The Eyes of Gaza: A Diary of Resilience
Plestia Alaqad
In early October 2023, Palestinian Plestia Alaqad was a recent graduate with dreams of becoming a successful journalist. By the end of November, her social media posts depicting daily life in Gaza, amid Israel's deadly invasion and bombardment, would profoundly move millions of people. She would be internationally known as the 'Eyes of Gaza'. Written as a series of diary extracts, The Eyes of Gaza relates the horrors of her experiences while showcasing the indomitable spirit of the men, women and children who share her communities. From the epicentre of turmoil, while bombs rain around her and devastation grips her people, she is witness to their emotions, their gentle acts of quiet, necessary heroism, and the moments of unexpected tenderness and vulnerability amid the chaos.Through the raw honesty and vulnerability of a normal 21-year-old woman trying to make her way through a human tragedy, The Eyes of Gaza is a potent reminder of the horrors of violence and a powerful testament to the human spirit. It recounts a harrowing experience, but it is not a heart-breaking lamentation. Rather, it is a deeply intimate love letter to a girl's demolished before her eyes, yes, but forever present in her heart.
Publication Year: 2025
Sometimes I forget how privileged I am… how when I talk about Cymru, I talk about being free. What I mean is an independence where the Cymraeg government has full autonomy and power but either way I won’t feel the consequences. Cymru was still exist in peace and safety. A safety I have always known, a safety that my grandfather wanted when he made the hard decision to leave Yemen with only the clothes on his back. When Plestia writes about a free Gaza, a free Palestine she writes about a hospital courtyard with dead bodies lined up waiting to be identified and at the other end small children painting the Palestinian flag. That even small children in a genocide, playing next to dead bodies have hopes and dreams for a free Palestine where the flag can fly free. Because freedom for Palestine means IOF terrorists can start their aggressions on the land, it means they can return to their stolen homes and stolen land, it means their children won’t be abducted and held in Israeli prisons to be beaten, starved, tortured and raped, it means a future where babies aren’t born to the sound of drones.
0Your rating:
I think this is the most important book I will read of 2025… and possibly my whole life. A book that everyone needs to read at least regardless of if they’re a reader or not. A book that devastates and hurts and leaves something deep inside you as you relive the memories of the world’s most documented genocide. A book that reminds you that everyone lost to the genocide was a human, a human with hopes and dreams and a life not just a number to post about and be sad for a little while before moving on. This book made me sad to read but it should make you sad to read it.
0
© 2024 Pagebound