Impressions - Revista Hoja de Ruta

Issue No. 166, February 2012
Impressions
Palestinian Women in Resistance.................................................................................. 4
Impressions of Gaza....................................................................................................... 8
Peripeteia..................................................................................................................... 12
A Café for All Nations.................................................................................................... 16
A Foreigner in Palestine............................................................................................... 20
What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Stronger..................................................................... 24
Public Health and Personal Impressions ..................................................................... 32
Multicultural Impressions from the Village.................................................................... 38
The Palestinian Circus School...................................................................................... 42
Hard to Describe........................................................................................................... 46
Reflections after a Bomb Attack................................................................................... 52
Valentine in Palestine................................................................................................... 56
In the Limelight........................................................................................................60-65
Reviews...................................................................................................................66-68
Events........................................................................................................................... 70
Listings....................................................................................................................72-88
Maps........................................................................................................................89-97
The Last Word.............................................................................................................. 98
Picturesque Palestine................................................................................................... 99
The month of February is the shortest of the year, and this year it has 29
days, which makes 2012 a leap year in the Gregorian calendar. The theme
of this issue is Impressions, which refers to perspectives and personal
experiences that have left a mark on us in one way or another. We hope
you’ll enjoy the wide array of topics and viewpoints from Palestinians as
well as internationals.
Among the articles in this issue, you will find “Palestinian Women in
Resistance,” written by the eloquent Dr. Cairo Arafat; “Public Health
and Personal Impressions,” by Rima Khalidi, a Palestinian health care
professional based in Amman, Jordan, who gives us a regional outlook
on public health in the Arab countries; the impressions of “A Foreigner in
Palestine,” written by Kris Justice; and “Coffee for All Nations,” written by
Marco Espvall, a moving story about determination and the strength of will.
First impressions are only the beginning, however. You will find much more
when you dig deeper. For example, what does a young Palestinian student
from Gaza encounter when she meets her compatriots from the West Bank
for the first time in Egypt? Yasmeen el-Khoudary tells her story.
Another special occasion in February is Valentine’s Day. Besan Staity, a
young teenager from Jenin, gives her impressions of the attitudes towards
this day in Palestine. In the Limelight this month highlights a personality, a
book, an artist, and an exhibition. We hope that this issue leaves you with
positive impressions! And, as always, we’d like to hear your thoughts, so
please share them with us.
From the TWIP Collective
Telefax: + 970/2-2-2951262
e-mail: [email protected]
www.thisweekinpalestine.com
Printed by Studio Alpha, Al-Ram, Jerusalem
Binding by Al-Asdika’, Al-Ram, Jerusalem
Maps: Courtesy of PalMap - GSE
Forthcoming Issues:
•Media and Society - March 2012
•Moving Around - April 2012
Theme: Impressions
Cover: Dancing.
Artwork by: Mahmoud Awad.
•Rising from the Nakba - May 2012
Advisory Board
Hani Abu Dayyeh
Nada Atrash
President, NETOURS
Architect - Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation,
Bethlehem
George Al Ama
The views presented in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.
Maps herein have been prepared solely for the convenience of the reader; the designations and presentation
of material do not imply any expression of opinion of This Week in Palestine, its publisher, editor, or its
advisory board as to the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area, or the authorities thereof, or as to
the delimitation of boundaries or national affiliation.
2
Hussein Habbab
Researcher – Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation,
Bethlehem
Executive Manager, Quds Bank
Cairo Arafat
Sameh Masri
Education and Research Director
General Manager of United Motor Trade Co. Ltd.
3
Palestinian Women in Resistance
By Cairo Arafat
Hana rises early each morning. She
lovingly, but hurriedly awakens her young
children. She prepares breakfast and
sandwiches for them. She makes sure
that they have properly washed up and
dressed for school. They all eat a very
modest breakfast and rush out the door.
The youngest one is dropped off at the
preschool, while her eldest son runs to his
school. Hana and her two daughters hurry
on to the local primary school where Hana
is a mathematics teacher. After teaching
all day, Hana rushes home … many more
chores and duties remain. She gathers
up her children as they chatter about the
day’s events and what they have to do for
homework. She will be there to feed them,
to help them with their studies, to listen to
them, and to provide guidance. Hana and
her children still live in a temporary shack
that she and her husband built when
their home was demolished by the Israeli
Occupation Forces. Life goes on. Hana
resists the occupation by maintaining her
humanity, her insistence that she and her
family have the right to life, education,
and health despite the challenges and
violations of Israeli occupation. They
remain firmly rooted in their homeland and
are preparing themselves for tomorrow.
Layla sits quietly by the window and
gazes out at the hills around her. She
stares at budding shoots of flowers and
greenery that are in abundance due to
the recent rains. She pulls out her little
sketchbook and starts to draw them.
Later on she will transfer the drawing
to her book of squares. The flowers she
has seen will be formed into patterns that
she shares with other women who will
embroider them onto dresses, tablecloths,
pillows, and bookmarks. These women
hope to be able to sell their handicrafts
in local and international markets. The
small xxxx’s of the cross-stitch provide
meagre income for many women, but
they persist. It is a cherished traditional
handicraft. The colours, the patterns, and
Palestinian Women in a demonstration. Photo by Basil Maqousi.
the women embroidering together, sharing
their jokes and their resources, are integral
to resistance. They will not be crushed.
They continue to create and are creative
and productive members of Palestinian
society. They resist oppression by using
the tools available to them to ensure their
own livelihoods and the well-being of their
families. Layla quietly rolls her wheelchair
across the carpet and opens the door to
greet her fellow embroiderers. Layla was
injured while demonstrating in her village.
Despite her physical injury, she continues
to challenge the occupier’s attempts to
take away her land – the source of her
inspiration and being.
The occupation strives to kill the spirit of
our people. It cuts people off from water,
land, roads, services, and one another.
People in villages such as Nabi Saleh and
Walajeh are prevented from accessing
their own springs and wells. Women
wanting to harvest olives from their trees in
the hills and valleys of Nablus, Ramallah,
and Khalil do so at risk of being shot at
by Israeli soldiers and settlers. Each day,
4
informal labour market. In addition, they
are underpaid and are not equitably
compensated when they provide the
same services and contributions as men.
They continue to be productive members
of society, however, and are slowly
moving towards greater representation
and participation within civil, economic,
political, legal, and judicial forums. These
gains have demanded much effort and
perseverance on the part of women.
Despite the toll, women continue to persist
in their demands to be heard and to be
given equal opportunities to assist in the
state-building process. These efforts have
taken place despite the Israeli occupation,
which attempts to disempower Palestinian
women, men, youth, and children, and
despite the negative social and cultural
norms and attitudes that seek to limit
women’s influence and participation
within society.
It is easy to belittle the day-to-day
contributions of average Palestinian
women. Yet it is the small details of our
existence that have allowed us to continue
thousands of young children are blocked
from going to school by Israeli-imposed
electric gates, checkpoints, closures, and
the Wall. Pregnant women have to cross
Israeli-imposed roadblocks and closures
in order to reach their “local” health clinics.
Nevertheless, women refuse to give in to
these challenges. They still carry water
from distant sources to be used at home,
and they pick the olives from their olive
groves. They work hard alongside their
husbands, brothers, and fathers to ensure
that they can provide the basic necessities
for the family. They walk their children
to schools and stumble over rock and
cement barriers to reach their doctors.
They defy the occupier’s wish that they
desist in their love and steadfastness
for Palestine, their homeland. This is
resistance.
Resistance takes many forms.
Palestinian women have been at the
heart of sustainable development in
Palestine. Although they only represent
15 percent of the official workforce, they
provide a substantial contribution to the
5
in our fight for freedom. It’s the young
girls heaving their heavy schoolbags onto
their backs and trekking long distances
to reach their school. But they are
rewarded. They find a classroom and a
capable teacher who is eager to educate
them. They can continue to achieve their
dreams of becoming future teachers,
engineers, and computer programmers.
It’s the mother who has planted a small
garden in order to provide her family with
fresh vegetables to keep them strong
and healthy. It’s the businesswomen
who contribute to vocational training and
Resistance is embedded within all
Palestinian women. Girls going to schools,
youth going to colleges and universities,
women doctors, nurses, teachers,
lawyers, judges, farmers, caregivers,
Palestinian women who are detained
in Israeli prisons, those participating in
demonstrations, visiting their families
and loved ones imprisoned within Israel,
and the infant girl born early this morning
are all “resistance fighters.” They defy
Israeli occupation by seeking life, liberty,
and happiness within their homeland …
Palestine.
Palestinian women drawing a mural.
awareness-raising programmes for other
women. It’s the nurse and doctor who
cross checkpoints to vaccinate young
children living in isolated villages. It’s
the mother who sells her last piece of
jewellery so that she can fund her child’s
operation. These actions have become
the norms of our lives, but they are the
foundations of our resistance. They are
built on our humanity.
Cairo Arafat works at Save the Children
UK and UNICEF and has numerous
years of experience in establishing
national programmes to safeguard the
well-being of Palestinian children. She
has worked as the director of the National
Plan of Action for Palestinian Children
as well as with the Government Media
Center and the Ministry of Planning. Her
work has focused on children’s rights and
children’s psychosocial well-being.
6
Impressions of Gaza
By Yasmeen El Khoudary
is, after all, my responsibility as a proud
citizen of Gaza to revoke baseless
stereotypes by being the best person I
can be.
Besides media bias, there’s also the
fact that Gaza is geographically hard
to access, making it difficult for people
to visit it and see for themselves, and
also for people to leave and change the
world’s twisted perspective of Gaza.
Worse still, this geographic impasse
leads to a social and political division
between Palestinians in Gaza, the West
Bank, Jerusalem, 1948, and the diaspora.
It is sadly ironic that had I not been
lucky enough to study in Egypt, I would
have probably never met anyone from
the West Bank, Jerusalem, 1948, or the
Media has done an excellent job at
building a terrible image of Gaza. I
can probably safely argue that the vast
majority of the world has the same image
of Gaza in mind: death-stricken, doomed
to misery, conservatively religious, in
addition to your favourite image from the
last war on Gaza. Consequently, people
whose knowledge of Gaza is based on
what the media feeds them are often
shocked when they meet a “normal” or
“ordinary” person from Gaza.
The questions that people from Gaza
get asked are not very different from
questions asked of Palestinians in
general. But we get them more often,
and they are usually offensive (albeit not
on purpose). Here, I recall two personal
experiences.
Back in 2008, I was still a student at the
American University in Cairo (AUC) when
an American friend of mine introduced me
to his other American friend. His friend
asked me, “Where are you from?” to
which I answered that I’m a Palestinian
from Gaza. His response? “Oh, I’m sorry!”
In May 2011, I was being introduced to
a Tunisian person who asked me which
university I attended. “How were you able
to afford AUC?” I told him that my parents
paid, and that I had a partial academic
merit scholarship. His response? “Ahh,
that’s the benefit of being from Gaza.”
Post both incidents, I was so angry, so
dumbstruck that I couldn’t even reply.
I felt a burning hatred in my heart for
media-fed ignorance and for baseless
stereotypes that the world now regards
us with. If you’re educated, well-spoken,
well-represented, and social, you surely
can’t be from Gaza! Unless perhaps you
were born and raised outside.
It’s a really frustrating discussion, and
I hate going into it. I hate justifying or
proving that I was born, raised, and
mostly educated in Gaza. At the same
time, I can’t simply blame the media. It
theme, I would say that the orientation on
a personal level was more about learning
about my fellow Palestinian friends than
about AUC. During breaks, we found my
other friends from Gaza and saw that
they had met Palestinians from Nablus,
Jerusalem, Egypt, and Lebanon.
Until that orientation, I never really
thought about how different or similar
Palestinians from outside Gaza were.
I probably had no reason to think that
they were any different, and I was right.
We share almost everything in common,
and our differences are natural. We
memorised the same Intifada songs,
danced the same dabkat, wore the same
scarves, laughed at the same jokes, and
collectively missed the same foods.
As our friendships developed, however,
and we started to get to know and get
used to each other, we noticed that
some of our friends from the West Bank,
diaspora. Being a citizen of Gaza limits,
if not entirely rules out, any possibility of
visiting the rest of Palestine, including
the West Bank and Jerusalem, and
vice versa. Until 2006, I had very few
Palestinian friends from outside Gaza,
and, quite honestly, had no idea how
similar or different we were.
Back to my first day at AUC: I remember
that my four friends from high school in
Gaza and myself were separated into
different first-year orientation groups. I
was alone in the group, until two guys
approached me and asked, “Are you from
Jerusalem?” judging from the Palestine
headband I was wearing. Right then, I
met my first friends from Ramallah, and
together we listened to our favourite
patriotic songs on our iPods instead of
following the boring orientation speeches.
Looking back at those three orientation
days within the context of this issue’s
Photo by Sharif Sarhan.
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9
particularly Ramallah, already had a preconceived idea about Gaza, and
it wasn’t all that positive. I don’t want to discuss it in detail because I still
don’t understand it myself, but what I can say is that although unjustified,
stereotypes are easy to form when people are so strictly separated.
Eventually, we learned how to turn our differences into jokes.
Why am I even writing this article? Why am I assuming that people in the
West Bank have a certain impression about Gaza and its people? I feel like
this article is contributing to the problem. But denying the problem is also
wrong. We have already agreed that there is a problem with the way the world
regards Gaza, but would talking about impressions of Gaza from the West
Bank shed light on something that might just disappear with the darkness?
Until we learn how to reconcile our differences and to dissolve the
stereotypes that we have formed about each other on things as dull as
dialects and the acts of a few, can we ever hope to build a “healthy” society,
let alone a country? I blame much of this nonsense on our “governments,”
both in Gaza and in the West Bank. Their selfishness and hypocrisy is
continuously resulting in a political division that’s inevitably feeding into
social and economic divisions between Gaza and the West Bank. Worse
still, they are in no way, shape, or form helping us reconnect with the rest
of our people in 1948 and outside Palestine.
I’d like to conclude this article by saying that the measurement of our
Palestinian identity does not rely on the city we come from or the place
we live. I have come to know a Palestinian who lives in Chile who is more
dedicated to the cause than a Palestinian who lives in the heart of Jerusalem.
Living in the West Bank or Gaza, bearing the ID or the passport does not
add anything to our identity or our dedication to the cause. Some people
believe that just by living in the West Bank and Gaza and enduring the
suffering caused by the Israeli occupation, they’re benefiting the cause.
Truth is, the only thing that differentiates one Palestinian from the other is
their dedication, commitment, and ability to represent the rest of Palestine
as truthfully as possible.
Yasmeen El Khoudary is a 21-year-old blogger and youth activist based in
Gaza City, Palestine. She is a contributor to CNN, Aljazeera English, and
Electronic Intifada, and is a cofounder of Diwan Ghazza. Blog: yelkhoudary.
blogspot.com, Twitter: @yelkhoudary
Part of the Gaza Book Club group, coordinated by Diwan
Ghazza and the Palestine Writing Workshop.
10
Peripeteia
By Iman Hamayel
I had a very blurry background on
Palestinian history but had always
been proud of my hometown and
loved to visit during the summer.
All I knew was that the Zionists had
stolen our land by force and without
right and the only way to get it back
was to fight for it. I must admit I
was taken aback by the lack of
compassion many people showed.
They just got on with life as though
Palestine wasn’t occupied. It wasn’t
what I had expected at all. After
living in Al-Bireh for almost a year, I
remember Hamas winning the (PLC)
elections in 2006. I had no clue what
Fateh or Hamas was and I was
surprised to find out that they were
rival Palestinian political parties; how
could Palestinians be rivals? It made
I’m a Palestinian who currently lives in
Palestine. I haven’t always lived here;
I actually moved here from the United
States when I was ten years old. The age
of ten may seem rather young to you,
but I can assure you it’s not, because
by age ten, I had a lucid vision of what a
community was supposed to be like – you
know sitting at the library reading books
on different topics, meeting people and
having productive conversations, attending
conventions to advance humanitarian
causes, organising and going to public
events, volunteering and doing charity
work such as having food and clothes
drives or fundraisers. The things I didn’t
experience myself, I had seen other
people, like my parents, participate
in. Since I was in a private school, all
activities were organised by the PTA
and the school itself, which didn’t receive
outside help, a fact that, I believe, brought
people from different countries and
backgrounds together to form their own
community within the community. There
were Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians,
Syrians, Pakistanis, and African Americans
who managed to work as a team to
provide us with many opportunities. As
for the academics, I won’t get into that,
but what I will get into is talking about the
motivation and competition often created
by extracurricular activities and teaching
in such a way that stimulates thinking and
looking for more answers. That was the
idea of community embedded in my head.
I was very excited about the move, which
happened during the summer. Summer
break was just fine, but when school
started my excitement drained away. It
was terrible because I had to memorise
everything; no projects and no activities.
The kids were vulgar and aggressive,
always fighting and being raucous. The
teacher was scary, always yelling. Nothing
was appealing at school. Learning wasn’t
fun anymore, and I lost my thirst for
knowledge.
each other, as I witnessed hate creep
into us due to differing political opinions,
as I listened to the nonstop bickering
over this subject, as more Palestinians
were getting killed while others showed
no sympathy or care, I began to resent
them. I kept thinking to myself that none
of these people deserved Palestine.
That’s right, the Israelis deserved it more
than we did. Look how they keep the
streets clean, no meaningless graffiti on
buildings, how they stand up and defend
a country that isn’t even rightfully theirs.
I’ve never heard of Israelis turning against
each other, not like us. Look how much
they appreciate learning and reading,
look at how many books are published
each year. It’s the tiny details that show
the true concern of a citizen towards his
country. And then just look at us, the
no sense! But my ultimate shock was
when the conflict began, and by conflict
I mean they began fighting, shooting,
wounding, and killing each other… To
be honest, it was horrifying. I remember
this going on continuously, even after
the elections. I couldn’t grasp what was
going on because it just didn’t make any
sense. How could a Palestinian kill his
own brother, his own flesh and blood?
Weren’t we supposed to be fighting the
Zionists? It was wrong on so many levels,
and to me it seemed barbaric. Hundreds
of Palestinians were killed over such a
foolish cause, slaughtering their own
brothers and sisters; it’s something I’ll
never forget or ever forgive.
That was my first peripeteia. You see,
as those unfortunate events took place,
as my own people began turning against
Photo by Ramzi Hazboun.
