Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Pueblos Sin Voces Columna / People Without Voices Column - AZTLAN=PALESTINE: OCCUPIED UNDER THE SAME ENEMY




By E.F. Mohammed Martinez

(Revised English Version)

Our land of AZTLAN (Occupied Mexico) from California to Texas was NEVER ceded voluntarily. The invading colonialist EuroameriKKKans “arrived” in Plymouth RocKKK, Massachusetts on December 1620, …ILLEGALLY! (What else is new!) Unfortunately the biggest fatal mistake our INDIGENOUS Native American brothers made was when our contemporary XENOPHOBE RACIST enemies’ predecessors, were not asked for their damn “Green Cards” or a “Passports” before allowing them to contaminate this continent with their venereal diseases and other lethal life threatening biological plagues for future centuries! (Yea! …Right!) These white heathen barbarian Europeans are not the only ones who washed ashore illegally on this Northern continent from England. I can equally point out how this similar grave HIS-storical travesty was also repeated by OUR INDIGENOUS AZTEC ancestors when the Spanish conquistadors Hernan Cortez and his band of invading cut throat thieves were no less murderous and racist than the Mayflower lawless gringo pirates in the same light when they pillaged and plundered almost all of Latin America and the Caribbean Islands.

People, let’s get down with it! After more than 387 years, today WE suffer the consequences of Anglo Saxon AmeriKKKan colonialism and their GLOBAL CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY! The police abuses and racist attacks against OUR undocumented RAZA by ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) with roundups and deportations on a massive scale continue unabated on a daily basis. OUR neoNAZI Brown Shirt MINUTEMEN enemies are not too far behind this RACE WAR either!

The miserably recent failed “Amnesty” Bill was NEVER beneficial to OUR undocumented communities who reside in THE DISUNITED SNAKKKES OF XENOPHOBE RACIST IMPERIALIST AMERIKKKA! (The undocumented have better luck obtaining “Amnesty” in McArthur Park. Wink! Wink!) Had that “Amnesty” law passed, without a doubt it would had separated thousands of families for several years and would had also forced many head of household breadwinners to return to their countries of origin and without a guarantee of possibly ever obtaining a solution to their legal status after spending thousands of dollars whereas in the final outcome it would had become a tremendous economic burden, whom the majority of these applicants are low income pay check to pay check workers.

The FACT of this matter is that the recent vetoed U.S. Senate “Amnesty” Bill was NEVER introduced nor debated in good faith from the outset. As far as most of these Washington DC Senate “carnival snake oil barkers”, “dummycrats” and RepublicsKKKums alike who depend on OUR RAZA VOTES, it was just another political “circus pony ride” and a joke on OUR undocumented RAZA, …PERIOD!

Now, let’s ask ourselves the next polemic question; What do WE have in common with OUR Arab Palestinian brethren across thousands of miles from AZTLAN who live under European colonialism in the racist criminal TERRORIST apartheid ashkeNAZI so called “Zionist Jewish State of Israel”? MUCHO! These ILLEGAL interloping “Jews” of European origins were NEVER INDIGENOUS to the land of Palestine! (Research and read up on; AZTLAN and MANIFEST DESTINY) The majority of these selfdescribed Zionist “Israeli” Jews originally hailed from Russia, Poland, Germany and the rest of Europe. After the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust Jewish victim survivors later became the 21ST Century GLOBAL CRIMINAL GANGSTERS AGAINST HUMANITY! YESTERDAY’S OPPRESSED ARE TODAY’S OPPRESSORS IN PALESTINE!

These self-described Zionist “Israelis” today are the descendants of Hitler’s former “good” students whom they were taught well how to commit the same brutalities and genocidal atrocities in cold blood against the Palestinian people in their own homeland! Sad but true, the victims became the victimizers in the final outcome of the Nazi Holocaust. Since 1948 to present day, Palestinians have been forced to live under an “Israeli” government sanctioned TERRORIST brutal and repressive occupation, led by the IDF (“Israeli” Defense Forces). For one Palestinian to travel and visit a nearby town or village, they need special permits, ...in their own land! What human humiliation! Their homes and properties are almost daily confiscated with false pretexts and conjured up accusations of aiding and abetting their “terrorist” relatives on heresy false information without overwhelming evidence to prove otherwise.

