Today I came to Gaza for the first time. Despite working in the occupied Palestinian territory for almost a year, Israeli entry restrictions and a precarious security situation had prevented me from meeting my colleagues here until now.
My friends warned that I might have difficulties sleeping tonight but I felt so overwhelmed, so exhausted, that I was sure I would collapse as soon as I retreated to the comfort of my hotel room. Turns out they were right: re-imagining the trauma of others is an area where they’ve gained unwanted expertise.
Like most Palestinians from Gaza, not one of my colleagues has left the 45km-long, blockaded Gaza Strip since the last war ended 10 months ago. After living and working through through that brutal 51-day war, they began the business of picking up the pieces of their own lives and that of their broken cities – all in the very well-grounded fear that the next war is only a matter of time.
Most people don’t realise that the frontline of humanitarian response is staffed by people from the place where the crisis is playing out. The idea of internationals jetting in to the rescue is largely illusory. Usually, when the real crisis hits, the internationals are evacuated and the locals are left to play the grim hand they’ve been dealt. Full story...
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My friends warned that I might have difficulties sleeping tonight but I felt so overwhelmed, so exhausted, that I was sure I would collapse as soon as I retreated to the comfort of my hotel room. Turns out they were right: re-imagining the trauma of others is an area where they’ve gained unwanted expertise.
Like most Palestinians from Gaza, not one of my colleagues has left the 45km-long, blockaded Gaza Strip since the last war ended 10 months ago. After living and working through through that brutal 51-day war, they began the business of picking up the pieces of their own lives and that of their broken cities – all in the very well-grounded fear that the next war is only a matter of time.
Most people don’t realise that the frontline of humanitarian response is staffed by people from the place where the crisis is playing out. The idea of internationals jetting in to the rescue is largely illusory. Usually, when the real crisis hits, the internationals are evacuated and the locals are left to play the grim hand they’ve been dealt. Full story...
Related posts:
- 'Choked, beaten & strip-searched': HRW slams Israel for ‘abusive arrests’
- Year since Israeli missiles killed 4 boys playing football on Gaza beach...
- Living Amongst Ruins: War-torn Gaza a year after ‘Protective Edge’
- Israel’s “every day terrorism”, crimes against Palestinian children...
- Three Israeli soldiers who fought in Gaza war commit suicide...
- Israeli forces displayed ‘callous indifference’ in deadly attacks on family...
- Gaza and the 'crime of crimes'
- Israel committed genocide in Gaza: EU delegation...
- Almost 430 kids killed in Israeli raids on Gaza...
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