Amanda Mueller is an independent journalist based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Known most for her investigative report on Shurat HaDin, a Israeli human rights group, offering military tours to Westerners while charging a mandatory donation of $500 per participant to the group. She has made Palestinian issues the focus of her career, reporting a side of the story rarely represented in Western media by Western journalists. She is also a non-fiction author, working closely with the residents of the occupied-territories of Palestine and Palestinian NGOs that focus on non-violence and human rights to research and tell the story of the Palestinian non-violence movement.
Ms. Mueller isn't a traditional journalist, starting her career as a freelance writer responsible for creating reports for companies on various issues and corporate training materials. She was raising a family while most journalists were in J-school. Despite taking the path less traveled, her passion, drive, determination and life experience have proven to be valuable in making a career for herself. She is also disabled, suffering from a chronic illness called fibromyalgia that can at times render her bed bound for several days at a time. This fact hasn't stopped Ms. Mueller from giving a voice to an often under-represented group plagued with stereotypes and living in harsh conditions. Nor has it stopped her from traveling abroad on adventures to the other side of the world. I recently interviewed Ms. Mueller about reporting on Palestinian issues in the West, her book on non-violence, and the U.N Goldstone Report.
Q: How did you begin writing on primarily Palestinian issues?
Amanda: I started to write on human rights issues. In the process of researching child detention, I came across an unusual amount of case studies about Palestinian youth detention. I came into contact with a family whose child had been detained and they told me a little bit about their life and it shocked me. The Green Movement in Iran and the aftermath began shortly after that and I saw how outraged people were about what was happening there. Much of the mistreatment experienced by those wanting change was some of the same mistreatment experienced every day by Palestinians living under occupation, but no one ever discussed it. I felt like it needed to be discussed and that is when I started reporting primarily on Palestinian issues, which really, are a lot of human rights issues.
Q: Until then, did you know that was happening in the occupied-territories of Palestine?
Amanda: Growing up in the United States, you are conditioned - for lack of a better word - to view what is happening there in a much different context of what reality is. It isn't like Death in Gaza about James Miller aired on broadcast television. The internet has definitely played a major role in getting the story out, particularly during times of media blackouts like the one imposed during Operation Cast Lead, but real coverage is hard to find. Israel also has a Military Censor Office which can sometimes interfere with stories being published.
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