Palestinian journalist Sameh Habeeb says he has been disappointed with the lack of media interest shown for his Australian talking tour.
Mr Habeeb has been invited to Australia to speak about his experiences as the only Palestinian journalist and blogger working during the Gaza conflict last year.
Although he is a trusted source for much of the mainstream media overseas, Mr Habeeb says Australian media has shown almost no interest in his visit. “I had only an interview with the ABC 702 Radio, while the organisers of the tour have showered the media with my contacts, my story and what I’m doing here,” he says. “But all we’ve got is nothing – and this shows how the media is.”
Back in 2008, Mr Habeeb established himself as the lone voice of the Palestinian people during the Gaza conflict. He used his blog, www.gazatoday.blogspot.com, to report on what he saw on the ground.
He remembers an experience that was both saddening and exciting. “Because of the power blackouts, I had to get my own generator so I could get my own power so that I could get access to the internet, write about the daily bombings that the Israelis did do against us,” Mr Habeeb says.
Western media outlets quickly took notice of Mr Habeeb, regularly contacting him for updates and images. “I was showered by CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and CBS who were forced to use local sources like me because there was no local reporters or foreign journalists to cover the war.”
Once the conflict ended, Mr Habeeb decided to launch his own online news website. “After seeing that the media was very hungry to get the perspective of the Palestinians, I started The Palestinian Telegraph, which is very successful at the moment.”
While in Sydney last week, Mr Habeeb urged people to take a more positive approach to the current conflict by educating themselves of the history and news of the region. “I heard some people are calling for a boycott, but I think a boycott is not as good as educating people. What is needed now in terms of the mainstream is to educate the public and to raise awareness.”
Greens Councilor Irene Doutney, who attended a talk by Mr Habeeb at Newtown Neighbourhood Centre last week, says she was moved to hear of the plight of the Gazan people. “ Sameh talked about how Gaza has become just like a great big jail,” Cr Doutney said. “He talked about the 500 people that died because they couldn’t get a permit to go to Israel or any other country to get medicine and medical help.”
Cr Doutney called for a boycott of Israeli made products as a way of protesting against the current situation in the region. “I personally am in favour of a full boycott of Israel. I think what’s going on is absolutely appalling.
“The condition these people are living in, the behaviour of the Israeli Defence Forces, what’s happening to the villages and [Israel] putting the wall through the villages land, taking their land, taking their water wells, making them go to check-points to get to the land they do have [is appalling].”
According to her, the major challenge for Australians is to get the message of the Palestinians out onto mainstream media. “Nobody is saying anything. It’s just so hard to break through this code of support for Israel … it’s so hard to get people to recognise that Israel is like South Africa was and that they’re committing huge human rights abuses.”
by Ehssan Veiszadeh
