WEBVTT

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When I turned 19, I started my career

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as the first female photojournalist

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in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

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My work as a woman photographer

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was considered a serious insult

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to local traditions,

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and created a lasting stigma

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for me and my family.

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The male-dominated field made my presence

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unwelcome by all possible means.

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They made clear that a woman

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must not do a man's job.

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Photo agencies in Gaza refused to train me

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because of my gender.

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The "No" sign was pretty clear.

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Three of my colleagues

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went as far as to drive me to an open air strike area

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where the explosion sounds

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were the only thing I could hear.

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Dust was flying in the air,

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and the ground was shaking like a swing beneath me.

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I only realized we weren't
there to document the event

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when the three of them got back into the armored Jeep

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and drove away, waving and laughing,

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leaving me behind in the open air strike zone.

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For a moment, I felt terrified,

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humiliated, and sorry for myself.

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My colleagues' action was not

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the only death threat I have received,

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but it was the most dangerous one.

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The perception of women's life in Gaza

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is passive.

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Until a recent time, a lot of 
women were not allowed

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to work or pursue education.

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At times of such doubled war including

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both social restrictions on women

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and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,

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women's dark and bright stories were fading away.

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To men, women's stories were seen

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as inconsequential.

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I started paying closer attention

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to women's lives in Gaza.

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Because of my gender, I had access

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to worlds where my colleagues were forbidden.

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Beyond the obvious pain and struggle,

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there was a healthy dose

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of laughter and accomplishments.

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In front of a police compound in Gaza City

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during the first war in Gaza,

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an Israeli air raid managed to destroy the compound

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and break my nose.

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For a moment, all I saw was white, bright white,

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like these lights.

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I thought to myself I either got blind

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or I was in heaven.

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By the time I managed to open my eyes,

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I had documented this moment.

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Mohammed Khader, a Palestinian worker

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who spent two decades in Israel,

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as his retirement plan,

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he decided to build a four-floor house,

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only by the first field operation at his neighborhood,

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the house was flattened to the ground.

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Nothing was left but the pigeons he raised

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and a jacuzzi, a bathtub

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that he got from Tel Aviv.

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Mohammed got the bathtub

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on the top of the rubble

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and started giving his kids

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an every morning bubble bath.

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My work is not meant to hide the scars of war,

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but to show the full frame

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of unseen stories of Gazans.

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As a Palestinian female photographer,

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the journey of struggle, survival and everyday life

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has inspired me to overcome the community taboo

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and see a different side of war and its aftermath.

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I became a witness with a choice:

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to run away or stand still.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)