Sami al-Ajrami on working as Palestinian journalist while being a refugee in Gaza

De Balie

Palestinian journalist Sami al-Ajrami shares his story. Later on Al-Ajrami will discuss the future of Gaza with analyst and former NYT-correspondent Taghreed El-Khodary. NRC journalist Leonie van Nierop will introduce the evening. Spread throughout the conversation, actor Amro Kasr will read excerpts from Sami al-Ajrami's translated book in Dutch: De sleutels van het huis - Een dagboek uit Gaza.

As a journalist, Sami al-Ajrami covered at least five Gaza wars. But the one that started in the aftermath of October 7th 2023, was the first in which he lost his house, his family – 14 family members died in the first week – and perhaps his sanity. In times of a tentative ceasefire, how does he make sense of what happened, both as human being and as an analyst? And how does one imagine a future, when only just now there is space to feel the pain?

Sami al-Ajrami has reworked the diary he kept for an Italian newspaper into a harrowing book, which tells the story of his flight from the North of Gaza. It chronicles the daily search for water and food, and the fear of the relentless bombing.

Al-Ajrami has a unique outlook. For a long time, he was the only correspondent in Gaza for Israeli media. He has worked as a fixer for international media for decades, among others for NRC. As such, he has rare insight into the ways Gaza is portrayed in Israel and in Europe – and also what doesn’t make outside of Gaza at all.

Sami al-Ajrami will discuss the future of Gaza with analyst and former NYT-correspondent Taghreed El-Khodary. The evening will be introduced by Leonie van Nierop, who used to work intensely with Al-Ajrami when she was correspondent in Israel and the Palestinian territories for NRC.

MENA Voices

In this series De Balie sheds light on the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. We invite international, regional and local speakers to unravel the social, political and historical dynamics affecting the different countries and diaspora communities.

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