Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian poet who has been deported by pro-Israel organizations in the United States, has won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
Abu Toha was awarded the prestigious award on Monday for essays about the physical and emotional carnage in Gaza that combine detailed reporting with intimate memoir to express the Palestinian experience of the conflict. They were published in The New Yorker on Monday.
On social media, Abu Toha wrote, “I just won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.” Let it inspire optimism, ” It should be a tale, then.
Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian poet who was killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza in December 2023, appears to be the subject of the comment. The title of Alareer’s final poem, “If I must die, let it be a tale,” was chosen.
In 2023, Abu Toha was detained by Israeli forces in Gaza before being freed and moving to the US.
In one of his New Yorker essays, Abu Toha wrote, “I have lost many of the tangible parts of my memories, the people, places, and things that helped me remember.”
“It’s been difficult for me to make good memories. Every destroyed house transforms into a kind of album, with real people and the dead interspersed between its pages, in Gaza.
In response to President Donald Trump’s campaign to deport non-citizens who criticize Israel, right-wing organizations in the US have recently called for Abu Toha’s deportation. In response to concerns for his safety, the author has recently called off classes at universities.
I recently received a commentary Pulitzer Prize.
Let it inspire optimism
Let’s call it a tale-based picture. twitter.com/VP6RsPY6vz
The Palestinian poet claimed on the Al Jazeera podcast in December that Gaza’s feeling of incapacity to assist people was “devastating.”
“Imagine that you are in a school shelter in Gaza with your parents, your siblings, and your children,” said Abu Toha. You can’t defend anyone, you say. You can’t give them any food, water, or medicine. You are currently in the United States, which funds the genocide, though. It’s therefore heartbreaking.
On Monday, New York Times won awards in other Pulitzer Prize categories for explication reporting, local reporting, international reporting, and breaking news photography.
The New York-based newspaper won the most prizes out of the 14 Pulitzer Journalism competitions this year out of the four awards.
The honorees are chosen by a panel of academics and journalists and are annually announced at Columbia University. The award is named for Hungarian-American newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer.
The New York Times won the award for its coverage of the Sudanese conflict, defeating The Washington Post, who placed third in the category for its “documented Israeli atrocities” in Gaza, including investigations into the killings of Palestinian doctors and journalists.
Source: Aljazeera
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