“Israel” today stands accused of criminal past and present human rights violations by many international human rights organizations and activists, including conspiracy through colonialist ILLEGAL land grabbing and expansionism with their utmost sinister intent of preventing it’s occupied Palestinian landowning citizens from ever returning to reclaim their rightful land they were forced out without judicial process or recourse to address their grievances in a court of law. Research and read up on; 1948 The Balfour Treaty)

The judicial court system for Palestinians at EVERY level is a misnomer and almost non-existent. (Hello Ramsey Muniz! Hello Leonard Peltier! Hello Mumia Abul Jamaal! Hello ALL political prisoners! And hello Troy Davis, a proven innocent man on Death Row who was about to be executed by the state of Georgia on Tuesday 7/17/07 but was granted a last minute 90 day reprive! And hello RACIST XENOPHOBE ameriKKKa!) This is no different than the pre Nelson Mandela former South African apartheid regime or ameriKKKa’s former segregationist (Apartheid) pre 1950s civil rights era Black JIM CROW in the South and today’s RAZA Brown JIM CROW in AZTLAN, …and as in Palestinian JIM CROW which is today’s Apartheid Zionist “Israel”staple for almost 60 years with the unconditional blessings of ameriKKKa’s powers that be.

Palestinians were NEVER consulted or asked by their pre1948 former British occupiers after Palestine was turned over under the “Balfour Treaty” by the then British Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Secretary of State), Arthur Balfour, to the Zionist Jewish TERRORIST organizations, the LEHI and Irgun. These are the same Zionist Jewish terrorists who on the morning dawn of April 9, 1948 attacked a defenseless Arab Palestinian village, Deir Yassin, as they murdered in cold blood more than 250 men, women and children. (In my future column; THE RISE AND FALL OF A ZIONIST STATE, I will provide more in-depth details of this human atrocity account.) Great ghosts of fire! Hmmmm… This “Balfour Treaty” almost sounds and smells parallel to what happened in AZTLAN about 160 years ago with OUR Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848!

The colonized and occupied Palestinian people to date are subjected to every indignity as scorned “illegal aliens” in their own rightful land. In most cases they are deported to neighboring Jordan or other Arab countries. (Hello Native Americans and RAZA in ameriKKKa!)

AmeriKKKa’s “mainstream” press media apparatus has been accused by many foreign and American independent news agencies as being controlled and manipulated by AmeriKKKan pro Zionist “Israel” powers that be and the alleged well financed and powerful “American Jewish Lobby” in Washington D.C. and the Pentagon. In addition, the pro “Israel” political propaganda machine has inundated the American general taxpaying public and the international communities with LIES and HYPOCRISY by claiming to be a “democratic land of Israel” by it’s “Israeli” tourist industry. In their foreign tourism propaganda, they NEVER mention their brutal human rights record, as previously mentioned, and how Palestinians are totally isolated and ignored as a nonexistent occupied people under the force of military arms. What arrogance! What audacity!

In all historical reality, there was NEVER initially a self termed Zionist State of “Israel” entity, nor a European interloping ashkeNAZI “Jewish” people in Palestine before 1948. And there will NEVER be an apartheid Zionist “Israel” as long as one single INDIGENOUS Palestinian man, woman and child remains in the struggle to eradicate with extreme prejudice if need be, the present occupying “Israeli” cancer that permeates colonized Palestine! (Hmmmm… Now where have I heard this before?!)

LA RAZA REMAINS IN SOLIDARITY WITH ALL THE OPPRESSED PALESTINIAN PEOPLE! CHE LIVES! WE ARE BROTHERS SISTERS IN THE SAME STRUGGLE FOR OUR LIBERATION! THEY SHALL NOT PASS! HAMAS PASARAN!
AZTLAN AND PALESTINE WILL ALWAYS STRUGGLE AS ONE PEOPLE! THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!

I would like to hear your opinions at; aztecchicanointifada@yahoo.com

We're back

After being warned via phone by who I think are Zionist thugs, to be careful what I post on the Hammid Nidal site. I was careful to take precautions. Three of them, one being a woman, were waiting outside my place of employment to speak with me. They refused to identify themselves to me. I think I know who these vile zionists are and after I relocate I'll expose them.

