Category Archives: Palestinian culture

Through a woman’s eyes: life under military occupation

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By EA Carolina, Bethlehem team.

I arrived in Duheisha Refugee Camp, in Bethlehem, at dawn and I knocked an unknown door. I was looking for Samira*, all I knew about her was that she is a well known and respected member of the Duheisha community and that she would be able to tell me her story in reasonably good English.

“All the words on the dictionary couldn’t explain about our feelings, our suffering.” Said Samira, when we eventually settled down to talk.

08-11-2016 Ad-Duheisha Camp, Bethlehem. Inside the camp, the walls tell us stories. The graffiti in the left shows Handala's family, a well known Palestinian character. EAPPI Elina.jpg

08-11-2016 Ad-Duheisha Camp, Bethlehem. 08-11-2016 Ad-Duheisha Camp, Bethlehem. Inside the camp, the graffiti on the walls tell their stories. EAPPI/Elina.

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In the darkness of Yanoun reality changes on the hilltops

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By the Yanoun team, 

My watch tells me it is just after 2am as I lie awake listening to the unmistakable sound of a digger moving rock after rock, being the only noise breaking the silence in the early hours of this September morning. Every once in a while, the sound of the digger is overpowered by the sound of barking dogs, brought down from the hilltop by the wind. With the darkness as shelter, the invisible work on the hilltop continues. It is impossible, after sunset, to know for sure what is happening amidst the houses and barns little more than a stone’s throw away from my bedroom. What will be changed when the first sunbeams strike the olive trees?

12.10.2016 Pictures for blog, Palestine EAPPI-RW (8 of 10).jpg

12.10.2016 The first beams from the sun hit the olive trees in Yanoun. EAs show their presence by morning and evening walks around the village. EAPPI/R.W

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A shepherd’s story: “Life has become as small as a ring”

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By the South Hebron Hills team.

Jibrin sits with quiet dignity and explains the effects of the occupation: ‘Life has become as small as a ring’, he says.

26-09-2016-south-hebron-hills-qawawis-jibrin-moussa-haram-at-home-in-qawawis-eappi-v-steen

Qawawis Jibrin Moussa Haram at home in Qawawis. EAPPI V. Steen 26.09.16

Jibrin was born in Qawawis, a community of shepherds in the South Hebron Hills. His family had fields of wheat and barley, sheep and olive trees. Then, in the mid-1980s, the Susya settlement, illegal under international law, was established by the Israeli government on Palestinian land just across the road. Things started to change. The settlers let their animals into the Palestinian fields and damaged the crops. They threw stones at the shepherds. Jibrin’s family moved nearer to the village for protection.

 

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