Last week I met two Jewish journalists who will go nameless but are do-gooders, working for mutual understanding in Israel/Palestine. They have a nonprofit. They work with young journalists. They complained to me that the Palestinians only want to write about the occupation. Well. I understand that. If I were a Palestinian journalist, it's all I'd want to write about too. Happy talk. Here's an amazing piece detailing life under occupation. Emphasis mine:
I got a phone call from my uncle Mahmoud in Gaza. He is earning his
Masterâs in Education, but due to the fact that electricity is so
scarce he is having trouble making any headway into his research. With
no books allowed in to the Gaza Strip, no freedom of movement to travel
in order to conduct his research, and electricity, and therefore any
online databases, available only at random and limited hours of the
day, he asked me to start finding any data I can for him. I told him
Iâd go check out the library at Birzeit University. He asked if I could
visit at least one other university-but I canât, the restrictions on
freedom of movement are just as draconian in the West Bank.
"They complained to me that the Palestinians only want to write about the occupation."
Apparently many Palestinians are as obsessed with the occupation and Nakba as many Jews are with the Holocaust. Go figure.
Writing paper of any sort whatsoever is not allowed to Gaza either… Guess paper airplanes constitute serious security risk……