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Famous Palestinian journalist and photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, who conveyed to the world all the horrors of the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli attacks since October 2023, said that if they find the people who best understand and feel what the Palestinians are going through, they are the Bosnians, Anadolu reported.
Azaiza was in Sarajevo as a guest lecturer at the seminar “From the Balkans to Gaza: A Critical Analysis of Genocide”, organized by the Center for Advanced Studies Sarajevo (CNS), the Islam and Muslim Initiative (IMI), an organization dedicated to promoting dialogue, understanding and coexistence between different communities in the Balkans, Doha and Al Jazeera.
Azaisa answered questions from colleagues at a press conference before today’s meeting and talked about his observations during his few days in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
– I believe that people who have gone through similar events as what happened to you, they probably feel and know what you are going through. If I could find someone who could understand us, sympathize with us, it would be the Bosnian people. I tried to convey to people that we do feel a lot of love, a lot of respect and solidarity. Thank you, Azaza said.
Speaking about the situation in Gaza, Azaissa reminded that Israel’s attacks on the blockaded Palestinian enclave have continued for more than 280 days and nothing has changed.
– Nothing has stopped. Things are getting worse, but there are still many good people. They are doing their best. “I don’t talk much, I come from there, I only speak the truth,” Azaza said.
He said that when he left Gaza, he became more dependent on the people.
– I didn’t count on officials, I didn’t count on UN agencies, because if they could have done something, they would have done it before I left. I’m disappointed, but I’m not disappointed because of the people here. People are doing their best to help, educate and support, Azaiza said.
He reminded that he is a photographer who has always tried to give a voice to those who have no voice and wants his message to reach everyone in the world.
– I want to take beautiful pictures of my home (Palestine, ibid.). I feel loved here. I feel good. I feel supported. But if I tell you that I want to feel at home, maybe I will answer you better, because I have never felt that I have a country, a home, Azaiza concluded.
The seminar “From the Balkans to Gaza: A Critical Analysis of Genocide” aims to reveal the profound and unpredictable consequences of Islamophobia from the Balkans to Gaza, paying special attention to its historical roots and contemporary manifestations. The seminar will explore topics such as the Srebrenica genocide, the comparison of the siege of Sarajevo and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the rise of Islamophobia around the world and the potential links between the rise of right-wing forces, Islamophobia and colonial expansion in Palestine.
Lolwah Rashid Al Khater, Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, and others will deliver opening remarks. Ahmet Alibašić, Director of the Center for Advanced Studies.
Speakers at the seminar included: Nataša Pilč Musál, President of the Republic of Slovenia, Benjamina Kalic, Mayor of Sarajevo, David Hirst, editor-in-chief of the Middle East Eye portal and former chief reporter of The Guardian, Motaz Azaiza, a Palestinian photojournalist from the Balkans in the 1990s, and Refik Hodžić, an expert on transitional justice who worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
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