"If you ever get the chance - visit Gaza" Top 5 Page for this destination Palestine Off The Beaten Path Tip by Whoopi

Gaza is such a small piece of land - and one of the most densly populated areas in the world. In the south, especially in Rafah, the inhabitants were hit hard by the Israeli army, and they have been bombed, killed, shot at and gotten their houses destroyed on a regular basis. Now after the disengagement and the removal of the settlers, there are no ground troops left of the Israeli army in Gaza. This is somehow good, but on the other hand it is easier for Israel to bomb Gaza now as they don't have to worry about hitting the settlements anymore. They also continously fly over the area with supersonic aircrafts, which causes panic attacs amongs children, general fear amongst the population, shattering of glass and... recent research show that this has led to abortions among pregnant women. They have also bombed peaceful demonstrations several times, causing the death of children as well as women and men.

Rafah is not a place to go if you are on a happy clappy holiday, but if you want to see how the situation is really like for many palestinians, you should go there and have a look... There you will see the situation in the Middle East as it really is - that is a truth you won't find in the fancy hotels in Jerusalem or in the old churches of Betlehem... You'll need a permission from the army to get into Gaza, and that is really really difficult unless you have contacts. If you ever were to volunteer in Palestine, make sure you sign up for one of the many summer days in Gaza, as that will allow you to meet youths from all over the world whom you can sit down with to talk about peace, being a youth and ... just make friends.