Most of us think of desert, dust, and destruction when they think of the Gaza Strip. The phrase “Israeli settlement” also conjures up an image of primitive makeshift housing for recalcitrant Jewish militants. As the “settlers” prepare to leave their homes, this story about surfing off the Gaza coast caught my eye. It paints a picture of tranquil modernity — an image that went missing in the debate to depopulate the Jewish settlers from this area.
The Israeli government, for whatever reasons, never succeeded in using the power of images to put in proper perspective what life for these settlers really looked like. We all know how dehumanizing life for the Palestinians was since scenes of mayhem tended to dominate the nightly news. I just wonder if there was another side to this story that never adequately pierced the public’s consciousness.
