edited by Zheng E (www.chinaview.cn)

The 18-year-old Gaza young man Mohammed Wafi, who formed a western-style hip-hop band, said that as years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians brought nothing but more pain and suffering, more people are becoming believers of peaceful resistance.

He formed his western-style hip-hop band, which sings for Palestine and slams the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The band is financed by his interior decorator mother, Reda, together with two other friends.

“We are a group of youths who did not scarify for our home,” says Wafi. “We can’t carry arms and shoot at the occupiers, but we decided to adopt the idea of the Rap music and use it against the Jews (Israel) as what the blacks did in their fight against discrimination in the United States.”

Made up of Khaled Harara, a 21-year-old student who studies economy, and his school colleague Mohanad Matar and the high school student Wafi, the Black Unit Band saw the light in the spring this year, just one month before Islamic Hamas movement celebrated its first anniversary of ruling the Gaza Strip.

15 songs of Black Unit hit the market in Gaza since May, with duets with Turkish, Bulgarian and German artists.

“The songs were in Arabic with some English phrases,” Wafi said, adding “we communicate with the international artists and corporate through our web space.”

But Wafi refers to “a sector of the Palestinian community” that is not satisfied with their work. “They say we imitate the westerns and that music can never liberate the countries,” he said.

Since Hamas won the elections in 2006 and formed its government in Gaza, dozens of attacks against DVD stores, cafes shops and hair beauty salons were registered.

The attacks increased in the early months after Hamas routed its secular rival Fatah and drove out security forces of President Mahmoud Abbas in mid June last year.

However, the attacks decreased as order and security dominates now, according to what Hamas authorities say.

And it is so why Wafi and his friends insist to go on. “After two months, we will release another CD that deals with common interest national and social issues with some goals of entertainment.”

But Wafi remembers he is in Gaza where everything goes the other way you plan due to the situation of the Israeli blockade and the internal political split between Gaza and the West bank.

“We go to the studio to record but the electricity goes off suddenly so we postpone the recording,” he said.

The only power station in Gaza Strip was forced to shut down since nearly three weeks due to the lack of fuel as Israel sealed off the territory’s crossing points due to resumption of violence and the ongoing homemade rockets attacks fired from Gaza at southern Israel.

“Sometimes the power cuts off while we are in the middle of recording and we have to start all over again when it comes back,” Wafi said, adding “due to power problems, electricity comes only 6hours each 24 hours.”

Black Unit Band - “2deha”