Daybreak in Gaza

Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture

Mahmood Muna & Matthew Teller (red.)
Saqi Books, 2024

Bestel dit boek  bij onze partner Athenaeum Boekhandel

Door Michelle Reitano

Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture, edited by Mahmood Muna and Matthew Teller, presents a multifaceted account of life in the Gaza Strip, both before and during the current war starting in October 2023. It aims to centre Palestinian perspectives and raise awareness about the impact of the conflict, and asks for accountability for the humanitarian crimes perpetrated by the Israeli government and the complicity of its international allies.

The overwhelming strength of the book is its focus on the everyday realities of the people of Gaza, collecting accounts from an array of backgrounds and perspectives. Through its format as a collection of essays from more than fifty authors, it is able to explore a wide variety of experiences and delve into the perspectives of various professionals, including artists, journalists, human rights advocates, educators, and more. Most of the authors of the pieces are Palestinians, and the few who are not have close relations with Gaza as scholars, journalist, or humanitarian workers, providing complementary perspectives. This polyphonic approach allows the book to focus on the day-to-day lived realities of Palestinians, and explore the effects of the war on various aspects of daily life in Gaza, from home life, to school and education, to the impact on public infrastructure. Some of the perspectives offered are particularly unique and present an added layer of complexity to our understanding of the conflict. For instance, Noor Swirki’s contribution ‘Doubly Victimised’ examines the impact of conflict on the women of Gaza, highlighting their specific experiences and needs, such as the lack of availability of female hygiene products in times of war. Instead of telling the story of the Gaza Strip from a distant birds-eye view, Daybreak in Gaza weaves threads made of a wide range of voices to create a complex tapestry. It asks the reader to recognize the individuality of the people who write in the collection, and gives names and narrative voices to Palestinians, too often referred to simply as statistics.

Furthermore, the book shines in its refusal to shy away from the politicization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and instead encourages the reader to confront it. Daybreak in Gaza aims to disentangle Palestinian experiences of war from the humanitarian framework often presented by established media, and instead engages with the reality of the war within its broader historical and political context. Many of the authors delve into the questions of genocide and coloniality, asking for accountability for decades of injustices endured by the Palestinians in Gaza, and thus open up the possibility of wider political discussion on these topics. Consequently, the authors ask the reader to come face-to-face with the crimes committed by the Israeli government throughout the war. For instance, in her essay ‘Never Ask Me About Peace Again’, journalist Asmaa al-Ghoul challenges the narrative of the Israeli war on Gaza as only being a ‘war with Hamas’, highlighting that the vast majority of Palestinians killed have no relation to the armed group, thus criticizing the conflation of Palestinians with Hamas and its crimes. In addition, while the book overwhelmingly focuses on the current war, many of its contributions explore prior military escalations in the Gaza Strip, putting the contemporary context within a historical pattern of Israeli violence against Palestinians. The book thus asks the reader to view the experience of Palestinians in Gaza not purely through the lens of a humanitarian tragedy, but instead confront the historical and political context of the current war.

Complementarily, Daybreak in Gaza allows space for nuance and critical internal accounts of Palestinian society and politics. While the book focuses generally on the experiences of Palestinians in the face of Israeli military violence and occupation, several accounts also hold a critical viewpoint of Palestinian society. For instance, in ‘The Ballad of Lulu and Amina’, Izzeldin Bukhari recounts his experiences crossing checkpoints into Gaza not only in relation to the Israeli soldiers controlling the crossing, but also with regards to the Hamas members he faced on the Gazan side. While brief, his account of the encounter with Hamas members is critical, as he rejects their questioning of his worth and masculinity due to him caring about bringing a cat to his sister. Furthermore, Haifa Farajallah explores in ‘My Voice is My Life’ the sexism and racism she has faced in her work as a singer from Gaza’s African community. In doing so, she holds up a mirror to Palestinian society and uncovers aspects of it not often discussed. Therefore, Daybreak in Gaza is not only a critique of Israeli crimes and international complicity, but also allows for introspection and reflection on the ways Palestinian society has to move forward.

Nevertheless, despite their strengths, many of the entries within Daybreak in Gaza are very brief, leaving the reader wanting for more. Often, the brevity is due to the incredibly difficult circumstances under which the pieces were written, coming from Palestinians living through war. Some of the pieces’ brevity also mirror the experience of its writers and their lives being cut short. This is the case of ‘Your Vow is True’ by Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed alongside her family in an Israeli bombardment, abruptly cutting off her war diary. However, other contributions to the book are extracts from longer pieces. While the book provides references at the end to access the full pieces, it is unfortunate that more extensive extracts were not included in Daybreak in Gaza itself.

Additionally, Daybreak in Gaza leaves out much of the historical context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in favour of historical vignettes serving as interludes between contributions. In this regard, the book asks the reader to either have prior knowledge on the conflict or conduct their own research about the historical events referred to by the contributors. While this approach requires the reader to be an active participant in their search for understanding of the Palestinian experience, and allows the interludes to explore unexpected facets of Gaza’s history, it might discourage curious readers who lack the relevant background.

Nevertheless, Daybreak in Gaza is a crucial contribution to contemporary debates surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in light of its recent escalation in October 2023. It echoes Edward Said’s 1984 essay, ‘Permission to Narrate’, which criticizes the censoring of the Palestinian perspective within established Israeli, American, and international media, and reclaims the right of Palestinians to tell their side of the story. Four decades later, Daybreak in Gaza reclaims the same right, and unapologetically puts Palestinian perspectives at the forefront of the account of Israel’s war on Gaza.