Aunt Jameela's Bread. A Story of Food, Family, and Love..... A beautiful new book by Palestinian-American Mike Odetalla about childhood and baking bread in his homeland.

A beautiful new book by Palestinian-American Mike Odetalla about childhood, family, and homemade bread in his homeland  

Auntie Jameela's Bread

by Mike Odetalla (Author), Jaber Yassein (Illustrator) Format: Paperback

See all formats and editions

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In a small village nestled among golden fields and olive trees, Aunt Jameela baked bread that fills more than just hungry tummies...it fills hearts with joy, stories, and love.

From the wheat grown in the fields to the warm loaves shared with family and friends, every step is a reminder of what truly matters.

A heartwarming tale of tradition, togetherness, and the special memories made around the table.   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GXRFK11T/ref=sw_img_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Buy a copy, enjoy, savor it... then pass it on to your local library or a child that you know and love 

Growing Gardens for Palestine

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Aunt Jameela's Bread. A Story of Food, Family, and Love..... A beautiful new book by Palestinian-American Mike Odetalla about childhood and baking bread in his homeland.

In Growing Gardens for Palestine Mother and her child (أم وطفلها), mud on wood, 2000 by Sliman Mansour of Palestine

Mother and her child (أم وطفلها), mud on wood, 2000 by Sliman Mansour of Palestine

Mother and her child (أم وطفلها), mud on wood, 2000 by Sliman Mansour of Palestine

During the first Intifada (1987 – 1993), Palestinians boycotted Israeli goods as a form of resistance. 

 

Artists, in their turn, boycotted Israeli art supplies. 

 

Four Palestinian artists, Vera Tamari, Nabil Anani, Tayseer Barakat, and myself, formed the “New Visions” group. 

 

Artists turned towards their environment and used wood, leather, mud, henna, natural dies, and found objects. 

 

This new approach helped to develop Palestinian art and formed a link between Palestinian art produced for several decades after Alnakbah and contemporary art created by young Palestinian artists.  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10162242212696051&set=a.10150390568516051  

 

 

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]      

As the Israeli bombs fell, my family committed an act of rebellion: we planted a garden in Gaza: Amid constant danger, each planted seed was a tiny act of resistance. As they grew, they offered us food – and a sense of achievement amid the devastation- Taqwa Ahmed al-Wawi of Palestine [In The Guardian]

Growing Gardens for Palestine 

Illustration: Narmeen Hamadeh/The Guardian

My 12-year-old brother Mazen ran into the kitchen, shouting that the eggplants were sprouting. He held up the tiny green shoots, his hands shaking. My older brother Mohammed and I rushed outside, laughing despite the fear that had become our constant companion. Each sprout was a victory.

Before Gaza’s skies darkened with smoke and the ground shook with bombs, our garden was a lush tapestry of trees and plants, each leaf and branch woven into our family memory. Birds danced above the branches. Five ancient trees stood tall, twisted trunks weathered by sun and wind, branches heavy with black and green olives. Fruit trees filled the air with sweetness – orange, lemon, a broad-leaved fig and a small clementine.

In the midst of the Israeli bombardment, my brother Mohammed and our father committed a small but profound act of rebellion. They decided to plant – to extend our small crop. They bought seedlings and seeds from a local farmer, who tended a rare patch of green and sold plants grown on his land. They bought 30 corn seeds, costing 15 shekels, roughly $5; three pepper seedlings, each priced at $2; two eggplant seedlings; two stems each of mint, basil, ain jarada (a local herb, known for its fresh aroma) and arugula, all for a single dollar; and four potato seeds.

When the genocide came, it ravaged buildings, tore through markets, disrupted supplies and inflated prices beyond reason. Food became a luxury, and the simple act of eating turned into a daily struggle. The weight of hunger was heavy, occupying every corner of our lives. It was a constant companion, reminding us of what we lacked and how powerless we often felt.

My father and brother placed each plant carefully, covering their roots with soil, pressing gently to hold them in place. The seeds represented a gamble against the odds, a test of faith that life could flourish even now. “To plant is to believe in tomorrow,” my father said, as he pressed them gently into the soil.

Carrying heavy buckets, they hauled water for the garden from more than 200 meters away, where neighbours queued in line to fill jugs. Water, once abundant from municipal taps, had become a hard-won treasure... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/08/gaza-israel-palestine-garden-seed-food

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An eggplant, or aubergine, growing in the garden. Photograph: Taqwa Ahmed al-Wawi/The Guardian

In Growing Gardens for Palestine... The United Nations: International TRANSLATION Day- Translation is more than words; it is a connection. It bridges cultures, carries histories, and gives voice to those unheard. Today, September 30th on Translation Day, we celebrate those who make dialogue possible, the quiet architects of unity in every language.

