Gaza Unsilenced

  Photo by Eman Mohammed.

  Instead, the United States puts its thumb on the scales in favor of the stronger party. In this surreal, upside-down vision of the world, it almost seems as if it is the Israelis who are occupied by the Palestinians, and not the other way around. In this skewed universe, the inmates of an open-air prison are besieging a nuclear-armed power with one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world.

  If we are to move away from this unreality, the U.S. must either reverse its policies or abandon its claim of being an “honest broker.” If the U.S. government wants to fund and arm Israel and parrot its talking points that fly in the face of reason and international law, so be it. But it should not claim the moral high ground and intone solemnly about peace. And it should certainly not insult Palestinians by saying that it cares about them or their children, who are dying in Gaza today.

  The New Yorker, July 29, 2014, http://nyr.kr/1lSQLKv

  5

  The Pen, the Keyboard, and the F-16: Creative Resistance in the Digital Age

  The Israeli onslaught on Gaza in the summer of 2014 will be remembered for many things, including the way in which it was broadcast in real time. Social media, digital art, and infographics all played prominent roles in shaping public perceptions of the assault; these tools were used for propaganda purposes, most notably by Israel, who established entire “war rooms” to aid its hasbara efforts. But they were also used as a means of resistance by Palestinians in Gaza bearing the brunt of the attacks, and by advocates attempting to amplify the voices of besieged Palestinian globally. Critics will argue about the ultimate success of these unconventional efforts, but this much is clear: Palestinian voices were louder, more present, and more expressive than ever before. From a social media-savvy 16-year-old from Gaza or a doctor tweeting from a hospital emergency room strained to the limit, to Palestinian artists in the diaspora re-imagining the viciousness of the offensive, the Palestinian narrative was alive and well and (for the first time) being mainly told in Palestinian voices. Another creative mode of written expression was poetry. Here, we have chosen pieces, written in the most trying of times, as a monument of resistance.

  War on Gaza, Social Media and Efficacy of Protest

  Hatem Bazian

  Israel’s summer 2014 war on Gaza will be extensively studied by military and political strategists alike due to the extensive shifts witnessed on the battlefield, government offices, at home and abroad, and more critically the effects brought about by social media. For starters, the Israeli leadership expressed goal of ending Hamas’s rule in Gaza was quickly jettisoned as unfolding events demonstrated the folly of such a plan and a narrower aim directed at locating and destroying existing tunnels took center stage. The initial hoped-for Israeli military success, which was politically supported by Arab and Western powers, quickly collapsed as Palestinian resistance on the frontlines managed to withstand the pressure and mounted a sustained response that altered the war’s contours.

  Yet, a more critical aspect that deserves as much attention is the global response through social media by activists and organizers who managed over the course of the war to alter the highly controlled and managed Israeli military and political narrative. The Israeli narrative dominates the mainstream media outlets but on Twitter, Facebook and other social media avenues, Gaza’s story had a Palestinian face to it. What is the impact of social media in this war and how effective were pro-Palestine activists in dominating this medium? More critical are issues relative to the nature of the medium and the prevalence of gory images and whether they provide the lead to greater levels of engagement or have a negative outcome. Lastly, as Israel’s war on Gaza intensified, a global protest movement got underway. It is too early to ask questions on the long-term impact of this mobilization. However, the need is to weigh the efficacy of protest and demonstrations and what impacts they have on the unfolding events.

  It is too early to assess the overall impacts of Israel’s war in Gaza on public attitudes across the world and whether success in the mainstream media is sufficient to keep support for Israel moving forward in the days ahead. The cracks are already visible in the social media space with Twitter and Facebook being dominated by pro-Palestine narratives and contributing to shifts in some mainstream media coverage. For example, NBC initially removed from the region Ayman Mohyeldin, the award-winning news correspondent who personally witnessed the killing by Israel of four boys playing soccer on Gaza’s beach and posted a photo of the grieving mother to Twitter. However, after a massive response on social media NBC was forced to change the decision and send the reporter back to the area.

  On the other hand, CNN reassigned Diana Magnay, an international correspondent from Israel, to Moscow after she sent a tweet, “Israelis on hill above Sdrot cheer as bombs land on #Gaza threaten to ‘destroy our car if I say a word wrong’. Scum.” The removal from the area was deemed to be for security and safety concerns but social media and activists on Twitter were able to focus attention on the coverage and the story became for few days one of the most widely shared across the globe. Indeed, CNN’s actions and removal of the reporter led to greater attention given to Israelis’ response and attitudes during the war on Gaza.

  Palestinians’ use of social media during the war was very effective; a number of bloggers operating directly from Gaza made for an open and uncensored channel of reporting becoming a window into the daily lives and the impacts of the war on the ground. This steady Gaza information source became important in countering the erasure or obfuscation of the Palestinian narrative in the mainstream press, which was spoon-fed by the Israeli public relations infrastructure. The Palestinian success in social media led Israel to attempt a response by offering to pay students to work on posting positive stories about it and countering the Palestinian narrative coming out from activists narrating Gaza’s suffering. Taking this step on a governmental level was a clear indication on the one hand of the success of Palestine’s activists in this medium and on the other a sign of the utter failure of Israel’s ability to keep its carefully crafted war narrative intact outside the controlled mainstream media.