12
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considering it my monthly guide to
inspiration. For the first time I felt that I
was finally in the loop, aware of events
and causes around me, feeling like a part
of an active, concerned society. Reading
about people’s stories, about important
personalities and famous activists has
helped and still helps me define who I
am and who I’d like to be, and without
doubt has created an inner motivation
that pushes me to raise my voice and
speak my mind because I now realise that
I share the opinions of others concerning
many topics. I realise that there are many
people – and not just Palestinians – doing
many things for this country. And I got
a glance at a different world, one that
has always existed and that had been
right there in front of me. I guess I was
so caught up in being pessimistic about
everything and everyone around me that
I hadn’t allowed myself to notice it.
This Week in Palestine got me more
enthusiastic about many things and
opened my eyes to self-development
opportunities within reach, for instance,
the school student council. I tried out
for it and ended up being vice president
for a year and president the year after.
I think that had the biggest possible
impact on my personality and gave me
a taste of society and the creative minds
out there that are willing to help us as
Palestinian youth. Every time I worked
on a project I stumbled into a whole new
web of activists, opinions, opportunity,
and hope. And since then, things keep
getting better.
Throughout these past few years, I’ve
slowly comprehended what Theodore
Roosevelt meant when he told us to do
what we can, with what we have, where
we are. That’s been the story of our
lives for the last 64 years under Israeli
occupation, creating and designing our
own opportunities as we go along.
exact opposite of them. Why couldn’t we
be like them? Well, we’re not like them.
Like I said, Palestine is probably better
off without us anyway.
I dragged deep frustration and irritation
along with my newfound opinion
regarding Palestine and its people for
about a year. We simply weren’t worthy
of such a holy spot.
But when Gaza was attacked in 2007,
my lack of knowledge about Palestinian
history, events, and places began to get
in my way of comprehending what was
going on. So I decided to start reading
about my country’s past. Just because
people around me were careless didn’t
mean that I should be too. The first place
I resorted to was the library, where I found
plenty of books especially written for
beginners and young readers, so this was
my monthly task. By the time I finished
reading the first book on Palestinian
history, any thoughts still floating around
in my mind telling me Israelis were
better than us had completely vanished.
Their crimes against Palestinians were
unjustifiable and inexcusable.
After reading a couple more books I
realised that there was so much I didn’t
know about this country and these people
who have been fighting and sacrificing
their lives. Feeling deep shame in
believing we weren’t worthy of Palestine,
I realised that I had been asking the
wrong questions, looking for answers in
the wrong places, and comparing us to
the wrong things and the wrong people.
Now was the time to get my facts straight,
now was the time to expand my horizon.
I needed to read more and I needed to
become a useful part of society. Every
time I left a café, I’d take a copy of each of
the youth magazine issues on the counter
by the exit door.
Reading them for the first time I was
thrilled, I just couldn’t believe how many
things like public events went on every
single day without my hearing a thing
about them. I was truly overwhelmed.
This Week in Palestine was the issue
I stuck to reading on a regular basis,
Iman Hamayel is a sixteen-year-old
Palestinian originally from Al-Bireh and
born in the United States. Iman currently
attends the Al-Bireh Secondary Girls’
School.
14
A Café for All Nations
By Marco Espvall
A shattering loudspeaker voice greets
me as I step out of the car at the historical
site of Al Walajehi village. It echoes from
an Israeli checkpoint some hundred
meters below, on the road between
Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Four Israeli
settlements are built on the surrounding
mountains. This was once a Palestinian
village famous for its olives, almonds,
and peaches.
Al Walajeh is still green in contrast
to the bare and stony landscapes of
the neighbourhoods around it. Abed is
feeding his chickens when I come down
the slope.
For the past ten years Abed Rabbeh
has lived alone in a 4,000-year-old cave.
“This is my home, my everything,” says
Abed. We drink coffee on the terrace that
the Israeli peace activists from FODfest
built for him.
Abed Rabbeh is a 51-year-old olive
farmer who owns around 20 dunamsii
(2 hectares) of land in the village of Al
Walajeh that has been with his family for
more than four generations, approximately
two hundred years.
“I have papers that prove that my father,
my grandfather, and their fathers before
them were born here in Al Walajeh. But
now I’m the only one left here,” Abed says
and lights a cigarette.
In 1948 his family was forced to move
from Walajeh to Dheisheh Refugee Camp
in Bethlehem.
Now Abed’s land has been separated
from Al Walajah, following the Israeli
cabinet’s 2002 decision to construct a
physical barrier to separate Israel from
the West Bank. The International Court of
Justice, the UN Security Council, and the
UN General Assembly have all condemned
Abed Rabbeh.
16
Israeli army buldozing the land to build the Wall. Photo courtesy of Arij.
the Wall as illegal under international
law. But Israel has proceeded with the
construction of the Wall, confiscating
whatever land is in its way. In 2006, the
Israeli cabinet approved a revised route for
the Wall near Jerusalem, annexing land
belonging to many Palestinian villages,
including Al Walajeh.
Abed is one of many farmers who are
suffering from land confiscations because
of the Wall. Despite being expelled from
his village, Abed was determined to come
back; he insists on living in his village
to preserve ownership of his land even
under very trying conditions. Attempting
to remain on his land, Abed built a small
one-room home with wood and sheets of
metal 15 years ago. It was demolished
by the Israelis.
Ten years ago, Abed discovered a cave
on his property and managed to convert it
into a small house. He created a space for
his bed and a small living area, and hung
his kitchen utensils on the cave walls. His
wife refused to move in with him and live
without water and electricity, so he left her
and their eight children:
“I can understand my family, but for
me it’s impossible to live as a refugee
in Dheisheh, when I can live here on my
own land.”
While living alone in his cave, Abed
came up with a fabulous idea – to open
a coffee shop for all nations on his land.
Although Abed’s land is surrounded in
all directions by Israeli settlements, the
spot he envisioned for the coffee shop
lies in an area that can be reached by
all people: Palestinians, Israelis, and
foreigners. With his coffee shop idea,
Abed turned his own tragic story into a
positive and transformative project. The
coffee shop encourages people from all
nations to visit Abed. It allows him and
the visitors to exchange stories and
creates a livelihood for him with which
he can support his family.
Abed is a one-man resistance
movement. If he had not fought for
his land, it would be occupied as
well. As a child he came here with his
grandparents and learned to love this
piece of land.
“I’m like a fish in the sea here,” says
Abed. “If you take me out of the water
I will die.”
Al Walajeh is only one of many villages
that have been drastically affected by
the Israeli policies in Palestine. The
creation of the Israeli Wall, a settler
bypass road, checkpoints, and the
neighbouring Israeli settlements have all
17
Top: Non-violent demostration by the people of Walajeh.
Left: The Wall around Al Walajeh. Photo courtesy of Arij.
When Israel and the PLO signed the
Oslo Agreement in 1995, the West Bank
was classified into three areas of control.
Area A was defined in the agreement as
places from which the Israeli military
was supposed to withdraw. In Area B,
the Palestinian Authority was to have
full control over civil administration
while Israel was to have overriding
responsibility for security. Places in Area
C are under full Israeli administrative and
security control. Under the agreement,
parts of the land of Al Walajeh were
designated as Area B, while the rest
of the village fell under the category
of Area C.
In February 2006, Al Walajeh
checkpoint was transformed into
a border passage, taking away an
additional 40 dunams (4 hectares) of
land from the already diminished village
lands. Today, what’s left of the village
continues to be threatened with military
confiscation and demolition orders.
contributed to the continued decrease of
Al Walajeh’s population since its initial
reduction in size in 1948. The revised
route of the Wall encircles the village,
turning it into an enclave whose only
possible access is through a future
Israeli-controlled checkpoint near Har
Gilo settlement.
The Jerusalem-Jaffa railway once
made daily stops in Al Walajeh to pick
up produce grown by the villagers for
sale in Jerusalem. But that was before
the war of 1948. On the night of October
21, the Zionist Etzioni Brigadeiii attacked
and captured the village; 75 percent of
its land was taken.
Then in 1967, after the Israeli
occupation of the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip, the Israeli government
expanded the Jerusalem municipal
boundary to include lands from nearby
villages. From what had remained of
Al Walajeh after 1948, 48 percent was
annexed to the state of Israel.
18
note of regret saying this could not be
arranged.
“If he would have shown up, I would
have told him that I believe in peace
even if the Israelis have stolen our land,”
Abed says.
“I want Muslims, Jews, and Christians
to live here in peace. But the state
of Israel does not want peace. And
the young generation is angry and
impatient. Extremists on both sides are
gaining influence. The Israelis might
have to pay a high price if they continue
to refuse us basic human rights.”
Since Abed opened his “Café for
All Nations,” people have come from
all over the world to support him. The
walls of the small cave are covered
with newspaper clippings about Abed.
Several guest books are filled with
messages of solidarity in many different
languages. Even though he doesn’t
speak any language other than Arabic,
and he learned only basic reading and
writing during the four years he went
to school, Abed loves to look through
the books. It’s obvious that he is very
proud of them.
When US President Barack Obama
was visiting Israel, Abed invited him
to have coffee in the cave, but the US
Consulate in Jerusalem sent a brief
i
Marco Espvall is a Swedish-born journalist
who lives and works in Ramallah.
Al Walajeh is located 8.5 kilometres southwest of Jerusalem and 4 kilometres northwest of Bethlehem.
ii
The dunam is a unit of land measurement dating back to the Ottoman Empire. One dunam equals 1,000 square meters or
0.25 acres.
iii
The Etzioni Brigade was an infantry brigade in the Haganah and Israel Defense Forces in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
19
A Foreigner in Palestine
By Kris Justice
olive-picking programme. In addition to
helping farmers in the olive harvest and
giving protective presence, we would
make several excursions to understand
the geopolitical situation and life under
occupation in Palestine. I immediately
signed up.
Even though I considered myself a
leftist, with an activist background and
a very multicultural group of friends
back home, it turned out that I had very
stereotypical ideas of Palestine and
the Palestinians. Did they really have
more modern mobile phones than I did?
And Internet at home! When did these
Palestinian Christians convert? Are there
actually universities in the West Bank?
And how come most people here speak
English?!
The olive-picking programme was
intense and filled with many meetings
and excursions. During the evenings my
host family in Beit Sahour, one of the
many Rishmawis, gave me the feeling
of being part of their family.
And I fell in love. With the landscape,
the people, the music, the dance, the
food, the language, the way of life, the
traditions, the family life, the culture of
hospitality, and the friendships.
So I decided to stay.
My first visit to Palestine was in 2005 at
the invitation of some Israeli anarchists
whom I had met in Amsterdam. At that
time I wasn’t very well informed about
Palestinian history or the current situation
of Palestinians. On arrival the landscape
and smells gave me a strong feeling of
coming home. That was an unexpected
experience but it didn’t yet have a deeper
meaning. During those first two weeks
we visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Nazareth,
Akka, and Haifa. Only later did I realise
that I was in historical Palestine.
Even in 2005 there was some
awareness of the “conflict,” as I would
refer to it back then. The Israeli activists
I met were involved in the campaigns
against the Wall, but when I asked them
about Palestinians and visiting the West
Bank they frowned and discouraged
me from visiting the West Bank on my
own. It was not safe for me to go there
and I should at least find some other
internationals to travel with. But I didn’t.
Back home I felt so bad about not
having made more effort to visit the West
Bank that I started to look for information
on how to travel there in a more organised
way. On the website of the Joint Advocacy
Initiative of the YMCA of East Jerusalem
and the YWCA of Palestine I found the
Olive Tree Campaign and the upcoming
Volunteers planting a tree. Photo by Melanie Van der Voort.
Picking olives with the local.
drunk on tables and women wearing less
than I would ever wear back home.
During the past five years I have spent
nearly two years in the West Bank and
travelling around the 1948 areas. Friends
often say that I probably know Palestine
better than most Palestinians. From the
Golan Heights to the Negev and from
Jaffa to Jericho, it is all familiar to me. And
every time it strikes me that as a foreigner
I am able to go where most Palestinians
can’t go. One of my Palestinian friends
Together with some friends we started
an alternative political café at the
Alternative Information Center in Beit
Sahour where we organised lectures, film
screenings, and cultural events.
In my free time I learnt a lot about
Palestinian culture and traditions. The
mothers of friends taught me how to cook
maqloube, warek dawali, and mahshee.
I attended tens of weddings from very
traditional Muslim weddings in villages to
Christian weddings with people dancing
20
21
me, especially those of my neighbours, and yes, Beit
Sahour is well known for its gossips, but honestly
speaking, I love gossiping myself, so I totally blend in!
The fact that my Arabic is getting better and better
makes me feel more independent. It also helps me
to better understand the culture and traditions. I love
how people greet each other in the street and how
they wish each other a morning of light and flowers,
good health, and much prosperity. Another great thing
here is that you don’t have to make appointments
in advance with families or friends. You can always
expect at least one member of the family to be at home
and while you are drinking a cup of tea the others will
arrive, including some other relatives and neighbours.
Never a dull moment.
Since my last arrival in October I started teaching
zumba dance classes at the YMCA in Beit Sahour.
It was a great surprise to see how much the women
enjoy this physical workout – a mixture of African,
Arabic, Latin American, and Indian styles of music. We
started with 30 women during the first trial lesson and
right now almost 60 women attend the zumba classes.
Through my current job with the Olive Tree
Campaign I manage to be part of the ongoing struggle
for justice in an effective and positive way. And despite
the hardships, I feel blessed to be part of this society
of strong and wonderful people. Palestine has given
me opportunities to start initiatives such as the political
café and the zumba classes, which I would have
never had in the Netherlands, with all its rules and
regulations. Palestine has given me much love and
friendship and the feeling of being home. But I realise,
I enjoy the privileges of a foreigner in Palestine...
An ancient olive tree. Photo by Emile Ashrawi.
of the Israeli occupier. And it is getting
worse now with threats to people and
artists who express their criticism of the
Palestinian Authority. It is an absolute
shame.
But corruption is everywhere in the
world. Conservative elements are also
taking over in Europe. I dislike authorities
anywhere, and taxi drivers are generally
annoying, wherever they are.
So, yes, I love Palestine. Sometimes
it feels as if I lived here in a previous
life. When seeing the olive trees, the
houses, the stones, the earth, when
smelling the air of Palestine, I am happy
and calm. I have been living between
the Netherlands and Palestine for five
years now, and there is no doubt that I’d
rather live here.
Beit Sahour has warmly welcomed me
and I feel accepted as a foreign inhabitant.
I will always be the foreigner, but that
doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable.
My foreign background gives me
some privileges and more freedom. Of
course, the eyes of the locals are on
in the diaspora, whose family got killed
in the Shatila massacre, once told me: I
can see Palestine through your eyes and
it makes me cry...
People are usually surprised when I
speak so positively about Palestine and
when I mention the dignity and courage,
the steadfastness and kindness of
Palestinians. Does that mean I don’t
see anything negative here? O hell, I do.
Don’t think I will ever get used to the
gossip and negative attitudes people
can have towards each other, the lack
of trust, and sometimes the jealousy.
The taxi drivers are making me crazy
with their attempts to flirt, and if they are
unsuccessful they raise the price! I have
big problems with the oppression and
lack of freedom caused by conservative
elements in society, and I hate the
corruption. Down with the NGO business
and people abusing the situation of
occupation for their own benefits. It
makes me sick to see Palestinian police
with their toy guns, not present in the
streets to protect the Palestinians but
there to police the Palestinians on behalf
22
Planting a tree. Photo by Melanie Van der Voort.
23
What Doesn’t Kill Us
Makes Us Stronger
By Najah Osaily
Our country is in need of all its potential capabilities: building
the new state of Palestine is the duty of every Palestinian,
and men and women must work together to make this
dream come true. But the uncertain situations, the insecure
environment, the lack of sovereignty, and all the hardships
that Palestinians live and experience lead to the emergence
of two possible scenarios: the first is that they lose hope and
faith in themselves, becoming prisoners of despair; the second
is that they confront the challenges of their reality head-on
and think positively. As Nietzsche once said: “What doesn’t
kill us makes us stronger.”
Most Palestinians have chosen the second scenario
and committed themselves wholeheartedly to investing in
education and in entrepreneurship; they feel that this is the
way to build and develop their lives, the way to make their
dreams a reality, the way to attain the right to a decent and
normal life. Palestinians believe that being productive will lead
to an improvement of their day-to-day lives; by creating jobs
and contributing to raising the standard of living they will be
more able to ensure a better life and a more promising future
for their families.
This is the spirit in which I was raised; as a Palestinian
woman who lives in Palestine, in Hebron City, I’ve learned
that in order to create a better future and to contribute
to state building, we must first work on ourselves. Good
education, clear goals, and high hopes will greatly enrich
our lives. Assuming more responsibility and taking on greater
challenges will lead to increased productivity. I’ve learned that
when you do something, you have to do it with conviction and
persistence – being proactive rather than reactive empowers
a person.
Many friends who live abroad tell me that a conservative
society like that of Hebron would be a barrier for an ambitious
woman. What they don’t know is that in a conservative society,
a persevering, enthusiastic, hard-working, ambitious woman
will discover opportunities even when they seem to be hidden.
When a woman accepts a difficult challenge she usually finds
more support than she ever imagined, and often in unlikely
places! It’s all in her hands.
In a conservative society, you will gain respect and
credibility through your behaviour, values, commitments, and
achievements, regardless of your gender. The rules of good
business apply here: opportunities will not appear as long as
you simply sit and wait for them. You have to work hard to
seek out opportunities and be wise enough to know which
ones are the most appropriate for you.
24
Many Palestinian women are highly educated and often travel to other countries to
study. But the percentage of women joining the workforce is still very low (15.5 percent,
according to 2010 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics [PCBS] figures), most
probably due to the limited opportunities in Palestine and the high rate of unemployment
among both men and women (23.7 percent, PCBS 2010).
Most people cannot imagine that there could be opportunities available even within
the miserable context of military occupation. The secret is that it’s up to us to create
Photo by Sharif Sarhan.
25
Women in fashion design business.
our own opportunities. Even in the midst of a
crisis, opportunities can be found. As Marsha
Sinetar reminds us, “Life’s ups and downs
provide windows of opportunity to determine
your values and goals. Think of using all
obstacles as stepping stones to build the life
you want.”
It’s our responsibility to dig deep and look
for those opportunities. First we must identify
the needs of our country. What capabilities
do we have? What are the strengths that
we need to maintain, and what are the
weaknesses that we need to work on? Let’s
put our goals into practice; let’s work towards
helping the whole society to function at its
best. Women are needed most to contribute
to the economy both directly and indirectly,
to raise the new generation on values such
as commitment, honesty, equality, diversity,
and most importantly, to raise them to be real
Palestinians who are loyal to their country. A
woman’s role does not finish here. Women
must be empowered to contribute directly to
society and to the economy, to make use of
26
what they have learned.