Growing Gardens for Palestine 

United Nations Geneva

@UNGeneva

Translation is more than words; it is a connection. It bridges cultures, carries histories, and gives voice to those unheard. Today, on #TranslationDay, we celebrate those who make dialogue possible, the quiet architects of unity in every language.

Why 30 September?

30 September celebrates the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator, who is considered the patron saint of translators.

St. Jerome was a priest from North-eastern Italy, who is known mostly for his endeavor of translating most of the Bible into Latin from the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. He also translated parts of the Hebrew Gospel into Greek. He was of Illyrian ancestry and his native tongue was the Illyrian dialect. He learned Latin in school and was fluent in Greek and Hebrew, which he picked up from his studies and travels. Jerome died near Bethlehem on 30 September 420.

https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-translation-day 

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies] 

The role of language professionals

International Translation Day is meant as an opportunity to pay tribute to the work of language professionals, which plays an important role in bringing nations together, facilitating dialogue, understanding and cooperation, contributing to development and strengthening world peace and security.

Transposition of a literary or scientific work, including technical work, from one language into another language, professional translation, including translation proper, interpretation and terminology, is indispensable to preserving clarity, a positive climate and productiveness in international public discourse and interpersonal communication.

Thus, on 24 May 2017, the General Assembly adopted resolution 71/288 on the role of language professionals in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development, and declared 30 September as International Translation Day.

Multilingualism, a core value of the United Nations

Languages, with their complex implications for identity, communication, social integration, education and development, are of strategic importance for people and the planet.

There is growing awareness that languages play a vital role in development, in ensuring cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, but also in attaining quality education for all and strengthening cooperation, in building inclusive knowledge societies and preserving cultural heritage, and in mobilizing political will for applying the benefits of science and technology to sustainable development.

An essential factor in harmonious communication among peoples, multilingualism is also regarded by the United Nations General Assembly as a core value of the Organization. By promoting tolerance, multilingualism ensures effective and increased participation of all in the Organization’s work, as well as greater effectiveness, better performance and improved transparency.

Translation at the UN

The United Nations is one of the world's largest employers of language professionals. Several hundred language staff work in UN offices in New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi, or at the United Nations regional commissions in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut, Geneva and Santiago. Translators are one type of language professionals employed at the UN.

UN language specialists include:

• Editorial and desktop publishing assistants;
• Editors;
• Interpreters;
• Précis-writers;
• Production editors and desktop publishers;
• Translators;
• Verbatim reporters

United Nations translators handle all kinds of documents, from statements by Member States to reports prepared by expert bodies. The documents they translate cover every topic on the United Nations agenda, including human rights, peace and security, and development. New issues arise every day. UN documents are issued simultaneously in the six official languages of the Organization (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). Some core documents are also translated into German. This multilingual documentation is made possible by United Nations translators, whose job is to render clearly and accurately the content of original texts into their main language.

Interested in working as a language specialist at the United Nations? Please check UN Careers on Competitive examinations for language professionals.

Did you know?

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights holds the Guinness World Record as the most translated document. It exists in more than 500 languages.
• The United Nations is one of the world's largest employers of language professionals.
• There are six official languages of the UN - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
• A delegate may speak in any official UN language. The speech is interpreted simultaneously into the other official languages of the UN.

TRANSLATION: From one world to another

What does it really mean to translate? Translation is often the essential prerequisite for accessing a universal, multiple, diverse culture. In this issue of the UNESCO Courier, explore what this really entails.

Related Observances

• 21 February - International Mother Language Day
• 20 March - French Language Day at the UN
• 20 April - Chinese Language Day at the UN
• 23 April - English Language Day at the UN 
• 23 April - Spanish Language Day at the UN 
• 5 May - World Portuguese Language Day
• 6 June - Russian Language Day at the UN 
• 7 July - World Kiswahili Language Day
• 18 December - Arabic Language Day at the UN 
• 2022-2032 - International Decade of Indigenous Languages

Why do we mark International Days?

International days and weeks are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity. The existence of international days predates the establishment of the United Nations, but the UN has embraced them as a powerful advocacy tool. We also mark other UN observances.

