Gaza: Citizen reporting comes of age

Foreign journalists have not been allowed to enter the Gaza strip during Israel’s offensive. While this is no doubt a violation of the principle of freedom of the press which, in turn, undermines the international community’s ability to scrutinise the conflict and the violations of human rights which have clearly taken place, one may discern, in the reporting of the conflict, some positive effects.

Palestinians, for better or for worse, have been forced to tell their own story. The most reliable sources of information have therefore not been the BBC, The Guardian, The Times, or CNN – all of whom have been forced to some extent to bend to the will of the Israeli military press machine. Indeed, the mainstream media outlets have been living off the same sources as the rest of us.

These have been the testimonies of those suffering behind the battle lines, conveyed using the latest in networking technologies, which have proved far more capable of crossing the front than conventional means of communication.

QassamCount and its pro-Palestinian counterparts have kept the conflict real in the consciousness of the Facebook community, while blogs and news feeds from the likes of Action Palestine and the Birzeit University Right to Education Campaign’s website have allowed stories of strife and surival as compelling as any told on a network news broadcast to come forward.

Those who wish to see for themselves the truest portrayal of the conflict, however, should sign on to the photo sharing site Flickr. The online community of amateur and professional photographers makes no allowance for Israeli blockades; the lives of ordinary Gazans are depicted with absolute honesty, no matter how gruesomely appalling their living conditions might be.

The result is harrowing: The Journal weighed the customary questions of balance and taste when preparing its coverage of the Gaza conflict. But, despite a heartfelt desire to do the subject the fullest justice, there were some images that could simply not be published.

This is not because they are any less true, or their stories any less worthy of being told. The world needs to see that life in Gaza today is a toddler held by a paramedic, two bullet holes in his chest; a crying child being comforted by his mother’s bloodied hand on his cheek. But in the next frame she is dead, and he is utterly alone. A gravel lot, filled with lifeless bodies; an infant, decapitated. 

These images are real, and anyone who has wondered what it must feel like to run for their life to a bomb shelter a dozen times a day should also consider what effect witnessing scenes like these might have on them.

Now, you can find out.