But, alas, women still have a long
way to go. They need to take the lead
and change the facts on the ground.
Everyone is needed; diversity is
complementary. We need teachers,
farmers, doctors, lawyers, and, most
definitely, entrepreneurs. Let’s not
forget the powerful lady who was
the first international trader in Islam:
Khadijah, Prophet Mohammed’s
wife. Now is the time for all of us
to work hard so that the labels
on our domestic and exported
products read: PROUDLY MADE IN
PALESTINE.
Our country needs everything and
everyone. It’s a potential market
for many investors, and our duty
as Palestinian businesswomen
is to spread awareness in our
society about how important the
contributions of women can be. If
they are motivated to get out and
try to join the workforce but find that
there are no desirable positions, then
let’s create them. Everyone knows
that Palestinians are entrepreneurs
in spirit. Palestinian women are
persistent, creative, and flexible –
characteristics developed through
the challenges of day-to-day life
under occupation. Engendering a
positive attitude will enable women
to have a profound impact on the
surrounding environment, thus
contributing significantly to building
a good life for all. After all, we have
a country that needs our united
efforts. So hand in hand, both men
and women, let’s make our dreams
come true.
Najah Zuhair Osaily lives in
Hebron and is the administrative
and financial manager at Osaily
Trading Contracting Company.
She earned a master’s degree in
business administration in the United
Kingdom and is one of the founders
of the Palestinian Businesswomen’s
Forum. She can be reached at
[email protected].
Solidarity Concert
in Palestine
featuring John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain
Hosted by Al Mada for Arts-Based Community Development
in partnership with UNRWA
All funds raised by the concert will be used directly to implement collaborative
programmes between Al Mada and UNRWA. Al Mada has worked with UNRWA
as a key partner since the establishment of the music therapy centre in 2009.
Through a series of child protection and psychosocial programmes, Al Mada
has trained more than 100 UNRWA staff from the health department, under the
supervision of Dr. Umaiyeh Khammash, director of the department.
It has been John’s longstanding wish to play a concert in Palestine to which he
is bringing some of India’s most respected and innovative musicians, including
Zakir Hussain, the world’s foremost tabla player.
Born in Britain, John began to learn to play the guitar at the age of 11 and moved
to New York in the late 1960s where he recorded his first album, Extrapolation,
and started to play with two of the architects of early jazz fusion, Tony Williams
and the late, great Miles Davis, who named a song on his album Bitches Brew
after him.
His innovative spirit led him to set up the Mahavishnu Orchestra
in 1971, a group whose hallmark was a technically difficult and
complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with
Eastern and Indian influences.
John is featured in some of the most influential jazz-fusion
albums of all time, including recordings with Jaco Pastorius, Gil
Evans, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia, and Carlos Santana. What
began in the 1960s as a mixture of jazz improvisation and the
rhythms, timbres, and energy of rock music, jazz fusion is a style
of music refined by Miles Davis which evolved to incorporate a
number of musical styles and instruments. John’s switch from
electric to acoustic guitar and his exceptional improvisational
abilities marked a profound influence on the genre to which he
added hints of Eastern/Indian influences to create a new sound
now widely regarded as a forerunner of world music.
Art for Life
The new year in Palestine kicks off on a decidedly positive note with a visit by
some of the world’s finest musicians to the Ramallah Cultural Palace to play
a solidarity concert. World-renowned jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, named by
Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time, will play
together with legendary tabla player Zakir Hussain and the members of fusion
jazz group Remember Shakti.
This event has been organised by Al Mada Association for Arts-Based Community
Development in Ramallah, which holds Palestine’s only music therapy centre.
It was this initiative that first captured the attention of Grammy-award-winning
guitarist John McLaughlin in 2010 when he donated the entire cash prize he was
awarded at the prestigious Jazzahead Festival in Germany to support Al Mada’s
music therapy centre project.
He continued to explore his interest in oriental culture through the formation of the
group Shakti, in 1975, which pioneered a ground-breaking and highly influential
East-meets-West collaborative approach. Original members John McLaughlin
and Zakir Hussain come together on the band’s 35th anniversary with their
Remember Shakti band members U. Srinivas (mandolin), V. Selvaganesh
(kanjira), and singer Shankar Mahadevan for the concert in Palestine, which
follows an India tour in February 2012.
Remember Shakti is truly a musical marvel like no other, blending elaborate
Indian elements with the finest spontaneity of true jazz for a head-spinning
encounter with both musical cultures. John’s complexity and incredible virtuosity
are matched only by that of his fellow group members. Zakir Hussain is a classical
virtuoso whose dexterity simply beggars belief. Zakir uses every surface of the
tabla, and every surface of the palms of his hands (fingertips, sides of his fingers,
the heels of his hands) to get an incredible range of music from his instrument.
The Palestine concert is an amazing opportunity to witness outstanding musicians
perform a thoroughly unique event. Their performance is both an act of solidarity
with Palestine, which also highlights Al Mada’s work with UNRWA, and a symbol of
Palestine’s enduring social, cultural, and political relevance. The concert can and
should act as an indication that heavily policed borders can neither isolate a culture
from the world nor prevent the cultures of the world from engaging with it.
For a look at some of Shakti and Remember Shakti’s work, please
follow these links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHDO1HN06Fc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyCH70FODJA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGXcoDlhmoY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_YSNtJ-330
Dear Friends,
I’d like to inform you that after several years of
pursuing the opportunity of playing in Palestine, we
finally have arrived at a real possibility of achieving
this dream in February next year. There is a very
important association in Palestine called Al Mada.
Their work is healing traumatised kids and people
using several means, but primarily art and music.
Thanks to the determination of the great people in
Ramallah, and with the help of UNRWA, the group Shakti will play a free concert of
solidarity for the wonderful work they are doing in helping victims of conflict.
Have a wonderful holiday season,
John
December 15, 2011
Working for a more just and more peaceful world
We are very proud that Al-Mada has the unique opportunity to host John McLaughlin
for this solidarity event that will send a strong signal of solidarity to people here and
abroad. It is significant that this world-famous musician has decided to perform
solely in Ramallah, a fact that could be taken as an example for other artists.
We hope that we will be able to accompany Al-Mada during the next years and
cooperate with them in a future where they will implement their programmes in a
free and independent society.
Weltfriedensdienst e.V. (WFD)
WFD, the main partner of Al-Mada in establishing the first Palestinian music therapy centre, was
founded in 1959 in Berlin, Germany, as a response to the horrendous experiences of World War II.
The WFD supports initiatives and projects in which people work towards improving their own living
standards and environmental conditions in an active and self-determined manner.
Public Health and Personal Impressions
By Rima Khalidi
Jordan where I was part of a humanitarian
agency’s growth-monitoring team, and
every day we would drive 40 minutes to
the hills of south Jordan where scattered
Bedouin communities lived in harsh
conditions; scorching heat in the summer,
bitter cold in the winter. For the next few
hours, with local girls we were training
as health scouts, we would visit Umm
Hamzeh and Umm Faris and the many
other mothers, both young and old, who
had children under two. I was always
impressed with how some mothers
managed to keep their children healthy
Since opening my eyes to the world,
I remember my father telling me, “You
are Palestinian, and our family is from
Jerusalem.” Despite my young age, I
knew this was important somehow and
could sense the pride and solemnity in
his voice. I have never forgotten, and his
words continue to define who I am today.
Many years later and nearing my
high school graduation, we had many
heated discussions about what I should
study; my interest in “helping people”
sounded, to his engineer-trained mind,
very close to basket weaving and almost
as marketable.
We finally agreed on a major in
health services administration, which
I completed and then went on to postgraduate school for a master’s in public
health. It was during my graduate studies,
and after meeting students from different
countries in Africa, Asia, and South
America, that I began to understand the
politics of international health and how
global inequities necessarily impacted
both societal and individual levels of
health.
I learned that massive health budgets
do not necessarily translate into a
healthier population if those resources
are squandered on expensive tertiary
care services, instead of focusing on
the obvious preventive and primary
levels of health interventions that build
the knowledge, attitude, and skills
needed to maintain good health and
make sound lifestyle choices. I learned
about the barefoot doctors of China and
the midwives of Sri Lanka, who safely
delivered countless mothers (despite
limited national resources) by using
sterile and inexpensive equipment and
medically accepted procedures. Most
importantly, I learned that an empowered
and mobilised population is the most
valuable resource a country can have.
My fledgling career began in rural
turned into a full-time job. For the first
few years, our focus was on reducing
child and maternal mortality, increasing
access to clean water, and the banning
of breast-milk substitutes, the bread and
butter of international health. In the early
1990s, however, cases of HIV/AIDS
began to appear across the Arab world,
though most countries were still in denial,
and the stigma attached to the disease
was fierce.
While the disease patterns differed
somewhat in that heterosexual
transmission and infected blood
transfusions were the primary causes of
infection in the Arab world (as opposed
to the West, where homosexual
transmission and IV-drug use were the
(in spite of the harsh conditions) and their
tiny homes impeccably clean.
As I got to know them better, I realised
that many of these women differed from
their peers because they had had been
allowed to complete secondary school;
they were curious, asked questions,
took notes, and attended our monthly
meetings with children in tow. In fact, it
is well known in the health sector that an
educated mother is arguably the highest
predictor of child health, more significant
even than socio-economic status.
After completing my stint as a wazaneh
(literally “one who weighs,” as coined by
the local children), I worked in various
health organisations until I was lucky
enough to secure a UN consultancy that
Dense cluster of homes in a Gaza refugee camp.
32
33
main modes of infection), the age
group was the same. Globally,
young people of both genders were
found to be at highest risk of getting
infected.
After many years of experimenting
with various interventions, a few
success stories emerged; not
surprisingly, researchers learned
that the most effective means of
reaching young people was through
other young people, and countries
began to invest in the peer-topeer approach, which involved
training youth to be educators and
active agents of change in their
communities. The fact that our
region is a young one, with almost 60
percent of the population under the
age of 24, posed both a challenge
and an opportunity for national
AIDS programmes, and youth
networks from Tunis to Sana’a were
established to share information and
resources, and to provide support
to a generation that finds itself
“suspended” between childhood and
adulthood and largely marginalised
from meaningful engagement in civic
life. In many Arab countries today,
youth-led initiatives that work in
collaboration with religious leaders
and national entities continue to
be among the most innovative and
effective in reaching/engaging young
people not only in the prevention of
HIV/AIDS but in the formation of
their futures.
My interest in working with youth
continued to grow, not only because
they are our largest age group – and
the future belongs to them – but
because their energy and passion
so inspired me. I began to seek work
opportunities that focused on youth
empowerment and engagement in
all its shapes and forms.
One of the most interesting of
these was managing the JordanianDanish Youth Dialogue Center in
Amman (established in the wake
of the caricature crisis), to promote
Home to 21 individuals.
cross-cultural dialogue between Danish and
Muslim youth in Arab countries. I saw myself
as a facilitator more than a manager, however,
and all centre activities and initiatives were
planned and implemented in a wholly
participatory manner. So, other than crosscultural dialogue, what were their priorities,
interests, and concerns? In no particular
order: employment and marriage eventually,
finding interesting ways to spend their time
(as Jordan lacks an adequate infrastructure
for youth to engage in sports, community
service, etc.), and social problems such as
the “honour” crimes that continue to plague
our society. Also mentioned repeatedly was
the wasta system whereby individuals are
promoted not because of their own merits
but because of who they know. In a country
where youth unemployment is high, this can
be a major obstacle to getting a job, much
less the right one.
Many of the young people, especially the
young men, also expressed their concerns
about discrimination against Jordanians of
Palestinian origin, and a disturbing rise in
sectarianism as well. The issue of identity and
belonging had clearly been a common theme
in their lives since birth. We began to plan
activities for each area of concern; this ranged
from bringing in expert speakers on “honour”
crimes to conducting creativity workshops
where participants were encouraged to “think
34
outside the box,” in stark opposition to the
national curriculum where rote learning is
the norm. We visited disadvantaged areas in
Jordan, including several Palestinian refugee
camps, and spoke to their residents and local
NGO spokespersons to identify possible areas
of contribution and cooperation for the benefit
of these communities.
The highlight of my time with these young
people was during a visit by 50 Danish
Muslims to our centre. Their main interest was
to visit Palestinian refugee camps – this was
communicated from Copenhagen – and meet
with the people there. Working closely with
colleagues at UNRWA and the Department
of Palestinian Affairs, we planned two days of
activities for our visitors. Upon their arrival and
after initial discussions, it became clear that
they believed Palestinian refugees were still
living in tents, so they were quite surprised to
see the sprawling mass of quasi-houses that
constitute “lodging” in the camps.
We visited several camps, some with
well-developed social programmes for their
residents and youth, some in states of bare
subsistence. Discussions became political
and we had to be careful as our movements
were monitored; but since many of our
gatherings took place in people’s homes, we
were also treated to exceptional hospitality
by our friends at the camps who were eager
35
to get their stories out – so many
unheard stories – and they defied
stereotypes with their very beings,
warm and engaging, gracious in
allowing us into their simple homes
and rich life stories. The younger
Danes wanted to hear about the
experience of Palestinian youth in
the refugee camps, and several
young people spoke about their
experience growing up and living in
the camps.
Yo u n g P a l e s t i n i a n s l i v i n g
in the camps feel exceptionally
marginalised, and even after
securing university degrees, often
don’t have the right to work in
fields of their choice. Yet they are
exceptionally resourceful and eager
to learn, taking advantage of every
opportunity to better themselves.
One young woman secured an
EU grant to start a roof-top garden
project in one of the biggest refugee
camps. Participating women were
given the materials and basic
instructions on how to care for their
plants and within a month, parsley,
mint, coriander, sage, and other
greens covered these formerly dull
and lifeless roofs. Her stated goal
was to add “life and green space”
to the camp environment, but she
did much more than that. She
mobilised the camp community to
conduct clean-up campaigns of
their neighbourhoods and began
to organise camp meetings among
the women to discuss how best to
improve the quality of camp life,
even while praying all the while that
their children would never grow up
there.
The finale of our Danish visitor’s
tour was a workshop on “identity”;
around 150 young Jordanians,
Palestinians, and Danes participated
in a lively discussion of what
constitutes identity and how we
define it; we explored the reciprocal
prejudices and stereotypes each
group had about the other and
“I will not remain a refugee!”.
de-constructed them, agreeing to disagree
sometimes and often underscoring our
commonalities in the process. We hadn’t
intended it to be a peace camp, but the
young people came away with a deeper
understanding and appreciation of the
different cultures and the problems faced
by each. I believe most will not forget those
lessons and the friendships that were formed
in that short period.
I left the centre soon after that to explore
free-lance consulting, both for the professional
freedom and space it allows and to explore
regional dimensions in youth and sociocultural development. As I had now become
convinced that sustained social change and
political reform would only come about by
engaging and empowering our youth and
civic society, I was naturally drawn to regional
initiatives that supported diverse youth-led
programmes. One of the most effective
and innovative among these is the Naseej
Community Youth Development network (see
link below) that extends to youth across the
Arab world from Ramallah to Alexandria.
Regional foundations such as Naseej can
help prepare our young people for
the future by empowering them
with the competencies and life skills
needed for success in life and the
workplace. The pivotal role of young
people, and especially of young
women in the Arab Spring, has
proven their potential to be powerful
and positive agents of change.
I will end my story where I began,
with Palestine, and would like to
pay special tribute to the millions of
Palestinian youth, who despite the
occupation, despite the checkpoints
and harassment, despite being
refugees, despite everything they
endure, persevere and resist their
annihilation as a people by setting
the highest standards for themselves
and excelling in their respective
fields, and by continuing to resist
the silencing of their voices by
expressing themselves not only
through organised non-violent
resistance but also through the
mediums of art, music, and theatre.
They are the ultimate survivors and
deserve our full support and respect.
More power to them!
Rima Khalidi is a Palestinian health
care professional who works as
a free-lance health consultant in
Amman, Jordan. Rima has worked
with both international NGOs and
grass-roots organisations to improve
population health status and to
build local capacity and momentum
through empowering youth and civil
society organisations to become
positive agents for change and
social reform in their communities.
She can be reached at rimakhalidi@
gmail.com.
Article photos courtesy of the author.
References
http://www.who.int/inf-new/mate1.htm
http://globalhealth.kff.org/Daily-Reports/2010/September/17/GH-091710-Education-Child-Mortality.aspx
http://arabstates.undp.org/subpage.php?spid=11
http://data.unaids.org/publications/IRC-pub01/jc291-peereduc_en.pdf
http://www.y-peer-yemen.org/pages.php?lang=en&html=info
http://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Documents/public_policy/arab_youth/events/ifi_ay_studyingYouthSeminar/docs/ifi_ay_goethe_
studyingYouth_report.pdf
http://www.alqudsunderground.net
http://www.prb.org/pdf07/youthinMENA.pdf
http://www.naseej-cyd.org/ar/index.php
36
Multicultural Impressions from the Village
By Dr. Maria C. Khoury
behind closed doors. Well, the doors are
actually open, twenty-four hours a day,
because the mayor’s house is the first
stop when someone has a crisis. People
always get the wrong impression when
you tell them at seven in the morning
and at midnight that the mayor is not
available. And it’s really frustrating when
they don’t believe you. Because, truthfully
speaking, I cannot believe it myself when
my husband, the mayor, is not home
at midnight. But the local Palestinian
security station is open twenty-four hours
a day, so I know where to find David
Canaan Khoury when he’s helping to
solve others’ problems.
Being in the forefront of Taybeh
leadership has led to many opportunities
in making great impressions on people
who wish to know a different face of
Palestine. The world is surprised to
get an unusual picture that reflects the
fact that some of us in Palestine are
normal, regular people who wish to have
prosperity and a future for our children like
all other people around the world. Wow!
Trying to create a German tradition
of Oktoberfest in Palestine during the
last seven years has not been an easy
task, especially when you are not even
of German descent. Trying to make a
good impression as a foreign daughterin-law has been the greatest challenge
of my life. No matter how many hours
you spend in the kitchen, you simply
can never measure up to the nice
Palestinian girls from Ramallah! All of
this modern stuff that might include rap
music does not sit very well with longestablished, old-fashioned ways in a
closed community. This energy is bundled
up in a liberal package of trying to make
a good impression on the international
community when you are the mayor’s
wife in a tiny village. I must admit that
no matter what impression the Taybeh
Oktoberfest has made on people, it has
surely enriched my life with talented
musicians, generous sponsors, and good
friends who are always offering advice.
