Describe the main features of the measure/initiative:
A campaign called “The Sea is Ours” was implemented in the second half of 2019 and was led by 35 young men and women who are mainly artists in the fields of drama, singing, and painting under the supervision of the campaign coordinator “Ali Mohanna”. The campaign was able to generate real social engagement by most of the community in Az-Zawayda and its municipality to reclaim their ownership and right to a clean sea and beach, and helped raise awareness about environmental cleanliness. In mid-July 2019 the Municipality of Az-Zawayda agreed to give the team the beach for free to establish their site and implement their activities in it. Since then, everyone has set out to clean the beach driven by the fact that the beautiful and clean sea must have a clean beach. Within two weeks, the team managed to build a special site that, for months, turned into a tourist destination for the people of the region who described it as comfortable and enjoyable, as it also became the headquarters of the team’s activities. The site was built from palm trunks and fronds. The team also built a canopy for the audience to sit under the shade, and installed benches made from palm trunks. The project was supported by A . M. Al Qattan Foundation and the Gaza Municipality.
What are the results achieved so far through the implementation of the measure/initiative?:
The team managed to change the children’s and residents’ perception that the sea only belongs to the municipality or controlled by the occupation, and replaced it with the notion that “the sea belongs to us”. The project also brought important issues to public debate and created new partnerships between independent artists and local organizations.