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Tagged: Gaza

Remembering an Artist Who Gave Life to the Children of Gaza

By Loaay Wattad. Born in 1997, Dorgham was a Palestinian artist known and beloved by many in Gaza. Through theater, cinema, painting, and song, he brought smiles to the faces of displaced Palestinians — especially children — throughout the genocide. But Dorgham was not just a painter, filmmaker, or theater director: with his humble presence and tender voice, he gave kids whose childhood had been stolen by war the chance to dream again, and the hope that their dreams would one day come to life. On March 18, Dorgham, his wife Aya, and 26 members of his family were killed in a brutal Israeli assault that targeted his home in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood of Gaza City. But the hope and joy he planted did not die. They still resonate in the Palestinian children who crowded into refugee tents across Gaza, where Dorgham created art projects and staged cultural productions for them — acts of resistance in their own right.

Why the Past Matters: Personal Reflections on the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life

By Zahiye Kundos. This reflective piece explores the complex, intergenerational sense of loss and identity crisis within Arab communities, focusing on the author’s personal journey of reconnecting with heritage, language, and selfhood amid a history marked by exile, fragmentation, and political marginalization. The author describes a profound attachment to belonging (intimāʾ), which shapes her writing and drives her to understand and heal the collective “bruise” in the Arab heart—a metaphor for enduring pain and resilience in the face of historical displacement. Zahiye Kundos navigates familial and cultural ties across generations, examining both male and female influences in her family and the broader Arab intellectual landscape.

On ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ and the War on Palestine: Gender Violence, and the Struggle for Transnational Feminist Solidarity 

By Fatemeh Shams. In this article, the author reflects on seemingly disconnected events, such as “the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban” (2021), the rise of the “Women Life Freedom” Movement in Iran (2022) and the ongoing war in Gaza, under the lens of transnational feminist solidarity.

Gaza through a Mother’s Lens

By Zahyie Kundos. Since Gaza was set on fire, once again, I am asking myself: When will I manage to bring myself to language, to carry the duty of recording the apocalyptic scenes of death, and to imagine a way for rebirth thereof? The least of interventions from my safe place in the diaspora: bringing self to letters. Imagine. But I haven’t been able to, and I am troubled to understand why not. Why is the distance between myself and the act of translating feelings into letters so big this time?

Resisting the Hobbesian Narrative: Hope and Morality in ‘The Hunger Games’

In this article, Loaay Wattad focuses on the evolution of hope and morality in dystopian narratives. Through the case study of ‘The Hunger Games’ trilogy, he explores how dystopian literature manifests and reverberates in our daily lives and emphasizes its development into a tangible political statement—one that challenges Hobbesian philosophy and its expression in contemporary politics. This analysis takes on added poignancy in light of current events, such as the ongoing war on Gaza, highlighting the timeliness and relevance of dystopian reflections in the face of contemporary conflicts and wars.