It’s difficult to implement new ideas in a
little village that has a rich history and
Panoramic view of Taybeh village. Photo courtesy of Riwaq.
Taybeh Oktoberfest, 2008.
Palestine West Bank tours, Taybeh Oktoberfest, 2008.
Even Palestinians want to celebrate
life. That is amazing under oppression!
Working on making a positive impression
on the international community, however,
requires total self-commitment; almost
giving up your regular life so that you
can work on showing what it means to be
Palestinian when you are not Palestinian
ancient roots in Palestine going back
more than five thousand years, even
before the birth of Christ.
First impressions are always deceiving,
so when visitors come to Taybeh and see
the great success behind a hard-working
family business they literally miss out on
all the screaming and yelling that goes on
38
up his normal work day to be in the olive
groves with the workers to make sure
that they know which groves to work in,
he still needs to get away to check on
the office staff. In the meantime his first
cousin accuses him of picking olives from
five of his personal olive trees. I simply
give up when it comes to the “But he said
… then I said …” type of mentality. Can
you get up any earlier than 5:30 a.m. to
reflect your commitment, dedication, and
loyalty to the land? Not in my Greek book!
Impressions of land and ownership
take on a deep meaning in Palestine. In
other places, if you say the word “land,”
it means nothing that would signify any
emotional, spiritual, or psychological
consequences. But when you come
to Taybeh and you see three illegal
Israeli settlements closing in on a tiny
in blood but in spirit and faith. We try to
live day-to-day life with inner peace – a
significant non-violent action under the
harsh conditions imposed by Israel. We
endeavour to have an open house for
special visitors, run a small business with
a big name, boost the economy, schedule
community events, and put a smile on
that different face of Palestine. It’s a daily
struggle to keep hope alive.
The mayor is usually dressed in his
professional suit and brand-name tie as
he goes off to the local municipality, but
during the olive-picking season the usual
impression becomes cloudy since this
man simply does not look like himself. At
7:30 a.m., he is not at home because he
has departed at 5:30 a.m., even before
the sunrise, to show the workers exactly
which olives to pick. Even when he gives
39
Kids event, Taybeh. Photo courtesy of Riwaq.
for all is what gives me inner peace. It
is the multicultural Palestine that can
include ancient traditions and modern
ones as well, where I, as a Greek married
to a Palestinian, can feel at home.
The impression that has been engraved
on my soul during these past twenty years
of living in Palestine is that all human
beings, no matter what their past or future
might hold, are worthy of celebrating life
with freedom, liberty, justice, peace, and
happiness. I am truly blessed to be in an
environment where more than twenty
thousand people of diverse nationalities,
religions, and cultures attended the
Taybeh Oktoberfest last year to confirm
this outlook. I hope Taybeh will continue
to be “the flame of peace,” as some
people have called it, and keep the
Taybeh Oktoberfest as the highlight of
Palestine, as all its advertisements claim.
I believe that the community in Taybeh will
continue to make diverse impressions
and inspire people to travel to Palestine
even beyond the Oktoberfest season.
village, you should count on some loyal
local residents who are committed to
keeping their centuries-old values and
traditions and by all means hold on to
their property. Some of these residents,
such as Nadim Khoury, the famous brew
master of Taybeh, even suggest clever
schemes to boost the economy since
he has attended so many Oktoberfest
celebrations worldwide. It was his dream
come true to see the very first Germanstyle festival happen in Taybeh before the
olive-picking season.
It’s been a great challenge to seek
sponsors and raise money to help the
municipality host the annual Taybeh
Oktoberfest since 2005. Sufficient funds
are needed in order to allow all the
local women’s cooperatives and small
businesses to keep 100 percent of the
proceeds from sales. The municipality
covers the running costs of the festival,
including musicians, booth setup, media,
etc. I have personally come to understand
that not all the local people believe in this
idea of promoting a modern, moderate,
liberal, and free Palestine. Thus, I always
ask myself whether I am doing the right
thing, since most times I am simply lost
among the multicultural rules and just
trying to make a good impression.
The hope that the world will see a
Palestine in need of basic human rights
Dr. Maria C. Khoury is organising the 8th
Taybeh Oktoberfest, scheduled to take
place in Taybeh, Palestine, on October 6
and 7, 2012. At present we are seeking
sponsorship for this distinctive event. For
more information, contact Dr. Khoury at
[email protected].
40
The Palestinian Circus School
By Jane French
standing on each other’s shoulders, flying
through the air. The goal is to make the
audience laugh and to give them a sense
of wonder.
The moves themselves are risky,
especially at the advanced levels. But
even before that, the students must
be prepared to drop the juggling balls,
to fall on their faces, to make fools of
themselves.
“They have to feel safe doing things
they might fail at,” says executive
director Jessika Devlieghere, “because
in the beginning, you fail more than you
succeed.”
But for the students, these risks
have their rewards. The school, which
trains children and youth, ages 10 to
20, has attracted a devoted group of
students who have now performed for
more than 50,000 people in the West
Bank and abroad. In January, circus
Hanging on the wall in the new office of
the Palestinian Circus School is a quote
from Seth Godin: “Hard work is about
risk. It begins when you deal with the
things you would rather not deal with:
fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear
of rejection. Hard work is about training
yourself to leap over this barrier, tunnel
under that barrier, drive through the other
barrier and after you’ve done that, to do
it again the next day.”
The idea of embracing risk is what has
driven the Palestinian Circus School
since it was founded five years ago. The
performers themselves take risks every
time they practice. The circus school
teaches contemporary circus. Unlike
traditional circus, there are no animals
involved, no elephants, monkeys, or
tigers. Instead the circus performers
act out a story using clowning, juggling,
acrobatics, trapeze, and other circus arts.
They push the laws of gravity, doing flips,
in a beautiful 150-year-old house that
was recently donated by Hanna Nasir
of Birzeit University and renovated with
funds from the Belgian government. The
students are able to do some of their
performers from Palestine participated
in an international social circus festival in
Italy. And just a few weeks ago, a show
in Jenin was so packed that they had to
have a second performance in order to
accommodate more than 900 children
who came to watch.
This level of success and recognition
is somewhat new for the founders of the
school. Creating the school was itself an
exercise in risk. The school was started
by Devlieghere and Shadi Zmorrod. They
began working with just a few volunteers.
They had no training space, so they often
practiced in the street. Instead of juggling
balls, they bought toilet brushes from the
corner store to use. Because there is no
tradition of circus in Palestine, or even
in the Middle East, many people were
confused by what they were doing.
But the school caught on. The staff
trains more than 180 students a week
in locations around the West Bank,
including Birzeit, Jenin, Al Fara’, and
Hebron. The school recently moved from
a rented basement office into its own
building in Birzeit. The new offices are
Photo by Milan Szypura.
Photo by Lucia Ahmad.
training inside the house, but for most of
their work, they use the dirt lot outside.
The school is currently raising funds
to build a training structure that would
adjoin the house and give the students
the space to practice the more difficult
circus skills safely.
“Circus needs a lot of height,”
Devlieghere says. “Someone doing
moves three meters off the ground is
completely uninteresting for the audience
and for the performer.”
In addition to providing training space,
the circus school’s vision is to turn its new
building into a hub for artists all around
the West Bank. It will be an affordable
performance space that artists of all kinds
can use. The future building will also be
the school’s first step to becoming an
internationally recognised institution
that will attract students from outside of
Palestine as well.
Photo by Lucia Ahmad.
42
43
from refugee camps or have had tough
backgrounds, so they know how to work
with kids who are dealing with the stress
of life under Occupation.
“They know how difficult they were
as kids, so they know what these kids
need,” Devlieghere says laughing. And
even more than teaching the kids, these
trainers have become role models for
them, inspiring a new generation of
students to embrace risk.
Part of the reason that the circus has
done so well is that it’s much more than
just a distraction from the harsh realities
of living in Palestine. The Palestinian
circus comes from a long tradition of
social circus that started in the United
States in the 1920s. The purpose of
this kind of circus is to create social
change. The circus in Palestine gives
students a chance to work together, to
overcome challenges, and to express
their ideas. The students create the
shows themselves, and they often
address problems they see in their
everyday lives, such as trash in the
streets or men harassing women
on the street.
Over the long term, the circus
has had a strong effect on
its students, teaching them
confidence and focus. One
of the best students would
drop his sister off at class and
wait outside because he was
too shy to participate. Today,
he comfortably performs in
front of thousands of people.
Devlieghere believes these are
skills that students can use for
the rest of their lives. And for
some of the students, circus
has become their lives. All the
circus school trainers were
originally students themselves.
Some of the trainers come
“After the shows, the kids
always want to meet the
performers. At first they
assume that they must be
foreign. But when they find
out they are Palestinian, they
are very proud. They say, ‘If
these guys are Palestinian,
then we can do this too.’”
Photo by Lucia Ahmad.
44
Hard to Describe
The Freedom Theatre Honours Palestinian Political
Prisoners with Live Performance
By Christine Baniewicz
feel when you were released?”
“It was amazing, actually,” shares one
audience member. “When I was in prison,
I met my neighbour. I had not seen him in
years, and we became very close.”
Lutfi is slim, maybe 25 years old, and
shy. He speaks quietly into a handheld
microphone.
“So,” Ben echoes from the stage, “you
had a feeling of connection, and friendship,
The house lights dim around me and I
settle into my seat. The theatre hushes.
Two pools of white light flood onto the
stage and the performance begins.
It’s Wednesday in Jenin and The
Freedom Theatre is packed. Journalists,
international peace workers, and locals
from the refugee camp fill the wooden
benches. Today’s Playback Theatre
performance, Midnight Raid, is the second
in a series of creative responses to the
Israeli military’s recent incursions and
arrests in the camp.
“Thank you again for joining us,” says
Ben Rivers, Playback Theatre practitioner
at The Freedom Theatre. He stands
onstage before a line of actors, aged 19
to 25. They are dressed in black. “Today
we will honour your stories.”
Amongst the actors onstage is Faisal
Abu-Alheja, one of the many Palestinians
arrested last week. Today he stands,
hands by his side, alert and attentive.
According to Addameer, a Palestinian
civil institution that focuses on human
rights and prisoner support, an estimated
700,000 Palestinians have been detained
by the Israeli military since 1967. This
constitutes 20 percent of the population
of the Occupied Territories. As of last
September, there were 6,257 Palestinian
prisoners in Israeli detention; 280 of them
are children. Nearly 800 are serving life
sentences. In the last month alone the
Jenin Refugee Camp has suffered more
than 50 arrests.
“Please,” Ben says, “raise your hand if
you have ever been a political prisoner in
an Israeli jail.”
A dozen hands reach up from the
audience.
Ben begins asking the audience
questions: “What is your name?” “How
long were you imprisoned?” “How did you
Faisal Abu AlHeja introduces a Playback Theatre performance
to the local crowd.
even when you were in prison?” Lutfi nods.
“It helped me survive.”
Ben turns to the actors. “Lutfi’s
experience of friendship, despite being
imprisoned: Khaleena enshouf – let’s
watch.”
And like magic, without speaking,
the actors fly into a fluid sculpture of
Lutfi’s feeling. Beside them, a musician
accompanies with twanging, resonant
harmony on the oud. They stack their
bodies together, swaying gently, looking
out into the audience. They freeze.
The event continues, flowing from simple
experiences to full stories. The microphone
46
“But then he showed pictures.”
The Israeli official threw photos onto
the table before Loai – photos of dead
women, their faces and bodies covered
by Palestinian flags.
“‘This is your mother,’ he said. ‘Your
sister! Look! Look at the photos.’”
Loai looked at the photos. He didn’t know
what to think.
“It wasn’t until six months later, when I
saw my mother in court, that I learned it
was a lie.”
“Normally I wouldn’t tell this story for a
bunch of actors to perform,” Loai says.
“Because it’s a serious story. It was very sad.
But I am here, so I figured I would share.”
travels from hand to hand. Men and
women tell stories about demonstrations
and tear gas; years spent behind bars and
joyous reunions with their relatives.
Midway through the show, Loai Tafesh
raises his hand. “I have a story.” He takes
the stage, sitting in the Teller’s chair
beside Ben.
“Not everything about the prisons is
happy,” he says. We laugh a little. Until
now, the stories had been coloured with
hope and resistance and joy.
But Loai’s story is different. “The way
they interrogate you, and bother your
mind – this can be difficult.”
When Loai was first imprisoned, he
Acting School student Motaz Malhees leaps into an enactment during the Dec. 21, 2011 performance.
“Thank you, Loai.” Ben takes the
microphone and turns to the actors. “Loai’s
story: Khaleena enshouf.”
Faisal Abu-Alheja and Ahhmad Al-Rokh,
both graduates of The Freedom Theatre’s
Acting School, take the stage. They
breathe together, absorbing Loai’s story,
and launch into improvisation.
The oud shudders. Rokh takes a few
solemn steps downstage and sinks onto
his knees. Faisal steps behind him and
forces his head down, oppression made
manifest.
My eyes dart to Loai. He is rapt.
The improvisation continues. Faisal, as
spent a week in solitary confinement.
“But it was strange. They fed me amazing
meals, and gave me a pack of cigarettes
every day. My room was very nice.”
The bizarre luxury ended when
interrogation began.
“After the first week an official took me
into a room with a table. Said they were
keeping me in order that I apologise. I
said, ‘apologise for what?’ And they said,
‘apologise for making us enter your home
yesterday and martyr your sister, your
mother, and your father.’”
Loai couldn’t be sure if he was telling
the truth.
47
The performance opened something
in us. Conversations are warm and free.
Folks mingle.
700,000 Palestinians arrested since
1967.
A musician passes his cigarettes to a
released prisoner.
More than 600 complaints of torture
and ill treatment submitted against ISA
interrogators since 2001.
A Palestinian journalist asks questions
and scribbles notes.
2,000 cases of torture in 2008 alone.
And I drink it in with my eyes. 2,000
cases of torture. One week ago Faisal’s
wrists were red from zip-tie handcuffs.
Now his face is red from bashfulness
and praise.
“It’s hard to describe the feeling when
your father is released from prison after
many years,” one audience member said
today. He shrugged. “But I will try.”
I shoulder my bag and weave through the
crowd, up to my desk above the theatre.
It’s hard to describe the feeling when
you’ve connected with a community over
shared narratives of oppression, abuse,
and resistance. It’s hard to describe
the beauty of an 8-year-old hushed to
attention by the story of his elder. It’s hard
to describe my feeling of responsibility, and
compassion, and joy.
But I will try.
Acting School students “playback” a story of arrest during the
January 4th performance, Midnight Raid.
Ben Rivers interviews Rhama Hijji as she tells a story of resistance
at Midnight Raid.
the Israeli officer, presents Rokh with three
shimmering lengths of fabric. The photos.
“Look! Look!” demands Faisal. Rokh
winds them up. “It’s not true,” he mutters.
The colours gleam in the stage light. He
holds them to his heart.
Loai cries, discreet, at the edge of the
stage. The enactment finishes and the
audience erupts.
Later, Loai tells Faisal how moved he felt.
“You must have rehearsed it before,” he says.
“How could we?” Faisal smiles. “We
heard your story for the first time today.”
Two more stories follow Loai’s before the
performance ends. By the final story, most
of the audience has migrated to the front
rows, crowding as close as possible to
the stage and leaning in to hear the Teller.
I leave the theatre and stand in the
sunlight. Clumps of audience members,
actors, and journalists hang around,
chatting and laughing. I remember the
same people waiting for the performance
to begin – hanging quietly around the olive
tree, or holding insular conversations with
the friends they arrived with.
Christine Baniewicz is a writer,
composer, and facilitator of communityengaged theatre. She has a bachelor’s
degree in theatre studies and music
composition from Louisiana State
University, and currently coordinates
Web communications for the traveling
theatre-arts organisation, ImaginAction.
Christine’s original plays and incidental
scores have been performed in the
United States, Northern Ireland, and
Palestine. She also gives applied theatre
workshops to encourage dialogue and
creative transformation centred on social
justice issues. Visit her blog at www.
thethingaboutthiswork.blogspot.com.
Article photos courtesy of S.E.T.
48
Playback Theatre is an interactive theatre approach used in over fifty countries
as a tool for community building and community dialogue. Playback Theatre is an
integral part of The Freedom Theatre’s activities, not least in the upcoming project
The Freedom Bus.
From September 23 to October 1, 2012, an ensemble of Palestinian actors and
musicians will travel in a convoy of buses to key sites of oppression and resistance
within the West Bank.
The ensemble will use Playback Theatre to listen to and enact the experiences
of community members – translating life stories into improvised text, sound,
movement, music, and poetry. Performances will take place in community centres,
theatres, and at site-specific locations such as checkpoints, settlements, olive
groves, home demolition sites, and the separation Wall. Through video link the
ride will also include Palestinians in Gaza, Israel, and the diaspora.
Performances will be themed, inviting lived stories that address the daily realities
of settlement expansion, land appropriation, the water crisis, freedom of movement,
political imprisonment, home demolitions, the refugee experience, the separation
barrier, Bedouin relocation, and the siege on Gaza. Communities will also be invited
to share stories that underscore the rich Palestinian history of popular resistance
and sumud (steadfastness).
Actors Faisal Abu AlHeja and Ahmad Al Rokh during the January 4th Playback Theatre performance.
The Freedom Bus will respond to the fundamental human need to share one’s
story and have it heard, acknowledged, and honoured. The bus will also build
solidarity as members from different communities join the ride to share stories,
knowledge, and experiences. This will help overcome the social fragmentation
that results from colonisation and military occupation.
The Freedom Bus will also be a focal point for supporters around the world who
wish to learn about life in Palestine and to stand in solidarity against the apartheid
structures that violate the human rights and sovereignty of the Palestinian people.
The ride will include photographers, filmmakers, and journalists who will create
an archive of testimonies that can be used for various legal, social, political, and
cultural purposes. Passengers on the ride will also include internationally renowned
human rights defenders, artists, writers, intellectuals, and others who can help
bring attention to the state of egregious injustice that exists in occupied Palestine.
If you would like to register as a passenger on the Freedom Bus, or learn more,
e-mail [email protected].
49
Reflections after a Bomb Attack
Life in Gaza is all about adaptation and
resistance. When denied materials for
reconstruction, the people of Gaza will dig
tunnels and develop technology to recycle
each component of the demolished houses.
If the enemy bombs the water-treatment
plant, the children have to develop strong
stomachs in order to withstand water that
is contaminated with sewage and salt water
from the sea.
