Hello, and happy Friday. Or is it?
In truth, there has been nothing remotely happy about the past two weeks. For the millions of people who have any connection to the land that sits between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, the days since Oct. 7 have been consumed by terror, fear, and grief.
The world was, and continues to be, rightly horrified by the details and images that emerged from that dark Saturday, when Hamas militants breached the Gaza-Israel barrier and committed a massacre unlike any seen in the country’s history, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,400 Israelis. Hundreds more are missing and presumably being held in Gaza as hostages (more on this below).
Today, I find myself simultaneously horrified at how one tragedy has so quickly led to another. In Gaza, Israel is waging its war of vengeance—on Hamas and, by extension, the more than 2 million Palestinians residing within the densely-populated enclave. Since 2007, these Palestinians have lived under a suffocating blockade, enforced by Israel and Egypt, that has earned Gaza its reputation of being the world’s largest open-air prison. Little goes in and no one comes out. In recent days, that terrible situation has become catastrophic for Gaza’s civilian population, half of whom are children. In addition to its bombardment of Gaza, Israel has cut off all food, water, electricity, and fuel supplies to the Strip. More than 4,000 Palestinians, including 47 entire families, are dead.
Western countries have, not for the first time, proven markedly less sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians. Perhaps that’s because their lives are less proximate; perhaps because the world has become desensitized to their suffering over the many years and decades. A democracy (flawed as it is) that seeks to defend itself from hostile actors is something most people can understand. Living under blockade and occupation, with the everyday arbitrary subjugation and violence that comes with it—well, that isn’t quite so relatable.
This doesn’t give us license to look away. As one 21-year-old Palestinian living in Gaza recently told me:
I have to sleep every single night with the thought that I might wake up under rubble, if I ever wake up … It feels like we’re just waiting for our turn, you know? It seems like we’re dead, but our death is pending.
If there’s one thing that has been getting me through these past couple of weeks, it’s been the countless messages from friends all over the world who have reached out to check in. If you have Palestinian or Israeli friends, colleagues, or if you know anyone who has loved ones there—reach out to them. It’s never too late, and it’ll mean the world.
What I’ve written
For TIME’s latest cover story, my colleagues and I collected a series of testimonies from the families and friends of Israelis who are believed to be among the hostages being held in Gaza.
Below is an extract of my conversation with John Lyndon, whose friend, the Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, was taken hostage at Kibbutz Be’eri:
Before the closure of Gaza and the Second Intifada, she spent a ton of time in Gaza. She has lots of friends in Gaza from those times and had worked really, really hard to put Gaza on the agenda in Israel. It's hard to overemphasize how invisible Gaza is when there's not rockets firing. People just forget it's there. Even sometimes the Israeli left. And Vivian was always the voice in the room who was like, 'No, we need to talk about Gaza, about Gazans, rehumanize them.' And that's what makes her kidnapping all the more tragic. This is an Israeli that was focused on this, who knew so deeply the reality of Gaza, who could probably draw you a map of Beit Lahia or Gaza City from her mind. Keep reading here
In the aftermath of the Israeli military’s evacuation order, which instructed the more than one million Palestinians in northern Gaza to flee toward the south, I wrote about why there are no real safe havens in Gaza:
In the southern city of Khan Younis, to which many Palestinians from the north have headed, rescue workers continue to search for survivors amid the rubble of homes destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. Local doctors are warning of imminent catastrophe if their hospitals run out of fuel and water. Although Israel has since bowed to U.S. pressure to resume water supplies to southern Gaza, the lack of electricity has made it all but impossible for it to be pumped into people’s homes. “Everyone here in Khan Younis is in survivor mode,” says Yousef Hammash, an NRC advocacy officer based in Gaza. “It’s a horrible situation here—it’s really horrible. I saw people who sleep in the streets. We never had homeless people before in Gaza. Now half of the population is homeless.” Keep reading here
Plus:
What I’ve read
This story on the Biden administration’s “culture of silence” on Israel-Palestine (HuffPost)
Several staffers across multiple agencies, most of whom work on national security issues, told HuffPost they and their colleagues worry about retaliation at work for questioning Israel’s conduct amid the U.S.-backed Israeli campaign to avenge an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, that killed more than 1,400 Israelis.
The fear is especially intense among staffers with Muslim backgrounds. On Sunday, presidential personnel office chief Gautam Raghavan organized a call with close to a dozen current and former high-level Muslim appointees to discuss their concerns. Some staffers said they felt unsafe voicing their opinions around colleagues, according to a person on the call, which has not been previously reported.
This essay on what Israel is trying to accomplish in Gaza (The Atlantic)
One can see why residents of Gaza City might, in this context, be reluctant to leave just because Israel tells them to. Gazans know that if they leave, they will have to rely on the goodwill of Israel to let them back in and not use this moment to remake the region’s demography. Even if Israel cannot empty the city and replace the population, the government could render the area uninhabitable and nudge some portion of its Arab inhabitants into permanent exile.
This powerful photo essay capturing death, destruction, and grief in Gaza (TIME)
Alghorra’s photographs show how Israeli airstrikes continue to overwhelm the 2.2 million Palestinians living in what is one of the world’s most densely populated places. Families grieve next to lifeless bodies. Plumes of smoke fill the sky. Rubble fills the streets. Patients inundate Al-Shifa, the city’s largest medical complex, as thousands more seek shelter there. Homes are destroyed every day. “They are reduced to dismembered bodies inside,” he says.
What I’m thinking about
There will be many who, as a result of recent events, are coming to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the first time. To those people, I say ahlan wa sahlan. I also advise caution: Social media is not the best classroom for this subject, especially now. Below are some accessible resources that I think provide valuable and nuanced insights into what is fundamentally a political conflict over land (not religion, as some might have you think).
Films:
Novels:
The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan
Sadness Is a White Bird by Moriel Rothman-Zecher
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
Misc:
Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown episode on Jerusalem
Until next time,
Yasmeen