The death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 10,000. The atrocities continue in both Gaza and the Occupied West Bank, and we’ve seen many people feeling helpless and powerless to act. Very little aid is making it into Gaza, and none at all into the worst affected areas in the north of the territory.
It’s so important that we don’t lose hope, don’t look away, and don’t stop supporting Gaza and the rest of Occupied Palestine. Here are some things which you CAN do to channel your despair, grief and anger into action, and keep going.
We’ll be updating this list as we go and as the needs of Palestinians in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank develop, so please do send us any ideas or resources you come across if you would like to see them included in our next update.
Please note that any links to books in this article will take you to Bookshop.org, an online bookseller which supports independent bookshops. We have deliberately avoided providing links through Amazon, which is a key company being boycotted as part of the BDS movement. None of the links in this post are affiliate links.
Keep showing your support and solidarity
Keep marching, keep speaking out and keep talking about Palestine. Although the situation in Gaza remains catastrophic, the global pressure by ordinary citizens is having an impact.
- If you feel able, consider attending a march, sit-in, or other protest in your local area. Find a protest near you if you live in the US here, or in the UK here. For more information about protesting in support of Palestine, with UK-focused information and guidance, see this resource. For a great piece on accessible ways to support Palestine if you are disabled, head to @cripthegig on Instagram, who has put together another great resource.
- If your situation allows, write to your political representatives to urge them to call for an immediate ceasefire and sign petitions in support of a ceasefire.
- If you are in the UK, you can access an email template ready to send to your MP, prepared by Medical Aid for Palestinians here.
If you are in the US, you can call your representatives in Congress through Jewish Voice for Peace here or write to your representatives through the Adalah Project here.
Amplify Palestinian voices and keep talking about Palestine on social media
In marked contrast to Facebook and Instagram’s response to the Ukraine war, Palestinian activists and their supporters are facing shadow bans and are being penalised by algorithms.
Together we can counter this by highlighting Palestinian voices and refusing to let them be silenced by algorithms or bans.
While some might question what sharing a post on Palestine does to help, rest assured that even this small act does make a difference. It lets your Palestinian friends know that they are not alone, it boosts the visibility of Palestinian voices online by pushing them up in the rankings, it educates, it raises awareness, and it is putting pressure on governments in the West, no matter how hopeless that battle may seem. If the Israeli government thinks social media is a powerful tool, so should we all. Don’t stop posting.
“There is really nothing on this same scale and intensity that’s been so deliberately targeted at western audiences early in a conflict”
Emerson Brooking, author of ‘Likewar: The Weaponisation of Social Media’,
on the Israeli state social media campaign since October 7th
Refuse to allow the dehistoricization of what is happening
Despite the mountain of documentation of the Nakba and of the last 75 years of occupation, Israeli politicians and supporters are pushing for the events of the last month to be seen in isolation. While Hamas undeniably committed atrocities on October 7th, the story behind the apocalyptic situation in Gaza dates back much, much farther. One thing we CAN do is to know the history of Palestine and to refuse to allow this dehistoricization and decontextualisation to stand.
- We’ve recently updated our reading list on Palestine and it’s a great place to deepen your knowledge and understanding, and to resist this narrative.
Refuse to allow the denial of what is happening in Gaza
Despite the never-ending onslaught of horrifying videos and images from the ground in Gaza being live-streamed to our phones, and top UN officials declaring the events in Gaza a ‘textbook case of genocide’, Israeli politicians and officials are vehemently refuting any allegations of genocide or ethnic cleansing, with the Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, even denying that there is a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza at all.
- Keep learning about what is happening on the ground in Gaza from some of the surviving journalists who continue to share what is going on, even as their colleagues are killed around them. This resource includes a list of accounts to follow.
- Bear witness, and refuse to allow this denial to stand.
Boycott, Divest, Sanction
The Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement has been active since 2005, and works to challenge international support for Israel’s occupation of Palestine through non-violent means. BDS has had many notable successes including influential cultural and academic boycotts, major divestments by national pension funds, banks and foundations, and forcing major companies like Orange to pull out of Israel. With the eyes of the world now on Palestine more than ever before, and through the power of social media, this is an unprecedented opportunity for BDS to make a larger impact than ever before.
Drawing on the techniques learnt by the South African anti-apartheid movement, BDS advocates for a carefully targeted campaign of boycotts to focus pressure on specific companies for maximum impact. They also urge supporters to be mindful of local contexts – boycotts which make sense in one country or city may not be effective in others, for example if local outlets are franchises run by non-Israeli local businesses. Some of the key companies BDS is targeting include Expedia, Booking.com, AXA, Volvo, Carrefour, Amazon, Barclays, Puma and Airbnb. You can find out more about the Boycott, Sanction, Divest movement here.
- Demonstrate your support for Gazans and Palestinians by voting with your wallet, reducing financial and international support for the atrocities Israel is committing.
- Ask the community groups, unions and any other organisations you may be part of to end their ties with Israel and any companies that support the occupation.
