[News] What is Next for Palestinian Popular Resistance in Gaza? Speaking to Journalist Wafaa Aludaini

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/06/10/what-is-next-for-palestinian-popular-resistance-in-gaza-speaking-to-journalist-wafaa-aludaini/
What
is Next for Palestinian Popular Resistance in Gaza? Speaking to Journalist
Wafaa Aludaini by Ramzy Baroud - Romana Rubeo
<https://www.counterpunch.org/author/ramzy-baroud-romana-rubeo/> - June 10,
2020
------------------------------

Wafaa Aludaini is a witness to many of Gaza’s recent tragedies and also
never-ending resistance. She experienced the violent Israeli occupation,
the subsequent blockade on the impoverished Strip, and several wars that
resulted in the death and wounding of tens of thousands of Palestinians.

But none of Israel’s wars impacted Aludaini’s life as much as the 2014
onslaught which Israel dubbed ‘Operation Protective Edge.’

Of the nearly 18,000 houses destroyed
<https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20190303_13000_gazans_homelsess_since_2014_war>,
two homes, one belonging to Wafaa’s family and the other to her in-laws,
were also destroyed by Israel’s bombs.

Gaza’s infrastructure, which was already dilapidated as a result of
previous wars and a protracted siege, took a massive beating during the 51-day
Israeli bombardment
<https://books.google.it/books?id=SJg4DgAAQBAJ&pg=PT197&lpg=PT197&dq=2014+gaza+duration+days+51&source=bl&ots=ZdPQOlmLEA&sig=ACfU3U3HD8onnfeNlkOzvMz9F4FkmxZZmQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipvYSuyNfpAhW7QUEAHRnVCpQQ6AEwCXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=2014%20gaza%20duration%20days%2051&f=false>
.

The most irreplaceable of all of this tragic loss is human life
<https://imeu.org/article/50-days-of-death-destruction-israels-operation-protective-edge>,
as 2,251 <https://www.ochaopt.org/content/key-figures-2014-hostilities>
Palestinians were killed and over 11,000 wounded, many maimed for life.

War and siege, however, only strengthened Wafaa’s resolve as she became
more involved in covering news from Gaza, hoping to reveal long-hidden
truths and defy mainstream media narratives and popular stereotypes.

During the ‘Great March of Return’, a popular movement
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190314-the-year-of-the-people-the-untold-story-of-gazas-march-of-return/>
that began on March 30, 2018, Wafaa joined the protesters, reporting on a
daily basis on the killing and wounding of unarmed youth who flocked to the
fence that separates besieged Gaza from Israel, to demand their freedom and
basic human rights.

Enraged by the refugees’ daily chants of ‘End the siege’, ‘Free Palestine’,
and their adamant insistence on their ‘Right of Return’ to their original
villages in Palestine, which were ethnically cleansed
<http://www.ramzybaroud.net/how-we-became-refugees-the-day-my-grandfather-lost-his-village-in-palestine/>
during Israel’s violent birth in 1948, Israeli snipers opened fire. In the
first two years of the March, over 300 Palestinians were reportedly killed,
and thousands wounded.

Aludaini was there during the entire ordeal, reporting on the dead and the
wounded, consoling bereaved families, and also taking part in an historic
moment when all of Gaza rose and united behind a single chant of freedom.

Aludaini was not a typical journalist chasing after a story at the fence,
as she was both the story and the storyteller.

“I am a journalist, but I am also a refugee. My parents were expelled from
their village in Palestine, which is now in Israel,” she said.

“Being a journalist in Gaza is not easy, because every single day, you are
subjected to (the possibility) of being killed, injured, or arrested by the
Israeli occupation forces. In fact, many journalists were murdered
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/reporters-without-borders-accepts-prize-journalist-killing-regime>
by Israeli fire this way.”

On why she chose journalism as a career although she studied English
literature at a local Gaza University, Aludaini said that the more she
understood mainstream media’s reporting on Palestine, the more frustrated
she felt by the unfair depiction of Palestine and the Palestinian struggle.

