Jehad Abusalim is the Education and Policy Associate of the
Palestine Activism Program at the American Friends Service
Committee. He is completing his PhD in the History and Hebrew and
Judaic Studies joint program at New York University.
His main area of research is Palestinian and Arab perceptions of
the Zionist project and the Jewish question before 1948. An
accomplished speaker and writer, Jehad combines his passion for
history with his commitment to activism and policy change work.
Jehad's family continues to live in Gaza.
Jennifer Bing has worked with AFSC's Palestine-Israel Program
since 1989. Based in Chicago, she organizes events, national
speaking tours, exhibits and trainings, and coordinates AFSC's
education and advocacy work on the campaigns Israeli Military
Detention: No Way to Treat a Child and Gaza Unlocked. In this role,
she works closely with faith organizations and human rights groups
throughout the U.S.
Jennifer has appeared in numerous media outlets including Truthout,
Worldview/WBEZ, Mondoweiss, Electronic Intifada, Alternet, Chicago
Tribune, Chicago Reader, Friends Journal, and The Washington Post.
She is also a regular contributor to AFSC's Acting in Faith and
News and Commentary blogs.
Jennifer is a Quaker and an active member of the Quaker Palestine
Israel Network.
Mike Merryman-Lotze is the American Friends Service Committee's
Palestine-Israel Program Director. He coordinates AFSC's Israel and
Palestine focused advocacy and policy programming, working closely
with AFSC's offices in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and
throughout the US.
From 2000 through 2003 Mike worked as a researcher with a human
rights organization in the West Bank, and from 2007 through 2010 he
worked in Save the Children UK's Jerusalem office managing child
rights and child protection programming. Between these two
experiences he worked for an international development NGO managing
community and local government development programs in Lebanon,
Jordan, and Yemen.
"Light in Gaza is a strong, honest presentation of today’s
Gazans, a necessary read that provides a good understanding of the
humanity of the Palestinians in Gaza." —Palestine
Chronicle
"There are so many beautiful passages in this collection that, even
though I generally like to keep my books pristine, I have
highlighted entire pages in this
volume." —Mondoweiss
"This Collection of 15 essays and poems, introduced by lead editor
Jehad Abusalim, was conceptualized as a platform to humanize Gaza
and show that the besieged territory is more than a place of
destruction and impoverishment. Light in Gaza is ultimately
successful in bringing Gazans to life, showing the dignity,
integrity and creativity with which they endure life’s many
hardships….This is a deeply personal book for the contributors….
The essays convey how exhausting and frightening it is to live in
Gaza. Subjected to periodic brutal assaults, Gazans (70 percent of
whom are refugees) live in a state of “permanent temporality,” a
term Shahd Abusalama uses to describe living in a state of
suspension, while waiting to return home." —Washington Report on
Middle Eastern Affairs
"This book is rich in insights from Gazans living under Israel’s
brutal siege as well as those living abroad. The editors and
authors are determined to start a conversation about Gaza and to
break “the intellectual blockade” imposed on it. From Jehad
Abusalim’s introduction to the last word, these compelling works
move from personal reflections to political and economic analysis.
They capture the reader and pull them through a journey that is as
uplifting as it is heartbreaking that it should have to be lived at
all. It will not leave you unmoved and will reinforce your
determination to strive for Palestinian freedom." —Nadia
Hijab, co-founder and honorary president, Al-Shabaka: the
Palestinian Policy Network
"Because of Israel's blockade, I've only been able to go to Gaza
once. Everyone I spoke to there could tell me about the
unimaginable hardship and trauma they'd experienced. But what
stayed with me most was something I hadn't expected: The
unquenchable optimism and humor of Palestinians there.
Reading Light in Gaza a decade after my visit brought
that feeling flooding back. This brilliant, funny, inspiring
collection of stories and essays by writers in Gaza was exactly
what I needed to reinvigorate my hope and determination to work for
a future that uplifts us all.” —Ali Abunimah
“A must read for anyone interested in learning about Gaza, from the
Palestinians of Gaza themselves. Powerful and
engaging.” —Laila Elhaddad
"Gaza is often referred to as an 'open-air prison,' because it is
so hard for messages, images or bodies to get out, or for resources
to get in. Light in Gaza breaks through the prison walls
and gives us a unique opportunity to hear and learn from those
living under Israeli occupation in Gaza. Their voices are filled
with pain, loss, frustration, anger, but most of all, hope. This
powerful and beautifully crafted collection is one that readers
must engage with heads and hearts wide open." —Barbara Ransby,
historian, author, activist
"An emotionally and intellectually sophisticated collection that is
deep, processed and enlightening." —Sarah Schulman
"A book that embodies the central paradox all Gaza-watchers are
aware of: while Israel - aided by Egypt and tolerated by the
international system - constantly sharpens tools to control and
brutalize Gaza, Gaza insists on its agency, its dignity and its
imagination. Read these writings - literally “born of fire” for the
wealth and variety of their ideas and for their grounding of the
aspirations and dreams of Palestinian Gazans. " —Ahdaf
Soueif
"Light In Gaza is essential reading, not least because it
reflects the voice of a people who are routinely and egregiously
robbed of their basic humanity. It also represents a profound
challenge to anyone who reads it. One author asks, "Can a story or
a poem change the mind? Can a book make a difference?" The answer,
as ever, is up to us all." —Rabbi Brant Rosen, Founding
Rabbi of congregation Tzedek Chicago
"As Mahmud Darwish wrote as early as 1973, "we do injustice to Gaza
when we turn it into a myth". This is why "Light in Gaza", through
its insightful collection of essays and poems, offers such a unique
picture of the Palestinian experience in a territory cut off from
the world for a decade and a half." —Jean-Pierre Filiu, author
of Gaza: A History
"The poignant first-person essays in this wide-ranging anthology
have the greatest and rarest of virtues: they are portraits--brave,
tender, resilient--of life in Gaza by the people who actually live
it." —Nathan Thrall, author of The Only Language They
Understand
"Light in Gaza presents the images and voices of a wide range
of people from the Gaza Strip who tell us about things rarely
reported in the Western media – the Edward Said Public Library, the
Parkour team, new architectural technologies to repair damaged
homes, manufacturing airless tires to subvert Israel’s ban on
import of pneumatic tires, and of course, poetry. These signs of
inspiring vitality and creativity under the worst possible
conditions show us that a better future for Gaza is possible. We
should amplify these images and voices and insist as forcefully as
we can that the people of the Gaza Strip deserve to live with
dignity, justice and equal rights." —Joel Beinin
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