Episode 112 - More Time with Plestia Alaqad

Lara and Michael are honored to welcome Plestia this week. 22-year old Plestia reported from Gaza from October 7th until recently, having spent over 100 days capturing the violence against Palestinians. She talks about what life was like in Gaza before October 7th, reminiscing about her favorite restaurants, cafés, and shopping areas. She gets candid about the bleak conversations she would have on a daily basis with her co-journalists, and she touches on survival guilt and how difficult it became to not pit one tragedy against another. Plestia is now safely in Australia but still involved in the Palestinian struggle for freedom and actively calling for a ceasefire.

To consult the sources used in the preparation of this episode, please see:

Social Accounts

• @byplestia (Instagram)

• @qcafegaza (Instagram)

• @capitalmallgaza (Instagram)

Videos

• Plestia’s Day 3 video

• Plestia’s Day 4 video

• Plestia’s Name (TikTok)

Articles

• Transcript: NEXT: Plestia Alaqad, Independent Journalist (The Washington Post)

• ‘Dogs are eating corpses on the streets of Gaza’: Qatari official describes ‘unparalleled’ destruction (Independent)

• The Gaza Strip − why the history of the densely populated enclave is key to understanding the current conflict (The Conversation)

• Blackouts in Gaza must not be used as ‘weapons of war’: Rights group (Al Jazeera)

• Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook (Human Rights Watch)

• $7,000 to escape Gaza: How Palestinians fleeing to Egypt are extorted (Le Monde)

• Plestia Alaqad: A Gaza Journalist’s Inspiring Story (Medium)

• THE CONCEPT OF PALESTINE: THE CONCEPTION OF PALESTINE FROM THE LATE BRONZE AGE TO

  THE MODERN PERIOD (Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies)