Gaza Writers Resist War and Siege through Fiction
A
Palestinian youth waits near luggage, hoping to cross into Egypt, at
the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip on January
21, 2014. (Photo: AFP - Said Khatib)
Generations of Palestinians living in Gaza have suffered
massacres, occupation, a tightening Egyptian-Israeli blockade, and
continuous military attacks by Israel. In the face of this, a group of
young Palestinian writers have chosen to resist through the power of
writing.
“Writing is a form of resistance; [a] refusal to surrender,” said
Refaat Alareer, the brain-child, editor, and one of the contributors of
the recently published “Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine.”
Fifteen
young writers, between the ages of 18 and 30, five of whom never wrote
fiction before, contributed 23 short fiction stories to the final
collection. Only four were able to attend the book’s launch in packed
rooms in London and Malaysia on January; the rest unable to leave Gaza.
For these writers, the stories within “Gaza Writes Back” symbolized
their own personal struggles, as well as societal challenges they
witnessed around them. It was an opportunity for them to give voice to
the voiceless.
“As a Palestinian living in Gaza City, I have always believed that
every Palestinian life is a story worth telling,” said Tasnim Nabil
Hammouda, a 19-year-old English and literature student at the Gaza
university and author of two short stories in the book.
“Every Palestinian is a potential storyteller, for the story is
always there, but putting it into words is the real challenge,” echoed
Hanan Habashi, 23-year-old teacher and another story contributor.
Stories Reflecting Realities
“My story is personal. It’s about my eldest brother Omar who was
killed by Israel in Gaza in 2004…[and] about my other brother who was
named after him too,” Yousef Aljamal, a Palestinian blogger currently
studying a master’s in International Relations at the University of
Malaysia, told Al-Akhbar.
Initially, “Omar X” was an article written by Aljamal entitled, “Why I
Have Two Brothers Called Omar,” that was reworked and re-edited through
Alareer’s guidance, and eventual was transformed into a fictionalized
short story that was incorporated into the collection.
“The story is a token of appreciation to my eldest brother in which I
try to describe his last moments in life as he bled and tried to call
us, but he could not,” Aljamal explained.
The Gaza Strip, a small sliver of land, populated with almost 1.7
million people, has been under total blockade, cutting land, sea, and
air routes, by Israel since 2007, a dire situation that has had an
enormous influence on the writers’ stories.
The siege, a form of collective punishment and a crime against
humanity, denies Palestinians in Gaza the ability to import basic goods
including construction material, certain food products, and even books.
It has significantly decimated agriculture, manufacturing, and the
fishing industry that many of Gaza’s people rely to sustain a
living.Movement is completely curtailed, in effect forcing the
population to exist in an open-air prison.
The noose continues to tightened over time.
According to a report released
by Oxfam late last year, more than 80 percent of Gaza's inhabitants are
in need of humanitarian aid and 65 percent of families are expected to
be food insecure.
"The situation in Gaza has deteriorated substantially - and I repeat,
substantially - in the last few months,” the former Commissioner
General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
(UNRWA), Filippo Grandi, warned during the opening session of UNRWA's Advisory Commission in Jordon last November.
"UNRWA has a major responsibility for the welfare of two thirds of
the population [in Gaza], and from that perspective I must remind you,
once more, that Gaza is quickly becoming uninhabitable," he added.
Since the summer of 2012, the Egyptian military, crucial in maintaining the siege with Israel from its beginnings, furthered the population’s strangulation
by indefinitely closing the Rafah crossing – the only exit out of Gaza –
and intensified a campaign to destroy hundreds of underground tunnels
that are the strip’s economic and social life-line.
“My story is set in Gaza and many aspects of it reflect the daily
distress Gazans have to endure,” said Habashi, whose short story “L for
Life,” kicks off the collection.
“Gaza is the home of electricity cut-offs, UNRWA refugee cards and
the miserable camps. Those weren't things I had to imagine to write, I
just needed to look around and go forward with my story,” Habashi said.
In Hammouda’s case, she tackled the medical and humanitarian crisis
arising from the blockade in one of her two stories called “Neverland.”
The plot centers around a nurse working with children who suffer from
cancer.
“The theme is universal. Yet, it saddens me to realize that the
painful fact of Gaza having remarkably high rates of patients with
cancer stands behind my inspiration of this story,” she said.
“Gaza being under siege for several years means limited medical
assistance to these patients who don’t get the attention they deserve.
Through writing ‘Neverland,’ I wanted to bring their agony into
spotlight in one way or another.”
Overcoming Obstacles
“Gaza Writes Back” blossomed three years ago during Alareer's
tenure teaching English and creative writing courses in Islamic
University of Gaza. During that time, he commonly met students that he
felt handled and wrote English very well, but were not being prodded
into more creative directions.
Alareer decided that his students should produce
their own stories rather than solely examining and deconstructing works
by famous writers.
It was a teaching style that from the start was opposed by many of
the university’s faculty, including a few students in his own classroom.
“I guess where I come from, and this is probably true in the Arab
world, being young facing older generations resulted in some resistance.
[Many] didn't believe that students could write fiction. The difference
with me is that I believe that students can be better than their
teachers,” the 35-year-old father of five explained to Al Akhbar.
Working mainly in secret, he encouraged his students to create their
own stories about their surroundings. This meant, of course, that many
wrote about the blockade and it’s unavoidable effect on them and their
society.
But beyond the blockade, the 2008-2009 war, called “Operation Cast
Lead,” on Gaza by Israel, which killed and wounded thousands of
civilians, was another influential source for the students.
“It doesn’t sound right that wars inspire, but it did in our case. In a way or another, the war was behind most of the Gaza Writes Back stories,” Habashi noted.