“Journalists who are (advancing) mainstream media (narratives on Palestine)
are, in a way, helping the Israeli occupation in killing more innocent
people in Palestine, in particular, in the Gaza Strip. (They) are
strengthening the people (Israelis) who expelled us in 1948, encouraging
them to violate international law,” Aludaini said.

“So I am asking them to come here, to Palestine, to see for themselves, to
see the Apartheid wall, to see the checkpoints, to see what is happening in
Israeli jails. Only after they see it with their own eyes, can they tell
the truth, because journalists should tell the truth and stand for
humanity, regardless of religion and regardless of anything else.”

In a similar tone, Aludaini challenged “defenders of the Israeli
occupation” to come to Palestine and to “listen to the people who had their
children killed; to those who got expelled from their homes. In every home
in Palestine, there is a story of misery, but you will never find (these
stories) in mainstream media.”

Regarding the Great March of Return, Aludaini said that the March was “a
popular protest where the people of Gaza collectively gathered at the
separation fence between Gaza and Israel,” to exhibit various forms of
resistance that focused mostly on cultural resistance.

Protesters carried out various forms of “traditional activities, like
dancing dabka, singing old songs, cooking Palestinian dishes,” Aludaini
said, noting that the most touching of these scenes were those of “elderly
Palestinians holding the keys of their homes from which they were forcibly
expelled in 1948 during the Nakba,” or the Great Catastrophe.

“This kind of popular resistance is not new for Palestinians (as they) have
always used all their means to fight for their rights, to fight (against
Israeli military) occupation, like the weekly protests (at the Gaza fence),
or (the symbolic acts of) stone-throwing. Even when Gazans resort to armed
resistance, people never stop displaying popular (forms) of resistance as
well.”

But is this the end of the March of Return?

Aludaini said that the March is not over, however, the strategy will be
reformulated to minimize the number of casualties.

“After almost three years of the protests, the High Committee of the Great
March of Return decided to change the approach of the protests. From now
on, the marches are only going to be held on national occasions instead of
being held on a weekly basis because Israel uses lethal force against
peaceful and unarmed protesters.”

According to Aludaini, the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is already
overwhelmed by the lack of hospital equipment, electricity, and clean
water, can no longer handle the pressures of daily deaths and injuries.

Aludaini herself spent many hours in Gaza’s hospitals, interviewing and
comforting the wounded. She told us of a Gazan mother of four who
participated in the March every Friday without fail. “One day, she was shot
in the leg, and it was hard for her to walk. But the following Friday, she
returned to the fence. When I asked her why is she back despite her injury,
she told me: ‘I will never allow the Israelis to steal my land. This is my
land; these are my rights and I will come back (to defend them) again and
again.’”

For Aludaini, it is the resilience of these seemingly ordinary people that
inspires her and gives her hope.

Another story is of a 19-year-old girl who implored her parents repeatedly
to join the protests. When they finally relented, the young girl was shot
in the eye by an Israeli sniper. Aludaini and her comrades rushed to the
hospital to show support for the protester who lost her eye, only to find
her in high spirits, stronger and more determined than ever.

“She told us that as soon as she leaves the hospital, she plans to go back
to the fence.”

Aludaini challenges “Israeli propaganda” that claims that its wars and
ongoing violence in Gaza are motivated by self-defense. If that is the
case, “why is Israel targeting the West Bank which is also subjected to
annexation and apartheid?” she asks.

“(Currently) There is no armed resistance (in the West Bank), but (the
Israeli occupation army) still kills people every single day.”

Aludaini, who is frustrated by the lack of emphasis on media studies in
Gazan universities, is determined to continue with her work as a journalist
and as an activist, because when the media fails at exposing Israeli crimes
in Gaza, it is the likes of Wafa Aludaini who make all the difference.

*Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He
is the author of five books. His latest is “**These Chains Will Be Broken*
<https://www.amazon.com/These-Chains-Will-Broken-Palestinian/dp/1949762092>*:
Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity
Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the
Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU).
His website is **www.ramzybaroud.net* <http://www.ramzybaroud.net/>  *Romana
Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine
Chronicle. Her articles appeared in many online newspapers and academic
journals. She holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature,
and specializes in audio-visual and journalism translation. *
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