Dima Aweidah-Nashashibi
Deputy Director of Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling
Women suffer. There’s an increase in domestic violence because of the political violence and poverty. And women cannot come to our Centers because of checkpoints. The Jerusalem area is completely closed off by the Wall, and the villages around are isolated so women cannot move easily from one place to another. [..]
Maha Saca
Founder-Director of Palestinian Heritage Center
The past 18 years I’ve worn black. I’ve been with martyrs and refugees. I’ve attended demonstrations and visited people in hospitals. I used to wear black to these occasions and when I returned, I’d change into the colors I love—red and yellow. But I wasn’t taking a stand if I dressed in black for a martyr and then changed. I vowed that after Jerusalem is our capital, I’d wear color again. For now, I add embroidery to connect to my heritage through fashion. [..]
Terry Boullata
Documentary producer
In the construction of the Wall most of the fertile land on the border between Israel and Palestine was confiscated to the Israeli side. These are the most fertile areas, the main food basket for the Palestinian Territory. [..]
Weaam Dawoud Ali Iriqat
Director of Public Relations and Culture for Jericho Municipality
Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world. Most people read about it in the Bible. We showcase the way the people live, the natural beauty of Jericho, the charm of the city, the magnificent, hospitable people. [..]
Ghada Issa Ghabboun
Co-Director of Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem
My father worked ten years before he managed a room for us outside the refugee camp. Even the walls and windows weren’t complete, but it was a palace because it was outside the camp. Father used to say, “We are the victims of the victims.” He meant the Holocaust victims, but my Israeli friends try to build bridges. We have a painful history, and it has to stop. We can’t keep killing each other. [..]
Ihsan Mohammed Turkieh
Comedy writer and actress
A checkpoint is a horrible scene, but as a comedian, I like to play the simple Palestinian lady. She says to the soldier, “Please, my daughter, she is in the hospital, let me go to see my daughter.” He barks, “Do you have a permit? If you don’t have a permit, you will not pass.” She pleads, “Let me go, let me go.” He yells, “Yallah, get away from here!” She curses the Wall and yells back, “I wish a tsunami takes the Wall, takes you. Then both of us will be at rest at the end!” The Israelis laugh, but it is very black comedy. [..]
Jihad Abu Zneid
Member of Palestinian Legislative Council (Fatah party), Jerusalem
My name means “holy war” or “struggle.” I was born in 1967 after Israel occupied the West Bank. My father named me Jihad because he felt I would be a jihad. To me, it means a struggle for a just peace, women’s issues, for all Jerusalem issues. [..]
Hadeel Rizq-Qazzaz
Program Coordinator for Heinrich Böll Foundation
The people in Gaza are human beings with families. They love, they hate, they want to get married, they want to go to hospitals, and they want food. You can’t ignore them, they are humans.
The international community thinks it’s boycotting Hamas—they’re boycotting 1.5 million human beings, more than 60 percent of them children below 18 years of age. It’s collective punishment in all senses, by all definitions.[..]
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?”[...]
Fatima Shehada Ja’fari
Political activist, women’s organizer, and former political detainee
No institution has given Palestinian women anything. Women have to grab their rights from men. I was the only woman invited to the anniversary celebration of the Fatah movement. I asked the men, “Was the revolution launched by men only? No, it was launched by men and women. Women have always struggled. Have any of you brought your wives, sisters, or mothers to the struggle? You only get us involved when you want us involved. Then you put us aside. You vote for women because you have to, not because you choose to.” [...]