 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights... Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages

Some Symbols of Palestine (love not hate): The keffiyeh, Olive Trees, Tatreez Embroidery, Watermelons, Flags, Handala, Mahmoud Darwish, Ismail Shammout, Tamam Al-Akhal, Sliman Mansour, The Holy Family, The Dome of the Rock, Maps, Food, & KEYS

Symbols of Palestine

This piece by Egyptian artist Dai Abbas evokes symbols of solidarity with Palestine, featuring a watermelon held up by a community of people.Dai Abbas

The keffiyeh explained: How this scarf became a Palestinian national symbol

By Zoe Sottile, CNN

Palestinians seen at a polling station in the West Bank town of Hebron in 2006.

Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images

2023  Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, three Palestinian college students were shot in Vermont, two of them while wearing keffiyehs, in a crime their families have said was “fueled by hate.”

Although keffiyehs are worn across the Middle East, in recent decades they have come to be identified in particular as a symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance. At pro-Palestinian protests across the world amid the Israel-Hamas war, demonstrators have sported the scarves around their necks or used them to cover their faces.

Originally worn by shepherds and nomadic farmers, the keffiyeh “has become an iconic piece of clothing globally worn by .. Read More https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/28/style/style-palestinian-keffiyeh-explained/index.html

 

Palestinians pick olives during a ceremony marking the start of the olive harvesting season last year in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip [File: Said Khatib/AFP]

‘Our hearts burn’: Gaza’s olive farmers say Israel war destroys harvest

Since the start of the Israeli offensive on October 7, farmers have been unable to access their farmland and crops.

By Linah Alsaafin and Ruwaida Amer

Published On 6 Nov 20236 Nov 2023

 

The mother of two has worked as a farmer with her parents since her childhood in the town of Abasan al-Kabira in southern Gaza, close to the border with Israel. “My land has olive trees and greenhouses planted with tomatoes and livestock,” she says.

She can no longer tend to those trees or tomatoes: The 40-year-old was displaced with her family and is living in a United Nations-run school in the centre of Khan Younis due to near-continuous Israeli bombing since October 7.

“I have no idea what state they are in. I just want to reach my land to see what has become of it,” she says.

It’s a sentiment echoed by farmers across Gaza.

The months of October and November, when olives are harvested, hold special significance for Palestinians, who consider the harvest a national occasion that celebrates their relationship and connection with the land.

Farmers pick olives with their extended families and friends. Folk songs create a festive atmosphere. Meals are cooked and eaten under the trees... READ MORE  https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/6/our-hearts-burn-gazas-olive-farmers-say-israel-war-destroys-harvest

   [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

The olive tree has deep historical and cultural roots in Palestine, and its branches have been associated with peace and prosperity for centuries.

The art of Palestinian embroidery, or tatreez, is a decorative needle and thread practice passed down through generations of Palestinian women.

 UNESCO

The art of embroidery in Palestine, practices, skills, knowledge and rituals

Inscribed in 2021 (16.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

The art of traditional embroidery is widespread in Palestine. Originally made and worn in rural areas, the practice is now common in all of Palestine and among members of the diaspora. Women’s village clothing usually consists of a long dress, trousers, a jacket, a headdress and a veil. Each of these garments is embroidered with a variety of symbols including birds, trees and flowers. The choice of colours and designs indicates the woman’s regional identity and marital and economic status. On the main garment, the loose-fitting dress called a thob, the chest, sleeves and cuffs are covered with embroidery. Embroidered, vertical panels run down the dress from the waist. The embroidery is sewn with silk thread on wool, linen or cotton. Embroidery is a social and intergenerational practice, as women gather in each other’s homes to practise embroidery and sewing, often with their daughters. Many women embroider as a hobby, and some produce and sell embroidered pieces to supplement their family’s income, either on their own or in collaboration with other women. These groups gather in each other’s homes or in community centres, where they may also market their work. The practice is transmitted from mother to daughter and through formal training courses.

© Zahara Hamad, Palestine, 2019

 https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/the-art-of-embroidery-in-palestine-practices-skills-knowledge-and-rituals-01722

 TATREEZ motif library

Choose Your Tatreez Journey

 https://www.tatreeztraditions.com/motif-library?category=Patterns

The Tatreez Institute (TI), also known as Tatreez & Tea, was founded by Wafa Ghnaim in 2016 to preserve, document, and research Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese, and Jordanian embroidery, dress, and history in the United States.

