As social media platforms continue to prove their tenacity as active news sharing vessels, the drive to establish media presence that spotlights Palestinian issues is present and growing. Spearheading the movement amongst others is United Palestinian.
An initiative was brought to life after Palestinian founders Samer Loubani, whose grandfather was exiled from Palestine to Lebanon, Sari Sabatin, whose grandfather was exiled from the west bank to Jordan, and Shahd Sataria, who is from Jericho and later traveled to Canada, met on the Clubhouse application which hosts voice chat rooms for discussions. Recognizing the need to garner an online audience and create means for Palestinians around the world to connect, the founders began hosting discussion rooms on the same application at the beginning of 2021.
Following a schedule of going live bi-weekly and presently garnering 3000+ followers on Clubhouse, United Palestinian created conversation around topics such as Lifta and Sheikh Jarrah to name a few. Such rooms hosted journalists, lawyers, and Palestinian residents of these areas. Continuing to host rooms to discuss events occurring in Palestine, United Palestinian is additionally present on Instagram as well as other platforms such as Twitter and Telegram where they aim to raise awareness by rallying and mobilizing the community. Posting in Arabic as well as English and accumulating 35k+ followers on Instagram alone, the account posts videos, informative infographics, and hosts live streams with journalists to keep their international audience well-rounded.
When asked about whether these digital media campaigns have brought about pragmatic change on the ground, United Palestinian founders underlined the catalyzing effect such campaigns gaining traction can have. They explained that such activism plays a role in certain decisions taken in the jeopardized neighborhoods as well as spreads the message about the likes of Ghadanfar Abu Atwan who was imprisoned by Israel and released after a two-month-long hunger strike and media pressure. In addition to the repercussions aforementioned, they underlined that media mobilization as such has been efficient in garnering international support.
“Due to certain digital campaigns reaching a larger audience, protests have erupted internationally in the name of Palestine, and celebrities such as Mark Ruffalo and Bella Hadid spoke up about the issue,” Samer Loubani told Kayani Project.
In terms of future plans, United Palestinian which operates with the help of its team of around 10 volunteers, aims to expand and find systemic ways to become concrete as an initiative that operates on the ground.
The founders affirmed that one of the most positive results that United Palestinian has been able to achieve is the formation of a network that creates an international Palestinian bridge of communication to since even when country borders separate refugees, yet their identity as Palestinians unites them.
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“When someone from the West Bank visits Jordan and tells me about their experience of being imprisoned and how life is back there and I take them on a tour in Amman to show them the camps, this is to us a pragmatic result,” Sari Sabatin told Kayani Project.
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