Israel does not have a Hamas problem, it does not have a Gaza problem, it has a Palestine problem. It has been two years since one of the most brutal attacks on Gaza in its history. Despite the violence that Israel has wrought upon Gaza in the form occupation, siege, and frequent vicious attacks, western news media continues to frame Israel as the victim. This pedagogical project aims to disrupt that. Gaza in Context seeks to upend the ahistorical Israeli narrative of exceptionalizing Gaza and removing it from the larger question of Palestine.
The Project
A 20-minute multi-media film that combines lecture, animation, typography, and footage from Palestine is the centerpiece of this pedagogical project. Its other components include a teaching guide for instructional purposes, a bibliography for research purposes, and a compendium of Jadaliyya articles featured in what we call a Jad Mag. All of these elements are housed on the project’s own website, which is part of a larger research project on Palestine headed by the Forum on Arab and Muslim Affairs at the Arab Studies Institute.
The Creators
We are a group of academics, activists, and artists seeking to shift the narrative around the Gaza Strip and Palestine, in general. This is an Arab Studies Institute project and is one component of its Palestine Project housed by the Forum on Muslim and Arab Affairs.
The Audience
As a pedagogical project we hope that educators, in high school and college classrooms, as well as organizers and activists use these resources to interrogate the conditions in Gaza and use them as a point of departure for understanding the question of Palestine.