The ‘Network of Web Trees’ in Gaza

[mrtksn]

Ah this reminds of Cuba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEplzHraw3c

I bet everywhere with restricted internet something of this sort exists.

It also reminds the tech startup scene in Gaza, when I was browsing Google Maps to see what kind of economy they have there I recall stumbling upon startup schools. It's fascinating to browse the maps and see familiar things on places you wouldn't expect , I wish the best both to Gazans and the Israeli.

Anyway, just for a bit of humanisation of the people there, here is a spontaneous street performans by a Gazan dancer in Europe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSLR6uKTZX4

It's one of the most beautiful things I've seen. Notice how she transforms from fathers little girl into this elegant creature the moment she makes her first move? I think people completely transform into another persona when the assume a role and in this video you can see the transformation. IMHO a similar transformation happens when people have a connection to an environment outside of theirs, therefore this stuff is important for things beyond the practical needs.

[solarpunk]

this is pretty neat, reminds me of cuba's meshnet system.

i was wondering how all the efforts to buy gazan's eSIMs was going, this seems to be one of the results.

[aspenmayer]

> cuba's meshnet system

Related:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paquete_Semanal

https://blog.cloudflare.com/the-cuban-cdn/

[rl3]

>i was wondering how all the efforts to buy gazan's eSIMs was going, this seems to be one of the results.

The eSIM stuff terrifies me, because you know damn well they're feeding that data into their intelligence apparatus for targeting purposes, and recent history has shown thus far that they don't give much of a shit about collateral damage.

I highly suspect that nearby cellular activity increases the chances of being injured or killed by an airstrike.

[dmbche]

It's not extremely clear to me - they manage to put phones with Esim where there is signal and set up a hotspot for other phones? Or do they maintain hotspots near the border for the people in Gaza to conect to? Or a mix of both?

[aprilthird2021]

Yes essentially they put the phones up high enough to get Israeli or Egyptian signal (since Israel shut off the Palestinian one), then the phone uses its hotspot to connect to nearby phones.

[solarpunk]

seems like a mix of both.

[solarpunk]

I went to the NGO to see if there any further technical specifications to read about, it doesn't seem so: https://www.acs-italia.it/gazaweb-e-gli-alberi-della-rete/

it seems to be purely built upon cellular connectivity and hotspots!

I'm shocked there's no meshnet stuff involved here, but I suppose we can't see much details beyond the backbone, last-mile connectivity methods are probably extremely hodgepodge.

[pphysch]

I've never seen "Gazzawi" used before as a demonym instead of Gazan.

[Bilal_io]

It's the Arabic version of Gazan.

[localfirst]

I wonder if something like this will become more prolific sort of like the rise of private gated suburban cities that has their own unrestricted internet jurisdiction vs the public facilities that overtime become ghettos with their own web trees capable of evading surveillance (by the group that wakes up every morning worried about losing it all to the people outside the fence).

Often wars are frontiers for societal shifts that arises from new technological inventions/adaptations. What we are seeing in Gaza very may well become a reality in the West in the future: a divorce of a globally connected world into its own islands that can only be accessed via physical proximity or like in my earlier example, socioeconomic class, even by ethnicity.

[BuildTheRobots]

Where's the technical details for how this works? Are they just broadcasting wifi hotspots?

[aprilthird2021]

I wonder why this is not a situation where Starlink could have been deployed?

[lazyasciiart]

a) lack of shipping resources, electricity, etc b) which people are reluctant to waste on something that will instantly be a visible target and probably last about five minutes c) Musk is on Netanyahu's side https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/28/elon-musks-israel-...

[maybelsyrup]

> the telecommunications infrastructure has been severely damaged

Distal to the tech here but man, once you see the passive voice vs active voice stuff on this issue, you really can't un-see it. Astounding.

Edit: finished the article. The tech here really is stunning -- like, the ratio of ingenuity to resources is insane.

[TaylorAlexander]

Can confirm can’t unsee it! And you realize it’s used a lot. If Russia destroys infrastructure in Ukraine, our news says “Ukrainians adapted after the Russian military destroyed their networks”. When the IDF destroys Gazan networks, the story is “Gazans adapted after their networks were destroyed”.

Same thing happens with police shootings. “A stray bullet killed a child during police encounter” is a common type of headline. “Police officer shoots kid” is less common.

[anonfordays]

>Distal to the tech here but man, once you see the passive voice vs active voice stuff on this issue, you really can't un-see it. Astounding.

The author is an Arabic speaking, English as a second language pro-Palestinian activist/writer. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make?

[immibis]

I believe political judgements are against the Hacker News guidelines as I've been reprimanded for making them in the past. Your comment should be removed by the moderators.

If you'd said it about Ukraine/Russia, it wouldn't be removed.

[gnabgib]

Article title: The ingenious ‘network tree’ defying Gaza's connectivity blockade

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[lawlessone]

I dunno, when it get's to the point that even Piers Morgan is questioning the narrative from the IOF, I am inclined to think maybe you are wrong.

[aprilthird2021]

Yes I think if the walls between Gaza and Israel came down it would be a moment like the taking down of the Berlin wall. Two people, ruled by the same government, finally experiencing the same rights, same freedoms, same status, etc.

How to tear down that wall without the extremists trying to kill their "enemies" on each side first, that no one has the answer to

[hiddencost]

I mean Israel should withdraw, sign the peace deal to get the hostages free, send Netanyahu and Gallant to the ICJ, and pay reparations to rebuild Gaza.

That can take a 3% discount, for the October 7 attacks, given that they've taken at least 30 civilian lives for every one they lost.