In pictures: Gaza's new mud homes

In pictures: Gaza's new mud homes

Uprooted, tormented, killed, persecuted, deprived, harassed for 61 years ... and never defeated! Look at this beautiful project which was started not too long ago - I am proud of them!!

Gazans have begun building with mud. Under Israel's blockade, building materials cannot enter the Strip, leaving the owners of several thousand homes destroyed in the recent conflict unable to rebuild.

Mud bricks are made using soil dug out from smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. A wide range of goods – as well as weapons – are brought through the tunnels.

The soil is mixed with straw, which helps bind it, and sand, which the workers say stops the bricks from breaking. The mixture is packed into moulds, and the bricks are left to dry in the sun.

Nidal Eid, 35, has rented a house since his home near Rafah in south Gaza was bulldozed during an Israeli incursion in 2003. He started building his new home two weeks ago, but now needs wood for the roof.

Mr Eid is building two rooms, a hall, a kitchen and bathroom, all on the ground floor, to house himself, his wife and seven children: "It's not my dream, or my children's dream - but it is a temporary solution," he says.

The dried bricks are held together with wet mud. Israel bans cement because it can be used to make launching pads for rockets which Palestinian militants fire into Israel – one of its reasons for the blockade.

Jihad al-Shaer, 36, was one of the first people in Gaza to build with mud and straw, known as adobe. He began his house in February, but says the idea dates back to his travels in south Asia, where he saw many homes built that way.

Mr Shaer says the house cost only $3,000, and took seven weeks to build with the help of friends. The roof is supported by recycled wood – new wood is difficult to find in Gaza – and palm branches.

Until he built the house, he was living in his parents' home with his four daughters: "It was really crowded," he says. Since the family moved into their new house, a new baby has arrived and is now two weeks old.

Mr Shaer says the new house has already survived rainstorms: "I feel proud and comfortable. It's really cool in summer and warm in winter – our grandparents and great grandparents used to live in houses like these."

He has started a garden, where he grows vegetables and has built a swing for his daughters. Hamas, which controls the Gaza, now says it will fund the construction of mud buildings.

Photos: Alexei Kidel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8068864.stm