Finding The Palestinian Gandhi

She was an American woman with nothing to do with the Middle East, a high end job and general indifference to the world. Until one day, she was told there is no Palestinian Gandhi, "they are violent people" they said.

Quit her job in corporate America, took her camera, carry on and unlimited amount of compassion toward follow human beings. She waited for months until was was permitted into Gaza. Once there she started her quest to find a Palestinian Gandhi, document his/her story and tell it to the world.

Her words on the project

I first traveled to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in 2007 on an adventurous whim. It changed my life. Three more trips to the region later, I decided to live and volunteer in the Gaza Strip, because I realized that I would always be a bit of an ignorant do-gooder if I didn’t live in my chosen region of focus – Palestine – long enough for the people to begin to forget I’m a guest. Six months isn’t long compared to a lifetime, but I felt it was enough to put “my feet firmly on the ground,” as well to teach me a bit about the diversity and nuances within the overall culture.

When I returned to DC, I spent the next three weeks on a speaking tour from one coast to the other…One of the most common comments I heard is “What the Palestinians need is a Gandhi, or Martin Luther King Jr.” Yet, Palestinians have many “Gandhis” among them who are resisting occupation and corrupt government every day in very creative ways. So, I joined with a friend (Keren Batiyov) to document these stories and give them an audience. When I returned to Gaza this January, I kickstarted the project with some of the interviews we will be featuring here. They do not have the notoriety of Gandhi and MLK, but all they need is a platform. They also do not have a similar mass following — in many cases, because Israel has attempted to snuff out their budding fame by arresting and imprisoning them or their family members. Others are still young, only needing encouragement and recognition to become the leaders of the future. We hope to provide them a platform to amplify their voices. In the future, our plan is to augment this “oral library” with interviews from the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon (typically ignored completely by the media), as well as with Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel.

The Palestinian Gandhi Project


This is only the intro clip for this project, there are more clips, videos and interviews that Pam helps to proof her case.