Showing posts with label Palestinian Identity. Show all posts

Sunday, March 29, 2026

"This moment in Jerusalem feels heavy in a way that is hard to fully grasp. The Old City stands closed under the Israeli occupation, its narrow streets unusually silent, and for the first time in modern history, both Al Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have been shut for such a prolonged period. Places that have always been alive with prayer, footsteps, and quiet devotion now feel distant, almost unreachable. For many, it is not just about restricted access, but about a deeper sense of separation from something sacred and rooted in identity. And still, people hold on, to faith, to memory, to the belief that these doors will open again, and that the life and spirit of Jerusalem will return to what it has always been." Palestinian Artist Sliman Mansour

Jerusalem (القدس), oil on canvas, 2010- Sliman Mansour.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWRYoApDR7R/

This moment in Jerusalem feels heavy in a way that is hard to fully grasp. The Old City stands closed under the Israeli occupation, its narrow streets unusually silent, and for the first time in modern history, both Al Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have been shut for such a prolonged period. Places that have always been alive with prayer, footsteps, and quiet devotion now feel distant, almost unreachable. For many, it is not just about restricted access, but about a deeper sense of separation from something sacred and rooted in identity. And still, people hold on, to faith, to memory, to the belief that these doors will open again, and that the life and spirit of Jerusalem will return to what it has always been.

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO see art or 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]

Thursday, October 29, 2015

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

Bethlehem Arab Women's Union, a Sunbula partner, is among the oldest income generation projects in Palestine, starting in1949 as a first aid center for refugees from the Nakba. Visit their embroidery workshop at the heart of Bethlehem's Old City, near the Church of Nativity.

Sunbula: A Palestinian fair trade organization that promotes traditional handicrafts.
www.sunbula.org

[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]

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Welcome to Sunbula!

We are a Jerusalem-based nonprofit Fair Trade organization that supports Palestinian craft producers -- women‘s groups, artisan cooperatives and disabled people‘s organizations. By promoting traditional handicrafts locally and internationally, we support economic self-help efforts of those living in difficult conditions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian minority inside Israel.

Sunbula is Arabic for "spike of wheat," the flower that makes bread. As the name symbolizes, Sunbula helps people provide themselves with the gift of a more dignified life.

Each one of our product is made by hand with care, and in the spirit of preserving Palestinian craft traditions.

Come shop at our 2 fair trade shops in Jerusalem or visit our Online Craft Market for hundreds of beautifully crafted items -- Palestinian embroidery, olivewood carvings, home decors, jewelry, and more!