We invite everyone for a film screening of Gaza Fights For Freedom, with an open discussion afterward, hosted in collaboration with the Aralez. This film is about the history of Gaza and the nonviolent resistance of 2018-2019. Everyone is welcome for a respectful conversation. This debut feature film by journalist Abby Martin began while reporting in Palestine, where she was denied entry into Gaza by the Israeli government. Abby connected with a team of journalists in Gaza to produce the film through the blockaded border. This collaboration shows you Gaza’s protest movement like you’ve never seen before. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it features riveting exclusive footage of demonstrations. The documentary tells the story of Gaza’s past and present, showing rare archival footage that explains the history never acknowledged by mass media. You’ll hear from victims of the ongoing massacre, including journalists, medics and the family of internationally-acclaimed paramedic, Razan al-Najjar. At its core, ‘Gaza Fights For Freedom’ is a thorough indictment of the Israeli military for war crimes and a stunning cinematic portrayal of Palestinians’ heroic resistance.
Background Gaza and the policy of collective punishment
The current massacres and collective punishment of the Israeli state in Gaza is not new or unique. The Israeli army has always openly targeted the entire population of Gaza under the Dahiya doctrine. Between January 2008 and August 2023, Israel killed 6,399 Palestinians, of which 1,434 were children and 626 were women, compared to 308 Israelis killed, of which 25 were children and 36 were women. Israel’s stranglehold on Gazan imports and exports – combined with regular bombing of essential infrastructure – has made the area, in the words of the United Nations, ‘unliveable’ for people since 2020. There is hardly any clean drinking water, electricity or work anymore. Half the population has insufficient food and drinking water pollution has become the leading cause of death among children. The Gaza ghetto is deliberately kept in appalling living conditions by the Israeli regime.
The Israeli regime has shown that it does not tolerate non-violent resistance either. During the ‘Great March of Return’ (2018-9), when Gaza residents walked unarmed and peacefully, without any involvement from Hamas, to the Israeli occupation wall, they were massacred on a large scale. Logically, there was not a single death or injury on Israel’s side. 193 of the protesters were executed by Israeli snipers, including children, the elderly, the disabled, healthcare workers, press workers and women. Another 9,000 Palestinians were injured by Israeli bullets. With or without armed resistance, the Israeli army is slaughtering the civilian population of Gaza. 80% of the Palestinians in the Gaza ghetto are (descendants) of ethnically cleansed Palestinians from the surrounding region, which was annexed by Israel in 1948 during the Nakba where 720,000 Palestinians were displaced. Many of them are still waiting for their right to peacefully return to their homeland and their freedom out of the largest open-air prison humanity has ever seen.
Background text translated from statement “Voor Gelijke Rechten in Historisch Palestina“
