These quotes are not representative of the whole article, which is long, and covers many different themes, but jumped out at me as being observations I've not seen articulated a lot.
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Filiu [one of the only historians studying the Gaza Strip] accuses Israel of turning a blind eye for years to what has been going on in Gaza: "For 20 years now, Israel has been unable to nurture networks of collaborators inside Gaza. [The Israelis] tried every tool in the book, and they failed. Because they don't know Gaza's society. And because they operate either from a tank or from a drone, which is not the most efficient way to operate."
To bolster his views, Filiu cites a surprising example: the Israeli television series "Fauda." "The first two seasons, which were set in the West Bank, were quite impressive," he says. The third season, which takes place in Gaza, however, was out of touch with reality. The people who created it, he adds, "don't know what they're talking about. They're speaking about Mosul, they're speaking about the Taliban, they're not talking about Gaza. They don't know Gaza."
One of the tragic consequences of this blindness, Filiu observes, is the mortal blow being dealt to everyone in the Strip who opposes Hamas. "There were thriving universities, intellectual circles and artists. There were so many rap groups in Gaza, and you can imagine that their members weren't exactly sympathetic to Hamas.
"There was a civil society that didn't want to be part of Hamas' Islamist scheme," he continues, "but all that has been destroyed now by the Israeli invasion.
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(w/o paywall)
archive.is/Y6iDg
Bilal Barakat 🍉
in reply to Bilal Barakat 🍉 • • •Speaking of confusing ISIS Mosul with Gaza, and since Pride Month just finished...
threadreaderapp.com/thread/194…
Thread by @MouinRabbani on Thread Reader App
threadreaderapp.comstephie
in reply to Bilal Barakat 🍉 • • •Bilal Barakat 🍉
in reply to stephie • • •@stephie_hamburg
The English translation of his book won't come out before next year, unfortunately. I hope there's also interest from a German (countercurrent) publisher.
stephie
in reply to Bilal Barakat 🍉 • • •I just looked, there's no announcement in German yet. And it seems only one book from filiu was translated in german.
I think I will read the English version, my french is not sufficient enough.
Bilal Barakat 🍉
in reply to Bilal Barakat 🍉 • • •Another thing occurs to me, a propos of this piece:
Filiu managed to get official permission for entry into the Gaza Strip from Israel, without being part of a humanitarian mission. Which proves that it is not the case that “international journalists are not getting in because no-one is getting in except humanitarians". Whatever security hoopla they made a history professor jump through they could make a CNN correspondent jump through. Israel is choosing to ban international journalists from Gaza, and journalists specifically.
EDIT: In another interview (Le Monde) he clarifies: "I was integrated into the local team of Doctors Without Borders, which is doing extraordinary work in Gaza and which I assisted thanks to my intimate knowledge of the enclave". It's unclear whether that was just for logistics or whether that means he was officially allowed in •as• "humanitarian assistance".
@palestine