Lecture by the Gazan journalist Wael Al Dahdouh at Casa Árabe in Cordoba
Published at 16 04,,, 24 2024
The Gazan journalist Wael Al Dahdouh, head of the Al Jazeera office in the city of Gaza and a point of reference for Palestinian and Arab world journalists, will be giving a conference on Monday, April 8 at Casa Árabe's headquarters in Cordoba.
The session, organised by the Chair of Conflict Resolution at the University of Cordoba with the support of the Cordoba Provincial Council, will take place on the occasion of Al Dahdouh being awarded the 17th Julio Anguita Parrado International Journalism Prize in the city of Cordoba. The session can be followed live on Youtube in Spanish and Arabic.
The jury of the 17th Julio Anguita Parrado International Journalism Prize, organised by the Andalusian Union of Journalists, meeting at the Rectorate of the University of Cordoba, has unanimously decided to award this prize to the Gazan journalist Wael Al Dahdouh. With this award, as well as distinguishing Wael Al Dahdouh's professional career and commitment to the defence of human rights, the jury wishes to give explicit recognition to Gazan journalists, who are suffering extreme violence in the Israeli offensive. In this regard, the jury highlighted that 75% of the journalists killed in 2023 worldwide were from Gaza.
Wael Al Dahdouh became known worldwide as a result of his coverage for Al Jazeera after his family was intentionally bombed by Israel on 25 October 2023, killing his wife, son, daughter and 18-month-old grandson. Al Dahdou was in Gaza City on the same day to report on the latest developments when he was informed of his family's death.
Hours after that attack, al-Dahdou was back on the air, despite the pain, this time to be interviewed by a colleague, just as he had interviewed so many others before. Dahdouh was also injured in December, when an Israeli strike hit a school in Khan Younis where he and his colleague, Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa, were reporting. Abu Daqqa was killed in the attack.
On 7 January, Dahdouh's eldest son, Hamza Dahdouh, also a journalist and cameraman for the Qatari television network, was with other journalists on a road between Khan Younis and Rafah when he was killed by Israeli drone strikes. Just a day before his death, Hamza had shared a post on X praising his father's perseverance. "You are patient, so don't despair."
Wael Al Dahdou has since become an icon of the resistance of the Palestinian population of Gaza and how journalism has been a key element in showing the resilience and dignity of a people suffering a massacre unprecedented in history. They call him "Al-Jabal", which in Arabic means "the mountain", for standing tall as tragedy descends on him in the course of the war.
Al Dahdouh, 53, was born and raised in the al-Zaytoun neighbourhood of Gaza City. He comes from a Palestinian farming family, according to Al Jazeera. He was still in high school in 1988 when he was arrested by Israeli forces for his involvement in the first Palestinian intifada that broke out in Gaza before spreading to other Palestinian territories. He received his high school diploma inside prison. After spending seven years in Israeli prisons, Al Dahdouh graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza in 1998 with a degree in journalism and media.
He tried to travel abroad to complete higher studies, but Israel repeatedly prevented him from leaving Gaza. Eventually, he was able to enter Al-Quds University in Abu Dis in the West Bank, where he obtained a master's degree in Regional Studies in 2007.
Dahdouh worked for several local media outlets, including the daily Al-Quds, the Voice of Palestine radio channel and the Sahar satellite channel. In 2003 he joined regional broadcasters, working briefly for Al-Arabiya before joining Al Jazeera. Since 2004 he has reported for the pan-Arab network and runs its Gaza bureau. Dahdouh has reported extensively during each successive Israeli war against the besieged enclave. In 2013, he received the Peace Through Media award at the International Media Awards in London.
Photo: Wael Al Dahdouh
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