Border Crossings and Stray Narratives of Return

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-133
Author(s):  
Drew Paul
Keyword(s):  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Border Crossings ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Tel Aviv ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
Narrative Voices

This chapter examines a literary depiction of the repeated borders encountered on the Palestinian journey of return from exile in Raba‘i al-Madhoun’s Lady from Tel Aviv (2009). While many earlier examples of the common Palestinian literary trope of return, such as Jabra Ibrahim Jabra’s In Search of Walid Masoud (1978), either ignore the border or go silent altogether at the crossing back towards Palestine, al-Madhoun’s novel metafictionally reimagines the narrative of the protagonist’s return from London to the Gaza Strip by way of Tel Aviv as a series of encounters with borders that progressively blur distinctions of past/present and real/imaginary. At each crossing, new narrative voices appear, and gradually the lines between characters, narrators, and authors disintegrate, producing a cacophony of voices and an uncontrollable narrative of return. The novel performs and thereby exposes the disorienting effect of the border and its production of an unpredictable, “stray” life in blockaded Gaza. The Lady from Tel Aviv reveals that an unruly multitude of voices can offer a response to the silencing effect of the border.

scholarly journals The Palestinian Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna Preserved at the Biology Exhibitions of the Universities of the Gaza Strip

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdel Fattah N. Abd Rabou ◽  
Nour J Musallam ◽  
Eman J Musallam ◽  
Kamal E Elkahlout ◽  
Kamal J Elnabris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Amphibian Species ◽  
Vertebrate Fauna ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrate ◽  
Mole Rat ◽  
Ecological Conservation ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
Egyptian Mongoose

The Gaza Strip (365 km2) of Palestine (27,000 km2) is home to a wealth of terrestrial vertebrate fauna. Some of these faunistic species find their ways to preservation at the local universities. Hence, the current study comes to document the Palestinian terrestrial vertebrate fauna acquired by the biology exhibitions (BEs) of Al-Azhar University, Islamic University of Gaza and Al-Aqsa University that are located at the Gaza City of the Gaza Strip. The amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals preserved at BEs of the universities in question were surveyed and scientifically classified during a three-month period extending from January to March, 2012. The study showed that all BEs of local universities are underdeveloped, lacking attention and suffer from specimen scarcity and good preservation. The BE at Al-Azhar University is the best in the arrangement and preservation of bird specimens. A total number of 200 specimens belonging to 54 terrestrial vertebrate fauna species, 39 families and 17 orders was recorded at BEs. Reptiles constituted 40.7% of the total species recorded, followed by birds (38.9%), mammals (14.8%) and amphibians (5.6%). The Islamic University of Gaza was considered the best in terms of the number of preserved species (39.8%), followed by Al-Azhar University (36.3%) and Al-Aqsa University (23.9%). The Common Toad (Bufo viridis) was the most preserved among the amphibian species recorded. Squamata was the biggest reptilian order, comprising 20 species (8 lizards and 12 snakes), with the Syrian Black Snake (Coluber jugularis asianus) was the commonest. The Palestine Viper (Vipera palaestinae) is endemic to Palestine and most venomous and dangerous to human health. The Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) was the largest Palestinian bird preserved at BE of Al-Azhar University. The Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) and the Common Badger (Meles meles) were the biggest mammalian specimens preserved, while the Palestine Mole-rat (Spalax leucodon ehrenbergi) was the only Palestine endemic species encountered among the preserved mammals. Finally, the improvement of BEs of local universities and the construction of a Central Museum of Natural History is highly recommended in order to change the Palestinians' attitudes toward a sustainable ecological conservation in the Gaza Strip.

The Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak: The Israeli Experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. e413
Author(s):  
Mohammad Yasser Sabbah
Keyword(s):  
Large Family ◽  
Central China ◽  
Border Crossings ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Chinese Tourists ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Government ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Israeli Experience

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-COV) and Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-COV). The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) refers to the cluster of viral pneumonia cases which first started occurring in Wuhan city, which has a population of 11 million people and is the largest city in Hubei province in central China, since December 2019. On Tuesday, the 11th of February 2020, the WHO officially named the disease caused by the new coronavirus "COVID-19", with more than 43,000 patients, and more than 1,000 deaths cases were reported in China. The Government of Israel, the Prime Minister's Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defense and the Treasury, have decided to take early first steps to prevent the spread of the virus in the Country. The first step was banning Chinese tourists from entering the country via Ben-Gurion International Airport, and this was only the beginning, as afterwards the decision was made to close all border crossings. The idea was to reduce the number of entrances to the State of Israel as much as possible, and every citizen coming back from countries such as China and European countries was directly sent to home quarantine for a period of 14 days.

scholarly journals On the Hunting of the Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix Linnaeus, 1758) Along the Mediterranean Coast of the Gaza Strip – Palestine

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Hunting Season ◽  
Coturnix Coturnix ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
Common Quail

Palestine is a major route for migratory birds coming from Europe to Africa and vice versa. Both migratory and resident birds are commonly hunted for different purposes using different means in the Gaza Strip. The current descriptive study, which is the first of its kind, aims at introducing information on the hunting of the Common Quail (Coturnix Coturnix Linnaeus, 1758) in the Gaza Strip, which is a 365 km2 arid to semi-arid coastal zone lying in the southern part of the Palestinian coast along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Since 2015, frequent field visits and discussions with bird hunters and other stakeholders have been carried out to get more information on quail hunting. Annually, hundreds of trammel or mist nets with camouflaging colors, having a height of about 2.5 meters and a distance of 100-200 meters off the coastline, are cleverly placed along the beach to hunt Common Quails and other non-target birds. Guns are used in hunting of quails scattering among inland low-growing vegetation types. The Common Quail is a source of livelihood for dozens of Gazan families, though it does not generate large sums throughout its hunting season. For several reasons, quail hunters claimed that the current quantities of Common Quails reaching the Gaza Strip do not exceed 20% of the amount that arrived 30-40 years ago. Along with the Common Quail, 50 migratory and resident bird species, with passerines making their half, were found to be incidentally caught in quail nets. Because of its feeding and healthy values, the demand of Gazans on Quail and its eggs is increasing day by day, and as a result, quail breeding was found to be a successful task in the Gaza Strip. The goodness of wild quail is many times greater than its farmed counterpart. The price of wild quail is USD 6-7 per pair, while the farmed counterpart is about USD 2 per pair. Finally, bird hunting should be regulated in the Gaza Strip in order to conserve wildlife in a sustainable fashion.

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