March 2013
1 post
February 2013
1 post
December 2012
3 posts
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The power of images: sometimes less is more
Images make words so much more powerful. But when choosing those images, sometimes less is more.
Consider these images below, posted by so many Palestinians on Facebook and blogs during the recent “8-day war” in Gaza:
I recoiled when I saw these pictures. Instead of pondering what was happening, including the role of my own government and its allies, my instinctive reaction was...
3 tags
In the dark, comes a flash of truth
In Gaza, the continuing extended power outages are one of the most trying aspects of daily life for residents and internationals who choose to live in homes (like me) rather than a hotel. While the blackouts seem to be a bit shorter than during my last stay earlier this year, they continue nonetheless, and are particularly crippling for families who cannot afford to switch on a generator every...
8 tags
A day in the sun for Gaza, or more of the same?
With the news that the UN General Assembly has voted 138-9 to accept Palestine as a “non-member observer state,” fireworks erupted and horns honked in Gaza. Finally, Palestinians were feeling as if they were having their day in the sun.
First, Israel ended its latest attack – which some believe should be re-named “Operation Pillar of Shame” – just eight days after it began, agreeing to a ceasefire...
November 2012
2 posts
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4 myths about the Israeli attack on Gaza
As Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip, and factions within the beleaguered territory retaliate as best they can, there are many myths and stereotypes dominating mainstream media coverage, and many conversations.
Here are a few of the most common misunderstandings:
Myth: Hamas started the round of fighting that led to Israel’s “Operation Pillar of Defense.”
Fact: This myth represents a...
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Citizen diplomacy: a balance between leading and...
Since returning from Pakistan, a number of “armchair critics” have questioned the delegation’s motivations and effectiveness. This is my response, first published on OpenDemocracy.
I am one of the 31 Americans from CODEPINK who journeyed to Pakistan to shine a spotlight on U.S. drone attacks that are killing hundreds of innocent civilians along with “militants.” That trip also...
October 2012
6 posts
4 tags
Pakistan: A land of competing narratives
After a horrifically interminable 48 hours of traveling, I am at home, and looking back at my trip to Pakistan with a bit more distance and perspective. If there is a unifying theme as my thoughts crystallize it is this: There is always more than one narrative, and it is incumbent upon us to seek them out as we travel. As a journalist and an activist, I see my challenge as to always remain in the...
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Let's talk about the Taliban...
Throughout my stay in Pakistan, I have been noting similarities in the challenges faced by the people in the frontier regions here and in Gaza. Both populations are under daily threat by foreign drones (U.S. vs. Israel), the movement of both groups is tightly controlled, and both peoples are judged by the world based on internal factions branded as “extremist.”
Whenever I speak about Gaza,...
5 tags
On the road to Waziristan...
Our road to drone-ravaged Waziristan was a long and winding one, at times frightening, surrealistic and frustrating, but always exhilarating and significant.
It officially began Friday morning, when we joined officials from PTI, the political party of Imran Khan, and Clive Stafford-Smith from the UK’s Reprieve at a press conference at the Marriott in Islamabad. In a clear sign that the media were...
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U.S. will someday reap what it sows through drone...
“I will never forget what the American soldiers did to my country, my tribe and my family. They violated our national sovereignty and our Islamic laws. They killed my son and my younger brother. They destroyed my home. If I see the soldiers who are responsible for this – if I have the opportunity — I will kill them.” (translated from Pashto)
These are the chilling words of Kareem Khan, a...
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U.S. leaving legacy of English speakers, damaged...
Abdul was just 20 years old when he drove his father to the medical clinic one day for an exam. He dropped his father off, then left to run a few errands, saying nonchalantly that he would be back by the time the tests were done. But..he never showed up at the clinic. It was as if he had disappeared into thin air. His family agonized over what had happened to the young man, who – as the oldest son...
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Day 1: Aafia, the ambassador and Bob Marley
Nine of us arrived in Islamabad very early Wednesday, at 3 a.m. It was a long flight, but our fatigue didn’t last long…We walked into the terminal to the waiting arms of a throng of welcomers, throwing rose petals, taking pictures and chanting.
Distrust of America is strong in Pakistan, but when the people learn that we are coming in solidarity — in support of a less-violent foreign...
7 tags
Palestine to Pakistan...Connecting the dots
My friends and family have gradually gotten used to the fact that the fight for Palestinian rights is my passion; they may not understand it totally, but they accept and even embrace it. A few have even occasionally asked me why I don’t just move to the Gaza Strip, where I have increasingly returned since 2009. (The answer, in part: I also want to be a part of my daughters’ lives.)
But when I...
August 2012
1 post
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Who inspires you the most? Dr. Seuss or Ayn Rand?
I have become active in a “Professional Women’s Network” on LinkedIn, and recently, one of the participants posed a question that attracted a huge number of responses (594 to date): “What is the most influential book you have read?”
It has been gratifying to read the outpouring of responses; thankfully, books still are popular and treasured in this age of technology, multi-tasking and 30-second...
July 2012
3 posts
“As things stand now, I am going to be a writer. I’m not sure that...”
– Gonzo, by Hunter S. Thompson
June 2012
4 posts
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Obama is no Aung San Suu Kyi
I recently had the opportunity to view a docudrama called The Lady — a “re-enactment” of the political re-awakening and rise to leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, now a member of parliament for the opposition party in Burma.* I had heard her story before, of course, but it didn’t hit home until I saw this film just how worthy she was of the Nobel Peace Prize, which she was finally able to...
“As you fix your breakfast, think of others. Don’t forget to feed the pigeons.