Committed to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and preventing cultural erasure, the TI stewards a growing collection of over 180 traditional dresses and headdresses, rescued from dumpsters, estates, households, and vintage shops worldwide. 

https://www.tatreezandtea.com/ 

Flag of Palestine, with a watermelon replacing the red triangle

This Palestine Watermelon flag evokes the spirit of joyful resistance and steadfastness in the face of Israeli efforts to deny, thwart and criminalize the national and political aspirations of the Palestinian people.  Fhartha

The flag of Palestine, colored in the Pan-Arab colors of red, green, white and black, had been banned in Israel in certain situations, leading to the locally-grown and similarly-colored watermelon taking its place in Palestinian iconography as an alternative for decades. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel banned the display of the Palestinian flag and its colors in the occupied Gaza Strip and the Wast Bank with the Israeli Army arresting anyone who displayed it.

In 1980, the IDF shut down an art gallery in Ramallah. According to the exhibit organizer the IDF explained that the rules forbade Palestinians from displaying red, green, black and white, and watermelon is an example of art that violated the Israeli army's rules.... READ MORE  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon_as_a_Palestinian_symbol 

 

NPR: How watermelon imagery, a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians, spread around the world

Jan 17, 2024 4:48 PM EDT Over the past three months, on banners and T-shirts and balloons and social media posts, one piece of imagery has emerged around the world... READ MORE https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/how-watermelon-imagery-a-symbol-of-solidarity-with-palestinians-spread-around-the-world

Demonstrators shout slogans and hold up an image of Handala, a symbol of Palestinian struggle, on Jan. 27 during a protest in Madrid in support of Palestinians and to demand a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images

Who is Handala, the barefoot, spiky-haired boy who symbolizes Palestinian resistance?

February 6, 20245:00 AM ET

Heard on All Things Considered

RAMALLAH, West Bank — His hair is like a hedgehog, his feet are bare, his clothes are rags and his back is to the world always. His name is Handala.

A character created by Palestinian newspaper cartoonist Naji al-Ali in 1969 — two years after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — the boy known as Handala is a symbol of the Palestinian struggle and resistance to occupation to this day.

Who is Handala?

Handala is forever 10 years old — the age that Ali was when his family was forced to move during the mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948 when the state of Israel was formed. Palestinians and their supporters refer to that displacement as the Nakba, or Arabic for "catastrophe."

Ali's refugee boy character shares his name with a resilient, bitter plant that grows in the Middle East called handal. It has deep roots and will always grow back even if it's weeded out.

"This character represents insurgency, refusal and struggle," says Egyptian columnist Nadi Hafez of al-Qabas newspaper, where Ali worked for a long time. "And it satirizes the politics around the Palestinian cause, or the politics of the Arab world, or indeed international politics when it comes to the Palestinian cause."

Handala didn't turn his back to the reader until 1973, after the Yom Kippur War, when a coalition of Arab countries led by Egypt and Syria fought Israel in October of that year. At the time, there was a push by countries including the U.S. for a settlement of the conflict. By turning Handala's back to the world, Ali was expressing his rejection of solutions from foreign nations imposed on Palestinians.... READ MORE https://www.npr.org/2024/02/06/1228097975/handala-naji-al-ali-cartoon-palestinian-symbol

 

Key- Universal Declaration of Human Rights & every refugee's inalienable right of return to original homes & lands

 

 

...Universal Echo

Mahmoud Darwish 1941—2008

Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish was born in al-Birwa in Galilee, a village that was occupied and later razed by the Israeli army. Because they had missed the official Israeli census, Darwish and his family were considered “internal refugees” or “present-absent aliens.” Darwish lived for many years in exile in Beirut and Paris. He is the author of over 30 books of poetry and eight books of prose, and earned the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize from the Lannan Foundation, the Lenin Peace Prize, and the Knight of Arts and Belles Lettres Medal from France.

In the 1960s Darwish was imprisoned for reciting poetry and traveling between villages without a permit. Considered a “resistance poet,” he was placed under house arrest when his poem “Identity Card” was turned into a protest song. After spending a year at a university of Moscow in 1970, Darwish worked at the newspaper Al-Ahram in Cairo. He subsequently lived in Beirut, where he edited the journal Palestinian Affairs from 1973 to 1982. In 1981 he founded and edited the journal Al-Karmel. Darwish served from 1987 to 1993 on the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In 1996 he was permitted to return from exile to visit friends and family in Israel and Palestine.