Somehow they have access to private information and know I've just rented an apartment in New Jersey. I really don't care and will continue the site. When I move, they will have to go through a Muslim neighborhood to find me. I'm surrounded by western trash now and I'm not on even ground. I want to thank all our readers and invite them to the Hammid Nidal Movement. Allahu Akbar!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Palestinian detainee critical condition due to torture


International Middle East Media Centre


The prison administration at the Al Jalama prison refused to provide Bolbol with any medical treatment and his interrogators told him that that “he must suffer because he is a member of an organization that carries attacks against Israel”. “Let the Islamic Jihad provide you with medical treatment”, one of the interrogators told him, “You will remain imprison until you die and rot”. His brother stated that Bolbol was kidnapped by the soldiers at a military roadblock near Jenin. Soldiers stopped a vehicle and isolated him from the rest of the passengers before searching and kidnapping him. He was taken to Salem military detention camp, and two days later he was transferred to the interrogation section at the Negev detention facility. CONTINUED

CAIR: Florida Muslim Home Torched By Arsonists


In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


'F*** Islam' spray-painted on garage of burned house


(TAMPA, FL, 7/12/07) - The Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Tampa) today called on the FBI to investigate an arson attack on a Sarasota Muslim family's home as a possible hate crime.
According to the police report (Case# 200700056299) on the July 6th incident, "F*** Islam" was spray-painted on the garage door of the house, which is owned by a Muslim of Bosnian heritage.
Neighbors told a local television station that "it sounded like a bomb exploded inside the house." The station also reported that "there were 10 different spots inside the home where accelerants were used." CONTINUED

Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad was charged with forming a new government on Friday after stepping down briefly.


(AFP) This picture released by the Palestinian President's Office (PPO) shows Ali Khashan(L), newly appointed Justice Minister, as he takes the oath of office before Prime Minster Salam Fayyad(3rdR) and president Mahmud Abbas(2ndR) in Ramallah.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad was charged with forming a new government on Friday after stepping down briefly as a state of emergency ended a month after Hamas militants seized the Gaza Strip.
This is an Israeli squease manouver. They are causing unrest
in Palestine. Don't you think this in their 'plan'? If the fight goes on, they
will divide families. How long can this continue? Haamid

A great audio link from the Aztlan Cause





I have to commend KPFK (Los Angeles) and it's host Augustin Cebada for their bilingual message "La Causa" and call for action. The mighty Voz de Aztlan is a news service dedicated to fighting global western imperialism. This message should be heard by both the Aztlan and Palestinian people. It's a call to wake up.


With the help of brother Mohammed Martinez, I will be posting his column "Aztlan=Palestina: Ocupados bajo el mismo enemigo" in English. I welcome Mohammed Martinez as a columnist with Haamid Nidal.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Passenger Project Program


Writing Campaign - Passenger Protect Program [No-Fly List]This list will profoundly impact fundamental liberties, human rights, privacy rights of Canadians and poses a serious threat of racial/religious profiling. Please email this Sample Letter to your Member of Parliament [MP] expressing concern about this program. Click here to get contact information for your MP READ MORE

CAIR Rep Debates Religious Accommodation in Schools


FOX's Bill O'Reily and San Diego ex-Mayor debate CAIR's representative Abrihim Hooper on Muslim accommodations in American public schools. These Americanist/Zionists have to wake up and realize they cannot stop our children from religious study. They need to "get over it" and stop crying. This brave educational step will stop the spread of Zionist brainwashing.


Gaza: The Noose Tightens


There are many words for what Israel and the world are doing to Gaza: strangulation, starvation, privation, blockade, siege. But only a few people are calling this what it is rapidly becoming: a crime, perhaps a crime against humanity. CONTINUED

Monday, July 9, 2007

Israeli army assassinates a senior fighter in Jenin


Palestinian security and medical sources in Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank, reported on Sunday that under-cover forces of the Israeli army assassinated the leader of the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad after ambushing him in Qabatia town, near Jenin. CONTINUED

America’s First Jewish President?


Oy. If Michael Bloomberg becomes Commander-in-Chief, will the White House have a Christmas tree? What about the official White House Christmas card? Would meals in the White House all have to be kosher? Would Bloomberg need a special chef to prepare matzoh? Thinking bigger: what about America’s relations with Muslim countries? With Israel? With Russia? CONTINUED

AZTLAN=PALESTINA: Ocupados Bajo el Mismo Enemigo!

