Public Story
We are not terrorists; faces of Gaza.
Summary
Gaza. A land enclosed by barbed wire and turrets. Guarded by soldiers to prevent anyone entering or leaving. An area just 40km long and 6-12km wide with a concentration of people who are separated from the outside world, separated from loved ones and from families living just a few miles away in the West Bank.
The people of Gaza are some of the friendliest I have met in my travels. They are not terrorists. They are semites, related to the Jewish peoples, living in a land carved up and divided for political purposes.
The people of Gaza are some of the friendliest I have met in my travels. They are not terrorists. They are semites, related to the Jewish peoples, living in a land carved up and divided for political purposes.
She goes on to say "we are not terrorists as the world thinks; we are your sister, mother, brother and father."
The world watches Russia invade Ukraine and stands back horrified. One lady said to me "how can the rest of the world sleep at night knowing that we are living here in Gaza under these conditions?" I wish I could give her an answer. What I could have said to her is "the reason is the West sees you all as terrorists and wants nothing to do with you."
When my agency sends a fundraising appeal about Gaza in the UK we get the largest monetary response of any other ongoing humanitarian crisis. My colleague in the US couldn't even run a fundraising appeal for Gaza because of the perception there that "they are all terrorists and deserve what they get."
My experience of the people of Gaza is totally different to many of the preconceptions that so many uninformed people have of them and their situation.
My visits to Gaza have been to record the work of the non-profit humanitarian hospital, but I decided to put together a collection of photographs that show 'your sister, your mother, your brother, your father.' Not a bunch of terrorists.
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