I’ve succumbed to my current irrelevance in the big project of peace with justice in Israel/Palestine. Please don’t email or text me messages telling me I’m a good person. I don’t feel bad about myself–I feel bad about the world. Even though I genuinely believe that crisis offers the most fertile opportunity for meaningful change in the mainstream narrative that constraints people’s understanding, I simply can’t make a dent there. Fortunately, there are those with the brilliance and the platform to make a difference. Follow these brave human beings:
https://www.instagram.com/motaz_azaiza/reels/
https://www.instagram.com/byplestia/reels/
https://www.instagram.com/wissamgaza/reels/
https://www.instagram.com/wizard_bisan1/reels/
https://www.instagram.com/ahmedhijazee/reels/
https://www.instagram.com/hindkhoudary/reels/
https://www.instagram.com/joegaza93/reels/
https://www.instagram.com/nouralsaqa/reels/
https://www.instagram.com/ajplus/reels/
https://twitter.com/m7mdkurd
https://twitter.com/PeterBeinart
https://twitter.com/iyad_elbaghdadi
https://twitter.com/theIMEU
https://twitter.com/palyouthmvmt
https://twitter.com/DecolonizePS
https://twitter.com/IfNotNowOrg
My niche now is smaller, but also important. To those of you who are only connected to the Middle East through me, I’m sorry I’ve been silent this week, leaving you to try to make sense of the senseless with few resources beyond the racist and distorted CNN and New York Times. I don’t imagine I can change your minds, but I hope that I can support you in your sincere efforts to learn, and I hope that by sharing my perspective and my anguish, we can at least stay in relationship. Or, dare I hope, perhaps we can work together to demand that world leaders end oppression and war?
-Nora
This video is long (26:42) and probably not interesting for those of you who are well informed about the Palestinian experience in Gaza, but I’m sharing my perspective nonetheless and welcome comments:
Some Articles I’ve Written Over the Years about Gaza
It’s 2020. Does the United Nations Care about Gaza? (September 6, 2020)
What Do I Say to Abu Fathi? (May 25, 2017)
Come With Me to Gaza (photo essay) (April 23, 2016)
One Year After Ceasefire, ‘Temporary’ Housing for Gazans Seems to be Permanent
(August 28, 2015)
My Trip to Gaza 2015 (April10, 2015)
Israel Devastated Gaza, but “Aid” Helps Keep it That Way (April 9, 2015)
Malala, Where is Your Money? (December 16, 2014)
During Gaza, a poem (November 2, 2014)
Rant on Humanitarianism (September 18, 2014)
Guest post: “I thought I was going to die, but it turned out to be my cousin” by Ahmed AlQattawi (September 8, 2014
Guest post: “When the Gaza Sky Burst into Flames” by Mahmoud Khalaf (August 2, 2014)
US Complicity in Israel’s Attack on Gaza (July 11, 2014)
Gaza Under Fire: What Does it Mean for Philanthropy? (July 8, 2014)
B- for my Gaza Birthday Campaign but an A for Effort (July 4, 2014)
With links to tens of videos of interviews with friends in Gaza
How Can You Help?
Every time there’s an attack on Palestine, people ask me where to send donations. This is a wonderful but problematic dynamic. Palestinians need and deserve support, but real solidarity must be more than money. It must also be political. And donations and solidarity must be ongoing, not sporadic, emotional responses. Funding has to go to local organizations, not sent for convenience sake to international agencies that build capacity and credibility at the expense of Palestinian civil society. Also, support has to flow to all Palestinian priorities, not be diverted from Jerusalem or Hebron or Jenin just because Gaza is on the front page.
To explain, and to answer people’s frequent questions, I wrote a book chapter called “Aiding Liberation” (pages 396-409) in Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out edited by Ramzy Baroud & Ilan Pappé. Clarity Press and The European Centre for Palestine Studies, 2022. You can read it at https://www.academia.edu/105722870/_Aiding_Liberation_Book_Chapter.
