AWARDS SPEECH FOR TRACY WILKINSON THE WORK OF THE

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2009 STARMINE ANALYST AWARDS METHODOLOGY FOR IBERIA (BASED ON

Tracy Wilkinson

Awards Speech for Tracy Wilkinson


The work of the journalist covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become increasingly difficult. When I first arrived in Jerusalem four years ago, from the Balkans, it was one of the easiest places I'd ever worked. You could get anyone, from ministers on down, on the telephone. Whenever anything happened in the farthest reaches of Israel or the Palestinian territories, you could hop in a car and get there. All that has changed; the 15-minute jaunt from Jerusalem to Ramallah now can take hours. Covering the story is much more difficult as both sides, the Israelis and the Palestinians—perhaps the Israelis more systematically—but both sides attempt to hide, control or shape the news.


Neither side likes what we do. Both sides want us to see their argument just as they see it. Neither side feels we cover their suffering sufficiently. They don't really know the suffering of the other, nor do they know very much of anything about the other. That is what is so remarkable about the people I wrote about, the bereaved parents—people who put aside their own pain and suffering to reach out to the other and work for a greater good.


The foreign press is hated. Official Israeli spokesmen call us everything from the willing lieutenants of Marwan Barghouti to Holocaust deniers. To many Palestinians we are Zionist spies working for a monolithic America.


But as foreign journalists, we have the luxury of a bit of distance. I have a big American newspaper that backs me come hell or high water. And in the end, I can leave. Foreign journalists can always move on.


It's the journalists like my colleagues here [the co-honorees] who stay and for whom the real admiration and praise must go. They are the courageous ones, writing about their own societies while remaining parts of those societies.


I thank Search for Common Ground for honoring them, and for honoring the people I wrote about, the Yitzhak Frankenthals and Rami Elhanans and Khaled and Fatima Awwads, who fight a battle for understanding and cooperation. It's a battle I fear they are losing.


2010 UNESCO HERITAGE AWARDS FOR CULTURE HERITAGE CONSERVATION REGULATIONS
2011 Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Workforce Development Employer
2015 OASIS AWARDS OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN SCHOOL INFORMATION SERVICES


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