Keep watching what is happening in the Occupied West Bank
The terrible violence of this month is far from limited to Gaza. Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank are also being bombed, murdered by settlers, harassed and forcibly expelled from their homes. The death toll in the West Bank since 7th October now stands at 163, and many living in Palestinian villages have fled their homes after facing extreme violence and harassment from Israeli settlers and the military. The events in Gaza can seem all-consuming, but don’t forget what is happening in the rest of Palestine.
Consume news and social media with care, attention and a critical eye
It goes without saying that at times like these we all need to watch out for the manipulation of our news sources. Keep an eye out for disinformation, images or videos which claim to be from one time or place but in fact come from another, and false statistics. But also look out for more subtle tools which are aimed to shape your reaction to what’s going on. Media reports might use the passive voice, tell you that people ‘died’, rather than were killed or couch statistics with phrases like ‘reportedly’ to throw doubt on the extent of the death toll.
Then there’s the racism, islamophobia and dehumanisation, which is being published freely in mainstream media and is a key strategy in justifying the slaughter of civilians. Examples of this can be both subtle, as in references to Palestinians living in ‘the law of the jungle’ (who lives in the jungle? animals), or overt: “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”
You’ll also see the old colonial technique of the concept of the ‘civilised’ versus the ‘uncivilised’ and frequent uses of the racially-loaded terms ‘savage’ and ‘barbaric’. These aren’t just adjectives – they dehumanise, they reinforce a racist hierarchy, they shape the narrative, and they legitimise unimaginable violence.
Learn about cultural erasure
Bombs, checkpoints, imprisonment and apartheid are only a few of the strategies used to control Palestinians and deny their freedom. Since the Nakba, Israel and its supporters have also been routinely and systematically denying, obscuring, destroying and erasing Palestinian cultural heritage. From museums which ‘erase Palestinian presence’ in order to ‘serve a settler colonial imagination’, the ‘active erasure’ and ‘repositioning’ of Arab and Palestinian influences in the creation of modern Israeli pop music, to the campaign of co-opting Palestinian and Arab foods, foodwashing, culinary Zionism and the infamous ‘Hummus Wars’, to the outright destruction of archaeological sites, cultural erasure has been actively practised for decades in service of the myth that only Israel exists.
- Learn about the erasure of Palestinian cultural heritage, notice it as it happens, and stand against it.
Become one more safe repository for Palestinian cultural heritage
One thing we can all do is to fight against the cultural erasure of Palestine by learning about it, celebrating it and helping to preserve it. Make yourself another link in the chain, one more person who will remember.
“The need to acknowledge, safeguard and celebrate Palestinian culture, its distinctive genius and the abundance and refinement of its traditions is part of the struggle for meaningful political change.”
Zeina Ghandour, 2013
Celebrating the rich and varied landscape of Palestinian cultural heritage also fights against the flattening of Palestinian identity into victimhood or extremism.
“Gazans are consistently shown either as hapless objects of pity
Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmidt, 2013
or as vicious objects of fear, seldom as singular lives in a complex environment.”
- Learn about the rich food traditions of Palestine. Some great places to get started are Joudie Kalla’s cookbooks Palestine on a Plate and Baladi, Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmidt’s The Gaza Kitchen and Reem Kassis’s The Palestinian Table.
- Learn about Palestinian dabke, the infectious and joyous dance performed at weddings, parties and now to celebrate and preserve Palestinian identity under occupation and in diaspora.
- Learn about tatreez, the iconic Palestinian embroidery art which has become an emblem of the Palestinian struggle. Let Wafa Ghnaim of Tatreez & Tea teach you all you need to know, and if you’re keen to try it out for yourself why not get stitching with one of the free tatreez patterns she has shared in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and beyond.
- A great book for teaching children about Palestinian cultural heritage is Reem Kassis’s new book, We are Palestinian: A Celebration of Culture and Tradition.
Support fundraisers for Gaza and Palestine
All across the world, people are organising all kinds of fundraisers for Gaza and Palestine more broadly, both online and in person.
- From this online film fundraiser, which will send you a collection of Palestinian films to watch in exchange for your donation, to teach-ins, pop-ups, and collective wellbeing sessions, keep an eye out for fundraisers you can support no matter where you are.
- Donate to appeals for emergency aid in Gaza, like this one run by Handmade Palestine and Gaza-based charity Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, both our trusted partners for many years
- Even more importantly, be ready to step up fundraising efforts when the primary needs in Gaza shift from a ceasefire to aid.
And finally, take care of yourself to enable you to keep up your support
Make no mistake, Palestinians in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank will need support for a very long time to come. Make sure you are doing what you need to do to preserve your own mental health, strength, and conviction. Many across the world are already tiring of this ‘story’ while others are burning out on all the horrors they are witnessing. We can only be of use if we are able to stay strong enough to raise our voices for Palestine and continue to mobilise support.
We each have our own unique contribution to make based on our skills, access to resources and positionality. Be strategic with your energy – identify where you can make the most impact and rest where you need to in order to ensure you’re able to do this at your maximum capacity.
Free Palestine.
For more on Palestine, see these articles:
Reading List | Gaza & Palestine
7 Essential Films about Palestine
Identity & Resistance: Wafa Ghnaim And Her Work With Tatreez