© Khalil Hamra/AP
Mourners carry body of 14-month-old Seba Abu Arar during her funeral.
Mourners carry body of 14-month-old Seba Abu Arar during her funeral.
Nothing left but bones
Heroism and cliches aside, the conditions in the Gaza Strip are horrifying. As one father interviewed in the movie says: "We are alive only by name... Gaza is no longer Gaza; all that is left of it are bones." He may be referring to the distant past when the city of Gaza was one of the most important, prosperous and prestigious cities not only in Palestine but in the entire Middle East.
Perhaps what is most refreshing about Martin's work is that the voices one hears are clear, authentic, Gazan voices. She makes no attempt to create the artificial "balance" one too often has to endure in movies and reports about Palestine in general and Gaza in particular. As though the Israelis who kill and maim and keep 2.2 million civilians caged and under siege in the Gaza Strip have a right to be heard. As though an explanation or justification can be given to the sheer cruelty and brutality exercised by Israel.
Comment: The solution is obvious: quotas. Even if it means kidnapping and forcing 12-year-old, non-white, wheelchair-bound, transgendered non-coders to speak at the conference, diversity must be the goal. How can that not be clear to the alt-right who seemingly make up the vast majority of the human population? It is so obviously not cool to just let people be free to apply if they want to, regardless of the color of the skin or the gender they identify with. And it is certainly not cool to have technical standards for the quality of the presentations. That discriminates against everyone who doesn't have any technical expertise in the field, a blatant crime against humanity.