A Palestinian and an Israeli living in Germany help Gazans build safer shelters
Tents for displaced families at the Mesk and Layan camp, southern Gaza.
Ido Efrati reports in Haaretz on 15 may 2024:
When Tom Kellner and Seba Abudaqa signed up last summer for an online dialogue program for Israelis and Palestinians living in Europe, they never imagined that several months later they would start and run the Zomi Shelter Center – a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) that accommodates 100 families, mainly women, children, the elderly and the disabled, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Kellner, 42, has been living in Berlin for the past eight years. She has a doctorate in literature, and works as a translator, a cellist and a researcher on contemporary Israeli literature at a university in West Germany. Abudaqa, also 42, is an adviser on community-building for an international women’s rights NGO. She grew up in the town of Abasan in the southern Gaza Strip, and moved to Munich in 2023 due to her husband’s work.
Kellner and Abudaqa met in an online program, an initiative of the Jewish-Arab community of Neve Shalom (Wahat al-Salam). “The group was founded in the summer of 2023, with 14 members. It was a kind of pilot, and the first Zoom meeting was scheduled for October 8,” says Kellner.
The events of October 7 shuffled the deck. After some hesitation, the group’s members finally decided to hold the meeting despite the circumstances. “People talked about how to promote dialogue and peace between the peoples, but what bothered me the most were basic things, such as the continued operation of the hospitals in Gaza without electricity supply,” recalls Abudaqa. “For me, this is not the time to talk about peace, what is more important right now is that people are dying.”
Kellner and Abudaqa left the first meeting with a strong urge to engage in concrete action. The initial goal was to collect donations for humanitarian aid, providing basic needs and a roof for the citizens of the Gaza Strip who were displaced from their homes.
“In January 2024, we started collecting donations. Within a month and a half, we received funds from people from Germany and the United States, citizens from Arab countries, and quite a few Israelis,” says Kellner. “I recruited mainly from people I know, most of them from Israel. From there it grew, and in February we started the process of registering as a proper organization, called Clean Shelter.”
This is not a large scale fund-raising enterprise – so far about 30,000 euros have been raised from several hundred small donors, as well as donations of tents and other equipment. Since January, they have been focusing the organization’s resources on setting up toilets, showers and tents in the IDP camps in the Gaza Strip.
Toilet stall built with the help of Clear Shelter, at the Zomi camp, southern Gaza
“In the beginning, we worked with a large camp called Mesk and Layan, where there were thousands of displaced people and the conditions were very difficult. We started with toilets and tents, and after collecting more donations, we initiated the establishment of a new camp for 100 families,” says Abudaqa.
Basic living conditions
The Mesk and Layan Internally Displaced Persons camp was started in November in the Al Mawasi region, between Rafah to the south and Khan Yunis to the north. The camp is named after the first two girls born there, and serves as a shelter to over 700 families.
Last month, in an adjacent compound, Abudaqa and Kellner opened a new IDP camp – the Zomi Shelter Center. Zomi provides basic living conditions for the displaced: water for drinking and cooking, and toilets. It also has a communal kitchen, a tent that serves as a kind of school, a first aid tent and a meeting area.
How do two women living in Germany establish and run an IDP camp in Gaza?
Abudaqa: “I’m from Gaza, and have friends and a community there. Even before opening the camp I was involved in the activity of the World Central Kitchen organization [seven of whose volunteers were killed on April 1 by Israel Defense Forces missile fire]. My mother, Tahani Abudaqa, who’s a social activist and an entrepreneur, was on the steering committee of the camp and is involved in initiatives in other camps in the area.”
Kellner: “Anyone who needs something in the area knows that Tahani is the address. She helps us, she’s very well connected and is the CEO of the Gaza Life Power initiative, via which we sent the donations to Gaza in the first few months.”
The Zomi Shelter Center IDP camp, founded by Clean Shelter, in the Al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza.Credit: Clean Shelter
Abudaqa: “We have a team of 10 volunteers who work on a daily basis and hundreds of others who help wherever necessary. It’s an entire community – and some of the donations are also used as a kind of compensation, a token payment to those who are devoting a substantial part of their time to the camp.”
What about the supply and transport of construction materials and equipment?
Kellner: “It’s very complicated. It’s impossible to bring almost anything into Gaza, except for food from time to time, and that too is very complicated. We made several attempts, and there were already three or four times when it almost happened but in the end we were unsuccessful. That’s why we decided to buy and get the equipment and construction materials from inside Gaza.
“Some of the materials we buy in the local market that was created during the war. For example, from people who enter demolished buildings, collect planks, toilet seats and other construction materials and sell them in the market. The beginning was really ‘do it yourself’ – the first toilets we built were totally improvised and over time we consulted with people from Gaza and learned how to build them better.”
Your camp is meant for women, children, the elderly and the disabled – and has few available spots. Are there people who ask to be accepted to the camp and are turned away?
