"At a certain point, I hated Gaza. I just wanted to get out of there. I wanted to study in America and become a great director. I wanted to win an Oscar. All my dreams were overseas. I think I was just angry at the fact that Gaza was so besieged, so restrictive in so many ways. Some of the men here have a narrow mentality. I wanted to throw everyone out of Gaza so they could see the world, and then bring them back again, with different perspectives and different opinions. Because it would take decades of research on us. You don't have the privilege of disconnecting from reality. It's all around you. A white person living in Europe is not exposed to it. consequences. direct. But if just one of the things that happen every day in Gaza were to happen in the West, it would move nations. In political science class we learned about ethics, human rights, and international law. But life in Gaza will teach you that these things are just propaganda. Propaganda that has deceived us into believing that if only people knew what was happening, they would stop it. It was this naive thinking that led us, at least me and all my friends, to film and document and talk and share on our crazy Instagrams. But I have lost my will. It is so exhausting. We are all disconnected from our reality. We have nothing to eat, but we have these phones. We see our international friends living their days normally. Who are we talking to? You cannot rely on the conscience and moral compass of those in power. We have tried for so long. It doesn't work. You have to pressure them. You have to stop them. systems. You have to move and mobilize and disrupt and protest and cause them costs. It's the only thing they listen to them. Life in Gaza teaches you. For a long time I wanted to leave, but now I don't feel like I can afford to live anywhere else in this world. Gaza seems like the only real place left on earth.”
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Nour Alsaqqa is the communications officer for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gaza. When I first decided to do this series, MSF headquarters warned me that all the Palestinian staff were exhausted and traumatized. They said, 'Let's try an interview and see how it goes.' By that, they meant, 'Let's try an interview and see what Nour decides.' Because Nour was the only member of the communications team in Gaza. It was Nour who decided to go deeper and turn it into a full series. It was Nour who managed to secure all these interviews, under the most difficult conditions. And it was Nour who took it upon herself to create wonderful portraits of all the interviewees, so that their stories could be presented in the same style as those collected in New York City.
Source: New York City
