Chiswick Author Tells Story Of The Gaza Strip
James Rodgers on the ordinary people who lived in conflict zone
As the only international journalist based in the Gaza Strip from 2002 to 2004, Chiswick author James Rodgers witnessed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict up close in a way that few reporters do.
It was the time of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel. The Israeli Army carried out frequent Israeli incursions into the coastal territory as it struck at what it called Gaza’s ‘terrorist infrastructure’—although civilians often paid the highest price.
Now, in a new book, No Road Home: Fighting for Land and Faith in Gaza, James tells the stories of the people who lived there then. The book is made up not of the accounts not of Prime Ministers and Presidents, but of refugees, the bereaved, the dispossessed, Jewish settlers, soldiers, schoolchildren, and many others whose lives were shaped and scarred by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
James, who worked as a BBC journalist for fifteen years, and who is also the author of Reporting Conflict (published last year by Palgrave MacMillan) says; ‘I wanted to give an account of the conflict which allowed for more detail and context than the pressures of daily news reporting can permit. This is a conflict which continues to defy solution – and to have consequences in many other parts of the world – despite the efforts of the world’s major powers. As an outsider who spent two years there, I hope that I have succeeded in contributing something to explaining it.’
In the foreword, the BBC’s Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, says; ‘James Rodgers is a brilliant and thoughtful guide to Gaza. He saw today’s Gaza being created. This book is a great introduction for beginners, and full of insight and analysis for veterans.’
His book, No Road Home, will be available from the publisher, Abramis http://www.abramis.co.uk/books/bookdetails.php?id=184549580 and also from Amazon;
James’ website is http://www.reportingconflict.com
The father-of-two spent five years working for Reuters Television before working for the BBC, where he spent fifteen years as a foreign correspondent in Moscow, Gaza, and Brussels between 1995- 2010.
Originally from Manchester, he studied Russian and French at Oxford, and has covered many of the major stories from the former Soviet Union including the election of Boris Yeltsin, the conflicts in Chechnya and Georgia, and the Putin presidency. He also covered the September 11 attacks in New York, and was based on the Gaza Strip (2002-2004) as a BBC correspondent.
James also covered the invasion of Iraq and was the first BBC journalist to report from the village where Saddam Hussein was captured in December 2003.
He is now a lecturer in Journalism at City University, London. James lives in Chiswick with his wife, who is also a journalist, and his two daughters.
Reporting Conflict is also available on Amazon.
May 4, 2013