Today, 19 years ago, American peace icon and activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while protecting a Palestinian home from demolition in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. #IsraeliCrimes #NeverForget #Palestine
"One of my favorite memories as a child in Palestine was when my mother (AY) used to make her scrumptious meat pies for us to eat, picnic style, on the grounds of #AlAqsa compound in #AlQuds (#Jerusalem)...She used to get very early in the day, prepare the dough and take it with her to Al Quds (the old city) ahead of us...
Once inside the old city, she would buy her fresh ingredients of ground lamb meat, onions, parsley, and spices and take them to the old bakery in the area that she frequented and trusted.
Once at the bakery, she would make triangle shaped meat pies (ikraas), which she stuffed with her magic mixture of mouth watering ingredients and give them to the baker to bake in his oven, making sure that they were baked to her exacting standards of golden perfection...
Afterwards, she would take the piping hot pies, mouth watering aroma wafting through the air, place them in a large tray, covering them with a blanket to keep them nice and warm, and meet up with us at the ground of Al Aqsa, whereby we would have our picnic under the shade of the ancient trees...
She used to make extra pies so that when strangers happened on us, drawn by that intoxicating aroma, she could share with them...
Till this day, the fragrance of fresh baked bread evokes memories of my beloved late mother, may Allah have mercy on her soul, and those magical moments spent with her in the holy grounds of Masjid Al Aqsa!"
"During the first Intifada, 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 [Artist Sliman Mansour] formed the “new vision” group"
"Artists turned towards their environment and used materials such as
wood, leather, mud, henna, natural dies. This new approach helped to
develop Palestinian art and formed a link between Palestinian art
produced for several decades after Alnakbah and the contemporary art."
Palestinian Artist Sliman Mansour
A Palestinian gingerbread house baked by Riyam Kafri AbuLabban.
"The Palestinian kitchen,
like other kitchens, is in flux as it borrows and receives inspiration from
other cuisines. Why not freekeh risotto? Why not hot cross buns with a
cardamom-cinnamon Palestinian twist? (Visit Fadi Kattan’s Instagram account to
sneak a peek.) And why not build Palestinian-style gingerbread houses?
Gingerbread houses are a
nineteenth-century German tradition that became popular after the Brothers
Grimm published Hansel and Gretel. There is something magical about a
house completely edible from top to bottom, even more so amidst the spirit and
charm of the Christmas season. Under the spell of gingerbread houses and the
holiday season, I wanted to create a family tradition that fit with my
children’s experience of Palestinian homes. I also wanted them to know that
Christmas is a Palestinian holiday, that Jesus Christ is Palestinian." Riyam Kafri AbuLaban
Rev. Sandra R Mackie's 1-6-22 letter "Supporting a country that denies human rights is wrong"
Dear Editor,
Rev. Sandra R Mackie is right: "Supporting a country that denies human rights is wrong"(Jan 11).
This tragic situation has been escalating for decades, with American
money and clout empowering Israel's long term quest to impoverish,
oppress, and evict the native non-Jewish population of the "Holy Land."
Too many of our elected leaders, and too many religious leaders, have
been pulling a 'Ghislaine Maxwell' in helping Israel violate
international law and the Palestinians' basic human rights.
Modern man-made "Israel" really has been brilliant with PR (and subliminal
persuasion) for instance stealing its official name from many a beloved
hymn and prayer, so that Christians tend to just think warm, fuzzy
thoughts at the mention of its name.
As American newspapers racket up the charge for subscriptions and
more people are inspired to seek out news elsewhere, I very much hope (for every one's sake) that more
Americans are able to see and understand how culpable and wrong our
elected leaders have been to worship at the altar of [AIPAC] the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Circa late 1800s...The #Palestinian
village Nebi Samwail with its minaret framed in the arch...This could
be a rare old photo of one of the several villages that surround Nebi
Samwail including Lifta, Al Jeeb, Beit Iksa, and of course Mike Hanini Odetella's ancestral
village of Beit Hanina
Kolonia, and Wady [Wadi] Beit Hanina, favourite place of resort of the
people of Jerusalem; it is famous for its well-kept vineyards and
vegetable gardens from the book Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and EgyptBy Colonel Wilson, Charles William, Sir, 1836-1905. Published in New
York by D. Appleton and Company in 1881 with engravings in steel and
wood from original Drawings by Harry Fenn and J. D. Woodward Volume 1
"Merry
Christmas Eve to all of the Orthodox and Arab Christians who celebrate
Christmas tomorrow, Jan. 7. It's a complicated story as there are three
different celebrations (Dec. 25, Jan. 7 and Jan. 18 depending on your
religion.) The Greek Orthodox Christians maintain the old tradition
using the Julian Calendar rather than the Gregorian Calendar or the
"revised Julian Calendar"
MERRY CHRISTMAS ... "He is Risen"
"Many Orthodox Christians fast before January 7, with the exception of meat and dairy products.
"Foods
may include: Lenten bread, fresh nuts and dried fruits, vegetables and
herbs such as potatoes, peas and garlic, mushroom soup, beans slow
cooked with potatoes, garlic and spices, bobki (small biscuits mixed
with sauerkraut or poppy seeds with honey). Honey. cod. Christmas Day,
on the other hand, is a day to feast and enjoy the company of friends
and family members.