por E.F. Mohammed MartinezLa Voz de Aztlan








Los Angeles, Alta California - July, 8, 2007 - (ACN) Nuestras tierras de AZTLAN (Mexico Ocupado) desde California hasta Tejas nunca fueron voluntariamente accedidos. Los invasores colonialistas EuroameriKKKanos llegaron a Plymouth RocKKK, Massachusetts en Diciembre 1620, …ILEGALMENTE! (Que novedad! Eh?!) Desafortunadamente el error mas grande que hicieron nuestros hermanos indigenas Nativos Americanos cuando llegaron los antepasados de los hoy NUESTROS ENEMIGOS gringos, fue que no les pidieron a estos Europeos rapinas malagradecidos la mentada “tarjeta verde” o un “pasaporte” antes de dejarlos entrar a estas tierras! (Si chuy!) En donde quiera se cocen habas porque lo miso puedo decir del error que hicieron nuestros mismos antepasados INDIGENAS AZTECAS con Hernan Cortez y su chusma de invasores rapinas por igual.



Pueblo, vamos al grano. Despues de mas de 387 anos, hoy NOSOTROS sufrimos las consequencias del colonialismo ameriKKKano anglo sajon y sus CRIMINES GLOBALES EN CONTRA LA HUMANIDAD! Los abusos y ataques racistas policiales en conjunto con las redadas y deportaciones massivas por parte de ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) en contra nuestras comunidades de RAZA continuan con RACISMO a lo descarado y a diario sin cuartel. Y los neoNAZIS RACISTAS MINUTEMEN no se quedan atras tampoco!

La fracasada supuesta “Amnestia” nunca fue beneficiante para NUESTROS indocumentados que residen en este pais de “Los United EstateQuietos”. (Tiene mejor suerte conseguir la “Amnestia” en el MacArthur Park!) Si esa ley hubiera pasado, aun sin duda resultaria en la separacion de millares de NUESTRAS familias por varios anos que los obligarian a tener que regresar a sus paises de origen y sin ninguna garantia que se les iban a solucionar su estado migratorio despues de gastar miles de dolares imposibles para la mayoria de los trabajadores indocumentados que son de bajos recursos y no pueden contar con esas altas cifras. La realidad de este caso, fue que la ley vetada por el Senado Estadounidense sobre el tema de la “Amnestia” NUNCA fue una intencion de buena fe desde el inicio. Solo fue paja politica! Como dice el dicho; “ERA PURO PAN Y CIRCO”! (Por no dicirlo mas “feo”!)

Ahora preguntemos la polemica siguiente; Que tenemos en comun con NUESTROS hermanos Arabes Palestinos a miles de kilometros lejanos quienes viven bajo el colonialismo Europeo criminal TERRORISTA apartheid (Segregacion) AshkeNAZI dizque “Judio Israelita” en “Israel”?! MUCHO! Estos Judios de origin Europeos invasores que se autodominan “Israelitas”, NUNCA fueron indigenas a esta tierras Palestinas. La mayoria de estos invasores ILEGALES blancos “Israelitas” Zionistas provienen de Russia, Polonia, Alemania y el resto de Europa. Despues de la segunda Guerra Mundial, los sobrevivientes del holocausto de Adolfo Hitler, los Judios opremidos eventualmente hoy son los opresores buitres que existen en las tierras Palestinas OCUPADAS! Los autodominados “Israelitas” fueron buenos alumnos de Hitler que hoy cometen las mismas brutalidades y atrocidades a sangre fria en contra el pueblo INDIGENA Palestino! Los Palestinos viven a diario bajo la brutalidad del un Estado TERRORISTA Judio “Israelita” donde para viajar de un pueblo cercano a otro, los Palestinos necesitan permisos especiales, …en su propia tierra! Sus viviendas y bienes raices son confiscadas a diario con pretextos y acusaciones de ser parte de “terroristas” Palestinos sin contundentes pruebas. Estas maniobras son parte de la conspiracion de los Judios “Israelitas” Zionistas asesinos e imperialistas para robarles mas tierras con el objeto de expandir el colonialismo de ocupacion y con el intento de desalojar a los Palestinos sin permitirles regresar. El sistema judicial para el pueblo Palestino en contra los “Israelitas” casi es inexistente. El pueblo Palestino NUNCA fue consultado por los Britanicos antes de la ocupacion de estas tierras quienes despues las accedieron a los invasores Judios ashkeNAZI Europeos en 1948 bajo el “Balfour Declaration” (La Declaracion Balfour) quien lo inicio el Secretario Britanico de Relaciones Exteriores, Arthur Belfour. (Ay chispas! Hmmmm… Como que me suena y me huele igual al Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo del 2 de Febrero del 1848! Casi 100 anos de diferencia. O no?!) Desde entonces y hasta fecha presente los cuidadanos Palestinos INDIGENAS son tratados como vil ilegales y en muchas ocasiones tambien son deportados, …de sus propias tierras Palestinas! (Hay la llevamos por “iguanas” RAZA!) Sin embargo la prensa y casi todos los medios de comunicaciones en este pais de ameriKKKa por lo general se les acusa de ser controlado y manipulado por los Judios Zionistas pro “Israelitas”. La propaganda politica en pro “Israel” en los EUA siempre se esta abogando con mentiras y hipocresia al publico nacional y mundial como un “Israel” democratico cuando todo es lo contrario. El pueblo Palestino en ese pais es lamentable y totalmente aislado e ignorado como si no existiera un pueblo Palestino. En la realidad historica, NUNCA existio un tal “Israel” y HAMAS va a existir un “Israel” Zionista racista y colonialista mientras un solo Palestino INDIGENA hombre, mujer y nino esten en pie de lucha por su liberacion popular para erradicar los invasores extranjeros Europeos que falsamente se hacen pasar por “Judios askeNAZIS”!

