Barbara: Thursday
The work week ends on Thursday and there’s a lot to finish up. I go to a Torah study class, then spend the night listening to favorite music and cooking. As usual, we expect a dozen guests for Shabbat. Tonight, my son-in-law Daniel Zamir and his jazz quartet are playing a benefit concert for the [...]
Barbara: Wednesday
I was back at Hadassah Hospital last night for some family. The ophthalmologist I needed to see for something was unexpectedly busy. He had to rush to the emergency room where the neurosurgeon was working on the teen who had a cinder block thrown at his head. A Jewish teen, by the way. The conflict [...]
Rivka Grabovski
Director of Daycare Center in Sderot
I hear the noise of the Qassam rocket, and the loudspeaker and the red alert, and my heart’s beating quickly, and I can’t catch my breath, and what do I do now? It can happen anywhere. You can be at home, at the center, in the street. I live in fear. I feel I have a sixth sense with which I can hear better, concentrate better. I’m so frightened and tense—but courage is key. Don’t give up, despite everything. I continue to walk for exercise, do my shopping, take classes, visit my girlfriends, and come to work despite the fears, anxiety, and trembling. I tell myself not to give up, but to get up and do the impossible. [...]
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.” [...]
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. [...]
Muna Salim Saleh Mansour
Member of Palestinian Legislative Council (Hamas party), Nablus
My husband joked, “What would you do if I were killed?” I said, “I would cry.” He said, “It is okay to cry.” I said, “The house is too small to accommodate mourners.” Mourners arrived in busloads. The march on the day of his death was the largest ever in Palestine. People from surrounding towns and villages joined the funeral even though the Israeli occupation placed roadblocks. [...]
Reem Alshareef
Principal of Cordoba School in Hebron
I adore Hebron, my city, my people, my children, and the school. I refuse to leave. Whatever the circumstances, I insist on staying. My roots are here even though we are now under Israeli control. [...]
Huda Naim Naim
Member of Palestinian Legislative Council (Hamas party), Gaza
I live like one and a half million Palestinians imprisoned in Gaza Strip. We suffer poverty, hunger, killing, destruction, darkness, and a lack of medicine and fuel. We wake to the sounds of artillery and bombing from fighter jets. Our children are killed and deprived of their basic needs. Their fathers cannot provide food, their mothers die from lack of medicine. The occupation has destroyed the basis of our life. [...]
Tova Dmbulu Gette
Conversion Counselor for the Rabbinical Courts
It was like the Exodus from Egypt. We slept during the day and walked at night so robbers wouldn’t catch us. We walked, hungry and thirsty. I was with my parents and two of my brothers. We carried them on our backs and put them on donkeys. We had only [...]
