The conflict which led to 15 months of war in Gaza did not start on 7th of October 2023, but over a century ago. And the ceasefire announced for the 19th of January 2025, whatever it brings, will not end the conflict, but open a new phase, perhaps burdened with even more hostility between the sides.
In the last hours before the ceasefire was announced, documentary producer Mike Joseph messaged his Gaza journalist colleague, Sami Abu Salem. You may have seen the film (GAZA: A Story of Love and War) in which Sami narrates his mother’s 1948 expulsion from her childhood home near Gaza, his own youth, growing up in Gaza, learning about his inheritance, becoming a journalist and a father, and still calling for coexistence.
And since October 7th, as well as struggling to shelter, feed and protect his family, he has been one of many Gaza journalists, citizen and professional, the only journalists with personal witness of the destruction of Gaza, testimony Sami shared with us, while he was being displaced over nine times, finally reaching a tent in the ruins of Deir el Balah.
Here is what Mike messaged Sami, and the dreadful reply.
0 Comments