National Geographic: A Photographer Captures Joy in Gaza ... From days at the beach to party preparations, Tanya Habjouqa offers a different look into life during conflict.

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine (& America)]

 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/151009-gaza-palestinian-photos-tanya-habjouqa/

Khalid Zir and his five daughters take in the ruins of their home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

"....She’s done her share of hard-news photography, but since 2009, she’s also been taking photos for her "Occupied Pleasures" series. A book of them will be published in December. Habjouqa says she doesn't want to trivialize her subjects’ difficulties by showing them in carefree moods, but those moods are real too.

"The humor, the sadness, the suffering, fear," she says. "It is one giant cocktail here. Fluctuating in seconds.""

"When the work was first published, I was flooded by emails from Palestinians in diaspora who would sometimes simply write, "Thank you." Or occasionally expand and say, "Thank you for showing us as we are, for allowing us to recognize ourselves." Tanya Habjouqa

 READ MORE