How to Write About Palestine

A man carries a dead child at Nasser Hospital Khan Yunis Gaza on May Photo Abed Rahim Khatib Anadolu Getty Images Begin on October th Nothing pivotal happened before this date History began on October th Never say the word occupation and avoid using terms like apartheid segregation and illegal settlements Avoid writing about the wall If you do preface its existence by talking about terrorism and precaution Terrorism and precaution are very crucial words Use them a lot in reference to Palestinians Remind your audience that Palestine is a complicated situation Avoid the word genocide for legal and technical reasons of program If you must use the word put it in quotes Do not describe the escalation of Israeli hostility as an assault on the people of Gaza Instead use words like war and conflict because that makes it easier to avoid the g-word When reporting on the dead invariably use the passive voice and don t mention how they were killed or by whom As often as manageable remind your readers of October th When writing about Palestinians do not forget to center Israeli feelings Although the Israeli miliary is dropping bombs and killing Palestinians the real story is about the persecution of Israelis in the wake of October th Avoid making everything even more complicated pointing out that antisemitism is a European invention Writing about Palestine mainly involves writing about Hamas Writing about Hamas is almost as key as writing about October th Hamas is a person a thing a monster a ghost Hamas is in every home Hamas is in tunnels and hospitals Hamas is in tents sleeping next to patients in wheelchairs Hamas is in ambulances that are buried with paramedics Hamas infiltrated World Food Kitchen and all the soup kitchens and schools even the children s souls have been infiltrated by Hamas Palestinian children try to get a ration of hot food from a charity kitchen set up at a camp for displaced people in Gaza City on May Photo Majdi Fathi NurPhoto Getty Images The October th Hamas attack can be described in any of the following options horrific brutal gruesome murderous shocking atrocious harrowing graphic terrifying On the other hand when writing about attacks on Palestinians no adjectives should be used It s better to exclusively write something like More than killed in Gaza strikes You do not want readers to think you re taking a side When writing about Palestine do not let facts get in the way of telling a good story To this end ignore Palestinian sources They may be biased On the other hand the Israeli military is a highly credible source of information If the Israeli army says nothing happened then nothing happened When the army maintains their troops didn t rape Palestinian women or use civilians as human shields or shoot children in the head with sniper guns continue to publish their denials without comment Linking countries that fund weapons to the armies that use them fosters transparency So when you write about attacks on Tel Aviv it is crucial to mention that the missiles were fired by Iran-backed Hezbollah Do the same when you write about the Houthis Do not follow the same protocols when it comes to Israel The American-backed Israeli army makes its own decisions about when to drop American and British bombs When talking about Muslim communities throw around phrases like terrorist hotbed and Hamas sympathizers This works even when those communities are in the UK or America Repeatedly demonize people who peacefully protest for Palestine Center the voices of people living in Western countries who feel unsafe when they hear the phrase from the river to the sea Don t ask your readers to imagine how unsafe children in fact living wounded and dying in Gaza and the West Bank feel Do not ask them to think about whether mothers feel safe as they enter labor Do not write one single paragraph asking whether fathers burying their children have a right to feel unsafe in Gaza When writing about Palestine try not to zoom into individual stories or write about the intimate details of people s lives Keep your focus on Hamas militants In fact when writing about Palestine try not to interview Palestinians at all They might be Hamas or Hamas sympathizers If you must interview a Palestinian dependably begin by asking them to condemn October th After this be sure to ask them to confirm that Israel has a right to exist Ask the same leading questions of anyone who looks like an Arab or is Muslim or who seems to sympathize with Palestinians Sometimes they will throw the question back at you and ask if you think Palestine has a right to exist Ignore this line of questioning as it only leads to trouble When all else fails remember Begin on October th Nothing central happened before this date History began on October th This piece borrows its satirical form from How to Write About Africa by the late Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina Multiple of the details and critiques of the media examples are from the excellent statement put out by the Australian Islamophobia Register in December Written by Dr Susan Carland A War of Words Preliminary Media Analysis of the Gaza War is a great asset There are multiple articles online that can help you read more critically Search media bias Palestine and you ll find dozens of reports The post How to Write About Palestine appeared first on The Intercept