Summary
Author of “Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Permanent Temporality” in Light in Gaza, a chapter joining her family and friendship history to an argument about Permanent temporality, Western humanitarianism and Palestinian revolutionary culture (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.47-70).
Details
- Abusalama was born in Gaza during the First Intifada (1987-93) and grew up under the Oslo Accords; her father Ismail was detained from Jabalia Refugee Camp in 1972 and met Yacoub Odeh in Beersheba and Nafha prisons (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.49-50).
- Her best friend Louay Odeh was released from Israeli prison in the 2011 Gilad Shalit exchange and exiled to Gaza, where their families’ histories intersected (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.48-49).
- A decade later she and Louay were both in Europe, among many of her Gaza circle dispersed there, watching Gaza collectively punished from afar (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.51).
- Based on research in the American Friends Service Committee archives, she criticises AFSC leadership’s 1949 “neutrality” toward refugee return while recording the refugees’ own rejection of resettlement (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.55-58).
Related pages
Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, Permanent temporality, Louay Odeh, American Friends Service Committee