En un futuro proximo les re-editare una columna que escribi y fue publicado en 1998; THE RISE AND FALL OF A ZIONIST STATE. (LA ASCENSION Y CAIDA DE UN ESTADO ZIONISTA). Publicado por; The Black Panther Party International Newspaper. Este humilde servidor Chicano, exmiembro y a mucha honra, aporto a esta organizacion militante revolucionaria Afro Americano; The Black Panther Vanguard Movement de Los Angeles, Ca.

LA RAZA DE AZTLAN ESTA EN SOLARIDAD CON EL PUEBLO PALESTINO! EL CHE VIVE! SOMOS HERMANOS EN LA MISMA LUCHA DE LIBERACION NACIONAL! NO PASARAN!

CAIR AGAINST HATE CRIMES

VIDEO: http://www.cairfl.org/ViewArticle.asp?Code=CM&ArticleID=782

"Mommy this guy wants to break my neck;" that's what a 5-year-old told his mother as they waited in line at a Lynn Haven Taco Bell back in May.

The words allegedly came from Thomas Plaisted. The child says Plaisted spit food at him, pushed his 11-year-old brother and cursed at their mother." This man not only called the children names like Muslim bastards, he cursed at them using the F-word."

Members of the Council on American Islamic Relations appeared on the steps of the Bay County Courthouse Thursday afternoon to show support for the Muslim community and to get one message across.

Ahmed Bedier, with the CAIR Tampa Chapter said, "Hate crimes of this nature, specially the ones directed at kids who didn't do anything wrong just because of their religion or their ethnicity or color is unacceptable."The group asked State Attorney Steve Meadows to prosecute Plaisted for hate crimes, and urged him not to allow Plaisted to cut a deal. A half hour later, Plaisted appeared in front of Circuit Judge Dee Dee Costello for arraignment. He pled not guilty to two counts of evidencing prejudice, committing an offense, or hate crimes. SOURCE

(Haamid Nidal) This was a horrible crime and an example of how even CAIR could not convince the court of this obvious "hate crime".

CAIR has even hosted seminars on just this type of problem with law enforcement, federal and local. It makes no difference. Spy Agencies like the FBI, CIA, Mossad, Bnei Elim and the Department of Homeland Security all march to the same drum beat of the Zionists. They have groups like the Minutemen ready to change their direction from immigration to anti-Muslim activities to do their dirty work. Would State Attorney Meadows prosecute a Muslim if the victims were Jews?

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Honoring Rushdie or Maligning Islam?



One of the British traditions is for the sovereign to bestow honors, twice a year, to individuals for exceptional achievement or service in any of a very wide variety of fields including politics, science, arts. The king or queen chooses the recipients of honors or a host of titles, on the advice of the prime minister and other relevant ministers, to whom recommendations are made by their departments or members of the public - private individuals or organizations. In other words, the final list presented to the queen is the sum total of hard and intensive work undertaken by different bodies.


Among those selected for conferring knighthood this year is Salman Rushdie. To have included his name in the list is nothing but a huge offense to Muslims and Islam. Honoring the author of "The Satanic Verses" amounts to offending the feelings of the Muslim Ummah and provoking its anger because Rushdie has defamed our Prophet (peace be upon him). This wasn't a spontaneous act by an individual or an irrational decision by an extremist organization; it was the outcome of a calculated move by many governmental bodies and approved by the British queen and the country's Prime Minister Tony Blair.