The night before we are about to go
back to Egypt, I get the strange idea that
maybe people can live like this after all. The
conditions are raw and brutal, but Gaza
is calm and seems to manage to recover
after each battle. Children still go to school
and adults still go to work. People still drink
tea and coffee with their neighbours and
friends; they still dance and get married.
They overcome the most tragic misery
with the help of ingenuity and cohesion.
Therefore there is food to buy in the shops,
and people still build houses, although,
logically speaking, it should be impossible.
In Gaza there are no Israeli soldiers or
extremist settlers who destroy daily life
for Palestinians like they do in the West
Bank and Jerusalem through checkpoints,
harassment, house demolitions, arrests,
and assault. Perhaps they can continue
to live like this.
Faraj and I are talking in the guest room
later that night. We are interrupted in the
middle of a sentence by a sharp shriek and
a loud bang. My whole body solidifies. I
don’t even have time to say one word before
the next explosion. It is much stronger and
makes the whole house shake.
We go up to the living room. I try to at least
act calm when we look out the window for
any columns of smoke from the surrounding
houses. One of the host family’s boys, in
his early teens, comes to us as we stand at
the window. He points out the crash site far
away on the beach. He is quite calm when
he tells us that he saw the F-16 planes.
This is normal. Nobody from the rest of
the family seems to have woken up. I am
afraid but know that I will soon leave the
area. In a scarcely credible attempt to be an
adult, I put my hand on the kid’s shoulder.
His breathing is almost as fast as mine. It
By Erik Helgeson
Everyday life exists, even in Gaza.
People have found ways to cope
with the recurrent power cuts, mass
unemployment, grief, and constant
setbacks. The Palestinians on this tiny
strip of land keep on living, with dignity,
even though they are locked up in a
human terrarium shattered on the inside.
They can see, through television and
Internet, that the world knows about their
plight, yet no one intervenes.
Gaza’s economy is doomed to trade
deficits and dependence on donor
aid. The former export of olive oil,
strawberries, flowers, and textiles no
longer exists. More than
1,700,000 Palestinians survive
on 60,000 salary cheques from the
Palestinian Authority in Ramallah (West
Bank), 20,000 salary cheques from
the authority in Gaza, and 10,000
salary cheques from the UN agency,
UNRWA. Besides aid money and informal
economic support from relatives and
friends on the outside, these 90,000
salaries are the only “fresh” money that
makes the economic wheels turn. Israel
can strangle even this through simple
administrative measures.
Everything is under blockade. Scientific
research, trade union struggles, yes,
even progress itself is prohibited by the
circumstances.
Clearly there are totalitarian tendencies
inside Gaza. Hamas is a force with
considerable financial and organisational
resources. Through isolation, Hamas has
been allowed to become increasingly
dominant in everyday life – as engineers
behind the state-like structures, as a
guarantee of safety, as practitioners of
threatening social and political control,
as the benefactor of poor people, as the
symbol of the resistance against Israel,
and as the largest local employer.
Hamas is leading the construction of
something that resembles a state inside
Artwork by Sharif Sarhan.
the Gaza Strip. This means governmental
review, bureaucracy, permit issuances,
and taxation, which are perceived as
authoritarian and intrusive by some
Palestinians.
In Sweden we take such structures
for granted. At the same time, this is
the embryo of a state without social
rights, where Gaza residents do not
have the right to put up any demands in
case of illness, death within the family,
accidents, war, or unemployment. The
social safety net instead consists of
Hamas charity, which puts many people
in a dependent relationship vis-à-vis
52
the movement. Hamas does not need
armed, bearded “fundamentalist” men
who assault women, journalists, and
opposition figures in order to censor or
control. The party dominates the whole
society anyway. Whether this will lead to
a complete liquidation of democracy and
pluralism in Gaza will be determined by
the internal struggle within the Islamic
movement.
But what right does the outside world
have to complain about Gaza’s internal
political development when it refuses to
confront the unfair framework: Israel’s
occupation and blockade?
53
The Port of Gaza is located in the Rimal district of Gaza.
the personal stories from individuals about
life under occupation and blockade. This
is not collateral damage. Their experience
is not the unfortunate consequences of
an ill-considered attempt by the Israeli
government to stop arms imports and
undermine the fundamentalists. The
oppression and humiliation are subtle, longterm, and intended to break down ordinary
Palestinians. That’s why the people of Gaza
are not allowed to fish where the catches
are; that’s why they are not allowed to
travel outside and tell the world about their
situation or meet their loved ones. That’s
why thousands of adults risk their lives
working in underground tunnels and every
child gets used to night-time explosions in
the surroundings.
With a little distance, back home in
Sweden, I can see it all clearly. The
blockade is a low-intensity expulsion of a
people – not a party – that refuses to give
up. The situation is acute. The blockade
must be lifted.
seems it’s not possible to get completely
used to it after all.
The next morning we learn from the
media that a police station on the Gaza
beach was bombed during the night. One
person died and another one was seriously
injured. Since the prisoner exchange with
Gilad Shalit a few weeks earlier, these
attacks have been rare. Even the power
cuts have been rarer – only a few times a
week. Sporadic bombings raise very limited
interest among the world’s media.
When we go back along the route from
Rafah to Cairo, I feel ashamed. Not
because I had the chance to leave while
all the kids had to stay; but because, for
a second, I thought that it was actually
possible for people to adapt to life in Gaza.
Our visit to the Gaza Strip has confirmed
everything I had previously read about
the structural effects of the illegal
blockade. The blockade is an inhuman,
paralysing collective punishment. From the
perspective of the official Israeli intention to
weaken Hamas, the blockade is completely
counterproductive.
What I take home with me from Gaza are all
Erik Helgeson is a Swedish dockworker
who is active in the solidarity movement
“Ship to Gaza.”
Gaza City. Photo by Sharif Sarhan.
54
Valentine in Palestine
By Besan Staity
“When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.”
Gibran Khalil Gibran
by strangers who have exploited our love
and humanity and deployed their army to
control our land. But our hearts will not
forget, and we will defend Palestine and
celebrate with it the feast of love filled
with peace prevailing on earth.
Our celebration of Valentine’s Day
constitutes a challenge to the Israeli
military occupation of Palestine. We
will challenge the occupation and prove
to the rest of the world that, in the
words of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud
Darwish, “We are a people who love life.”
And because we have strength, love,
sincerity, and good relations, we can
move mountains and break walls, and
nothing will stop our love for our land
and our families. The more we suffer, the
stronger our love becomes. St. Valentine
was beheaded because of sincere love,
and we will die to liberate Palestine from
dictatorship. The whole world will know
that we live and die for love. This is love
through the lens of Palestine.
Love is the water of life, the food
of the spirit; it is the breath that we
inhale; it is the thread of affection
among friends. Love knows no
disagreements. Love is peace,
and with love there is cordiality and
intimacy. With love the army follows the
leader and the mother feeds her child.
There is no meaning in life without love;
and when love ends, feelings end and
consciences sleep and tongues go dry.
Finally, I would like to say that it is good
to be open to other cultures and their
traditions, and to share in their special
holidays, especially as the world today
has become a small village. We cannot
forget any person in the world because
love knows no distances. Again I offer the
wisdom of Gibran Khalil Gibran: “Some
we love/but we do not get close to them
… as they are much sweeter and more
precious from afar.”
and see the tears of love in her eyes.
All Palestinians long for their homeland.
I raise my head proudly and say that I
am Palestinian. I kneel out of respect
and love for my land. Our Palestinian
hearts pulsate with love. Our yearning
for the other half of Palestine is strong
and alive. It was taken from us long ago
because love is in the heart and finds
expression in simple and sweet words
that lovers say to each other – words that
articulate true and sincere feelings, words
that have a special meaning to those who
say and hear them.
Palestinians in cities, villages, and
refugee camps celebrate Valentine’s Day.
All people have hearts to love, but at the
same time one cannot deny that there
are some people who have negative
thoughts about love and about Valentine’s
Day. They believe that love is contrary
to the teachings of religion, that it is a
break from tradition and helps to spread
corruption; that it invades the minds of
young people and distracts them from
their studies and right thinking. In fact,
many parents punish their children for
the most trivial reasons, including simply
talking about love and about Valentine’s
Day. I believe that love is a religion and
a tradition, and it is a good thing that we
have one day during the year to express
our emotions and our love for others.
But there is one disturbing thing, namely
deceit in love. Some people think that
love is a lie and feel more inclined to
break the hearts of other people. This is
the kind of love that we must eliminate
and fight against because the wounds
of the heart do not heal easily.
In addition, love is not restricted to
people; one can love one’s country
as well. I celebrate Valentine’s Day
with my family, and we offer our love
to our homeland Palestine. I see my
father sacrificing his life for the sake
of Palestine. I also look at my mother
In the beginning, the story of love was
the story of Valentine. Valentine was a
soft-hearted priest and saint who lived in
Rome in the third century AD. He used to
encourage young people to get married,
which infuriated Emperor Claudius
who believed that married people were
incapable of becoming strong warriors.
The emperor believed that married men
spend their time drinking and prefer to
remain close to their wives and children,
and hence fail to show true courage in
battle. As a result, he banned marriage.
St. Valentine, however, used to marry
couples in secret. When Emperor
Claudius discovered this, he ordered
the arrest of St. Valentine. On the eve of
February 15, 270 AD, which is the day
when the Romans celebrated the spring
holiday called Lupercalia, St. Valentine
was stoned and beheaded. Following his
death, Valentine was beatified, and the
Church designated February 14 as the
commemoration of St. Valentine.
Palestine celebrates St. Valentine’s
Day. Streets of the cities are decorated
with red lights and lovers meet.
Tongues pronounce words of love and
endearment, and lovers express their
love for each other and for their country.
In fact, Valentine’s Day in Palestine is
a social occasion tinged with a political
flavour. In spite of the harsh political and
economic circumstances, many people
are not discouraged from celebrating
Valentine’s Day because it is immune
to any political or economic conditions.
In addition, gifts and parties are not
necessarily true manifestations of love
56
Besan Staity is an 11 th grader who
lives in Jenin and hopes to become a
filmmaker someday. She can be reached
at [email protected].
57
They have the capacity to run a restaurant from A to Z and work on every
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with the client, who is involved in the process every step of the way. The
end result is a finely tuned management system, with a unique identity
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the company provides exceptional education, professional training,
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The passionate and successful JAGS team is composed of committed
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There are distinctive characteristics that shape the JAGS presence in the
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Joseph Asfour Gourmet Services [ JAGS] was
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a team effort by the two owners, Executive
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operations manager) Hatem Taha. With a vast, fruitful history and extensive
experience in the food and beverage industry, the partnership started
with providing catering services to individuals for special occasions and
events, and expanded to providing academic services to culinary schools.
Their pioneering enthusiasm and determination led them to enhance the
Palestinian food and beverage services market as they brought the local
industry to a level that is on a par with international standards
JAGS follows organised systems of interaction with hosts, waiters,
bartenders, and other specialised people working in the catering field.
What makes them distinctive in the food market is the ability of their
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right services in order to achieve optimal customer satisfaction.
Working in the food and beverage industry is truly rewarding. And as
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Personality of the Month
another brand, ‘Al ‘Ard’ (“the earth” in English),
which uses Palestinian agricultural products
such as olive oil, thyme, and traditional
Nabulsi olive oil soap.” He confirms that
local (or national) Palestinian production is
improving rapidly. He has been developing
the family business for 25 years and has
expanded the product lines and outreach. “I
always counted on strategic planning and the
spirit of youth in my work,” he says. “When
you have a good plan and you implement
it through young people, the outcomes will
be better because of the energy generated
by the youth.” His advice for upcoming
entrepreneurs: “Identify your goals and target
on a yearly basis, based on a three-to-fiveyear strategic plan, then you’ll succeed.” The
company now exports to the United States,
Saudi Arabia, and GCC countries, and has an
online shop for its products.
Mr. Anabtawi was one of the founders of
the Palestinian Businessmen’s Association
in Jerusalem. He is married and has three
children. Aside from work, Mr. Anabtawi
enjoys travelling for the exposure to life and
the experience it provides. His father always
encouraged him to travel as a way to learn
about various cultures and peoples. His
favourite city on earth is Jerusalem; he lived
there for five years when he returned from
his studies. The city holds a special place in
his heart, and he and his wife had their first
child there. He also has a special interest in
the visual arts, especially photography. He
supports the cultural sector through his work
by sponsoring social activities, sports clubs,
and environmental endeavours, as well as by
donating to local organisations. As a matter
of fact, Anabtawi Group was the first in the
Middle East to obtain Social Accountability
Certification SA8000. In addition, the group
supports Palestinian farmers and is a fairtrade company.
Mr. Anabtawi learned a lot from living and
studying in America. “Determination was part
of my character,” he says. “In America, I was
able to put it into practice.” Living in a free
society taught him how to operate outside
the boundaries rather than allow himself to be
trapped by them. “Freedom is a great thing,
and I hope that one day we will have ours in
Palestine,” he concludes.
Ziad Anabtawi
Ziad Anabtawi was born in Saudi Arabia and
raised in Nablus. He pursued a bachelor’s
degree in electrical engineering from Tri-State
University in Angola, Indiana, and a master’s
degree in engineering management from
George Washington University in Washington,
DC. Upon his graduation, he returned to
Palestine to run the family business. At that
time, the first Intifada had just begun. It was
a difficult start, but with determination and
good planning, he transformed the risks of the
Intifada into opportunity. Before the Intifada,
people felt paralysed by the occupation. The
mood changed after the Intifada, however, and
a spirit of resistance emerged. Mr. Anabtawi
found his method of resistance by creating
new Palestinian food brands.
The Nablus-based family business,
Anabtawi Group, developed new brands of
vegetable oil, such as “El-Khayyal” and “Safi,”
which have become leaders in the Palestinian
market. These brands compete against Israeli
and other imported products. Perhaps the
success comes from the history of the family
and their exposure to multinational imports.
They had a lot of experience with premium
brands, so when it came to creating their
own brands, they utilised their knowledge
to formulate a strategic plan and build their
own signature.
“We wanted to do something for Palestinian
agro-products, especially our exquisite olive
oil,” Mr. Anabtawi explains. “We created
60
Book of the Month
I stopped being engaged in teaching and
research as an academic anthropologist,
and shifted to becoming an “applied”
anthropologist, or working in the field
of so-called “development,” I became
preoccupied with how to transform
Palestinian society and people – my
society and people – from an occupied,
colonised, and fragmented society
towards a liberated, productive, free, and
self-generating society, not dependent
on external financial aid. It was, and
continues to be, a deeply reflective,
agonising, and personal process of
thought, analysis, and action, in which I
was engaged as a genuine “participant
observer,” through which I was aspiring
to see at the end of the tunnel a society
with a tightly knit social fabric empowered
by coherent political, economic, and
liberating human values that would rise
against colonialism, oppression, and
despotism. This book is, in a certain
sense, a partial end result of this reflective
and analytic process.
Through an introduction and four
chapters, and by relying on a microanalytic approach, benefiting from my
personal experience as an engaged
participant-observer, the book challenges
and criticises the various fragmented, noncumulative, deceptive, and mythological
attempts to “develop” Palestinian society
over the span of the last thirty years. It
is a study of Palestinian “development”:
the development of the people, the
society, and the political-economic
system. It is about how truncated,
distorted, and mythological the official
claim of Palestinian “development” is
and has become. Basically, it is about
the role of an informal tri-partite coalition
of Palestinian capitalists-political elite,
Palestinian “developmental” NGOs,
and transnational “aid” agencies in
impeding, obstructing, and negating what
I call, “People-Centered Liberationist
Development” (PCLD). As argued
throughout this work, PCLD is inherently
a process of social and political self-
Globalized Palestine
The National Sell-Out of a
Homeland
By Khalil Nakhleh
The Red Sea Press, Inc., 2012; 286
pages
Order via www.africaworldpressbooks.
com or www.amazon.com.
An introductory comment
I started working full time on the initial
draft of this book, in English, about
three years ago. While I was seeking a
publisher for the English edition, I was
determined to have it appear in Arabic
first, and in Palestine, because I sought
for it to generate national public discourse
on our transformation and future, as
a people struggling for freedom and
emancipation. Indeed, the Arabic edition
was published in Ramallah in May 2011.
It must be mentioned with appreciation
that the translation into Arabic, the
publication, and the distribution to public
libraries in historical Palestine were
possible because of the support of the
Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, and the
total commitment and determination of
its Ramallah staff.
Why now?
Over a span of twenty-five years, or since
62
determination and liberation; and, as
such, it aims primarily at resisting and
ending foreign occupation, colonialism,
and hegemony, as well as internally
perpetuated apartheid, be it political,
economic, or social.
I claim throughout this book that there
is an inherent incongruence between
Palestinian absolute dependence on
Western transnational aid and the
Palestinian official expectation that
financial aid, whose primary source
emanates from Western governments
and/or agencies, is the avenue
to developing and emancipating
Palestinian people and society from
the poverty and pauperisation created
by the colonial system of occupation,
and is supported and sustained by
these same sources. I assert that aid
advanced to Palestine under prolonged
occupation and colonialism is political
aid par excellence, advanced to my
people, specifically to acquiesce and
submit to an imposed political agenda
and programme. Such aid shackles,
mortgages, and holds hostage the entire
current society and future generations in
political and economic debt. It is aid that
focuses on consumption and mortgaging
people. It is aid that is anti-production and
anti-liberation.
Although this book is about Palestine, it
is not exclusively so. It is also about the
important lessons that we can learn from
South Africa since 1994, when apartheid
was transformed into a social category
of control, oppression, and a system
of exploitation by the people’s own
indigenous self-proclaimed leadership.
It is also about Latin America and
about many other struggling peoples,
in whom the current Palestinian
struggle is embedded, and cannot be
but embedded, thanks to the global
process of colonisation and emerging
re-colonisation.
Since Palestine is still effectively under
the hold of Zionist settler colonialism,
I benefitted from carefully re-reading
and reviewing the work of Frantz Fanon
about colonised countries in Africa, and
countries where colonisation was formally
terminated, but where developments
strike an eerie resemblance to twentyfirst-century Palestine. From this vantage
point, the current analysis cannot be only
an analysis of Palestine today; it is an
analysis of a wider scope: how the “political
economy of the oppressed,” or the “political
economy of the occupied,” may look in the
globalised twenty-first century.
