As part of Palestine Week, Casa Árabe is hosting the exhibition Feeling Gaza (Sentir Gaza), with photographs by the Gazan artist Mahmud Alkurd, until 5 December. Organised by UNRWA Spain, it can be seen on the outside fence of the Madrid headquarters.
The Gaza Strip is home to a population of almost 2 million people, including 1.4 million Palestine refugees. Over the past decade, Gaza’s socio-economic situation has been in steady decline. The land, air and sea blockade imposed by Israel after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 has been in place for 14 years and continues to have a devastating effect.
Eighty per cent of the population is dependent on international assistance. The economy and its capacity to create jobs have been devastated, resulting in the impoverishment and decline of a highly skilled and well-educated society. The unemployment rate is around 45 per cent and the number of Palestine refugees dependent on UNRWA food aid has risen from less than 80,000 in 2000 to over 1.2 million today.
Drinking water is not available to 95% of the population and the availability of electricity has only recently improved from 4-5 hours a day to 13 hours a day in recent months. In 2012 a report was produced stating that Gaza would be uninhabitable by 2020, but the reality is that Gaza ceased to be habitable long before that.
