Voices from Gaza
This project, funded by Oxfam and the government of Belgium, took place over the course of 3 months in the Gaza Strip. I researched the effect of the blockade on the lives of fishermen and farmers, with an angle on women and girls.
The final product was a picture book with stories that was used for advocacy, education and campaigning purposes. All pictures and texts by me.
The pictures and texts above are excerpted from "Voices from Gaza", a voice paper aiming to expose the effects of the Israeli blockade on the lives of those who've been forced to live in this open-air prison. The interviews, pictures, text and editing were done by me, with the precious help of Oxfam's Gaza staff.
“When we talk about a conflict, we often refer to the victims as ‘’the people’’ or ‘’the population’’, giving us this impression of ‘’a whole’’ who suffers interchangeably and indistinguishably. The population facing a war is constituted of hundreds of single stories, sometimes similar but never identical. This book is a collection of some of those stories”
“I don’t remember the last time I crossed Erez as well as I remember the first time. It never became less disheartening, but it did get more automatic, almost mechanical. I had my part to do, the soldiers had theirs, and we performed this choreography almost every week, with very little change. I saw how monotonous the process had become to me when colleagues from abroad came along through the crossing and were aggravated by the procedures. I realized how easy it could be to get used to oppression and perceive the wrong that is done as immutable and normal.
[Since I started collecting these stories] Gazans woke up to the first day of the 11th year of blockade and unacceptable restrictions on movements, but they still refuse to get accustomed to the injustice they’ve been facing for so long.
This is what I will remember the most about Gaza; it’s fire”.
« My husband was a fisherman, but he got really sick ; something with his heart. Since he can’t fish anymore, and we still have expenses and a lot of hospital bills for him, I had to find a way to make money and that is all I can do. This is our only source of income ».
- Farial.
“Along the winding road leading up to Deer al’ Balah refugee camp, we drove by yet another one of those lonely merchants. Sitting in a narrow booth by the sea was a beautiful woman. Her eyes were of a mesmerizing blue and grey mix that looked like the ocean after a storm. Time had carved her sun kissed skin and her face creased into wrinkles as she smiled to welcome us”.
“In 2017, 95% of Gaza’s fishermen were living under the poverty line, a direct consequence of Israel’s policies regarding restrictions on marine spaces, exports of products and restrictions on material entries in the strip”.
“Through the years, not only did the fisherman see his profits shrink, but also his beloved sea. The blockade imposed 10 years ago by the Israeli restricted access to lands, but also to the water. Fishermen are only allowed to sail in a delimited area, surrounded by Israeli naval forces. I would come to understand that the economic decline of this profession was only one aspect of the terrible situation caused by the blockade of Gaza. The second and the worst, according to many people I talked to, is the huge risks that people go through daily, in order to practice simple jobs”.
“The very first thing Mohammed told me about was his love story with the sea. Now in his mid-fifties, the fisherman has been out on the water countless of times since he first got on his father’s boat at 11 years old”.
« If you are lucky, [Israeli soldiers] will shoot your motor.
If you are not, like my son, they will shoot you.
Now his wife is alone and we have to take of her and his 2 daughters »
- Majdid
“Historically, agriculture was the largest component in the Palestinian economy. 90% of Gaza’s exports were coming out of the agricultural sector from 1948 to 1967. Between 2000 and 2007, farmers were exporting an average of 2000 tones of fruits and vegetables per months to Israel. From 2008 to 2014, it is a total 2878 tones
that exited Gaza, so an average of only 32 tones a month”.
“The dark horse that took me through the fields to meet the owner of the land is now unhitched from the wooden cart and nibbles on grass, not far away from us. It’s a beautiful day in Juhor al’deek, a rural area in the east of Gaza. I am sitting on colorful cushions with a mug of warm tea, the winter breeze is whistling through the grassland surrounding our little group and if you ignore the surveillance drones in the sky above us, it is a perfect scene”
Business was really good. But now, barely 10% make it out of here and that’s only when I find good opportunities. Then, I still have to pay shipping costs that keeps on increasing and wait a long time for my products to be shipped. Sometimes, the vegetables are not even fresh by the time they reach the other side and that causes problems with the buyer”.
- Bahajat
Hear their voices.
The pictures and texts above are excerpted from "Voices from Gaza", a voice paper aiming to expose the effects of the Israeli blockade on the lives of those who've been forced to live in this open-air prison. The interviews, pictures, text and editing were done by me, with the precious help of Oxfam's Gaza staff.