This is the unique story of how A.J. "Alonzo" Wind, retired Foreign Service Officer and international development executive, assumed the position of Mission Director for International Medical Corps in the occupied Palestinian territories, living in Gaza and East Jerusalem during 2022 and 2023. It offers a view into Gaza few have had, as an American Jew, as a Baha'i, as a humanitarian living under the threats of the interminable conflicts between Israel and Gaza. Mr. Wind lived through multiple escalations and Israeli counterstrikes, and negotiated a fine line of diplomacy and international humanitarian law between Israeli civil and military authorities and the de facto authority in Gaza represented by Hamas.
A JEW IN GAZA: Humanitarian Assistance, Hubris and Horrors is a nonfiction narrative/memoir discussing the two years lived in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories in 2022 and 2023, through repeated conflict and escalation, up to, including and beyond the October 7 attack and the current war between Israel and Gaza. Leading a $10 million health and humanitarian assistance program there, Mr. Wind shares insights about the realities and paradoxes of Gaza and how we struggled to provide humanitarian assistance in the face of conflict and the dangers to innocent civilians. He describes what it was like in this milieu of extremism and hostility.
This war did not start on 10/7, however murderous and brutal the Hamas terror attack. There is in fact a long history behind it. There has been death and violence on both sides that have blinded leaders to the needs and rights of the innocents. This book testifies to a frequent pattern of violation of international humanitarian law by Israel as well as the corruption and dangers from Hamas, the Palestinian National Authority and other extremist groups.
Mr. Wind's own unique position as the only American Jew actually based in Gaza weaves a fine line between the shared legacy and claims of the Israelis and the Palestinians. Don't look for a partisan or ideological polemic here; he brings to bear a balanced perspective and a call for action in terms of reconciling hated enemies, honoring the long burden of dispossession and exile of the Palestinians and coming to grips with which options actually can secure the long-term safety, security and future of both peoples in this tormented land.