“Recognizing the vulnerability of our own lives in the face of the
Israeli war machines, helplessness took hold of us, and writing pain
down helped us realize the might of our word,” she added.
Alareer further tested the waters by sharing these home-grown short
stories in his classes with other students, side-by-side with prominent
English writers like Edgar Allan Poe. The feedback was immediately
positive.
By October 2012 Alareer was approached by Helena Cobban, founder and
owner of Just World Books, who was keen in publishing works by Gazan
writers. It was decided that a collection of short story books should be
complied and published, and soon after, Alareer contacted former and
current students to form a workshop to develop such a book.
A call for submissions spread on the university’s campus and
throughout social media like wildfire, and 70 short stories were
amassed, a bulk way beyond what was expected.
During the process the writers dealt with a range of obstacles. From
frustrations over continual power-cuts at their homes to intimate
personal fears that the stories would be rejected. Fiction, as a medium
unto itself, was unruly and uncomfortable to work with for some.
“[W]riting fiction for the first time wasn't the easiest thing to
do,” Habashi said, “But at the end of the day, Palestinians are armed
with provoking memories of theirs or of people they knew or heard of. We
definitely have the raw materials for the story.”
The final book of 23 short stories was completed and released by Just World Books mid-January of this year, and already generated favorable reviews.
The book, available in North America, Europe and elsewhere, has also not been released in Gaza as of yet.
“The situation in Gaza has become more horrible because of Egypt. It
is sad to talk about how Egypt is making your life terrible,” Alareer
said. “People are suffocating.”
“[But] I managed to smuggle one book in my friend's suitcase,” he added with a light chuckle.
Despite the various obstacles, plans are already in motion to
translate the book from English into Arabic, Malay, Japanese, and other
languages, a testament to “Gaza Writes Back’s” wide-spread appreciation and growing success.
“Writing Is Resistance”
“Everybody is encouraging. It's very humbling, especially because its
the first time for [some of] these young writers,” Alareer said. “They
lacked experience, lacked practice, and yet we have five great stories
in the collection from them.”
“From day one they were amazing and very cooperative. They knew and
felt that it was a good project for Palestine and Gaza,” he said.
As Alareer noted, these Palestinian writers discovered that they have
a means to freely express themselves, and sentiments of their society,
to others beyond massive barriers that surround them. It was an
important revelation, which left a massive mark on them.
“Having been a tiny part of Gaza Writes Back, I came to
realize the power of the written word and the importance of having our
voices heard,” Habashi said. “At this point, writing [about] Palestine
grew out of the ‘writing as healing’ shell and became more of a moral
duty towards our just cause.”
“Seeing my ideas in front of me on papers and being creative never
fail to set me free in a country where life is all about freedom,”
Hammouda asserted.
For Aljamal: “Writing became a part and parcel of my life. Writing is
resistance, one form of it. I will keep writing and resisting.”
Palestina vs Zionis
Israel Hancurkan Rumah Warga Palestina di Timur al–Quds
Islam
Times - Aktivis tersebut mengatakan, warga setempat bentrok dengan
polisi Israel yang menembakkan granat setrum pada warga di daerah
tersebut.
http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcfjtdm1w6djca.,8iw.html
Warga Gaza, meninggalkan reruntuhan rumah mereka.jpg
Pasukan Israel menghancurkan empat rumah warga Palestina di Timur al-Quds (Yerusalem) di daerah Issawiya dan Beit Hanina.
Buldoser Israel menghancurkan bangunan dua lantai seluas 300 meter persegi di Issawiya, Senin (27/1/14), kata seorang aktivis.
Aktivis tersebut mengatakan, warga setempat bentrok dengan polisi Israel yang menembakkan granat setrum pada warga di daerah tersebut. Sebuah rumah dengan luas 70 meter persegi milik seorang warga Palestina juga dihancurkan di Issawiya.
Dua rumah lainnya dihancurkan oleh pasukan Israel di al-Ashqariya daerah Beit Hanina, utara al-Quds Timur yang dihuni oleh 20 orang.
Menurut urusan kemanusiaan PBB, Israel menghancurkan sekitar 100 rumah warga Palestina di Timur al-Quds pada tahun 2013 dan membuat 300 warga menjadi tunawisma.
Kelompok HAM itu mengatakan, penghancuran yang dilakukan Tel Aviv bertujuan memperoleh lahan lebih banyak dalam pembangunan pemukiman ilegal dan menjalankan proyek-proyek militer di wilayah Palestina yang diduduki.
Perluasan pemukiman Israel di Palestina yang diduduki menjadi hambatan besar dalam upaya membangun perdamaian di Timur Tengah.[IT/r]
Warga Palestina Menentang Pembangunan Tembok Pemisah Zionis Baru
Warga
Palestina memperingatkan rencana pembangunan tembok pemisah Zionis akan
menghancurkan mata pencaharian penduduk setempat di selatan Baitul
Maqdis.
Besok (Rabu, 29/1) Mahkamah Agung Israel akan memutuskan rute pembangunan tembok pemisah Zionis.
Warga desa Battir di Tepi Barat mengatakan bahwa tembok tersebut akan
mengancam mata pencaharian sekitar 5.000 warga Palestina yang bergantung
pada sistem irigasi kuno.
Terdapat sistem saluran air kuno era Romawi dari sumber air melalui pintu air untuk mengaliri kebun dan taman-taman desa.
"Pembangunan tembok akan merusak bagian dari sistem air yang telah
berada di selama 2.500 tahun, termasuk saluran yang mengarah ke desa,"
kata Akram Badr, kepala desa.
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