If we take into account the crisis in the relations between the British government and its Muslim subjects and the efforts being made by the government to make peace with them and gain their trust and confidence and the impact on Muslims of Britain's participation in the war against Iraq and Afghanistan, it is not difficult to see that the government's decision to confer the knighthood on Salman Rushdie is totally unjustifiable. It's an unwise and irresponsible decision that smacks of a grudge against Muslims. It is unbecoming of a responsible government. CONTINUED

Grain of hope for Gaza's residents




By
Michael Robin Bailey
Most of the time, Karni's multi-million crossingstands empty and unused [Oxfam]

Occasional diary by an Oxfam aid worker about his experiences with the British charity in the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

'What's this you say? What Gaza crisis? Wasn't that last week? Haven't we been hearing how calm it is in Gaza now? Aren't the humanitarian supplies getting in?

Food, medicines and chemicals for keeping the water clean?

Yes to all those questions, but one and a half million people cannot live by bread alone, simply surviving is not living at all, but the people of Gaza are out of sight and soon will be forgotten by the world.

Eerie silence
That is why Oxfam have sent me on the road again. That is why I am telling you.
Travelling with colleagues from Oxford and New York, I'm visiting the makeshift crossing at Sufa which is working flat out and the high tech, custom-built crossing at Karni, which is hardly working at all.

It's a day of emptiness and silence, the eerie silence of one and a half million people holding their breath, waiting to see what happens next.
First we get to Sufa, far down in the south east of Gaza.
By the time we get there in the early afternoon there is nothing at the end of the tarmac road except the unfriendly sandy sprawl of the closed military zone and a low mound.
Behind this scene, the day's consignment of 107 aid lorries have unloaded their cargoes of flour and oil and beans and rice and milk and eggs for the Palestinians to load again on to their lorries to take to warehouses and then to shops and hospitals throughout Gaza.

Public relations success

We were too late, the Israeli army has taken its clipboard and its beach umbrella home for the day, job done, people fed the basics, enough to survive.
A 'golden cascade, likepennies from heaven' [Oxfam]
An efficient, cheerful operation, if it was like the one I saw here last week, a public relations success that distracts us from the reality of the siege.

One and a half million people permitted to breathe the stale air of Israel's benevolence, not the fresh air of freedom the rest of us like to think we enjoy.
I talk to the Major in charge of this humanitarian respirator on my mobile phone.
He is pleased to tell me how many lorry-loads were processed at Sufa.
He tells me work is continuing at the smaller and more mysterious Karem Shalom crossing even further south.

There they will process 20 lorries today, maybe 21.
We can't go there, we didn't get permission. I wonder what we are missing. But good news, at Karni the grain transfer is still going on, we can go to see that.
Surreal Karni
We race off up route 232. It's 40km to Karni.
At Karni, we drive past the empty lanes of new concrete, the barriers and stop signs, the potted flowers and brightly painted wishing wells of the crossing, all silent and deserted in the sun.
We drive around the side to the mounds of aggregate waiting to be conveyed into Gaza as building materials.
We drive underneath a slender bridge carrying a conveyor belt from Israel into Gaza and there at the end we find one lone soldier.
'It is all noise and dust as the grain lorry and trailer arrives' [Oxfam]Aaron, from nearby Be'r Sheva, is happy in his job overseeing the transfer of grain, via the aggregate conveyor.
It's been newly refurbished at Palestinian expense (he didn't tell us this bit), to supply Gaza's six flour mills.

Aaron explains to us that the commercial millers of Gaza have arranged a way to get the grain they need to make flour to make the daily bread for one and a half million people.
I ask Aaron if using the conveyor for the grain was his idea. He smiles a modest smile, 'no, it was Israel’s'.
Aaron is pleased to be doing his bit to feed the people over the border, beyond the wire and the concrete and the guns.
He wouldn't be out of place in a humanitarian agency (apart from the gun).
We wait in the heat for the last two lorries of the day. It is hot and silent in this desert.
Spur winged plovers, stark black and white fly from mound to mound of the creamy aggregate.
A desert fox walks stealthily in the distance, stops to stare at us, large black ears listening, then melts away.
We wait. Then, it's all noise and dust as the grain lorry and trailer arrives. CONTINUED