I am sounding serious “alarm bells” for
what may happen to us – the Palestinian
people and society – if we persist on this
path of zealous acquiescence to neoliberal
agendas imposed on us by the United
State, Israel, Western transnational aid
agencies, and corporate finance. In this
book, I call clearly and openly for strategic
counter “re-engineering” measures that
span our perceived collective national
consciousness, our prevalent political
environment since Oslo, our prevalent
economic investment environment,
and the abusive role of Palestinian
capitalists to maximise their profits.
I advocate a need for a determined
and purposeful “re-engineering” of the
prevalent environment of the tyranny
of transnational aid agencies, and
the function of such aid, as well as a
conscious effort at “re-engineering” the
prevalent social, cultural, and normative
environment.
I don’t claim to offer magical recipes
for our collective emancipation. I claim
that together we can and should be
able to harness our collective creative
indigenous energies if we’re determined
to liberate ourselves. I hope that this book
will be helpful towards this end.
Khalil Nakhleh is a Palestinian
anthropologist from Galilee who has
been residing in this part of the homeland
for the last 19 years. He may be reached
at [email protected].
63
Artist of the Month
He started painting while working in
the southern province of Saudi Arabia in
1983. He adopted the impressionist and
post-impressionist styles in his paintings,
travelling between Saudi Arabia, Yemen,
Egypt, Syria, and Europe. Going to Italy
and Yemen gave him a special insight
into rural life. His paintings are influenced
mostly by European style. When he lived
for a short while in Japan, however, he
was exposed to different cultures that
influenced his creativity and instilled in
him the desire to paint various themes.
Following his meticulous self-education
in art history, Fakhriddin read a lot about
Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, and
Lautrec. He started painting what his
heart most cherished, and his painting
Jerusalem emerged in 1990. Arab
authors and artists also influenced his
work, and in 1991, he painted a portrait,
Unknown Woman, inspired by Gibran
Khalil Gibran’s description of May Ziadeh.
Fakhriddin felt proud of these two
paintings, and he considered having a
solo exhibition to present his work. The
event took place in 1992 at the Crown
Hotel in Amman. At the exhibition, he sold
several paintings, but he always held on
to Jerusalem.
Due to changing life circumstances,
Fakhriddin stepped away from painting
for a while. He established a graphic
design and printing centre in 1994 in
an effort to gain his livelihood. His work
remained consistent with his passion for
art, colours, and beauty.
Today, Fakhriddin’s paintings are
admired extensively and sell on a regular
Farid Fakhriddin
“Understanding and admiring art is the
human passage that will enable you to
live peacefully and cheerfully even when
life is harsh and unfair. Art invites you to
rise above anything that is trivial.” Farid
Fakhriddin
Farid Fakhriddin was born in Nablus
on December 29, 1958, into a family of
intellectuals. Until the age of nine, he
was raised on a beautiful piece of land,
rich in culture, history, and inspiration. He
recognised his mother’s beauty and her
appreciation and admiration of quality of
life. It was she who educated his eyes
and awakened his artistic senses at
an early age. Fakhriddin left Nablus at
the age of nine and settled in Amman.
He graduated from his undergraduate
studies in 1977, with a bachelor’s degree
in civil engineering from a university in the
United Kingdom.
64
basis. He uses only oil as a medium, and he has
his own style using brush strokes, pallet knife,
and daring colours. “Painting expresses my
feelings towards daily life: a scene I witness,
news I read about, a song I listen to, a book I
read. Mostly my inspiration comes when I have
an opinion on something that I have seen, heard,
or watched,” he says.
Fakhriddin’s dream is for people to start
acquiring art for the sake of art. He wants art to
be taken seriously at schools and in educational
institutions in order to open students’ minds and
give them the ability to recognise, develop, and
understand the concepts of life in a sophisticated
manner. What is art except what one feels or
what one thinks? Art is a tool in teaching our
young generation how to respect and believe
in democracy.
Fakhriddin has developed a series of portraits
of known and unknown figures. He will enter the
BP Portrait Award 2012 competition, now in its
thirty-third year at the National Portrait Gallery
and in its twenty-third year of sponsorship by BP.
This event is an annual competition that aims
to encourage artists to focus upon and develop
portraiture in their work. Fakhriddin will present
a new piece for the competition, meanwhile
working towards another solo exhibition that will
take place in Jordan in April 2012.
The BP Portrait Award 2012 exhibition will run
at the National Portrait Gallery in London, from
June 21 to September 23, 2012.
1) He’s Not Just a Clown, 120 x 100 cm, oil on canvas
2) In an Oriental Cafe, 50 x 40 cm, oil on canvas
3) Rehearsing, 80 x 60 cm, oil on canvas
4) Crowded Lunch, 150 x 120 cm, oil on canvas
5) Heart Loves all that is Beautiful 60 x 40 cm, oil on canvas
6) Ladies Be Seated, 120 x 80 cm, oil on canvas
7) Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, 103 x 75 cm, oil on canvas
65
Exhibition of the Month
Contemplations
By Mirna Bamieh
relevance to Palestinian visual production.
The evaluation, study, and analysis of
the artwork come in the form of a debate
with the Palestinian public. The exhibition
examines and highlights the representation
of the female form through the works of
artists Nabil Anani, Sliman Mansour, Kamel
al-Moughanni, Asem Abu Shaqra, Asad
Azzi, and Hani Zurob, and observes as well
as compares works by female artists Sophie
Halabi, Samia Halabi, Rana Bishara, and
Inass Yassin.
The main feature depicted in the works
of Nabil Anani, Sliman Mansour, and
Kamel al-Moughanni, particularly those
produced in the 1970s and 1980s, was
the representation of the female figure in
a symbolic and iconic manner, referring
to it in the context of nostalgic association
and patriotic relevance, the woman as the
mother and the land. During that time, this
representation was consistent with the
general Palestinian political situation and
the revolutionary spirit in that era. Art then
reflected the public’s ambitions and pains
under occupation, while it also established
a visual illustration in the revolutionary
context.
In the works of Hani Zurob and Assad
Azzi, we see the representation of the
female figure taking on a new dynamic that
is open to more possibilities in a universal
context. The female figures in the paintings
of Hani Zurob and Assad Azzi reflect
the mythological face of beauty – that of
Aphrodite and Ashtar. In Asem Abu Shaqra’s
painting and Zurob’s Daydreaming, the
female figure is manifested in a more erotic
and sensual manner, whereas Assad Azzi
takes a totally different approach in his
Four Faces painting, where he captures
the woman’s face in what seems like
an anatomical examination of her facial
features.
Given that the representation of the
female figure came through the male artist’s
Hani Zurob, Inana and the King - Siege of No. 2, 2004, Yvette
and Mazen Qupty Collection.
Al Hoash is organising the Fourth Collection
Exhibition under the title “Contemplations,”
in an attempt to present and examine
the art collection as a cultural asset and
a modest yet valuable representation of
the accumulation of cultural and visual
production by Palestinian artists.
The exhibition seeks to open a discussion
with the public about the notion of visual
culture in relation to national identity.
Presenting the collection comes as part
of al Hoash’s examination of its future
development towards being a researchbased, knowledge-producing organisation
in visual culture. The role of the collection
in this endeavour is found through the value
of the participating works of art and their
66
the theme of the exhibition and its artwork
into a more comparative and analytic light
in the context of the Palestinian art scene.
gaze, we examined the collection artwork
produced by four female artists and tried
to compare them. Where the female figure
was present, it was clearly a reflection
of the self. This is visible in the paintings
of Sophie Halaby, one of the pioneering
female artists whose works go back to
the 1930s. The artist Inass Yassin points
more to the existential and the special, as
well as to social change, in her painting
Transformation. In Samia Halabi’s painting
we see her dealing with the olive tree symbol
in an abstract manner, contrary to her male
colleagues of the same generation. In her
painting Untitled, artist Rana Bishara uses
henna and tar, traditionally socially and
politically charged substances, to compose
the scene of her painting.
The exhibition will be inaugurated on
January 26 at al Hoash Gallery in Jerusalem,
and will be open until February 29. The
opening will be preceded by a series of
lectures and talks that will take place during
the month of February, in an attempt to put
Sophie Halabi, 1930s, Yvette and Mazen Qupty Collection.
67
Website Review
http://www.welcometopalestine.info
By Abed A. Khooli
Review date: January 13, 2012
“Welcome to Palestine 2012” is an
international initiative that encourages
supporters of Palestinian rights to visit
Palestine at Easter 2012 and participate
in a child-education project.
The site is available in English
only and has a simple layout with a
header, two columns, and a footer. The
header features a panoramic picture of
Palestinian folk dance and music against
a background of the separation Wall,
partially overlaid over a dark grey banner
that has the site title.
There are a few menu sections in the
left column. WtP 2012 has the Home
link (back to main page), Media releases
(currently has one item explaining
the upcoming mission and providing
contact information), Key documents
(initiative summary, endorsement, and
participation forms), Contact us (e-mails
and Web forms to contact the initiative
in English, French, Italian, Spanish,
and Arabic), Resources (posters and
leaflets, including the initiative statement
in 13 languages), and Events (there is
actually a full calendar interface although
there are no events listed, not even the
proposed Easter event).
The next section covers the similar
event in July 2011. Press coverage links
to related articles in international media.
There are two items under Articles
introducing the event and documenting
the experience. Videos has one item that
did not function with the embedded player
although its YouTube source is working.
The last item in this section, WtP 2012
endorsements, relates to the 2012 event.
Receive news & updates is the next
menu block with a Web form to subscribe
to the WtP mailing list.
There is also a Facebook link to the
initiative, a donation Web form (in various
currencies and with several payment
options) and a login form with username
and password reminders.
The content area starts with three
relatively large buttons: WtP 2012
Endorsements lists entities that endorsed
the initiative in the United Kingdom and
the United States. Endorse WtP 2012 is
a Web form that can be used to express
support for the initiative and to indicate
the type of participation desired, and Sign
up for WtP 2012 is the form to use if you
intend to participate in the visit.
The rest of the content area has the
initiative statement with the names and
photos of the people who signed it.
The page concludes with a dark footer
that has some technical information about
the site template and a link to check its
validity against Web standards (failed
when tested).
Welcome to Palestine 2012 website
serves a great cause even though the
site interface and content are not up to
a traditional Palestinian welcome in real
space. Enhancements in content and
interface are highly recommended.
Abed A. Khooli is a SharePoint and
Web development specialist. He can be
reached at [email protected].
68
SPECIAL EVENTS
Note: Please make sure to contact the venue to check for the latest updates.
TOURS
Saturday 4
Yabous Cultural Centre, tel: 626 1045;
Educational Bookshop, tel: 627 5858; Centre
for Jerusalem Studies, tel: 628 7517
10:00 The Holy Sepulchre, the Monument:
History, Art, and Architecture as seen by
European travellers, Centre for Jerusalem
Studies
ART
Wednesday 1
Saturday 4
10:00 The 4th Collection Exhibition, Al Hoash
10:00 Alternative tour in the old city, Centre for
Jerusalem Studies
Monday 20-29
18:00 “Egypt Reloaded,” Yabous Cultural Centre
Wednesday 8
CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES
Monday 27
16:30 The Old City Tunnels Tour, Centre for
Jerusalem Studies
10:00 “Shubat Al Labbat,” Yabous Cultural Centre
Saturday 11
FILMS
10:00 Almond Blossom in Sebastya, meeting
point Sheikh Jarrah, Centre for Jerusalem
Studies
Freedom Film Week:
Thursday 9
Saturday 18
17:00 Fallega 2012, Yabous Cultural Centre
10:00 The Armenian Quarter, meeting point: Jaffa
Gate, Centre for Jerusalem Studies
Friday 10
18:00 Green Days, Yabous Cultural Centre
Saturday 25
Saturday 11
10:00 Moslem Medieval Theological Colleges
and Arabic Neighbourhoods, meeting point:
Centre for Jerusalem Studies
18:00 Harragas, Yabous Cultural Centre
Sunday 12
18:00 We Wont Leave, Yabous Cultural Centre
Monday 6
French-German Cultural Center, tel: 298 1922;
Cafe La Vie, tel: 296 4115; Virtual Gallary, Birzeit
University, 298 2976
20:00 Quiz Night Winter Games - Golden
League, Orthodox Club Ramallah
ART
Tuesday 7
Wednesday 4
20:00 Quiz Night Winter Games - Silver League,
10:00 Between Ebal and Gerzim, Virtual Gallary,
Birzeit University
Orthodox Club Ramallah
Thursday 9
18:00 Stammtisch Deutsch, Open meeting for
everybody who likes to speak German, Café
La Vie
Monday 13
11:00 Exhibition of garden paintings “Every book
is like a garden-you can carry it in your pocket,”
French-German Cultural Center
Monday 13
Friday 10
20:00 Quiz Night Winter Games - Golden
League, Orthodox Club Ramallah
Billboard project “Ehna men hon,” Contact
in Ramallah: Lucia Ahmad (luciechristinee@
hotmail.com)
Tuesday 14
02/12/2012
20:00 Quiz Night Winter Games - Silver League,
Orthodox Club Ramallah
Friday 10
Saturday 18
17:00 A Metro in Gaza, French-German Cultural
Center
10:00 “Teaching Translation - Training
Translators,” French-German Cultural Centre
FILMS
Monday 20
20:00 Quiz Night Winter Games - Golden
League, Orthodox Club Ramallah
Thursday 2
17:00 La chandeleur: Crêpes tasting session and
CinéMémoires: The 2nd of February is a Christian
holiday, French-German Cultural Center
Tuesday 21
20:00 Quiz Night Winter Games - Silver League,
Monday 6
Orthodox Club Ramallah
18:00 Lila lila, In German with English subtitles,
French-German Cultural Center
Monday 27
20:00 Quiz Night Winter Games - Golden
League, Orthodox Club Ramallah
Tuesday 14
Sunday 12
Dar Annadwa, tel: 276 4576
18:00 Under the sun of Sandrine Bonnaire,
French-German Cultural Center
18:35 Al-Anfal, Fragments of Life and Death,
Yabous Cultural Centre
ART
Wednesday 15
Monday 13
Friday 24
18:00 The Quarter of Scarecrows, Yabous
Cultural Centre
16:00 Gallery Opening of two exhibitions
“Harmony” by the Palestinian jewellery designer
Hiam Rouhana, Dar Annadwa
18:00 Die Tränen meiner Mutter, In German with
English subtitles, French-German Cultural Center
Tuesday 14
Wednesday 29
18:00 Cairo 678, Yabous Cultural Centre
ART
Sunday 19
9:00 A tour to Nablus City and Vicinity, PACE
Wednesday 22 18:00 Sehnsucht, in German with English
subtitles, French-German Cultural Center
Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange
(PACE), tel: 240 7611
17:00 The opening of the new play Do You Still
Love Me, Dar Annadwa
LITERATURE
TOURS
Sunday 5
18:00 Waiting for Abu Zayd, Yabous Cultural
Centre
FILMS
Wednesday 1
Monday 6
17:00 Kairos for Palestine, French-German
Cultural Center
9:00 A tour to Hebron City and Vicinity, PACE
Thursday 16
18:00 Kebab Connection, Dar Annadwa
Wednesday 8
18:00 Every Day is a Holiday, Yabous Cultural
Centre
Thursday 16
18:00 Book launch of The Unholy Land, FrenchGerman Cultural Center
Wednesday 15
18:00 Johnny English Reborn, Dar Annadwa
LITERATURE
Sunday 26
Thursday 9
18:00 50/50, Dar Annadwa
18:00 Book launch of The Unholy Land,
Educational Bookshop, Jerusalem
SPECIAL EVENTS
Friday 10
TOURS
Sunday 26
Thursday 16
9:00 A tour to Jericho City and Vicinity, PACE
17:00 Loz Akhdar youth literature forum (Twenty
one session), organised by JEEL Publishing/
Filistin Ashabab in cooperation with Khalil Al
Sakakini Cultural Center, Khalil Al Sakakini
Cultural Center
TOURS
Sunday 12
9:00 A tour to Sebastia and Jenin City, PACE
