Connecting across dividing lines

Almost but not quite on-air – a new radio station offers a bridge connecting the humanitarian responses in Gaza and in West Bank. The humanitarian needs in Gaza are huge and well-documented and these have been the driving factor behind the radio station. What’s not so well reported, is that the war has also created crises for people in the West Bank. New physical barriers block roads and restrict movement – barriers that divide communities – friends, relatives, colleagues. People are separated from their places of work and have lost their sources of income.

Gaza team on the move – again

Meanwhile, our friends in Gaza are currently on the move – they have escaped the destruction of Gaza City but left most of their belongings behind. One of the team spoke to us in tears over WhatsApp. He had just escaped from his home with his wife and three children only to watch it being destroyed by a drone. These friends were the original radio team, but right now their focus is quite rightly on survival.

Building a team in West Bank

Building on the momentum of the Gaza team, a second team is coming together in the West Bank to keep the radio project moving forward. At the end of September, I went with Mike Adams (of Rapid Response Radio) to facilitate a team-forming workshop in Ramallah for the humanitarian radio station. In responding to both crises, our partners want to use radio to reverse fragmentation. Suha, an experienced media for development professional helped to co-facilitate. She shared her vision for the radio station teams to work in collaboration, drawing on what Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank can do for, and with each other instead of over-emphasising the differences between the two places.

Voices from Gaza address the workshop

What we heard most is that people just want the war to stop. That decision lies in the hands of others.

Another of the workshop participants said that the voice message exercise had brought back some difficult memories. Earlier in the war, a colleague in Gaza was checking in regularly with her by phone. Her colleague was expecting a baby and along with updating her on work stuff, she shared her excitement about the new baby. But after the due date, when our friend tried to get in contact, she got no response and eventually called the husband. He told her the mother and baby had been killed in an IDF attack. We could sense the shared pain in the room as she told the story.

Radio will be both a voice and an ear

As we inch closer to going on air, we see more and more starkly the complexities surrounding the project. We need to navigate these with sensitivity. Some think the radio will be a waste of time – too little, too late. But for others, we heard the importance of connection with the West Bank and to know people continue to care and stand alongside them in their suffering.

The humanitarian radio station will serve as both a voice and ear. It will provide critical information, advice, and support for people in inaccessible places, connecting them again with friends outside and helping listeners to feel able to take some control of their situation.