  However, one consequence of Palestine’s activists’ heavy reliance on social media is the overuse of gory images and prevalence of photos documenting almost every case of death. While it is important to record and document each death in Gaza for possible future legal investigation and to ascertain the cause of death, social media activists’ use of these photos to shock more people into action on behalf of Palestine is highly problematic and objectifies the individuals whose images are utilized. Death is painful and Palestinians are dispossessed of agency alive and likewise in death.

  I am not here blaming individuals who are sharing these images to bring about a human response; rather it is the overall colonial structure that makes the approach paradigmatic of how Palestinians are approached. The problem is colonization and the continued occupation that makes the life of a Palestinian subject to contestation while alive, dead, and post-death. We must find ways to uplift Palestine and Palestinians at all times without having to objectify them so as to get the needed support. I am not here dealing with the Islamic legal and ethical treatment of the dead body, for the issues at hand are beyond discussing the religious norms.

  It is far more powerful to construct a full picture of the lost Palestinian life with a narrative focusing on him or her as a human being with family, friends, and potential that was brought to an end by Israeli violence. Indeed, if we only focus on images of Palestinian dead bodies, then we are reducing the full life of an individual or a family to the crime itself. We should resist this reduction and seek to draw the full picture and insist on it at all times. I am fully aware of the pain and difficulties witnessing the daily suffering of the Palestinians, but let us resist the dehumanization by keeping them alive even after the moment of death.

  The above also brings me to the protest movement that erupted after the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Across the world activis
ts and organizations mobilized heavily to protest Israeli crimes and urged governments to take the needed actions to end this assault on a captive and imprisoned population. Parts of Western Europe, South Africa, Latin and South America witnessed the largest protests, a fact that has not been seen since the mass mobilization in 2003 against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The demonstrations were unable to shift some governments’ positions in the short period, however the same can’t be said in the long run as the effects of these efforts would have to show a bleed-in effect in the upcoming elections in England and other countries facing the voters this coming fall for conclusive evidence to emerge.

  Protests and putting massive numbers of people in the streets is important in the face of governments who are refusing to alter or be critical of Israeli policies or even domestic related issues. For example, Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-Vietnam war efforts had very strong and sustained protest movements that in the long run helped shift public opinion and as a result brought about a change in policies. Thus, the lesson is not whether protest and demonstrations are effective or not but how to bring about a sustained effort and also engage in complementary strategies that take the numbers in the streets and transform them into political muscle to change policies and bring an end to unjust laws affecting Palestinians abroad and people of color at home.

  In the days ahead, we collectively have to think seriously about the needed steps that can transform the thousands in the streets into a source of political empowerment that can bring about a change in policies pertaining to the unconditional support extended to Israel. The U.S. government continues to support Israel’s position right or wrong, which means that Palestinians are expendable and Muslim voices in America have no value or power. For sure the time has come for Muslims and Arabs in America and their allies to take their numbers, resources and political worldview seriously and begin to effectuate a sustained protest movement on the outside and a focused inside political strategy to bring an end to this one-sided support. As a Muslim, my own conscience is heavy knowing daily that my own taxes are purchasing the bullets for Israel to use in killing the Palestinians. I feel this is my own responsibility and all Muslims in America should put maximum effort to bring this to end; otherwise we are part of the problem.

  Islamic Horizons, September-October 2014, pp. 28-30, http://bit.ly/1I91jEg

  Social Media: The Weapon of Choice in the Gaza-Israel Conflict

  Yousef al-Helou

  When 16-year-old Palestinian Farah Baker began tweeting about the bombs falling around her, she could never have guessed that she would rise to such prominence. But in the space of just a few weeks, her followers on Twitter jumped from 800 to 207,000, with people hungry for a firsthand, personal account of what was transpiring in Gaza. Baker is just one of the Palestinians turning to social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to share photos of the destruction in the Gaza Strip and disseminate information, updates, and posts.

  Even when the power was out, citizen journalists managed to post pictures of dead bodies, destroyed neighborhoods, and injured people to the outside world. Photography has always been a powerful force, but the Gaza conflict was one of the first wars to be photographed mainly by amateurs and social media platforms, allowing those images to spread far and wide at the click of a button, helping the people of Gaza win hearts and minds, and subsequently causing unprecedented outrage against Israel. In demonstrations around the world, such photos were enlarged and carried by demonstrators, demanding that their respective governments take action to halt Israel’s onslaught.

