Gaza Ghetto
Public Intervention (2014 – present)
There should be a word for it.
Earlier this summer I was sitting in a Berlin cafe with two other Jewish women. We each had a story about the moment when it happened. For me it was taking a language class and meeting a young man from Gaza. For the woman from Frankfurt it was while living in Jerusalem. A gear click-turns and the hazy fantasy of Israel is gone, replaced by something harsh and clear and true.
Question:
Am I living in alignment with my own values?
Gaza Ghetto was originally created in 2014 as a response to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. I wrote the name and age of each person killed in Gaza on my arm, photographed it and posted the image to social media. Israel killed roughly 2200 people that summer, most of them civilians, 548 were children. Since that time hundreds more Palestinians have been killed.
I used to believe that genocide was hard. Now I know that it is easy. An information bubble, an ‘other’ is all it takes. People line up to take the leap, contorting their beliefs like a pretzel to not confront the obvious.
The Gaza Ghetto project continues.
Please stay informed:
Democracy Now! has been doing exceptional reporting.
The Question of Palestine by Edward Said.
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance 1917-2017 by Rashid Kahlidi
Follow journalists in Gaza:
Hind Khoudary
Motaz Azaiza
Bisan
Please also see Chalk, Voices of 9.11.