Gaza in Focus: A Conversation with Jehad Abusalim
This show is dedicated to the people of Gaza, the West Bank, and to borrow from Palestinian journalist, Mariam Barghouti, to Palestinians in heartland Palestine, and the diaspora. We are joined by Jehad Abusalim, Executive Director of The Jerusalem Fund.
For over a month, Gaza has been pummeled by Israeli airstrikes, leveling its cityscapes, turning the densely populated Gaza Strip into a monochromatic gray-zone of concrete and dust, and a mass grave. The Israeli occupation forces have relentlessly and with impunity continued to target and kill a population that is besieged; with air, land, and sea controlled by the Israeli occupier. As a result of the Zionist state’s aerial bombardment since October 7th, over 11,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed by direct assaults alone. This number does not include those killed slowly due to starvation, lack of sanitary conditions, and the denial of food, water, and electricity imposed by the occupying state. According to some reports, nearly 60% of those who have been directly killed by Israeli airstrikes are women and children. In addition, according to Salama Marouf, a spokesperson for Gaza's Government Media Office, nearly 26,000 others have been injured and more than 3,000 Palestinian loved ones are missing. These numbers do not tell the story of life in Gaza over the last month. They are mere signposts of a brutal assault on the besieged population that, despite attempts to force historic amnesia, began over 75 years before the October 7th attack by Hamas.
As the catastrophe unfolds in Gaza, Israel is advancing a ground operation in Gaza and intensifying its assaults in the West Bank where there have been reports of mass arrests and detentions, as well as the targeting and killing of Palestinians.
ehad Abusalim is Executive Director of The Jerusalem Fund. He is a PhD Candidate in the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University. His main area of research is Palestinian and Arab perceptions of the Zionist project and the Jewish question before 1948.
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