And three. No less than three Golden Visas were awarded to Palestinian photographers from the Gaza Strip during the Visa pour l’image photojournalism festival in Perpignan. Not without causing a sensation, since the murderous war waged for eleven months in Gaza by Israel after the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 inflames minds.
After Loay Ayyoub, winner of the young journalist award from the city of Perpignan for his work with the Washington Post, and Samar Abu Elouf, contributor to New York TimesThe winner of the Sipa daily press prize was Mahmoud Hams, a contributor to Agence France-Presse (AFP), who won the top prize, the Visa d’or news, on the evening of Saturday 7 September, for his images showing the tragic lives of Gazans: entire families killed or buried under bombs, forced displacement, desperate efforts to feed themselves, find shelter and care. The death toll from this conflict, according to figures from the Hamas Ministry of Health, is over 40,000 dead, most of them civilians.
As a sign of the tensions, a pro-Palestinian demonstration noisily swept through the city that same evening. And during the ceremony, in a packed Campo Santo, the mayor (National Rally, RN), Louis Aliot, was conspicuous by his absence: he caused controversy from the opening of the festival by refusing to personally present his award to the young Loay. Ayyoub, exhibited at the Minimes convent with a theme about The tragedy of GazaThe elected official had denounced the lack of” balance “ from Visa pour l’image, regretting the absence of an exhibition dedicated to the massacres of October 7, 2023. In France Bleu, he accused the photographer of proximity to Hamas, accusing him of designating the organization, on his social networks, under the term “Palestinian resistance”.
On stage, the festival’s new president, Pierre Conte, wanted to clarify this concentration of prices: “No one should see this as a political message, a position in a terrible conflict that has lasted too long. (…) We must see this as a moment when the entire profession greets with respect and gives encouragement only to those photojournalists who are on the ground in Gaza. Because at this event dedicated to journalism, professionals are faced with an exceptional situation: the total ban by Israel, since the beginning of the war, on allowing the entry of foreign journalists into the field, forcing international media to rely exclusively on journalists from Gaza and promoting debates on the reliability of informants.
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