17:00 A Fragmented Picture, Dar Annadwa
70
71
Sanabel Culture & Arts Theatre
Al-Jawal Theatre Group
Tel: 671 4338, Fax: 673 0993
[email protected]
Alruwah Theatre
The Edward Said National
Conservatory of Music
Telefax: 628 0655
Tel: 627 1711, Fax: 627 1710
[email protected], ncm.birzeit.edu
Tel: 626 2626, [email protected]
Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art
The Magnificat Intstitute
Tel: 628 3457, Fax: 627 2312
[email protected]
www.almamalfoundation.org
Tel: 626 6609, Fax: 626 6701
[email protected]
www.magnificatinstitute.org
Al-Urmawi Centre for Mashreq Music
Theatre Day Productions
Tel: 234 2005, Fax: 234 2004
[email protected], www.urmawi.org
Tel: 585 4513, Fax: 583 4233
[email protected], www.theatreday.org
Ashtar for Theatre Productions & Training
Turkish Cultural Centre
Telefax: 582 7218
[email protected], www.ashtar-theatre.org
Tel: 591 0530/1, Fax: 532 3310
[email protected], www.kudusbk.com
The Bookshop at the American colony hotel
Tel: 627 9731, Fax: 627 9779
[email protected]
www. americancolony.com
Wujoud Museum
British Council
Yabous Cultural Center
Tel: 626 0916
www.wujoud.org, [email protected]
Tel: 626 1045; Fax: 626 1372
[email protected], www.yabous.org
Tel: 626 7111, Fax: 628 3021
[email protected]
www.britishcouncil.org/ps
Center for Jerusalem Studies/Al-Quds University
Tel: 628 7517
[email protected], www.jerusalem-studies.alquds.edu
Al-Harah Theatre
Telefax: 276 7758, [email protected]
[email protected], www.alharah.org
Community Action Centre (CAC)
Tel: 627 3352, Fax: 627 4547
www.cac.alquds.edu
Alliance Française de Bethléem
Telefax: 275 0777, [email protected]
Educational Bookshop
Tel: 627 5858, Fax: 628 0814
[email protected], www.educationalbookshop.com
Anat Palestinian Folk & Craft Center
El-Hakawati Theatre Company
Arab Educational Institute (AEI)-Open
Windows
Telefax: 277 2024, [email protected]
Tel: 583 8836, Mobile: 0545 835 268
[email protected], www.el-hakawati.org
Tel: 274 4030, www.aeicenter.org
French Cultural Centre
Artas Folklore Center
Tel: 628 2451 / 626 2236, Fax: 628 4324
[email protected]
Tel: 276 0533, Mobile: 0599 938 0887
[email protected]
Issaf Nashashibi Center for Culture &
Literature
Badil Centre
Jerusalem Centre for Arabic Music
Beit Jala Community Based-Learning
& Action Center
Tel: 277 7086
Telefax: 581 8232, [email protected]
Tel: 627 4774, Fax: 656 2469, [email protected]
Tel: 277 7863
Melia Art Center
Bethlehem Academy of Music/ Bethlehem
Music Society
TeleFax: 628 1377
[email protected]
www.meliaartandtrainingcenter.com
Tel: 277 7141, Fax: 277 7142
Palestinian Art Court - Al Hoash
Bethlehem Peace Center
Telefax: 627 3501
[email protected], www.alhoashgallary.org
Tel: 276 6677, Fax: 276 4670
[email protected], www.peacenter.org
Palestinian National Theatre
Cardinal House
Telefax: 276 4778
[email protected], www.cardinalhouse.org
Tel: 628 0957, Fax: 627 6293, [email protected]
Public Affairs Office
Catholic Action Cultural Center
Tel: 628 2456, Fax: 628 2454
www.uscongen-jerusalem.org
Tel: 274 3277, Fax 274 2939
[email protected], www.ca-b.org
Sabreen Association for Artistic
Development
Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation
Tel: 276 6244, Fax: 276 6241
[email protected]
www.cchp.ps
Tel: 532 1393, Fax: 532 1394
[email protected], www.sabreen.org
72
Inad Centre for Theatre and Arts
Telefax: 276 6263, www.inadtheater.com
International Centre of Bethlehem-Dar
Annadwa
Tel: 277 0047, Fax: 277 0048
[email protected], www.diyar.ps
ITIP Center “Italian Tourist Information
Point”
Palestinian Child Arts Center (PCAC)
Amideast
Tel: 222 4813, Fax: 222 0855
[email protected], www.pcac.net
Tel: 240 8023, Fax: 240 8017
[email protected], www.amideast.org
Yes Theater
ArtSchool Palestine
Telefax: 229 1559,
www.yestheatre.org, [email protected]
Tel: 295 9837
[email protected], www.artschoolpalestine.com
The International Palestinian Youth League
(IPYL)
Ashtar for Theatre Production
Tel:222 9131, Fax: 229 0652
[email protected], www.ipyl.org
Telefax: 276 0411, [email protected]
Nativity Stationary Library
Ramallah Cultural Palace
Tel: 298 4704 / 295 2105, Fax: 295 2107
[email protected]
www.ramallahculturalpalace.org
RIWAQ: Centre for Architectural
Conservation
Tel: 240 6887, Fax: 240 6986
[email protected], www.riwaq.org
Tel: 298 0037, Fax: 296 0326
[email protected], www.ashtar-theatre.org
Sandouq Elajab Theatre
Tel: 296 5638, 295 3206, [email protected]
Baladna Cultural Center
Shashat
Telfax: 295 8435
Mob: 0598 950 447
Tel: 297 3336, Fax: 297 3338
[email protected], www.shashat.org
BirZeit Ethnographic and Art Museum
Palestinian Heritage Center
Jericho Community Centre
Telefax: 274 2381, 274 2642
[email protected]
www.phc.ps
Telefax: 232 5007
British Council
Jericho Culture & Art Center
Tel: 296 3293-6, Fax: 296 3297
[email protected]
www.britishcouncil.org/ps
Telefax: 232 1047
Palestinian Group for the Revival of Popular
Heritage
Municipality Theatre
Tel: 232 2417, Fax: 232 2604
Telefax: 274 7945
Tel. 298 2976, www.virtualgallery.birzeit.edu
Sharek Youth Forum
Tel: 296 7741, Fax: 296 7742
[email protected], www.sharek.ps
Tamer Institute for Community Education
Carmel Cultural Foundation
Tel: 298 6121/ 2, Fax: 298 8160
[email protected], www.tamerinst.org
Tel: 298 7375, Fax: 298 7374
The Danish House in Palestine (DHIP)
TeleFax: 298 8457, [email protected], www.dhip.ps
Dauod Basha
Relief International - Schools Online
Bethlehem Community Based-Learning &
Action Center
Cinema Jenin
El-Funoun Dance Troupe
Sabreen Association for Artistic
Development
Hakoura Center
Telfax: 250 4773
[email protected], www.hakoura-jenin.ps
Tel: 240 2853, Fax: 240 2851
[email protected], www.el-funoun.org
Sareyyet Ramallah - First Ramallah Group (FRG)
Tel: 295 2690 - 295 2706, Fax: 298 0583
[email protected], www.sareyyet.ps
The Freedom Theatre/Jenin Refugee Camp
Franco-German Cultural Centre Ramallah
The Palestinian Network of Art Centres
Greek Cultural Centre - “Macedonia”
The Spanish Cultural Center
Telefax: 298 1736/ 298 0546, [email protected]
Tel. 295 0893, [email protected]
In’ash Al-Usra Society- Center for Heritage
& Folklore Studies
Young Artist Forum
Telefax: 296 7654, [email protected]
The Edward Said National Conservatory of
Music
Tel: 297 4655
Tel: 250 2642, 250 2455
[email protected], www.cinemajenin.org
Tel: 277 7863
Tel: 275 0091, Fax: 275 0092
[email protected], www.sabreen.org
Tent of Nations
Tel: 250 3345, [email protected]
Tel: 274 3071, Fax: 276 7446
[email protected], www.tentofnations.org
The Edward Said National Conservatory of
Music
British Council- Al Najah University
Telefax: 274 8726
[email protected], www.birzeit.edu/music
Telefax: 237 5950
[email protected]
www.britishcoumcil.org/ps
The Higher Institute of Music
Turathuna - Centre for Palestinian Heritage
(B.Uni.)
Cultural Heritage Enrichment Center
Manar Cultural Center
French Cultural Centre
Mazra’a Qibliyeh Heritage and Tourism
Centre
Tel: 274 1241, Fax: 274 4440
[email protected], www.bethlehem.edu
Tel: 238 5914, Fax: 238 7593
[email protected]
Nablus The Culture
Al Sanabl Centre for Studies and Heritage
Tel: 233 2084, Fax: 234 5325
[email protected], www.nablusculture.ps
Tel: 256 0280, [email protected]
www.sanabl.org, www.sanabl.ps
Beit Et Tifl Compound
Telefax: 229 1559, [email protected]
A. M. Qattan Foundation
British Council- Palestine Polytechnic University
Tel: 296 0544, Fax: 298 4886
[email protected], www.qattanfoundation.org
Telefax: 229 3717, [email protected]
www.britsishcouncil.org.ps
Al-Kamandjâti Association
Children Happiness Center
Tel: 297 3101
[email protected], www.alkamandjati.com
Telefax: 229 9545, [email protected]
Dura Cultural Martyrs Center
Al Kasaba Theatre and Cinematheque
Tel: 228 3663, [email protected], www.duramun.org
France-Hebron Association for Cultural
Exchanges
Tel: 222 4811
[email protected], wwww.hebron-france.org
Telfax: 225 5640, 222 6993/4
Al-Qattan Centre for the Child
Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
Tel: 283 9929, Fax: 283 9949
[email protected]
www.qattanfoundation.org/qcc
Tel: 298 7374, Fax: 296 6820
[email protected], www.sakakini.org
Arts & Crafts Village
Tel: 295 7937, Fax: 298 7598
Telefax: 284 6405
[email protected], www.gazavillage.org
Ashtar for Culture & Arts
Telefax: 283 3565, [email protected]
Telefax: 281 5825, [email protected]
www.geocities.com/mazraaheritage/
Fawanees Theatre Group
Nawa institute
Telefax: 288 4403
Tel: 297 0190, [email protected]
Culture & Light Centre
Palestinian Association
for Contemporary Art PACA
Telefax: 286 5896, [email protected]
French Cultural Centre
Tel: 296 7601, fax: 295 1849
[email protected], www.pal-paca.org
Tel: 286 7883, Fax: 282 8811
[email protected]
Gaza Theatre
Palestinian Association for Cultural
Exchange (PACE)
Tel: 282 4860, Fax: 282 4870
Tel: 240 7611, Telfax: 240 7610
[email protected], www.pace.ps
Global Production and Distribution
Palestine Workshop
Dialogpunkt Deutsch Gaza (Goethe-Insitut)
Telefax: 288 4399, [email protected]
Tel: 282 0203, Fax: 282 1602
Mob: 0597 651 408, http://palestineworkshop.org
Palestine Writing Workshop
Holst Cultural Centre
Al-Mada Music Therapy Center
Popular Art Center
Theatre Day Productions
Al-Rahhalah Theatre
Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
(RCHRS)
Telefax: 298 8091, [email protected]
74
Tel: 298 0036, 296 4348/9, Fax: 296 0326
[email protected]
Tel: 296 5292/3, Fax: 296 5294
[email protected], www.alkasaba.org
Tel: 241 3196, Fax: 241 3197
[email protected], www.al-mada.ps
Hebron Rehabilitation Committee
Tel: 0545 - 671 911, 0599 - 926 107
www.palcircus.ps, info@ palcircus.ps
Tel: 240 1123 / 240 2876, Telefax: 240 1544
[email protected], www.inash.org
Cultural Centre for Child Development
Tel. 237 2863, Fax. 237 8275, [email protected]
The Palestinian Circus School
Tel: 298 1922 / 7727, Fax: 298 1923
[email protected], www.ccf-goethe-ramallah.org
Telefax: 275 2492
[email protected]
www.thehigherinstituteofmusic.ps
Tel: 238 6290, Fax: 239 7518
[email protected], www.nutaleb.cjb.net
Tel: 295 9070, Fax: 295 9071
[email protected], www.birzeit.edu/music
Tel: 281 0476, Fax: 280 8896, [email protected]
www.palestineworkshop.org
Telefax: 283 6766, [email protected]
Tel: 240 3891, Fax: 240 2851
[email protected], www.popularartcentre.org
Windows from Gaza For Contemporary Art Mob. 0599 781 227 - 0599 415 045, [email protected]
Tel: 241 3002
75
Paradise Hotel (166 rooms;cf;bf;mr;res;su;pf)
Tel: 274 4542/3 - 274 4544, [email protected]
St. Antonio Hotel (36 rooms; mr; cf;res;pf)
Alexander Hotel (42 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Mount of Olives Hotel (61 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Addar Hotel (30 suites; bf; mr; res)
Tel: 626 3111, Fax: 626 0791, www.addar-hotel.com
Alcazar Hotel (38 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Ambassador Hotel (122 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)
Tel: 541 2222, Fax: 582 8202
[email protected]
www.jerusalemambassador.com
Tel: 276 4083/4, Fax: 277 0551, [email protected]
Tel: 276 7374/5/6, Fax: 276 7377, [email protected]
Shepherd Hotel
Mount Scopus Hotel (65 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Angel Hotel Beit Jala
Tel: 276 6880, Fax: 276 6884
[email protected], www.angelhotel.ps
Tel: 274 0656, Fax: 274 4888
[email protected], www.shepherdhotel.com
National Hotel (99 rooms; bf; cr; res; cf)
Tel: 627 8880, Fax: 627 7007
www.nationalhotel-jerusalem.com
Beit Al-Baraka Youth Hostel (19 rooms)
New Imperial Hotel (45 rooms)
Tel: 274 2613, Fax: 274 4250
[email protected]
www.abrahams-herberge.com
Tel: 627 2000, Fax: 627 1530
American Colony Hotel (84 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)
New Metropole Hotel (25 rooms; mr; res)
Tel: 627 9777, Fax: 627 9779
[email protected], www.americancolony.com
Tel: 628 3846, Fax: 627 7485
Austrian Hospice
New Regent Hotel (24 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Tel: 626 5800, Fax: 627 1472
[email protected]
www.austrianhospice.com
New Swedish Hostel
Tel: 628 4540, Fax: 626 4023, [email protected]
Azzahra Hotel (15 rooms, res)
Tel: 628 2447, Fax: 628 3960
[email protected], www.azzahrahotel.com
Tel: 628 2561/2, Fax: 626 4352
Christmas Hotel
Commodore Hotel (45 rooms; cf; mr; res)
Tel: 627 1414, Fax: 628 4701
Gloria Hotel (94 rooms; mr; res)
Tel: 628 2431, Fax: 628 2401, [email protected]
Golden Walls Hotel (112 rooms)
Tel: 627 2416, Fax: 626 4658
[email protected], www.goldenwalls.com
Jerusalem Meridian Hotel
(74 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Tel: 628 5212, Fax: 628 5214
www.jerusalem-meridian.com
Bethlehem Star Hotel (72 rooms; cf; bf; res)
Zaituna Tourist Village
Telefax: 274 2016 Deir Hijleh Monastery
Tel: 994 3038, 0505 348 892
Casanova Palace Hotel (25 rooms; bf; res)
Hisham Palace Hotel
El-Beit Guest House (beit sahour) (15 rooms)
Tel: 232 2414, Fax: 232 3109
Inter-Continental Jericho
(181 rooms; su; bf; cf; mr; res; ter; tb)
Tel: 231 1200, Fax: 231 1222
Tel: 627 2416, [email protected]
TeleFax: 277 5857, [email protected], www.elbeit.org
Ritz Hotel Jerusalem (104 rooms, bf, mr)
Everest Hotel (19 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Tel: 626 9900, Fax: 626 9910
[email protected]
www.jerusalemritz.com
Tel: 274 2604, Fax: 274 1278
Jericho Resort Village
Grand Hotel (107 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)
(60 rooms; 46 studios; bf; cf; mr; res)
Tel: 232 1255, Fax: 232 2189
[email protected], www.jerichoresorts.com
Tel: 274 1602 - 274 1440, Fax: 274 1604
[email protected]
Savoy Hotel (17 rooms)
(66 rooms; res, bar, pool)
Tel: 277 4414
Tel: 628 3366, Fax: 628 8040
House of Hope Guesthouse
House of Peace Hostel
Tel: 673 2401, Fax: 673 1711
[email protected], www.scotsguesthouse.com
Inter-Continental Hotel (Jacir Palace)
Hashimi Hotel
Tel: 628 4410, Fax: 628 4667, [email protected]
(25 rooms; bf; res)
Tel: 628 3302, Fax: 628 2253, [email protected]
Knights Palace Guesthouse (50 rooms)
St. Thomas Home
Tel: 628 2537, Fax: 628 2401, [email protected]
Tel: 628 2657, 627 4318, Fax: 626 4684
[email protected], www.aset-future.net
Metropol Hotel
Victoria Hotel (50 rooms; bf; res)
Tel: 627 4466, Fax: 627 4171
Hebron Hotel
Tel: 225 4240 / 222 9385, Fax: 222 6760
[email protected]
(250 rooms; su; bf; cf; mr; res)
Tel: 276 6777, Fax: 276 6770
Tel: 2759880, Fax:2759881, www.murad.ps
Tel: 628 0279, Fax: 628 4826
(55 rooms)
Tel: 232 1590, Fax: 232 1598
[email protected]
Tel: 276 4739, http://www.houseofpeace.hostel.com/
St. George’s Pilgrim Guest House
Strand Hotel (88 rooms; mr; res)
Telepherique & Sultan Tourist Center
Tel: 274 2325, Fax: 274 0928
[email protected]
St. Andrew’s Scottish Guesthouse
“The Scottie” (19 rooms +Self Catering Apartment)
Tel: 627 0800, Fax: 627 7739
[email protected], www.jerusalemlegacy.com
Jerusalem Hotel (22 rooms)
Tel: 232 2444, Fax: 992 3109
Golden Park Resort & Hotel (Beit Sahour)
Lutheran Guesthouse “Abu Gubran”
76
Al- Zaytouna Guest House (7 rooms; bf; res; mr)
Tel: 274 3981, Fax: 274 3540
Tel: 627 7232 Fax: 627 7233
[email protected]
www.stgeorgelandmark.com
Tel: 628 2507, Fax: 628 5134
Tel: 275 0655
Casanova Hospice (60 rooms; mr; res)
(74 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Tel: 628 4887, Fax: 627 3699
[email protected]
www.jerusalempanoramahotel.com
Legacy Hotel
Tel: 274 1247, Fax: 274 1847
Telefax: 274 84 66, http://www.ejepal.org
Pilgrims Inn Hotel (16 rooms; bf; mr; res)
St. George Landmark Hotel
Jerusalem Panorama Hotel
Talita Kumi Guest House (22 rooms; res; mr; cf)
Tel: 274 2798, Fax: 274 1562
Tel: 626 7777, Fax: 627 1319, [email protected]
Tel: 628 3282, Fax: 628 3282
[email protected], www.jrshotel.com
Bethlehem Inn (36 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Tel: 274 2424, Fax: 274 2423
Tel: 628 6618
Seven Arches Hotel (197 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Jerusalem Hotel (14 rooms; bf; mr; res; live music)
Tel: 274 3040/1/2, Fax: 274 3043
Saint Vincent Guest House (36 rooms)
Tel: 276 0967/8, Fax: 276 0970
[email protected], www.saintvincentguesthouse.net
Bethlehem youth hostel
Tel: 628 4871, Fax: 627 4879
Tel: 627 2888, Fax: 628 0265
[email protected], www.holylandhotel.com
St. Nicholas Hotel (25 rooms; res; mr)
Bethlehem Hotel (209 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)
Tel: 277 0702, Fax: 277 0706, [email protected]
Notre Dame Guesthouse (142 rooms, Su, bf, mr,
Rivoli Hotel
Holy Land Hotel (105 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)
(Facilities: Restaurant and Bar, WiFi)
Tel: 275 9690, Fax: 275 9693
Beit Ibrahim Guesthouse
Tel: 274 3249 - 277 0285, Fax: 274 1494
[email protected]
Petra Hostel and Hotel
Tel: 628 2588, Fax: 626 4417
[email protected], www.christmas-hotel.com
Shepherds’ House Hotel
Tel: 222 9288, Fax: 222 9288
Tel: 627 7855, Fax: 626 4124, [email protected]
www.geocities.com/swedishhostel
cr, res, ter, cf, pf)
Tel: 627 9111, Fax: 627 1995
[email protected], www.notredamecenter.
