Photo credit: Alan Gignoux
Date taken: 2004
Location: Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camp, Beirut, Lebanon
Zeinab Al-Saqqa, a refugee living in Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon, is shown in this portrait wearing the wedding dress she wore before being evicted from her home in the Palestinian village of Al-Nahr. The dress is the only possession she brought with her when she fled for her life. [Read more...]
Photo credit: Mohamed El-Reefi
Date taken: January 16, 2013
Location: Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine
A fisherman rests and inspects his leg before leaving the Gaza City’s mina, or port. [Read more...]
Photo credit: Rami Maalouf
Date taken: 1997
Location: Palestine
A Palestinian woman challenges Israeli soldiers ordering men to raise their arms or face arrest. The photograph suggests that the woman is demanding the soldiers produce proper identification or documentation of the security pat down. [Read more...]
Photo credit: Scott Lewis
Date taken: Unknown (Sometime during the Second Intifada)
Location: Birzeit, West Bank, Palestine
Helwa Farah, a pediatric nurse working at the Birzeit Women’s Charitable Society, weighs two-month-old Shams Abu Qash. The society is home to a clinic serving women and children. [Read more...]
Photo credit: Unknown
Date taken: April 4, 2004
Location: Husna, West Bank, Palestine
The blog’s first ever Photo of the Week feature comes from the village of Husan just west of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. This 2004 photograph shows two children eating snacks and walking down a sidewalk showing evidence of an earlier rain. In the background is a graffiti mural showing Islamic phrases and a leaning and off-colored palm tree framing the Ka’bah and Masjid An-Nabawi. [Read more...]
Severe storms hit much of the Middle East over the last few days leading to heaving flooding, freezing temperatures, and even snow pileups. In the West Bank at least, where snowy weather isn’t a regular occurrence, the cold weather and sticky snow made for some nice snow ball fights. Here are a few photographs of the snowy scenery we found on the internet.
Photo credit: Rashid Mashrawi
Photo credit: Hazem Bader, AFP
Photo credit: Ammar Awad, Reuters
The second annual National SJP Conference is hosted at the University of Michigan. Here are some photographs of what we’ve been doing the last day and a half. Special thanks to Danya Mustafa, Sara Jawhari, and Debbie Southorn for collecting and sharing these photographs.
Students at the opening plenary of the National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Conference 2012 discuss ways to address and tackle dynamics of oppression within campus solidarity movements. Photo credit: Sara Jawhari
A plush panda, which belongs to an SJP conference organizer, dons a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh. Photo credit: Sara Jawhari
One conference attendee’s face is illuminated by a computer screen as she excitedly takes notes during Nada Elia’s opening remarks. Elia spoke on the importance of liberating ourselves from within. Photo credit: Sara Jawhari [Read more...]
Following its call for public school teachers in Chicago to strike for a fairer contract, the Chicago Teachers Union organized a solidarity rally at Union Park where thousands of teachers and supporters gathered for spirited speeches, chants, and musical performances. The rally culminated with a march into the city’s West Side, signifying a “take back” of the neighborhoods hit hardest by the Chicago Board of Education’s decision to close at least 80 schools.
The Chicago Teachers Union went on strike on Monday after contract negotiations with the Board of Education failed to produce a contract that would address the concerns of the union’s 25,000 teachers. The striking teachers demand better funding for schools in low-income neighborhoods, reasonable pay increases in line with the longer school days, a moratorium on citywide school closures, and a new evaluation system that more accurately assesses a teacher’s performance in the classroom. Both parties have acknowledged a framework has been set but there has not yet been a formal agreement. The strike will continue until Tuesday at the earliest.
At the solidarity rally, teachers from Wisconsin and Minnesota addressed the crowd and praised the Chicago Teachers Union for holding firm and leading the nation’s labor movement. Union president Karen Lewis closed the ceremony with a galvanizing speech, making it clear that Chicago’s teachers will continue to challenge the city’s current school system until education reform becomes a first priority.
The solidarity rally’s stage organizers and emcees reorder the list of scheduled speakers.
Striking teachers chant during the Chicago Teachers Union solidarity rally on Saturday held at Union Park on the city’s Near West Side. [Read more...]
It’s almost been an entire year since I traveled to the Gaza Strip. Much has changed since then and much has abandoned me in the form of forgotten thoughts, but the memories of my experiences in Gaza stick with me.
Having been to the West Bank only once in 2000 for a few hours, I’ve never seen Israel’s apartheid wall in person. As much as this is a blessing, I can’t speak much about the individual effect of that particular wall. The walls I’ve seen are of a different kind. Here’s a small album of photographs from my stay in Gaza as I reflected on all kinds of walls.
A multi-textured wall of walls stands just minutes from the seacoast in Gaza City.
A large stone hangs from a rope in front of a wall at a fancy hotel in the north of Gaza.
Inside of a small spice and produce shop in a Gaza market, the walls are lined with yellow boxes, yellow oils, yellow prayer rugs, yellow teas, and a variety of other colorful items.
The coastal road between Gaza City and Khan Younis is a place of solitude for many Palestinians where the seemingly infinite sea is complemented by the absence of walls. [Read more...]
