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‘NYT’ photo feature on women in Gaza ignores Israel and Palestine

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In what might be justified by the New York Times as an attempt to “depoliticize” and “humanize” Palestinian women in Gaza the paper ran a photo essay this past Sunday titled “Female in Gaza.” However the article obfuscates, covering up Israeli oppression and obscuring Gaza’s connection to the West Bank and to Palestinians in general.

The introductory text for the article mentions Gaza eight times, but never uses the word “Palestinian” or “Palestine” and mentions Israel only once, despite mentioning towering concrete blast walls, barbed wire, drones, patrolling soldiers, border controls, etc..  “I have been photographing in Gaza for several years, initially to cover the conflict with Israel, but over time returning because I am mesmerized by the women, and their strength,” author Monique Jaques explained. Gaza is portrayed as a disconnected disembodied place in conflict with Israel where residents seem to have some undefined interest in the West Bank, “Her dream is to sing in Ramallah, a city in the West Bank.”

The article also avoids mentioning Egypt, except for one photo caption which only appeared online: “A girl completed a jump at Al-Faisal Riding Club in northern Gaza. Horses are brought in from Egypt and are well cared for by elite families.”

In the 14 photos online there is a single mention of the word “Palestinian” in a caption that also appeared in the print edition: “A girl showed off her nails in the colors of the Palestinian flag.”

Only the first sentence of this caption was included in the print edition, so the word “Palestinian” does not appear in the print caption: “A woman walked by an anti-domestic violence mural outside Al-Shifa Hospital. According to a 2012 study, some 37 percent of married women in the Palestinian territories have been subjected to domestic violence by their husbands.”

This photo and caption mentioning Palestine were not included in the print edition, and there is no mention here of who bombed the school: “Nisreen Shawa, a worker for the Palestine Medical Relief Foundation, did exercises with students at the Hamza Bin Abd-el-Muttalib School after a bombing.”

And this photo and caption mentioning bombing by the Israeli army were not included in the print edition: “In November, 2012, when the Israeli Army heavily bombed parts of Gaza, refugees waited out the siege in a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school in Gaza City.”

Does the New York Times not want its readers to know Palestinians live in Gaza and Israel in addition to the West Bank? The Times article the other day on the arrest of Majd Kayyal called him an Israeli Arab, and only mentioned Palestinian citizens of Israel as part of quote from the organization Adalah. Again, no wonder NY Times readers are confused!

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I saw this photo essay online, on Sunday, and was disgusted. I don’t think the point was to ““depoliticize” and “humanize” Palestinian women in Gaza,” I think the point was to make Gaza seem to be a quirky, fun place, nothing to see here, just move along.

No context, no Israeli siege mentioned, no mention of the horrors Israel continues to inflict on this defenseless, trapped population. Just this interesting third-world place where everyone seems to be having a great time.

A sample: “In order to leave and enter another country you must be searched, inspected by an airport-style scanner, and lucky, as exit permits and visas to neighboring countries are hard to come by.” Doesn’t sound like such a big deal, really, when you leave out the part about Israel’s stranglehold on the Palestinians of Gaza.

Watching Israel’s pointless and stupid cruelty towards the Palestinians is like watching a cat torment a mouse, and this photo essay seems to be in aid of making it seem as if the mouse isn’t really suffering that much, after all.

Note to editor:

‘Gaza is portrayed is a disconnected…’

‘Gaza is portrayed as a disconnected, …’

Q: Does the New York Times not want its readers to know Palestinians live in Gaza and Israel in addition to the West Bank?

R: Who owns the NYT?

Every single one of the quotes shows the article is doing what the author says its not doing. (I understand the online version was edited down as is always the case.

Depicting the full range of humanity of Palestinians weakens any attempt to make them more easily caged and bombed. But, it seems it is also threatening to a kind of Western activist who also needs his representative victims simply defined.

This seems to be standard operating procedure when doing “human interest” stories on Palestinians. To quote that great hotelier, Basil Fawlty, “don’t mention the war!”

I read a similar depiction online recently. It had been published a few years ago and dealt with the sexual frustrations of Palestinian men on the West Bank. The article started out showing a group of men downloading porn onto their cell phones and went on the discuss how they had to postpone marriage. Seems they have a difficult time finding jobs and housing to start married life.

Gee, what would be the reason for these issues? I don’t believe the article mentioned Israel or the occupation even once.