Gaza Unlocked Team
GazaUnlocked @JehadAbusalim: In Light in Gaza, writers from Gaza explore the central question: Can a better future for Gaza be imagined, as part of a broader vision for ending the Nakba, the Catastrophe that befell Palestinians in 1948?
Conversation Across the Fence: Abu Artema Speaks to Israeli Conscientious Objectors - +972 01/02/2019
A rare event took place in Tel Aviv. It gathered Israeli conscientious objectors and Ahmed Abu Artema, one of the leaders and key organizers of the Great March of Return, who spoke to the objectors virtually.
How Times Reporters Froze a Fatal Moment on a Protest Field in Gaza - NYT 12/30/2018
On December 30, 2018 New York Times readers received their morning briefing and it read “Shutdown, McKinsey, Gaza.”
'My beautiful Gaza' — BBC 12/30/2018
"A Palestinian Instagrammer in the Gaza Strip wants to show us a different side of life there..."
Scores of amputations in Gaza as Israeli troops aim at legs
Today's read: Scores of amputations in Gaza as Israeli troops aim at legs, AlJazeera (12/10/2018).
We Shouldn’t Lie to Ourselves: Nonviolent Resistance Is Alive and Powerful in Gaza
Today's read: We Shouldn’t Lie to Ourselves: Nonviolent Resistance Is Alive and Powerful in Gaza, by Muhammad Shehada, The Nation (10/06/2018).
Winning Essay "The Party"
“There’s going to be a party tonight!” It’s 12 a.m. The entire house had gone to sleep and I’m sitting lazily on my desk studying, trying my best to ignore the infuriating buzz of the drones roaming above my head...
Winning Essay "30 Minutes... A Thousand Times Over"
"At times of war you become extra alarmed. You become a navigator as you try to predict how far each bombing is from your house and who of your beloved lives near the area you’ve predicted. And when you’re done with your calculations, you pray you were wrong..."
Winning Essay "Dear Blockade"
"Dear Blockade, I was 14 when I first met you. You never asked me to be friends, you just took over my life. You grew as I grew. I'm writing to you because you're a part of my life..."
Congressional Briefing on Gaza Mental Health Crisis
A US Congressional briefing focusing on mental health in Gaza will be held at noon on Thursday, November 29 at the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2203 in Washington, DC.
Congratulations to the Essay Winners
We were thrilled to receive 41 submissions to our Gaza Unlocked essay contest "My Life Under Blockade." The essays were a powerful tribute to the bright and talented youth in Gaza...
AFSC holds a Personal Essay Writing Workshop in Gaza
As part of the My Life Under Blockade essay contest, AFSC’s Gaza and Chicago teams organized an essay writing workshop on writing personal narrative essays.
Drowning in a Sea Away from Gaza: The Tragic Story of Malak Abu Jazar
This text is an adapted translation of a report by Palestinian journalist Yehya al-Yacoubi, published in Felesteen newspaper on October 25th, 2018.
Biased Media Coverage of Gaza Protests
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a national media watch group challenging media bias since 1986, published this week an article by Gregory Shupak on the recent coverage of Gaza in the press.
A Day in Gaza
During my visit to Israel and Palestine earlier this month I was able to spend five and a half hours in Gaza. I intended to spend several days visiting AFSC’s staff and partners in Gaza but the Israeli military didn’t approve the permits I required to enter Gaza until the day before I was scheduled to return to the United States.
My Life Under Blockade Essay Contest
Call for Submissions: The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is pleased to announce the “My Life Under Blockade Essay Contest.
World Bank: The Gaza Economy is Collapsing
"The economy in Gaza is collapsing," writes the World Bank in a new report published at the end of September.
Complicit Companies in Gaza Blockade
Our AFSC colleagues working on Economic Activism recently released an important update on our Investigate site regarding companies that are complicit in the blockade of Gaza.
Tea for Return
On September 7, 2018, Palestinian activists invited anti-Zionist Israeli activists to have tea and protest in solidarity with the Great March of Return. Since the Gaza siege fence and occupying military forces stood between them, they instead joined the demonstration from the eastern side with Palestinian flags and spoke with the Palestinian protestors by phone.
Rafah Needs a Hospital: Campaign Highlighting Healthcare Crisis in Southern Gaza
Rafah, the southern city of the Gaza Strip, is populated with more than 250 thousand residents living in 64 sq. km. It is bound on the west by the Mediterranean, on the east by the 1949-armistice line, and on the south by the Egyptian-Palestinian borders.
Is the March of Return Over?
For more than 100 days, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip emerged from the shadows of occupation and blockade. Thousands of Palestinians, women and men, old and young, partisans and independent, marched to the barbed-wire fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel and raised their voices. Despite living under blockade and witnessing brutal wars, a majority of the protestors maintained the peaceful and nonviolent nature of the March of Return.
Summer Reads
Headed to the beach this summer? Long car trip or airplane ride? Print out these articles to learn more about the situation in Gaza.
Members of Congress request action on Gaza
Last week 70 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent an open letter to the US Secretary of State requesting immediate action to “alleviate the growing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.”
Podcast: Understanding Gaza
In episode three of Palestine Now & Then, Jehad Abusalim interviews Toufic Haddad, a Palestinian writer and author of many works that analyze the Palestinian struggle in the larger context of geopolitical trends and history.
Swimmer's Olympic Dreams
The Independent ran a story a few days ago by their Middle East correspondent Bel Trew about a Palestinian girl in Gaza, 13 year old Fatima Abu Shedeg, who dreams of going to the Olympics in 2020.