Gazans savour taste of freedom on beach

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Children splash in the waves and play games along the beach as parents grill meat and feast on watermelon -- the people of the Gaza Strip relishing a respite from battles and an Israeli blockade.

One boy builds a sandcastle in the form of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, an object of longing for many Palestinians, who have had little chance to visit the historic mosque since Israel captured Jerusalem's Old City 40 years ago this week.

Just offshore, in clear, blue waters sparkling in the bright Mediterranean sun, an Israeli patrol boat cruises past. It is a reminder of the security cordon Israel has tightened around the crowded enclave since withdrawing its army from the territory it occupied in the Six Day War of June 1967.

"We have no escape but to come to the sea, although there is still fear," said Khaled Abu Mustafa, eating a slice of melon and pointing at the Israeli naval ship on the prowl for arms smugglers or militants heading up the coast to Israel.

Israel's withdrawal allowed the people of Khan Younis in the south of the Strip to return to the beaches for the first time in six years -- Israeli troops had barred the way following the start of an uprising, or intifada, against occupation in 2000.

Yet now the 1.5 million people of Gaza have other cares. Some 50 people were killed in fighting between rival factions in the territory last month and Israel has resumed air strikes and other measures against rockets being fired at Israeli towns.

"The situation remains very frightening. From one side the Jews are bombarding us and from the other the fighting between Hamas and Fatah is not fully over," said Abu Mustafa.

On top of that, the victory of the Hamas Islamist movement in last year's parliamentary election has brought Israeli and international sanctions, virtually sealing Gaza's borders and withholding aid and revenues to the Hamas-led government.