Palestinian Journalist Shares His Experiences after Leaving Gaza
Fadi Abushammala speaks with local group MD4Ceasefire
Fadi Abushammala Palestinian writer, journalist, and filmmaker, spoke with our group on April 27th. He began by expressing appreciation for the friendliness and generosity of people who have welcomed him and his family since they came to the US as refugees from this latest Israeli onslaught against Gaza.
“I’m in love with the change I see,” he told us. Last year, during his first US visit, whenever he said he was from Palestine people replied, “Oh, yes, Pakistan!”
We laughed together; then silence fell. “Now, unfortunately, everyone knows about Palestine,” Fadi adds. “Apparently 40,000 Palestinians must be killed for the world to notice.”
Life Under Occupation
He reminded attendees that Palestinian suffering did not start on October 7, 2023, and that the Israeli occupation has been in place for 75 years. He shared how Israel’s crippling blockade has long interfered with their daily lives in ways both significant and petty, often subjecting Gazans to senseless prohibitions; for instance, a sudden ban on importing flash drives. Even condoms have been subject to interdiction, he ruefully added.
Electricity and internet service are allotted by the occupying power, Fadi notes. When he told his family about his first visit to the US early last year, his son could not believe that Americans have electricity 24 hours a day. In “normal” times, Gazans had electricity a maximum of 16 hours a day, and often much less. “Imagine it,” he said, given that “everything in our modern world depends on electricity.” And now, amid the Israeli assault, there is often no electricity at all, nor internet service.
During his remarks, Fadi returned often to the experience of raising children under the occupation. He lists years—2008, 2011, 2012, 2014—when Israeli attacks and raids interrupted his son’s “normal life” since his birth thirteen years ago.
“I don’t like Hamas at all,” he declares. “I don’t like them, and they don’t like me at all. But Hamas didn’t exist in 1948.” Many figures fighting for freedom are called terrorists, he points out, including Yasser Arafat and Nelson Mandela. “I am trying to educate my sons to become musicians, football players, that kind of thing. But don’t blame me if in a few years they become fighters, when there is not a single day that Israel is not taking land or killing Palestinians.”
He points out that Palestinians have repeatedly negotiated to give up portions of their lands in exchange for self-determination, but each time these promises have been broken, and more of their land seized. Attendees mentioned similarities to the experience of the Indigenous peoples of North America, who established treaties with the US Government that it repeatedly violates, pushing them out of their home territories and squeezing them onto “reservations.”
This map shows the dramatic shrinkage of Palestine and the ever smaller areas Palestinians have been pushed into by Israel since 1948.
“Gaza is not my country,” Fadi says. “Gaza is part of my country.”
What Should We in the US Do?
During the discussion, we asked Fadi what we should focus on here in the US.
“Four words,” he replies. “Talk. Educate. Advocate. Boycott.”
Talk. “On the bus or the store or wherever, say to somebody, ‘Did you know that such and such happened today in Palestine?’ Just throw that out.” He talks to everyone everywhere, he tells us.
Educate. “Spend some energy teaching folks you care about in more depth.”
Advocate. “In Congress and other arenas, keep doing what you are doing, and more. Push the people in charge who have been silent—this cannot go on.”
Boycott. “Buying Israeli goods is participating in genocide.” As an alternative, to support and also learn about Palestine and Palestinian culture and products, people are encouraged to visit both the Museum of the Palestinian people and Middle East Books and More.
A Mindset of Forgiveness
“Even as we continue to be targets of this terrible onslaught,” Fadi said, “Palestinians practice forgiveness.” He and another Palestinian attendee stress that Israelis cannot find peace or freedom while they are deathly afraid of Palestinians, relying on retaliation, when only an attitude of forgiveness on both sides will bring true justice and healing for all.
When asked if they would be able to forgive Israelis, Fadi says, “With a fair and just peace, absolutely. We must change the narrative from one where Israelis see their survival tied to eliminating Palestinians, to one where we are their partners.”
Jews present observed that, increasingly, Jews know that holding this eternal grudge is not the way to peace. Instead, we say, “not in our name.”
The discussion continued exploring forgiveness. An attendee from Combatants for Peace explained that their group of Palestinian (West Bank) and Israeli soldiers likewise has a completely different mindset: instead of revenge they advocate forgiveness and laying down arms.
Further Actions
We discussed the challenges and misinformation associated with the movement to boycott Israel, BDS. Many states—Maryland was the first, in 2017—prohibit businesses from obtaining state contracts if they boycott Israel. Efforts are underway to repeal this executive order as an infringement of free speech. Fadi urges us to see Boycott, a new film by his organization Just Vision.
People attending were invited to support various petitions calling for justice for teachers, students, and others who have been fired and otherwise treated unjustly for expressing support for the Palestinian people.
We also encouraged those present to vote “Uncommitted” in the presidential primary to repudiate Biden’s Middle East policy, and also to work for Ceasefire resolutions in PG County neighboring towns.
Here are some specific actions people are encouraged to take:
Vote UNCOMMITTED for president in the Maryland presidential primary tomorrow May 14, and wherever this option exists
Order Ceasefire Now yard signs
Organize for your city council to pass a ceasefire resolution: [link]
Learn about Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions and watch the film Boycott
Subscribe to +972, JVP’s The Wire, Mondoweiss, and many other alternative media sources for information and calls to action.
Participate with MD4Ceasefire.
Introduce/support a ceasefire resolution in your town/city council, school board, county council, etc.
Support university students, staff and faculty calling for divestment from entities supporting genocide.
Fadi Abushammala is a fellow and Gaza outreach associate with media collective Just Vision, a Washington, DC-based independent media organization focusing on Israel-Palestine. He is also Executive Director of the only cultural union in Palestine, General Union of Cultural Centers, as well as director of Donkeysaddle Projects: Palestine Grassroots Distribution Project.
In Gaza, he worked as an interpreter, producer, and fixer for numerous international institutions and news agencies, including Washington Post, De Standaard, Corriere Della Sera, The National, and Rai radio and TV. He has written for the New York Times, The Nation, and TIME magazine, among other outlets, and has appeared on MSNBC, Democracy Now! and Al Jazeera America. Fadi has a BA in English Language from Al Aqsa University and, until evacuating from Gaza in November 2023, lived his entire life there.
MD4Ceasefire is a group of Maryland residents centered in PG County calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza. We pressure Rep. Glenn Ivey and other officials in MD District 4 to call for a ceasefire and end US military support for Israel. We hold protests, locally and in Congressional offices, as well as petition, letter-writing, and phone campaigns.
We support local work to halt repression of community leaders, students and professors speaking up for Palestinians, and participate in the campaign to vote uncommitted for President in the MD Democratic primary.
Thanks to Linda Green, Laura Gilcrest, Sophie Barnet, and others in MD4Ceasefire for help with this article.
Thank for this post. It’s essential to centre Palestinian voices