I have been doing outreach and research into two different ideas. I’ve been very interested in humanitarian accountability for wartime atrocities for years, but especially since reporting from Jerusalem on the Gaza genocide this past summer. Deb told me about a trial taking place in Koblenz, Germany for the 2012-2018 starvation of Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee district in Syria. Five men with links to the Assad regime have been charged, but only one allegedly ordered the use of starvation as a weapon of war. The trial will have significant reverberations for war crimes prosecutions, as it is the first time that starvation of civilians has been prosecuted as a war crime. I have reached out to a couple of experts on famine to learn more about the trial’s legal implications. I’ve also read some of the court transcripts, which are widely available, and I’m wondering about talking to a few witnesses, if that’s at all possible. The “Drummer of Yarmouk,” a witness who helped lead a peaceful demonstration in 2012 before militias opened fire on the camp and inflicted a massacre, was a key witness. I’d be really interested in interrogating that event as a microcosm for the destruction that followed.
My second idea is to write about pro-Palestinian activism in Berlin, state repression of such activism, and its impact on the Palestinian migrant community. In recent days, I’ve seen a lot of videos on social media of police harassing, beating, and violently detaining pro-Palestinian activists, and knocking down or forcibly seizing their Palestinian flags. I also follow a few journalists and activists who strategically confront police officers to expose this repression, although they are often prevented from filming. I’m curious as to how the activist community has adapted to this hostile environment, and how it affects the safety of recent Palestinian migrants. I’ve made connections with a couple of activists and plan to meet with one in person while in Berlin: something I’ve consistently heard from them is that they are skeptical of traditional political parties, even Die Linke, because they don’t believe electoral politics will substantively change conditions for Palestinians in Berlin. I’ve also heard testimonies of police assault. Berlin’s second borough has a large Arab diaspora, and activists described increased police scrutiny and harassment in this area. People sometimes struggled to cross the street or get into their house due to the excessive police presence. I’m hoping to talk to people who live in predominantly Arab areas about the surveillance they’ve experienced, and learn about who the police have singled out.
These ideas aren’t well-defined, and I anticipate that they’ll evolve once I talk to people on the ground. I’ve also encountered a lot of reluctance from activists to divulge too much detail over the phone, so I’m looking forward to in-person interviews and developing a more specific, tailored direction for my reporting.
