-operatives, their members and their families are facing have led to their displacement to different areas of the Gaza Strip without any ability to communicate permanently,” he says.
For those displaced, there is little chance to settle, adds Taha: even when they find a place to stay, Israeli forces periodically order them to keep moving.
“The extent of the destruction and bombing of homes and residential units in the Gaza Strip has led to the destruction and collapse of hundreds of thousands of residential units that were used for refuge several months ago,” he says. “They have become rubble and cannot be inhabited, even if the destruction is only partial. Which makes sheltering the displaced and homeless a top priority with the approach of winter.”
Despite these challenges, some co-ops are still trying to meet members’ needs by enabling the reuse and sale of clothes at token prices, providing pastries and dairy products for displaced children, giving out tents, chairs and teaching tools for school lessons, and generating and supplying solar energy.
One such initiative is the Atr Al-Sham Crafts Cooperative’s Flame of Hope, which installs clay ovens powered by wood in shelters, to enable displaced Gazans to produce bread and pastries.
Taha says the initiative follows the co-operative principle of concern for the community by involving the local community in the production and distribution process. Another scheme has seen agri co-ops replenish seedlings using a small nursery to exploit the fruits that were not picked due to the continuous bombing. “This experiment has succeeded on a small scale,” says Taha.
As to the future of Gaza and its co-ops, and the prospect of rebuilding communities and ensuring long-term stability, Taha says everything depends on an end to the conflict and a reconstruction plan for Gaza. He is not hopeful.
“There is no expected horizon in the current period, given that all initiatives for a year have not succeeded in stopping the war,” he says, warning that “the launch of a reconstruction plan in the Gaza Strip will not begin until the war stops.”
The future of housing co-ops depends on where construction will actually be permitted, warns Taha. “Will the reconstruction of co-operative buildings and housing units be permitted? Currently, there is no roadmap to rebuild the co-operative Palestinian society and ensure its long-term stability.”
As the conflict continues, spreading into Lebanon and Iran, the lives and livelihoods of co-op members in Gaza remain at stake.
Anca Voinea: Anca focuses on international news – and with French, Spanish and Romanian languages under her belt, this is an important area of growth for the news.
*Article originally published in Co-op News.
(3 Photos supplied by Co-op News and authorized for publication)
.jpg)