"The Christmas meal usually includes meat and
various types of pastries. One of the traditional Russian Christmas
dishes is a goose baked with apples. The type of food and activity may
vary depending on the culture and traditions of the country. In some
Orthodox Christian cultures, people walk in procession to the seas,
rivers, and lakes as part of the Mass on Orthodox Christmas Day. They
make holes in the ice to bless the water if it is frozen. Not much
importance is given to gift-exchange and business Christmas. Some
Orthodox Christians celebrate the birth and worship of the shepherds
(those who visited the baby Jesus) on January 6, followed by the worship
of the Magi (three wise men or kings) on January 7. It may be longer
than usual but many people find it inspiring."
Fr. Spiridon Sammour, the pastor of the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem, delivers a sermon on Christmas Eve. (Fr-Spiridon Sammour)
"Muslims also recognize Jesus as a great prophet and that shared respect
brings Christians and Muslims together. Easter commemorates the time
when Christians believe Jesus was crucified by the Romans in Jerusalem
and then resurrected."
Why do Orthodox and Arab Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7?
“The Church of the Nativity includes the Grotto of the Nativity and
nearby caves, the Greek Orthodox Monastery, the Armenian Monastery, St.
Jerome’s School, St. Catherine’s Church and St. Jerome’s Church,” Fr.
Sammour said.
“When we visit the Grotto of Nativity, we find in the place where Jesus
was born a star with 14 points. This denotes the 14 generations from
Adam to Abraham, from Abraham to David the prophet and king, from David
to the captivity to Babylon, and from the captivity to Babylon to
Joseph, the husband of Mary and of whom Jesus was born.
“But most important is the inscription on the star. It reads in Latin,
‘Hic natus est Jesus Christus ex Maria Vergine,’ which translates as,
‘Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.’” Fr. Sammour said.
“The key is the word ‘here’ as it means that the great mystery of the
incarnation took place in this particular place, and this means that
this geographical point is central because it is a meeting point between
heaven and earth, God and man.”
Palestinian
Christian families visit the Nativity grotto, believed to be the birthplace of
Jesus, seeking blessings for their children [Qassam Muaddi / TNA]
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme. Oh shining star testify, 2019
Installation view at Art Institute of Chicago, 2021
If only this mountain between us could be ground to dust
–
If only this mountain between us could be ground to dust—the
first exhibition by Palestinian artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne
Abou-Rahme in a major US museum—combines a site-specific installation of
the artists’ ongoing multimedia projects with a commissioned work
created specifically for the Art Institute of Chicago.
Working in film, installation, performance, sound, and text,
Abbas and Abou-Rahme sample self-authored and existing media and
materials to reframe and activate narratives that they describe as
everyday erasures of Palestinian experience as a means of resisting the
illusion of one immutable history. The interconnected works in this
installation critically examine how bodies, images, language, memories,
and narratives exist within contemporary archives, media, and
institutions. Often reflecting on ideas of amnesia, erasure, and return
within the Palestinian condition, the artists see these artworks as
potential tools for the politically oppressed to become unbound from
colonial systems.
Central to the exhibition is an immersive multimedia installation combining new versions of two multi-channel video works. Oh shining star testify(2019–21)
focuses on CCTV footage taken from a surveillance camera that
circulated online after Yusuf Shawamreh, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy,
was killed by Israeli forces. The layered footage, sampled from
recordings of the event, brings attention to how images that circulate
online can offer a testament to historic events, though that testament
can be obliterated when the internet becomes oversaturated with imagery.
Foregrounding the simultaneous accumulation and disappearance of data
and images, the artists make visible how those “uncounted bodies counter
their own erasures, appearing on a street, on a link or on a feed.”
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme. At those terrifying frontiers where the existence and disappearance of people fade into each other, 2019
Installation view at Art Institute of Chicago, 2021
The second video, At those terrifying frontiers where the existence and disappearance of people fade into each other (2019–21),uses fragments of Palestinian postcolonial scholar Edward Said’s poem “After the Last Sky”to
interrogate what it means to be constructed as an “illegal” person,
body, or entity. The text fragments are interspersed with human avatars
created from images of demonstrators in the Great March of Return, a
series of protests that began in 2018 and advocated for ending a 12-year
blockade and returning Palestinians to their ancestral homeland. The
avatars, which are rendered with software that represents missing data
as glitches, scars, and incomplete facial features, seem to exist
between the past and the future.
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme. Once an artist, now just a tool, 2021
The exhibitionalso presents for the first time the series of prints Don’t read poetics in these lines
(2010–21). Abbas and Abou-Rahme began producing this work in 2010 by
screenshotting and archiving tweets that responded and continue to
respond to the Arab revolutions. The selectively erased texts distill
the rapid-fire reactions that unfolded on social media, thus standing as
a testament to our time and offering a physical counterweight to the
internet, which the artists consider an “amnesiac archive.”
Extracted from this archive,Once an artist, now just a tool (2021)wascommissioned
by the Art Institute and critiques how museums perpetuate the legacies
of the colonial apparatus. In repositioning these sampled fragments, the
artists assert language’s capacity to challenge systems and histories
of power, critically pointing to the shifts that occur between events
and discourse.
The exhibition’s visceral and material narratives
raise timely and urgent questions about the ways history is constructed
and continually obliterated—encouraging viewers to imagine the potential
futures that emerge from the immersive sonic and visual environment.
If only this mountain between us could be ground to dust is curated by Maite Borjabad López-Pastor, Neville Bryan Associate Curator, Architecture and Design.
