The Gaza Strip

Comics inspired by ‘Abir Sharaf's story

24 February 2014

Illustrated by Julia Lind

The report So Near and Yet So Far describes Israel's isolationist policy towards the Gaza Strip, which forces women to be torn between their husband and children and their families of origin. Women from Gaza who marry West Bank residents, or women from the West Bank who marry Gazans, usually move in with their husbands and are rarely given permits to see their families again. 

‘Abir Sharaf is a social worker at al-‘Omariyah School in the city of Nablus, the West Bank, where she lives with her husband and children. The rest of her family lives in Gaza. Read her full testimony.

Back to "So Near and Yet So Far Comics" main page

* * *

Julia Lind, a university student from Finland, is currently interning with B’Tselem’s video department.

Suggested items

No Accountability

Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

The report surveys the broad spectrum of issues regarding the Israeli authorities' human rights record in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past year, the 44th year of the Israeli occupation. An interactive version of the report is available online and distributed through social media. The report documents a sharp increase in the number of uninvolved Palestinians killed by the Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip in 2011. There was also an increase in the number of Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians, compared to 2010.

21 March 2012

Economic & Social Rights

The Gaza Strip: One Big Prison

Despite the so-called “disengagement” in August 2005 and the recent internal violence, the Gaza Strip remains subject to Israeli control. This publication surveys thevarious spheres of Israeli control in the Gaza Strip, and the implicationsof this control. So long as Israel retains extensive control over Gaza, it cannot disengage from its responsibility.

10 May 2007

Economic & Social Rights

One Big Prison

For the past four and a half years, Israel has severely restricted freedom of movement to and from the Gaza Strip. These restrictions further strangled the Gaza Strip, so much so that the area resembles one gigantic prison. The report warns against Israel's attempt to avoid its responsibility toward residents of the Gaza Strip following disengagement.

1 March 2005