...”
– Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, as translated by Shahd Abusalama for the Electronic Intifada
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May 2012
2 posts
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How did 13% become 50%?
I am currently working as co-producer and outreach director for a documentary called Thirteen Percent, now in post-production by Dream Factory, a minority-owned media production company. We seek to answer how 13% of the population (African-Americans) have come to account for 50%of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. Along the way, we have gained many insights…
One of the common threads that has emerged...
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Kony2012: Lessons for activists
Many people have already weighed in on the Kony2012 campaign launched by Invisible Children, but there are so many lessons it offers to other activists and cause-related NGOs that it is worth revisiting with a critical eye. After all, although we may not want to admit it (or we may think it is somehow of a higher order because of our good intent), advocacy of any kind is — by its very nature —...
April 2012
2 posts
5 tags
Investment in Palestine is no substitute for...
Below is an article I wrote for the newspaper of the Love Thy Neighbor coalition (the “liberals”) at the UM conference. A subcommittee of the church’s Financial Administration Committee voted Friday to totally transform the petition to divest from the Israeli occupation into a pollyannish call for “positive investment” in Palestine. On Saturday, the full committee rejected an attempt to return to...
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A moment of truth: United Methodists prepare to...
When I am in the United States, and not in Gaza, I sometimes have difficulty identifying activism that will actually make a difference on behalf of Palestinians. When the call went out for volunteers to travel to Tampa to speak to delegates at the United Methodist Church General Conference, where a resolution in favor of divestment from three companies that facilitate the occupation was heading...
March 2012
5 posts
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For the price of a cafe latte, you can help the...
For those of us internationals who care deeply about Palestine, it is hard to know just how to make a real difference. Probably the most significant way we can help is to change the foreign policy of our government (particularly if we are American). But while I keep trying on this front, I have come close to despair. I do sense some (too gradual for my taste) shifts in public opinion, but judging...
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March 15 one year later: The people wanted to end...
One year ago this week, Gaza erupted into one of the most exciting demonstrations of youth “power” I had ever had the joy to witness. The “Arab Spring” was in full swing, and this time, they believed, was their turn. Youth, and in many cases, their families, poured into the streets, chanting, singing songs and waving the flag of Palestine. Instead of an overthrow of the party that is governing the...
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The MSM's 'parallel reality'
On my long journey home from Gaza, I whiled my time away at the Frankfurt airport, where I had a six-hour layover, by catching up on the news. I had left Gaza in the midst of the latest Israeli military assault, with a front row seat over the course of that first night in the home of relatives of one of my adopted families. The bombing sounded alarmingly close as we huddled in the bedroom, smoked...
5 tags
This is the face of war
As I write this, Israel is bombing with intensity; 10 are dead already and casualties are reportedly filling the ERs. Resistance fighters are retaliating. On this, my last day in Gaza, I am confined to the home of a friend’s relatives — most likely until early in the morning…We are sitting around, chatting and listening to the news. And I am thinking…
These are my...
6 tags
Let there be light
There are so many basic things most of us take for granted….like, electricity. But in Gaza — especially these days — it’s a precious commodity.
Power (of the electrical kind) has been rationed to some extent ever since I started visiting Gaza in 2009. As a freelance writer, it became part of my daily routine to shift from place to place in search of a good wifi connection...
February 2012
6 posts
3 tags
A tough choice: Gaza vs. freedom
When I produced the first round of video profiles for the Palestinian Gandhi Project, in the Gaza Strip, one of my favorite stories I chronicled was that of the DARG Team (Da Arabian Revolutionary Guys) — a rap group that had tenaciously battled Islamic/cultural prejudice against “Western art” to become so talented they attracted the external attention needed to win coveted visas to Europe...
7 tags
The NGO 'industry': alive and well in Gaza
(Publication was delayed one day due to severe connectivity issues! The power shortage in Gaza continues…) Today is the Islamic holy day, and in Gaza, that means a big meal after the mid-day call to prayer. Among my “circle,” everyone — Palestinian and international friends alike — gathers at the home of the Abusalamas, a moderate-to-liberal family that has “adopted” me since my...
5 tags
The deal that saved Khader Adnan..in pictures
Today I visited the solidarity tent that has been going strong outside the Gaza City headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross for the last 35 days, where participants hoped their bodies and their voices would pressure the world to intervene to save Khader Adnan. Entering the 66th day of a hunger strike to protest his arrest and detention by Israeli forces without charge or...
4 tags
Borders of the mental and physical kind
When you think about dreams unfulfilled, so often it is borders that stop us in our tracks, or force detours or delays.
Borders can be mental, existing only in our heads, but as powerful as if they were enforced by barbed wire and guns. My friend Suleiman comes to mind, a Gazan Palestinian who is studying English literature — in preparation to be a teacher — in Alexandria, Egypt,...
4 tags
Egypt: Behind the scenes of the 'revolution'
The following post is the first from my latest trip to the Gaza Strip — my sixth since March 2009.
When I re-entered Cairo a week ago, a year after the revolution, I thrilled to see tents still filling Tahrir Square, an effigy of the prime minister hanging from a wire high above, music and chants continuing long into the night — sort of a lullaby as I sunk into jetlag- induced...
Letting go of security blankets...
Almost three years ago, I stepped over the edge of a virtual cliff and hurtled into what at the time seemed to be an abyss.
First, I announced to my husband of 23 years that I wanted a separation (I couldn’t quite say the “d” word, although I knew in my heart that it was coming). A man who had one time served as a “safe harbor” after an emotionally disastrous first...
