In light of the horrific stories coming out of Gaza and Israel, I’d encourage all of us to listen to this interview we did with two remarkable human beings: Robi Damelin, who lost her son David to a Palestinian sniper, and Ali Abu Awwad, who lost his older brother Yousef to an Israeli soldier.
Now this is a graphic worth pondering and wrapping your mind around. What a wealth of information from the National Post:
Graphic: What would a Palestinian state look like?
As the Palestinian Authority’s at the UN moves forward, the Post looks at what a Palestinian state would look like. For a large version of this graphic, download the PDF here
~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
A Glimpse of Gazan Twilight
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Yes, since returning from our production trip to Israel and the West Bank, I find myself looking for momentary glimpses of humanity and beauty from that part of the world. There’s a lot of intensity, but a gentleness too, which often goes unnoticed by media outlets. Seeing quelowat’s posting of this photograph accomplishes this in spades:
A Palestinian boy tried to give his animal a wash Friday in the Mediterranean near Gaza City. (Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)
Gazan Doctor Renews Commitment to Forgiveness and Peace after Losing Three Daughters
by Kate Moos, executive producer
As we began to drill down on our editorial planning for next month’s production trip to Israel and Palestine, Trent asked me to sit down with Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian physician who has written a new memoir about growing up in the Gaza Strip, his struggles to become a doctor, and the loss of three of his daughters to an Israeli mortar in the hostilities between Hamas and Israel of 2009. I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity is recently published, and he was making a swing through the Twin Cities on book tour.
So I dusted off my rusty interviewing skills, tried to emulate the masterful Krista Tippett with my deep listening, and the 30-minute conversation above ensued.
Abuelaish’s story would be heroic in many ways without his personal loss, but is even moreso because, in its wake, he renewed his commitment to forgiveness and acceptance, and now travels the world on a mission for peace in the name of his daughters, for whom he created a foundation.
Let us know what you think about this interview, and share your thoughts on others you’d like to see, in what we hope will be a regular feature here on the blog.
(photo: Trent Gilliss)
Live Video: In the Room with Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
when: Thursday, February 10th, 2011
time: 2-2:30 pm CST
where: Being LIVE
Izzeldin Abuelaish, the Palestinian doctor who first came to our attention when shells hit his home in the Gaza Strip and killed his three daughters and niece, will sit down with Kate Moos, executive producer of On Being, for a one-on-one interview about his experiences growing up in a refugee camp and his hopes for a new road to peace.
Gaza’s Steadfast Faces of Survival
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
“This, I realized, was what I could add. Not the familiar scenes of destruction in Gaza but the steadfast faces of survival. To capture each intimate portrait required that I spend just a little more time with people, that I hear a bit more about their lives, look more deeply at them. And find the story of Gaza in their faces.”
—Asim Rafiqui, photojournalist
The Virginia Quarterly Review has published Rafiqui’s stunning set of black-and-white portraits of Palestinians living through the ongoing struggle for Gaza. The photojournalist’s introduction to “Portraits of Survival” with its brief captions give the viewer an intimate glimpse into his subjects’ lives.
A point emphasized that resonated with me in several stories: stripping a person of the ability to offer hospitality to a guest is to strip one of his or her dignity.
"The Bullets in My In-Box"
Shiraz Janjua, Associate Producer
A nice piece in the New York Times on the perils of reporting on the Israel/Palestine issue. Here at SoF, we’re trying to find some way of addressing the recent conflict, and exploring a few tentative ideas.
I realize I’m not saying anything here. As much as I can personally hope for peaceful resolution of the situation, I’m afraid of that can of worms, of talking about it. War reporting oftens places the media in the role of moral arbiter, but trying to assign moral legitimacy in this conflict is going to take another 5,000 years to sort out. So we have to find some different approach to this. It’s a tough one, maybe the most contentious issue out there. From Ethan Bronner’s piece in the Times:
It turns out that both narration and mediation require common ground. But trying to tell the story so that both sides can hear it in the same way feels more and more to me like a Greek tragedy in which I play the despised chorus. It feels like I am only fanning the flames, adding to the misunderstandings and mutual antagonism with every word I write because the fervent inner voice of each side is so loud that it drowns everything else out.
"On Editorial Responsibility" with Photos
Trent Gilliss, Online Editor
Choosing leading images for each program is often a joyful experience. But, the editing is a sensibility game that leaves one restless at times. I want something evocative, differentiating — a photo that captures the bouquet of the program and not just the finish at the back of the mouth. For SOF, this means no stock images, no trite photography, no incredibly small packaged images.
Living in such an editorial crucible can create a rogue mentality, an editor who sometimes forgets to question context and sensitivity to the subject matter, and instead alienates or disregards the an audience’s feelings and intelligence about situations. Alessandra Sanguinetti, the savvy Magnum photographer, questions The New York Times’ choice of a somewhat romantic image for the front page of its January 14th edition — a time when heavy fighting was happening in Gaza.
To give you more context, it headed the article titled “Israel Resumes Attack After Pause for Aid Delivery.” What do you think? How would you rate my choice of images for the SOF site?