  “I noticed that most of the Western media supports Israel, so also some people abroad believe that we Palestinians are the murderers and that it is us who started the attacks on Israel. This is not right. I felt I had to do something to help Gaza. I used Twitter as a weapon to share what exactly happens in Gaza by posting links of recorded clips of bombs, photos of the smoke to make people who follow me feel as if they are living in Gaza, to let them know we are the victims,” Farah Baker said.

  No doubt reporting in a war zone like Gaza is risky, even if you take all required precautions. Of the 2016 Palestinians killed in the current Israeli assault, 14 were journalists, including a foreign reporter who worked for local and international media outlets. Simultaneously, a number of buildings housing media offices and outlets were attacked.

  Israel is ranked 96th in the world on the “Press Freedom Index”—a report compiled by Reporters without Borders—because of the Israeli military’s targeting of Palestinian journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory. This ranking was published before the start of Israel’s third war on Gaza, called “Operation Protective Edge.”

  “Since the start of the Gaza blockade in 2006, a new generation of Palestinians has come to prominence in Gaza. Articulating their message in fluent English through blogs and Twitter, they conveyed their message to the world as a means to break their isolation, not only from the outside world but also from the rest of the occupied territories in the West Bank and the capital of East Jerusalem,” said Abed al-Nasser Abu Oun, a TV correspondent and radio presenter at a local radio station.

  As the war progressed, it was an online battle of narratives—between heavily funded Israeli state media outlets, represented by Israeli spokespersons of the Israeli government and the army with decades of experience—versus Palestinian citizen journalists who only had their own laptops, smartphones, and cameras.

  Some citizen journalists from Gaza argue that they were even able to win the cyberwar, and reach the public in the West, by repackaging, commenting on, and distributing content in innovative ways, tweeting updates a lot faster than other media outlets.

  “Most of the Western corporations and outlets are biased in favor of Israel, so they totally mislead people by fabricating news, showing Palestinians’ destroyed homes as Israeli ones. This attitude sparked uproar and disgust toward those news channels—namely Fox News. Alternatively, Palestinian activists firmly focus on revealing the reality through social media tools,” said Maram Humaid, a social media activist.

  The use of social media also forged connections with international media organizations, which contacted Gaza residents and citizen journalists with questions and interview requests.

  Twitter became a platform for tens of thousands of regular people who have an opinion to share, for those who wish to challenge someone else’s point of view, or those who simply want to share updates and their own personal feelings on the human cost of Israel’s war. Many of these messages can be viewed under the hashtags #GazaUnderAttack and #PrayforGaza.

  “Many people—young and old alike—are using social media to report on their immediate circumstances in ways that the mainstream media cannot. We see this shifting coverage and understanding of events from Gaza to Ferguson. In both places, tweets from local residents have offered immediate news to those watching from elsewhere. In some cases, citizen journalists have greatly challenged the narratives of more established sources,” said Joe Catron, an American pro-Palestine activist in Gaza.

  Citizen journalists can publish their own work, analysis, and breaking news in a free, uncensored and unfiltered way, unlike professional reporters of the mainstream media who have to stick to their corporations’ editorial policy and guidelines.

  One of the motivating factors that drives more citizen journalists to volunteer dismantling information is due to the unfair media coverage of the Palestinian narrative.

  “The rise of the internet has helped to reconstruct the fragmentation of Palestine, as it is a way for Palestinians to reconnect and break their isolation. I think the effect of the social media boom among young Palestinian social media activists somehow succeeded in changing public perception of the Palestinian in the West,” said Majed Shuplaq, a Palestinian journalist.

  Citizen journalism from Palestine is especially valuable for those who are looking for information that has not been filtered through a Western agenda. Social me
dia has definitely weakened the Israeli narrative, as Palestinians are able to connect directly with overseas audiences and tell the stories that they feel are important.

  Hundreds of thousands of tweets exchanged reports, opinions, and challenges to mainstream news reports and to each other. There were of course, many other tags that hosted additional discussions. In hindsight, it seems that Twitter hosted the most open and democratic discussions, compared with other social media venues.

  Middle East Eye, August 21, 2014, http://bit.ly/1CHAiok

  In Asymmetric Twitter War over Gaza, Palestinians Are Winning

  Belal Dabour

  A figure comparing hashtag use was omitted for space considerations.

  As Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza continues, another fierce battle also rages.

  As soon as the first bomb fell on Gaza, thousands of Palestinian and Israeli Twitter users engaged in what appears to be a virtual fight.

  On one side are the hundreds of Palestinian citizens using Twitter to document the horrifying impact of Israeli attacks that have so far killed more than two thousand people and injured eleven thousand more.

  Everyone in his or her area posted photos and videos of houses being blown up and provided evidence-packed witness to atrocities that regular media outlets fail to reach or deliberately ignore.

  On the other side are the pro-Israel users, whose focus remains mainly on denying everything claimed by the Palestinian side—the colonized and occupied side—and failing to provide evidence in the process.

  Many resort to explicitly racist and anti-Muslim statements in order to dehumanize Palestinians and justify killing them.