Kellner: “The camp is run by a community. We receive requests from displaced persons, including on social media, and the community members discuss them. We won’t leave people without a roof over their heads – we’ll help them to find another place. People in the area know that they can turn to us to build toilets in a place where there aren’t any, or a tent if one is missing somewhere.”
Is there a routine in an IDP camp? A time frame, community activity?
Seba Abudaqa, co-founder of Clean Shelter
Kellner: “Those living in the camp manage their own time. The organized activities are for children and teens, but sometimes there are also activities for women, such as discussion groups. In principle, we aren’t involved in these issues – we provide the infrastructure and the buildings in which it’s possible to conduct the life of the camp.”
What about personal security? Are there cases of crime or confrontations with Hamas members?
Abudaqa: “There could be petty crime, such as thefts stemming from distress. There’s no contact with Hamas. We check everyone who’s accepted or enters the camp in order to ensure that nobody who might threaten the personal security of those living in the camp will enter. We also make sure that there are no Hamas members among those who volunteer or work with us. There are also rules that the community takes upon itself. For example, from 8 P.M. there’s no entry or exit, until the morning.”
What’s the nutritional situation of those in the camp?
Kellner: “In general, the most difficult situation is in the northern part of the Strip, where it’s almost impossible to work. Our activity is in the area of Al-Mawasi, which is further south, where the situation isn’t as bad. There are many organizations working in this area, and World Central Kitchen has also resumed work after a month’s recess following the killing of its workers. It’s not that the situation is good in the south in terms of nutrition. They don’t eat a full and balanced diet, but they’re not starving.”
Abudaqa: “The biggest problem is access to clean water. There are lots of wells in the area – but the water in them is unpotable. Using this water requires very expensive desalination systems, which don’t exist in Gaza. There’s a big sanitation project which focuses on water treatment, which we’re also participating in along with other organizations; and our engineers are working with engineers from other organizations to bring clean water to the area.
“Meanwhile, we buy large containers of water for our camp, and the cost is 500 shekels ($134) a day. It’s better than the well water, but the water is still polluted. Anyone who can, boils the water before use, but that’s not always possible due to the electricity shortage. In the present situation, people make due with any water that isn’t saline.”
Next goal: Clean water for 3,000 people
Clean Shelter recently announced a fundraising campaign to pay for the purchase and installation of a desalination unit and two 5,000-liter water containers, as well as for additional solar panels – the main energy source for the Zomi camp. According to the announcement, the required sum – about 15,000 euros – will help to provide clean water to about 3,000 people.
To what extent is your daily routine, as German residents, affected by your activity in the organization?
Abudaqa: “We deal with it every day intensively, because the situation on the ground changes quickly. For example, last week there was an outbreak of hepatitis A in the camp, and we had to act quickly.
“We’re a small organization and that has its advantages, such as a quick response time and great flexibility. It’s felt in the major issues, but also when you have to help one family that needs soap. We participate every day in online meetings regarding the running of the camp, and at the same time are in contact with additional circles of volunteers and organizations.”
Tom Kellner, co-founder of Clean Shelter
It’s been seven months since the outbreak of the war, is there a plan for the future?
Kellner: “Our greatest fear is that this situation of the displaced will be endless. The United States is building a port in Gaza, but until they complete it a few more months will pass. They’re also talking about building a large Red Cross hospital and that will be a tremendous relief, but that’s also a matter of months. The need to respond quickly in emergency situations doesn’t always suit the planning for the more distant future. “We started to develop an idea of rehabilitating houses that were damaged but not destroyed. At the same time, we’re thinking about what we can do if more people arrive from Rafah. We want to build another camp, and it’s not clear where there’s an area safe enough. The fear is of building something that at any moment could be bombed.”
On the Israeli side, the Clean Shelter initiative was received with mixed feelings. Quite a few Israelis find it difficult to digest the idea of an Israeli citizen raising donations for the Gazan population.
“There are also negative reactions,” says Kellner. “People write to me: ‘Why are you collecting donations for Palestinian and not for our soldiers?” I try to avoid the political discussion, because in my opinion there are two populations here that are imprisoned in the same processes. I don’t feel a need to speak on behalf of the Palestinians, I can only say how I feel.”
“It’s true that our activity, from the very statement it makes, is political – but first of all its humanitarian. Of course even working with Seba at this time is the most political thing possible, and I feel that it’s the future. We don’t agree about everything, our political views are certainly not identical, but we both believe that it’s possible and essential to overcome the gaps,” adds Kellner.
You live in Berlin and teach at a university in West Germany. What’s the atmosphere there regarding Israel?
Kellner: “There’s tension. It’s also a generational thing – the older Germans feel a huge commitment to Israel. The young people are already more critical of the connection between Germany and Israel. In general, the Germans support Israel unreservedly, and even the German academic world is pro-Israeli.
“I don’t experience what’s happening in certain academic institutions in the United States or in other places. There was only one such occurrence, when Seba and I traveled to Munich and participated in a panel about Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. There were pro-Palestinians there who accused us of contributing to the efforts to normalize the occupation. We disagree. We feel that we’re engaged in the best possible activity for a future of peace.”
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