Ballyshannon filmmaker's unique insight into Gaza's life and death struggle

Acclaimed Ballyshannon and Irish documentary film-maker Garry Keane believes that the recent announcement by the Irish government to formally recognise the Palestinian State is “much more than a symbolic act”.

He said: “I don’t have much cause to be proud of our government these days, but it filled me full of pride to see them formally endorsing Palestine as a State in what is a powerful act. 

ABOVE: Children pictured in Ahmed in 2015 - Photos Andrew McConnell

“It’s being claimed that it is a symbolic act but symbolic acts matter in world politics. It doesn’t matter or seem to matter to the Israeli government at the moment, but they are in defiance of every rule under international law that exists.”

Garry spent a number of years in the region in preparation for the 2019 documentary film ‘Gaza’ he co-directed along with Andrew McConnell, giving him a unique insight to the suffering and trauma experienced by Palestinians, away from the news reports.

ABOVE: Gaza beach pictured by Andrew McConnell in 2015

It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won fitting acclaim for what was described as “a portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict”. 

Garry revealed: “When we were there, it was as bad as it could be in our eyes, which is stark now, since October 7 and the aftermath of that.

“We thought it was the worst it could ever be then so when this kicked off, it left us and is still leaving us all incredibly numb. This is just taking genocide to a new level completely.”

He added: “While everybody will condemn the Hamas attack on October 7 and nobody condones that sort of act of terrorism, and it was awful and terrible, but it is being played as if everything was fine on October 6. It blatantly wasn’t and it has been a horrible situation in Gaza for a long time, since 2007 and Hamas took charge. It has been going on since 1948.    

“I remember finishing ‘Gaza’ and we put up a caption that 2,400 people had been killed in the 2014 war, because we were filming that,” he said, noting the horrendous number of fatalities that are being spoken about at present.    

“We started talking about the film ‘Gaza’ in 2013, went there again in 2014 and 2015 and then 2018 and finished it in 2019, so there were a number of huge sessions, two and three months at a time. And when we got in, we stayed in and it was so hard to access in the first instance. 

ABOVE: Thousands of residents from Beit Hanoun flee their homes in the 2014 war after overnights attack on the town, pictured in Shiek Ziyad, northern Gaza. All photos Andrew McConnell

“We witnessed, right through from the war in 2014, where 2,400 were killed and tens of thousands were injured or maimed. We thought it wouldn't get any worse. We went back in 2015 and they were just mopping up after that war and the place was in a heap and there was some hope that it wouldn’t get any worse”.

In Gazan terms he said it remained “normal in their eyes in what is an extremely abnormal situation, where they are basically in prison”.

ABOVE: A photo of Gaza City beach while filming and its surfers who tried to bring some normality to their lives.

Photo: Andrew McConnell 

Things kicked off again in 2018 with the March of Return protests which called for the end of the Israeli blockade and the right of return for refugees.

“It was just horrendous. It started off as peaceful protests, all the families at the back of the protests, families, women and children, there is cooking and the young fellas go to the border to throw stones effectively.

Ibrahim, a paramedic is etched with his daily battles to keep the citizens of Gaza alive

Photo: Andrew McConnell

“And that is the only ammunition they have and they are met with heavy artillery and especially exploding bullets at the time, where they were aiming for the kids legs and blowing young men’s legs up. The aftermath of that was so many amputees and young men in wheelchairs.That was a very provocative and direct targeted mission to disable the young men of Gaza, future Gaza builders on one side or Gaza fighters on the other.”

(This conversation took place in the days after the declaration by the Irish government that they were formally recognising the State of Palestine).