Humanizing a conflict stained by blood, one filled with suffering and grief, is not normal or easy. There is always the other side to everything. The Palestinian people are not savages and killers. We are not set out to get anyone nor destroy anything. We are humans before we are Palestinians.
Everyone must understand that the Palestinian people have always longed for liberty from oppression. 80 some years pass and everything has changed, for the worse. Slowly but surely we have lost our fundamental human function, which is to be free. To be in a land that shrinks with the passage of time, not due to the forces of nature, but human force, in a place where the future grows darker and bleaker by the day, our hope to live freely diminishes with every slow tick of the clock hand, it diminishes even further as the sound of shrapnel has fallen over the roofs of our houses every four years for the past decade. So what are we to do? We fight as anyone would; but all to no avail. In fighting back we’ve become painted as an equal aggressor.
Consequently, such a harsh reality breeds a different kind of people. As tough as we are in our resistance to a mighty power, we remain yet a fragile human being underneath our thickest of crocodile skin. We don’t seem to be photographed much, making my task far more difficult. As I wander the streets of Gaza, capturing the people outside of images of pain and misery is a duty almost; humanizing them as people on the streets, and not people in what Gaza has become in the past 20 years — a besieged nation struggling to cope with internal political disarray while attempting to combat a world nuclear power who points the finger claiming we threw a rock first.
Let’s put the wars and suffering aside, and begin for a brief moment to see the people of Gaza as merely people, entitled to basic human rights. Here are the people of Gaza.
In Gaza’s most famous and oldest pottery factory, a man is seen sculpting pottery with a poster of a martyred loved one watching over him. Gaza, September 29, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A child studies in a barren workspace in a small farm in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, on September 22, 2021. (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)Due to restrictions imposed by the government over the coronavirus, a lone fan is seen watching a soccer game in Gaza’s First Division in Al-Yarmouk Stadium. August, 09, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)School children seen taking a shortcut on their way to school during the early morning in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, December 04, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A child stops his bicycle and leans to watch a graduation ceremony in Gaza City, Gaza, on August 02, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A child gleefully watches over as the sun sets on a beach during a summer day in Gaza City, Gaza, on September 30, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)Families gather every Monday at the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City, to protest for their incarcerated sons, daughters, and relatives being held in Israeli prisons. Gaza City, September 20, 20 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A tailor takes a client’s measurements for alteration. Beit Hanoun, Gaza, September 17, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)During a traditional Bedouin wedding in Gaza, relatives of the groom seen riding camels during the open ceremony of the wedding, in Nuseirat, Gaza, on October 29, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A child seen sitting on a sidewalk on Gaza’s longest and fastest road, Salah El-Deen Street, near Jabalia. Gaza, August, 2nd, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A mechanic in Beit Hanoun inspects a motorcycle prior to maintenance. Gaza, September 16, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)Kids gather up to witness an animal slaughter in a home in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, on June, 07, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A man is seen walking through a hallway after signing a six-month employment contract in Khan Younis, Gaza, September, 02, 2021. (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A skateboarder by the nickname of ‘Kaka’, takes to the rink showcasing his array of skills in Gaza’s only skate park on September 21, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)People at a Gaza beach near Al-Mina during a sunset in Gaza City. September 20, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A man offering rides with his camel and another with his horse, are seen on a beach in Gaza looking for their next customer. Gaza City, September 30, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)Two mechanics seen during work hours in a mechanic shop in Beit Hanoun’s oldest market. September 17, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)Families gather every Monday at the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City, to protest for their incarcerated sons, daughters, and relatives being held in Israeli prisons. Gaza City, September 20, 20 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)Two men, one of which is seated during the evening outside an apartment complex on the outskirts of Beit Hanoun, Gaza, on September 21, 20 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)Kids seen on their bicycles in a Beit Hanoun market, September 17, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)A kid playing in the streets of Beit Lahiya, Gaza, December 04, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)Fishing boats at sunset seen docked in Gaza’s only harbor, Al-Mina. November 11, 2021 (Photo: Mahmoud Nasser)
Mahmoud Nasser Mahmoud Nasser is a documentary/street photographer born and raised in Gaza City. He was lucky to leave Gaza for Canada with his family during times of turmoil in 2008, but even luckier to see himself back in even worse times in 2021 after nearly 13 years of living abroad. His love for photography has seen him back in a place where many are literally dying to leave at the drop of a dime.
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December 30th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
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