Obliterated Families of Gaza
14 January – 12 Februari 2017, Kriterion Amsterdam
Photo exhibition of Anne Paq and Ala Qandil
More than 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza during the
Summer of 2014. 142 families lost three members or more, some of the families were even
wiped out entirely.
For almost a decade now the Gaza Strip has been cut of from the rest of Palestine and has suffred from an illegal and inhumane blockade and occupation. With approximately 1.8 million people living on only 360 km² of land, the Strip is one of the most densely populated areas of the world, and the Israeli imposed siege has turned the area into a large, overcrowded, open-air prison. In the summer of 2014, the Israeli military launched an offnsive codenamed “Protective Edge” against the Gaza Strip. This was the most brutal Israeli aggression since 1967.
For 51 days, trapped and targeted by Israeli fie go and nowhere to hide, as even hospitals and UN shelters were not safe, Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have suffred inconceivable loss. More than 2,200 Gazans were killed, the majority of them civilians, including more than 500
children. Among the statistics from the Summer of 2014, one fiure is particularly shocking: 142 families lost three members or more. Whole families were wiped out, sometimes losing members from three generations – grandparents, children and grandchildren.
About the project #ObliteratedFamilies The project #ObliteratedFamilies commemorates and tells the stories of some of these families, of their loved ones who were killed, and of those who survived and are left behind. The web documentary highlights the stories of ten families. Published on the second anniversary of the Israeli offnsive, on 8 July 2016, the website is now available in French and English at: www.obliteratedfamilies.com We have visited more than 50 families, who lost many members in 2014. We echo their calls for justice, and we hope that this work will combat the indiffrence. It is intolerable to think that the survivors, abandoned by the international community, some still living in the ruins of their bombed houses and with the pain of having lost their loved ones, have no choice but to go on, without the prospect of a better future or justice. We must mobilize to demand justice for these families, to call for an end to the Gaza blockade and the dismantling of the military occupation and colonization of Palestine. Without the active support of the international community, notably
Europe, which is Israel’s main commercial partner, along with the US, Israel would not be able continue its policies of occupation and colonization. Israel’s impunity must end.
We have visited more than 50 families, who lost many members in 2014. We echo their calls for justice, and we hope that this work will combat the indiffrence. It is intolerable to think that the survivors, abandoned by the international community, some still living in the ruins of their bombed houses and with the pain of having lost their loved ones, have no choice but to go on, without the prospect of a better future or justice. We must mobilize to demand justice for these families, to call for an end to the Gaza blockade and the dismantling of the military occupation and colonization of Palestine. Without the active support of the international community, notably Europe, which is Israel’s main commercial partner, along with the US, Israel would not be able continue its policies of occupation and colonization. Israel’s impunity must
end
The exhibition in Amsterdam is organized by the Dutch coalition for Palestinian children in Israeli detention.