Asim RafiquiThe Virginia Quarterly
ReviewJuly 1, 2009
My teacher bought me a dreidel
made from cast lead.
Do you know the reason?
In honor of
Hanukkah
I arrived in Gaza during the last days of Israel’s Operation CastLead—launched on December 27, 2008, the last day of Hanukkah. On
previous trips to Gaza, I had documented my fair share of funerals,
burials, mourning families, people salvaging belongings from
the ruins
of their homes. And always the ensuing Hamas marches, the masked
gunmen, the shouts of anger. Though the scale of this Israeli incursion
was larger than any I could remember, when I again
found myself
crossing the border, the circumstances felt all too familiar, and I
carried with me the fear that there was nothing new I could document.Gaza, after all, has been consistently
and extensively photographed
for decades. There are dozens of talented and professional Palestinian
photographers who work with scores of agencies, bringing the experience
of the region to the world.
In addition, some of the most talented
international photojournalists have made Gaza the focus of their work.
This is the challenge of coming to Gaza: how to shed new light on one
of the world’s
most thoroughly photographed human tragedies?View Asim's photographs and continue
reading in The Virginia Quarterly Asim travelled to Gaza with a grant from the Pulitzer Center. Learn more
about this reporting project.
A ferry (front) is escorted by Israel's navy (not pictured) as it heads into port in Ashdod June 30, 2009. The Israeli navy intercepted and boarded the ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists ...
