| On Tuesday, we suspended all normal coverage for the day. Instead, we devoted our website entirely to one subject: Gaza. That meant publishing only pieces by people in or from the Gaza Strip.
As Rayan El Amine, Lizzy Ratner, and I wrote on Tuesday, we decided to do “A Day for Gaza” for a few reasons: to highlight the ongoing crisis that the people of Gaza are facing at the hands of Israel and its allies; to recommit ourselves to covering this critical issue and to giving Palestinians the opportunity to tell their own stories; and to offer an invitation and a challenge to other members of the media, who seem to have all but forgotten about this ongoing tragedy. Coverage of Gaza has plummeted in the months since the so-called “ceasefire” was declared in October, even as Israel’s genocidal ambitions have not wavered. We were determined to make a statement about our own resolve not to look away and to press our fellow journalists to do the same.
But none of that is as important as the pieces themselves. There’s Nation writer Mohammed R. Mhawish’s piercing analysis of the hollowness of the ceasefire; Asmaa Dwaima’s devastating elegy to her late sister; Deema Hattab’s loving reconstruction of the many cultural landmarks that have been lost to the genocide; and Ali Skaik’s beautiful, heartbreaking conversation with the denizens of a single block in Gaza City, just to name a few. The rest of the pieces range just as widely—from literary criticism to dreams to photography to personal testimony.
It’s no small thing for a news organization, in the midst of a seemingly endless constellation of crises both at home and abroad, to pause its operations for a day in support of a cause. That is why I am proud to work for The Nation. I hope you spend some time with all the pieces from “A Day for Gaza” this weekend and follow the brilliant writers, artists, and thinkers featured in the package. And I hope that you, too, will keep your eyes on Gaza.
-Jack Mirkinson
Senior Editor, The Nation |