In war, women and children pay the price

Good evening, Meteor readers,

Over the last few days, the world has held its breath as we’ve witnessed new levels of violence and destruction in Palestine and Israel. Decades of turmoil, resistance, and failed peace efforts have come to a boiling point. The situation is apocalyptic for the innocent civilians in both Israel and Gaza, where the Israeli government has ordered a complete siege.

And for diaspora Palestinians and the global Jewish and Muslim communities, it has been doubly difficult. Not only are they being asked to choose a side in one of the longest-running conflicts in human history, but, on social media, there’s also the pressure to do so in a way that is digestible to everyone else—often without context and nuance. What is happening cannot fit in an easy tweet or cleverly worded Instagram post. Honestly, it can’t even fit in this newsletter.

So tonight, we invite everyone to slow down for a moment. Give yourself room to learn, to grieve, to step away from your screens if that works for you. And we also ask our community to be vigilant in a moment when the internet is awash with even more propaganda and misinformation than usual.

In today’s newsletter, our team (composed of people with differing views and backgrounds) shares some learnings that have been useful to us—about what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what it will mean for women and girls. Know that we are with you.

In mourning,

Your Newsletter Team

WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW

• For a steady stream of ongoing updates, take a look at Al Jazeera’s live blog.

• Here’s what a “complete siege” of Gaza will mean for Palestinians.

• One Israeli man, whose family lives close to the Gaza border, tells the story of being trapped in his home for 10 hours awaiting rescue after Hamas began its attack.

• President Joe Biden has authorized sending weapons and the largest warship in the world to Israel.

• The nation of Qatar is facilitating talks between Hamas and the Israeli government for a possible hostage swap. Experts on warfare in the region believe that Hamas’ large-scale attack in Israel was aided in part by the Iranian government.

• At least six Palestinian journalists have been killed so far during the strikes on Gaza.

HISTORY AND CONTEXT

• Sometimes it’s best to go back to the beginning. Here’s how the UN facilitated the creation of Israel, and here’s an explainer on the start of the occupation during the Six-Day War.

• What is Hamas?

• The Israeli government played a meaningful role in Hamas’ rise to power.

• Despite the sharp increase in violence committed by Hamas, Palestine has a long history of non-violent resistance during the occupation.

• The current wave of violence in Gaza is an extension of the first expulsion Palestinians experienced in 1948 during al-Nakba, as Dr. Shirin Zarqa-Lederman wrote for The Meteor last year.

• Many American Jews are feeling the pain of witnessing anti-Jewish violence in Israel at a time when it’s also rising in the United States—even though, of course, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism aren’t the same thing.

WOMEN IN WAR ZONES

• Read Gloria Steinem’s 2012 piece in The Atlantic on the historical use of rape as a weapon of war.

• Last year we asked women living through the Ukraine war what they wanted us to know, and their message still rings true.

• This summer, women in Afghanistan shared the reality of living amidst never-ending wars.

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Subscribe using their unique share code or snag your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]