Mahmoud Darwish’s early work of the 1960s and 1970s reflects his unhappiness with the occupation of his native land... READ MORE https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mahmoud-darwish

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye commented on the poems in Unfortunately It Was Paradise: “[T]he style here is quintessential Darwish—lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant—and never anything less than free—what he would dream for all his people.”

Mahmoud Darwish died in 2008 in Houston, Texas.

 The Land and Love by Palestinian Ismail Shammout 1931-2006

 

Spring in Palestine by Ismail Shammout 1931-2006

 

Ismail Shammout was born in 1930 in Lydda – Palestine. During the Nakba of 1948, he and his family were forced out of their home during the assault of Jewish Zionist militant groups on their town. A long march on foot allowed them to settle in the refugee camps of Khan Younis in Gaza where he lived under very harsh conditions. In 1950 he managed to travel to Cairo to study arts from where he later earned a scholarship to study fine arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. After he finished his studies, he moved to Beirut in 1959 where he married his fellow arts student from Cairo, the Palestinian artist Tamim El-Akhal (born 1935). Both lived and worked in Beirut until 1983 then moved to Kuwait, then to Germany and finally to Amman in 1994. Shammout died on July 3 rd 2006.

Shammout, who himself experienced expulsion and refuge and accompanied later the birth of the Palestinian Revolution in the 1960s, became since the very early days of his professional live along with his partner Tamam El-Akhal the “artistic face” of the Palestinian Freedom Struggle. He has been long recognized as Palestine’s leading modernist painter. His experience of dispossession and the memories of beloved Palestine, the dreams of return as well as the dignity and pride of his people formed the soul of his entire art. The simplicity of the themes and his outstanding artistic skills let his works enjoy a widely spread popularity which significantly shaped modern Palestinian Art.  https://ismail-shammout.com/

 

Palestinian Poppies by Tamam Al-Akhal

Freedom by Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour

Holy Family in an Olive Grove by Sliman Mansour

Sliman Mansour is one of the most distinguished and renowned artists in Palestine. His style embodies steadfastness in the face of a relentless military occupation. His work — which has come to symbolize the Palestinian national identity — has inspired generations of Palestinians and international artists and activists alike.

Born in 1947, Mansour spent his childhood around the verdant hills and fields of Birzeit — where he was born — and later his adolescence in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. These experiences left a significant mark on his work, heightening a sense of gradual loss in Palestine, especially after the occupation of the West Bank and Jerusalem in 1967. His early experiences also presented him with the symbols and images he would later use to preserve and highlight Palestinian identity.

Using symbols derived from Palestinian life, culture, history, and tradition, Mansour uniquely illustrates Palestinians’ resolve and connection with their land. His pieces epitomize art as a form of resistance. With orange trees, he represents land lost in the Nakba of 1948. With olive trees, he represents land occupied in 1967. With women wearing traditional embroidered dresses, he represents Palestinian land and the Palestinian revolution. With the landscape of Palestine and its stone terraces, he represents the mark of Palestinian farmers on the land. With images of Jerusalem and the glistening Dome of the Rock, he represents the Palestinian homeland and the dream of return.

Sliman Mansour’s art deftly reflects the hopes and realities of a people living under occupation for the better part of a century. Since the early 1970s, he has translated his experiences of isolation, displacement, community, and rootedness using imagery and symbols that have contributed to developing an iconography of the Palestinian struggle. Paintings such as “Jamal al-Mahamel” (Camel of Hardships or Camel of Burdens) — with its iconic porter whose heavy and precious load is the Jerusalem that all Palestinians yearn for — were made into posters, cards, and stickers. Such images were popularized in direct defiance of Israeli military authorities, who frequently confiscated artwork and posters and closed exhibitions and galleries. https://slimanmansour.com/about-the-artist-sliman-mansour/

An architectural marvel and a sacred Islamic site, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem signifies the religious and historical continuity of the Palestinian identity in the face of shifting global landscapes.

Fact based maps

Palestinian Cuisine https://www.tasteatlas.com/best-rated-dishes-in-palestine

Palestinian cuisine is rich and diverse, featuring dishes like musakhan, maqluba, falafel, hummus, and tabouli, all reflecting a blend of local ingredients, regional traditions, and cultural influences.

Olive oil, herbs, and spices like sumac and za'atar are staples in Palestinian cooking

The Key

The key is a poignant symbol of the right of return for Palestinian refugees. It represents the homes left behind during the Nakba, and the enduring hope of return to their ancestral homes and villages.

 

UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS