"I liked the recognition you gave to Plestia Alaquad, Motaz Azaiza, and Bian Owda for their reporting on Gaza, that doesn’t fall short of bravery."
To:
Keena Alwahaidi, Reporter and Associate Producer, CBC
Nancy Waugh, Sr. Manager, CBC
Dear Keena Alwahaidi and Nancy Waugh,
I am writing to thank you for the article: “Internet, phone outages have cut off Gazans from the outside world and even their loved ones,” published on December 6 on CBC.
This was such a good article for which I want to highlight only two points.
First, you provided such details about Israel's imposed communication blackouts on Gazans since Oct.7 while giving voice to Palestinians explaining their daily lives going through them.
I was even surprised to learn that it is not the first time that Israel has done this, which was such a pertinent piece of information to give your readers a complete picture of Israel's occupation.
You write: “But the current outage marks one example of communication challenges that residents of Gaza have experienced for decades. A report by non-profit Access Now says the Israeli military has repeatedly caused internet disruptions since 2008.”
Second, I enjoyed that you covered other sides of this communication blackout, such as how social media has changed how we are informed about war zones. It presented Palestinians as resourceful individuals seeking to shift the narrative since their voice has long been suppressed.
I liked the recognition you gave to Plestia Alaquad, Motaz Azaiza, and Bian Owda for their reporting on Gaza, that doesn’t fall short of bravery.
Thank you, Keena Alwahaidi and CBC, for reporting the reality of Palestinians living through these blackouts and for giving space to Palestinian voices. I hope you will continue to do so.
Sincerely,
Fatima Haidar,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East