Aisheh Awajneh
Director of Department of Labor for Jericho and Jordan Valley
Laborers constitute 80 percent of the Palestinian adult society and unemployment is also at 80 percent. This is dangerous. It produces social, economic, health, and psychological diseases as well as poverty. It is like a ghost that threatens us.
Unemployment is the most difficult issue facing the Ministry of Labor, and the occupation, roadblocks, and closures increase unemployment. [...]
Amal Elsana Alh’jooj
Bedouin spokeswoman and Founder-Director of AJEEC
Now they are teaching adults how to listen. As a shepherd, I listened to everything and developed my senses from the air, earth, moon, and stars. Even though I was often without shoes and it was cold, I still want to send my kids to the field with three sheep and one cow and say, “This is the best school in your life.” [..]
Amira Dotan
Member of Knesset and retired Brigadier-General
Feminism is the ability to do what you want to do. It must be on the table immediately that there are two different genders. Women need to believe that men are who they are and we are who we are, and to be proud of who we are instead of spending so much energy imitating men. Then we will have more energy to do what we want to do, and questions of harassment and violence lessen because men see you as equal. [...]
Amoun Sleem
Founder-Director of Domari Society of Gypsies
You don’t see gypsies fighting around the world. They look for the simple life and they look with beautiful eyes. Our flag means green for the land, blue for the sky, and wheels for traveling. People should learn from the gypsies: be open, make your hearts green for everybody. [...]
Anya Antopolski
Director of Meeting Point in Nokdim
I’ll tell you a story. About a year ago I was going through the checkpoint on my way home when I saw a very pretty Palestinian girl with a beautiful scarf covering her hair. She was standing next to the checkpoint holding a Palestinian flag and demonstrating against the security fence. I wanted to stand next to her holding an Israeli flag, because I’m also against the fence. If she’s against the fence, and I’m against the fence, then who is for it, really? That’s what I want to say. [...]
Aysha Ibrahim Hudali
Mother of political prisoners
My granddaughter keeps saying, “I want my Mommy, I want Daddy.” She waits. When she hears the doorbell she expects her dad, but when it turns out to be someone else, like her uncle, she cries, “Where is Daddy? You said Daddy was at work, why didn’t he come home?”[...]
Badia Khalaf
Chair of Annahda Women’s Association
The best thing in life is love. Without love we cannot live. As Christians, we want only peace. This is our Christianity. We can love each other, we can live with each other. It’s not hard for us to live with Jewish people, Israeli people. [...]
Barbara Sofer
Journalist and Director of Public Relations for Hadassah
I’ve been in rooms where people are taking care of terror victims while everybody around the table had to worry that day about being blown up as well—and at the same time, a terrorist would be taken care of. When people come into these hospitals, they move a switch inside and elicit their best selves. We’ll never have a future unless we switch off the static of all the anger and conflicts to move ahead to peace.
Bushra Mukbil
Consultant with Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator
I was having lunch with a friend and her young son in Ramallah when Israeli soldiers attacked a café across the street. They had guns, shattered windows, threw gas bombs and sound bombs. The kid asked his mom, “What’s happening?” She told him, “It’s a Hollywood movie.” I said, “You have to tell him the reality.” She said, “No, I don’t want my kid to live in fear. At one point he will know it himself.” [...]
Buthaina Doqmaq
Chair of Mandela Institute for Human Rights
More than 380 Palestinian children under 18 years of age are in Israeli prisons. They need to be educated—not tortured, abused inside prisons, deprived of their parents’ visits. The Israelis tour the world demanding the release of one abducted soldier. I demand the international community intervene to free prisoners who are seekers of freedom and peace. We want our detained children home with their families.
