A Palestinian teenage tweeter from Gaza accumulates more than 166,000 followers with her personal glimpses of the conflict that has been going on for a month. Full Story: As bombs explode in Gaza, Palestinian teenager Farah Baker grabs her smartphone or laptop before ducking for cover to tap out tweets that capture the drama of the tumult and fear around her. The 16-year-olds prolific posts on Twitter have made her a social media sensation through the month-old conflict. Once a little known high school athlete, Bakers following on the web has jumped from a mere 800 to a whopping 166,000. Living near Gaza Citys Shifa Hospital, where her father is a surgeon, provides Baker with a live feed of blaring ambulance sirens in addition to blasts from Israeli air strikes and shelling attacks. Baker often records these and posts video clips to provide followers with a quick personal glimpse of the war. A tweet from Aug. 1 included a link to a video of a darkened street punctuated by the sounds of repeated explosions. In another tweet Baker tells of hiding from the shelling in one of the rooms of her home. Im trying to tell them the truth about what is happening in Gaza because I see that western media, most of western media, supports Israel and tell them that Israelis are the victim and Israel is under fire, and we started the war in Israel, but Im trying to tell them that the occupation - the occupied city cant start the war on the occupiers, Baker said from her home in Gaza. And Im trying to tell them what exactly happens in Gaza to make them change their minds and know whos the victim, she added. Baker, whose Twitter profile photo shows a blue-eyed frightened looking young woman calling herself Guess what, or @Farah_Gazan, said shes surprised at the popularity she has garnered. Im trying to do something special. Most of the television and radio says how many people died, and what they bombed, and what is happening. Im trying to tell the world what I feel and what is happening in my area. Im trying to take - to catch videos of the bombs and the smoke that I see to do something special and make people feel like they live with me, she said. Baker dreams of becoming a lawyer, hoping to use that profession as a means to advocate for crowded and impoverished Gaza, a coastal territory wedged between Israel and Egypt. It isnt always easy to overcome her fears to tweet, but she feels compelled to go on. I, most of the time feel unsafe because this war is against civilians, so I feel like they can bomb my house at any moment, and especially because I show the truth about whats happening in Gaza to the world. So this can make many people against Israel, so I feel like they can bomb my house at any moment, Baker said. But I see that this is the only way I can help Gaza - I mean, showing what is happening here. So, I sometimes tweet while I am crying or too scared, but I say that I should not stop and I try my best to show the world what exactly happens, she said. A month of war has killed 1,910 Palestinians and 67 Israelis while devastating wide tracts of densely populated Gaza.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 20:06:46 +0000
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