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"It's not the flour or the nappies, it's taking a stand against the war"

Standing Together's humanitarian aid campaign coordinator, Amal Ghawi, is not impressed by Ben-Gvir's attacks.

By Shany Payes

Editor Stav Gerstel 

Translation using Google Translate with minor edits by Bernice Keshet

Date of original publication: 26/8/2024

Original Hebrew text: https://www.rosamedia.org/episodes/articles/48

"As a resident of Gaza who is suffering, I say, despite the injustice... We feel that we are alone in the face of the difficult things we have experienced, but when I see Amal Ghawi, an 'insider' journalist [A Palestinian with Israeli citizenship – SP], I see her posts every day with Standing Together, together with others who initiated donations against the starvation in Gaza... I don't have much hope that this aid will reach my city, but now I have a renewed faith in humanity, and that's all I needed, to have hope."

When Amal Ghawi, director of the humanitarian aid campaign at Standing Together, came across this post, tears welled up in her throat. "I've been crying a lot since the campaign started. It's very moving. We were in Sakhnin, Deir al-Assad, Nazareth and Um al-Fahm, and in each of these places thousands of people came to donate and volunteer. There is a stereotype that the Palestinians here [in Israel – BK] have internalised the oppression and that integration is more important to them than solidarity, but in this campaign 200 trucks of aid were collected [at the time of the publication of the interview the number of trucks increased to more than 300 - SP], and thousands of people participated. It's heartwarming," Ghawi says.

Ghawi, 28 years old, is a docu-director and journalist. She grew up in Kafr Qara, and holds a bachelors degree in political science and a masters degree in gender studies from Tel Aviv University, and has also completed a storytelling program at the University of Delaware, USA.

How did you come to work at Standing Together?

"I got to know Standing Together through the campaign for direct employment of cleaning workers at Tel Aviv University [see comment below - BK] but then I shifted my focus to other things, advancing my journalistic career. At the beginning of the war, I felt that there was no sane place to be that could contain everyone's pain. At Standing Together I found a supportive circle of people who believe in the same values I do. I am the eldest of four sisters. It may sound cliché, but I don't want my sisters to grow up in a place full of hatred. I have a need to fix things. I can't stand by and wait for it to happen."

These messages are also prominent in the humanitarian aid campaign, the desire to act and not surrender to despair and paralysis in the face of the continuation of the war. Is this what the campaign means to you too?

"This campaign is not about the sugar, the flour or the nappies, but about taking a stand against the bloody and cruel war and the suffering and starvation that the Gazans are experiencing. Alongside the thousands of Arab volunteers, hundreds of Jewish volunteers also arrived. It's a cry from people who are against the war. It's not just the food, it's a strong voice against war, in favour of a political solution and of peace. That's what we're trying to convey.”

"Since the establishment of the state, since the Nakba, there has been a split between the Palestinians who live here and the Palestinians who live in Gaza and the West Bank. The project of the state is the Israelisation of the Palestinian public in Israel. The government separates us from people who have the same blood, the same language, the same history. We are crying out that we are one people, and what happens to someone in Gaza or to someone in the West Bank hurts me. The same hand that kills children in Gaza is the same hand that does not prevent or even increases criminal activity in the Arab community in Israel and encourages violence in the West Bank."

Why do you think this campaign is getting so much attention?

"Palestinian society is frustrated. Since the beginning of the war, we see all this pain and are frustrated that there is nothing that can be done, not even to write a post of solidarity because of the silencing and the arrests. Something can finally be done."

Did you expect such a response?

"The scope is surprising, especially the volunteering amongst the youth. They always say that the younger generation does nothing, is busy only with phones. To see hundreds of children and teenagers coming, distributing water, helping with packaging and cleaning, it’s raising a new generation that cares. There was a 12-year-old girl who told me, 'This is the first time my parents and I have volunteered at the same event.' Whole families come, help pack, clean. It is the organising of an entire society for one purpose. These are children who now feel that they are part of society. With all the crime and negative things we experience and see in the media [about the Palestinian communities in Israel – BK], the campaign provided a spotlight on the good."

What do you say to Ben-Gvir, who threatened to revoke the citizenship of the heads of local councils in the Negev who participate in the campaign?

"Ben-Gvir is Ben-Gvir. If he had reacted differently, I would have been surprised. As far as I'm concerned, the important thing is that what we are doing here means hope. You must act to bring hope, it will not fall on us from heaven. And this campaign, if the word to describe it isn't hope, then I don't know what is." 

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