org
Capitol Hotel (54 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Tel: 276 6221, Fax: 276 6220
Santa Maria Hotel (83 rooms; mr; res)
Tel: 628 4877, Fax: 626 4427
[email protected], www.mtolives.com
Tel: 582 8891, Fax: 582 8825, [email protected]
Tel: 628 1111; Fax: 628 7360
[email protected], www.jrscazar.com
Tel: 277 0780, Fax: 277 0782
Al-Salam Hotel (26 rooms; 6f; mr; cf; res)
Tel: 277 0047, [email protected], www.diyar.ps
Al-Qaser Hotel (48 rooms; 7 regular suites, 1 royal
Murad Tourist Resort
suite; bf; cf; mr; res)
Tel: 2341 444, Fax: 2341 944
[email protected], www.alqaserhotel.com
Nativity Bells Hotel (65 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)
Al-Yasmeen Hotel & Souq
Tel: 274 8880, Fax: 274 8870
[email protected], www.nativitybellshotel.ps
(30 rooms; cf; mr; res)
Tel: 233 3555 Fax: 233 3666
[email protected], www.alyasmeen.com
Nativity Hotel (89 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)
Tel: 277 0650, Fax: 274 4083
[email protected], www.nativity-hotel.com
Asia Hotel (28 rooms, res)
Telefax: 238 6220
Olive Tree Hotel (20 rooms; 6 su; res; sp; bar;
Chrystal Motel (12 rooms)
wifi-lobby)
Tel: 276 4660 Fax: 275 3807
[email protected]
Facebook: olive tree tourist village
Telefax: 233 3281
77
International Friends Guesthouse (Hostel)
Pension Miami (12 rooms)
(mr; res; ter; cf; pf)
Telfax: 238 1064
[email protected], www.guesthouse.ps
Ramallah Hotel (22 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Telefax: 295 6808
Tel: 295 3544, Fax: 295 5029
Retno Hotel (33 rooms & su; res; mr; gm; sp)
Al-A’in Hotel (24 rooms and suites; mr; cf)
Telefax: 295 0022, [email protected]
www.retnohotel.com
Aladdin Hotel
cf; pf; i)
Tel: 296 4040, Fax: 296 4047
Tel: 240 5925 - 240 4353 Fax: 240 4332
[email protected]
Royal Court Suite Hotel (34 suites; res; mr; ter;
Tel: 240 7689, 240 7921, Fax: 240 7687
[email protected]
Star Mountain Guesthouse (10 rooms; wifi; pf)
Tel: 296 2705, Telefax: 296 2715
[email protected]
Al-Bireh Tourist Hotel (50 rooms; cf; res)
Telefax: 240 0803
Al-Hajal Hotel (22 rooms; bf)
Adam Hotel (76 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)
Telefax: 298 7858
Telefax: 282 3521/19
Al Hambra Palace (Hotel Suites and Resort)
Tel: 295 6226 - 295 0031, Fax: 295 0032
www.alhambra-palace-hotel.com
[email protected]
Al-Deira (11 suites; cf; mr; res; ter)
AlZahra Suites
Al Mashtal Hotel
Tel: 283 8100/200/300, Fax: 283 8400
[email protected]
Tel: 242 3019
[email protected], www.alzahrasuites.ps
Tel: 283 2500, Fax: 283 2510
[email protected]
Reef Pension (Jifna village) (8 rooms; res)
Telefax: 2810881, www.reefhousepension.ps
Almat’haf Hotel
Tel: 285 8444, Fax: 285 8440
[email protected], www.almathaf.ps
Al-Wihdah Hotel
Al-Quds In­ter­na­tional Hotel
Telefax: 298 0412
(44 rooms; 2 suites; bf; mr; res)
Telefax: 282 5181 - 282 6223 - 286 3481 - 282 2269
Ankars Suites and Hotel (30 suites)
Al-Diwan (Ambassador Hotel)
Middle Eastern, French, and Italian
Cuisine
Tel: 541 2213, Fax: 582 8202
Alhambra Palace Jerusalem
Restaurant & coffee shop
Conferences workshops and social
activates, Theatre and Cinema
Tel: 626 3535, Fax: 6263737
[email protected]
Al-Shuleh Grill
Shawerma and Barbecues
Tel: 627 3768
Amigo Emil
Middle Eastern, American, Indian,
and Italian Cuisine
Tel: 628 8090, Fax: 626 1457
Antonio’s (Ambassador Hotel)
Middle Eastern, French, and Italian
Cuisine
Tel: 541 2213
Arabesque, Poolside, and
Patio Restaurants (American
Al-Waha Hotel
Colony Hotel)
Western and Middle Eastern Menu
Tel: 627 9777, Fax: 627 9779
Tel: 287 0880, Fax: 287 0889
Armenian Tavern
Tel: 296 6477, Fax: 296 6479
[email protected], www.beautyinn.ps
Beach Hotel (25 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Armenian and Middle Eastern Food
Tel: 627 3854
Best Eastern Hotel (91 rooms; cf; res)
Tel: 296 0450, Fax: 295 8452, [email protected]
Cliff Hotel (24 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Caesar Hotel (46 rooms & su, 2 mr, cr, res, cf)
Commodore Gaza Hotel (120 rooms;su; bf)
Tel: 295 2602, Fax: 295 2603
[email protected]
Beauty Inn
Telefax: 282 5492 - 284 8433
Tel: 282 3450, Fax: 282 0742
Tel: 297 9400, Fax: 297 9401
[email protected], www.caesar-hotel.ps
Tel: 283 4400, Fax: 282 2623
[email protected]
Gaza International Hotel
City Inn Palace Hotel (47 rooms; bf; cf; res)
Tel: 240 8080, Fax: 240 8091
[email protected], www.cityinnpalace.com
(30 rooms; bf; cf; res; sp)
Tel: 283 0001/2/3/4, Fax: 283 0005
Grand Park Hotel & Resorts
Grand Palace Hotel
Askidinya
Italian and French Cuisine
Tel: 532 4590
Az-Zahra
Oriental food and Pizza
Tel: 628 2447
Borderline Restaurant Café
Italian and Oriental Menu
Tel: 532 8342
(20 rooms; cr; mr; cf; res; internet)
Tel: 284 9498/6468, Fax: 284 9497
[email protected]
Bulghourhi
(90 executive suites; cs; mr; pf; gm; res)
Tel: 240 9729, Fax: 240 9532
[email protected], www.gemzosuites.net
Hotel Sea Breeze
Cardo Restaurant
Manarah Hotel
Tel: 282 2624, Fax: 282 3322
(84 rooms; 12 grand suites; bf; cf; mr; res; sp; pf)
Tel: 298 6194, Fax: 295 6950, [email protected]
Gemzo Suites
Tel: 283 0277 - 284 2654, Fax: 282 4231
Marna House (17 rooms; bf; mr; res)
Tel: 295 2122, Telefax: 295 3274
[email protected], www.manarahhotel.com.ps
Palestine Hotel (54 rooms; bf; cf; mr; res)
Tel: 282 3355, Fax: 286 0056
Merryland Hotel (25 rooms)
Tel: 298 7176, Telefax: 298 7074
Cinema Jenin Guesthouse (7 rooms; 2 su)
Mövenpick Hotel Ramallah (171 rooms and Su;
Tel: 250 2455, Mob: 0599 317 968
[email protected], www.cinemajenin.org
bf; mr; cr; res;ter; cf; gm; pf; sp)
Tel: 298 5888, Fax: 298 533
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.moevenpick-ramallah.com
Haddad Hotel & Resort
Tel: 241 7010/1/2, Fax: 241 7013
[email protected]
www.haddadtourismvillage.com
Rocky Hotel (22 rooms; cf; res; ter)
Tel: 296 4470, Telefax: 296 1871
Armenian and Middle Eastern
Tel: 628 2072, Fax: 628 2080
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 627 0827
Chinese Restaurant
Chinese Cuisine
Tel: 626 3465, Fax: 626 3471
Coffee Bean Café
Sandwiches and Sushi
Tel: 627 0820
Educational Bookshop
Books and Coffee
Books and Coffee
Tel: 627 5858
El Dorada Coffee Shop and
Internet Café
Chocolates, Coffee, and Internet
Tel: 626 0993
Flavours Grill
Key: su = suites, bf = business facilities; mr = meeting rooms, cr = conference facilities; res = restaurant,
ter = terrace bar; tb = turkish bath, cf = coffee shop; gm = gym; pf = parking facilities, sp = swimming pool
78
International Cuisine with
Mediterranean Flavour
Tel: 627 4626
Four Seasons Restaurants
and Coffee Shop
Barbecues and Shawerma
Tel: 628 6061, Fax: 628 6097
Garden’s Restaurant
Tel: 581 6463
Goodies
Fast Food
Tel: 585 3223
Kan Zaman (Jerusalem Hotel)
Mediterranean Cuisine
Tel: 627 1356
Lotus and Olive Garden
The Scots Bistro
Coffee and Pastry
Tel: 673 2401, Fax: 673 1711
The Patio (Christmas Hotel)
Oriental and European Menu
Tel: 628 2588, 626 4418
Versavee Bistro (Bar and Café)
Oriental and Western Food
Tel: 627 6160
Zad Rest. & Café
Tel: 627 7454, 627 2525
(Jerusalem Meridian Hotel)
Middle Eastern and Continental
Cuisine
Tel: 628 5212
1890 Restaurant (Beit-Jala)
Tel: 277 8779
[email protected]
Nafoura
Middle Eastern and Barbecues
Tel. 274 1897
Middle Eastern Menu
Tel: 626 0034
Abu Eli Restaurant
Abu Shanab Restaurant
Nakashian Gallery Café
Barbecues
Tel: 274 2985
La Rotisserie (Notre Dame
Afteem Restaurant
Tel: 627 8077
Hotel)
Gourmet Restaurant, European
and Mediterranean Menu
Tel: 627 9114, Fax: 627 1995
Dina Café
Coffee and Pastry
Tel: 626 3344
Panoramic Golden City
Barbecues
Tel: 628 4433, Fax: 627 5224
Pasha’s
Oriental Food
Tel: 582 5162, 532 8342
Patisserie Suisse
Fast Food and Breakfast
Tel: 628 4377
Petra Restaurant
Oriental Cuisine
Tel: 627 7799
Oriental Cuisine
Tel: 274 7940
Al-Areeshah Palace (Jacir
Palace – InterContinental
Bethlehem)
Middle Eastern and Barbecues
Tel: 276 6777, Fax: 276 6154
Al-Hakura Restaurant
Middle Eastern and Fast Food
Tel: 277 3335
Al- Khaymeh (Jacir Palace –
InterContinental Bethlehem)
Middle Eastern and Barbecues
Tel: 276 6777, Fax: 276 6154
Al Makan Bar (Jacir Palace –
InterContinental Bethlehem)
Snack Bar
Tel: 276 6777, Fax: 276 6770
Balloons
Pizza House
Pizza and Oriental Pastry
Tel: 627 3970, 628 8135
RIO Grill and Subs
Italian and French Cuisine
Tel: 583 5460
Rossini’s Restaurant Bar
French and Italian Cuisine
Tel: 628 2964
Philadelphia Restaurant
Mediterranean Menu
Tel: 532 2626, Fax: 532 2636
Shalizar Restaurant
Middle Eastern, Mexican, and
Italian Cuisine
Tel: 582 9061
The Gate Café
Fresh Juices, Coffee, and Tea
Tel: 627 4282
79
Coffee Shop and Pizza
Tel: 275 0221, Fax: 277 7115
Beit Sahour Citadel
Mediterranean Cuisine
Tel: 277 7771
Bonjour Restaurant and Café
Coffee Shop and Continental
Cuisine
Tel: 274 0406
Dar al-Balad
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 274 9073
Grotto Restaurant
Barbecues and Taboon
Tel: 274 8844, Fax: 274 8889
Golden Roof
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 274 3224
Il’iliyeh Restaurant
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 277 0047
La Terrasse
Seven Trees
Middle Eastern and Continental
Cuisine
Tel: 275 3678
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 232 2781
Limoncello (Beit Jala)
Tel: 275 8844, Fax: 275 8833
Salim Afandi
Layal Lounge
Barbecues and Oriental Cuisine
Tel: 237 1332
Snack Bar
Tel: 275 0655
Qasr al-Jabi restaurant
Mariachi (Grand Hotel)
Tel: 238 4180
Seafood and Mexican Cuisine
Tel: 274 1440, 274 1602/3
Fax: 274 1604
Zeit Ou Zaater (Al-Yasmeen
Palmeras Gastropub
Continental Cuisine
Telefax: 275 6622
Peace Restaurant & Bar
Hotel)
Continental Cuisine and Pastries
Tel: 238 3164, Fax: 233 3666
Caesar’s (Grand Park Hotel)
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 298 6194
Mac Simon
Sangria’s
Zarour Bar BQ
Pizza and Fast Food
Tel: 297 2088
Café De La Paix
Mr. Donuts Café
French, Italian, and Mexican
Cuisine
Tel: 295 6808
Barbecues and Oriental Cuisine
Tel: 295 6767, 296 4480
Fax: 296 4357
French Cuisine
Tel: 298 0880
Donuts and Coffee Shop
Tel: 240 7196
Shukeireh Restaurant
Zeit ou Zaater
Castello Restaurant & Café
Mr. Fish
Oriental
Tel: 297 3844/55
Seafood
Tel: 295 9555
Chinese House Restaurant
Mr. Pizza
Chinese Cuisine
Tel: 296 4081
Pizza and Fast Food
Tel: 240 3016, 240 8182
Crispy
Muntaza Restaurant and
Garden
Fried Chicken and Hamburgers
Tel: 295 6661
Darna
911 Café
Pasta, Seafood, Steaks & Middle
Eastern
Tel: 0595 187 622
Mexican, Italian, Oriental
Tel: 296 5911
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 295 0590/1
Diwan Art Coffee Shop
Riwaq Courtyard (Jacir Palace
Andareen Pub
Mob: 0599 258 435
– InterContinental Bethlehem)
Coffee Shop and Sandwiches
Tel: 276 6777, Fax: 276 6754
Al Falaha
Roots Lounge (Beit Sahour)
Akasha
The Tent Restaurant
Oriental
Tel: 295 9333
Tel: 0598 333 665
(Shepherds’ Valley Village)
Barbecues
Tel: 277 3875, Fax: 277 3876
Msakhan and Taboun
Tel: 290 5124
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 296 6483
Do Re Mi Café (Royal Court)
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 296 4040
Elite Coffee House
Allegro Italian Restaurant
Italian and Arabic Cuisine
Tel: 296 5169
European Coffee Shop
Sima café
Mövenpick Hotel Ramallah
Italian fine cuisine
Tel: 298 5888
Express Pizza
St. George Restaurant
Al- Riwaq All-day-dining
restaurant
Tel: 275 2058
Oriental Cuisine and Barbecues
Tel: 274 3780, Fax: 274 1833
[email protected]
Tachi Chinese
Chinese Cuisine
Tel: 274 4382
Taboo – Restaurant and Bar
Oriental and Continental Cuisine
Tel: 274 0711, Fax: 274 1862
The Square Restaurant and
Coffee Shop
Mediterranean Cuisine
Tel: 274 9844
Zaitouneh (Jacir Palace –
InterContinental Bethlehem)
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 276 6777, Fax: 276 6154
Al-Nafoura Restaurant
(Jericho Resort Village)
Arabic Cuisine and Barbecues
Tel: 232 1255, Fax: 232 2189
Al-Rawda
Barbecues
Telefax: 232 2555
Mövenpick Hotel Ramallah
International, Swiss and Oriental
cuisine
Tel: 298 5888
Atlantic Sea Food
Sea Food and Oriental
Tel: 296 9696
Awjan
Seafood, Breakfast, and Pizza,
Coffee Shop, Lebanese and Italian
Cuisine
Tel: 297 1776
Andre’s Restaurant
French and Italian Cuisine
Tel: 296 6477/8
Angelo’s
Western Menu and Pizza
Tel: 295 6408, 298 1455
Azure Restaurant and Coffee
Shop
Continental Cuisine
Telefax: 295 7850
Baladna Ice Cream
Ice Cream and Soft Drinks
Telefax: 295 6721
Green Valley Park
Bamboo Chinese Restaurant
Oriental Cuisine and Barbecues
Tel: 232 2349
Birth Café
Jabal Quruntul
Continental Cuisine (Open Buffet)
Tel: 232 2614, Fax: 232 2659
Tel: 297 6667
Barbecues and Fast Food
Tel: 297 6614
80
Coffee and Sweets
Tel: 2951 7031, 296 6505
American Pizza
Tel: 296 6566
Fawanees
Pastries and Fast Food
Tel: 298 7046
Hoash Il’iliyet Restaurant
and Gallery
Traditional Palestinian Cuisine
(Birzeit)
Mob: 0599 868 914
Jasmine Café
Tel: 295 0121
K5M - Caterers
Barbecues and Sandwiches
Tel: 295 6835
Na3Na3 Café
Italian and Oriental Cuisine
Tel: 296 4606
Newz Bar
Lounge and “Le Gourmet” pastries’
corner
Mövenpick Hotel Ramallah
Tel: 298 5888
Osama’s Pizza
Pizza and Fast Food
Tel: 295 3270
Orjuwan Lounge
Palestinian-Italian Fusion
Tel: 297 6870
Palms Lounge
Resto/Bar
Tel: 298 5376
Pesto Café and Restaurant
Italian Cuisine
Tel: 297 0705, 297 0706
Pizza Inn
Pizza and Fast Food
Tel: 298 1181/2/3
Philadelphia Restaurant
Middle Eastern Menu
Tel: 295 1999
Plaza Jdoudna Restaurant
and Park
Cake and Sweets
Tel: 295 6813
Middle Eastern Menu
Tel: 295 6020, Fax: 296 4693
Khuzama Restaurant
Pronto Resto-Café
Middle Eastern and Western
Cuisine
Sinatra Cafe and Cheese
Cake
Pastries and Snacks
Tel: 295 4455
Ziryab
Italian and American Cuisine
Tel: 297 1028
Barbecues, Italian, and Oriental
Cuisine
Tel: 295 9093
Sky Bar (Ankars Suites and
Hotel)
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 295 2602
Al-Andalus
Sparkles Bar
Cigar bar
Mövenpick Hotel Ramallah
Tel: 298 5888
Stones
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 296 6038
Tabash (Jifna Village)
Barbecues
Tel: 281 0932
Tal El-Qamar Roof
Middle Eastern and Western Menu
Tel: 298 7905/ 6
TCHE TCHE
Middle Eastern and Western
Cuisine
Tel: 282 1272, 283 3769
Al-Deira
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 283 8100/200/300
Al-Marsa
Seafood and Desserts
Tel: 286 3599
Almat’haf Restaurant
Tel: 285 8444, Fax: 285 8440
[email protected], www.almathaf.ps
Al-Molouke
Shawerma and Barbecues
Tel: 286 8397
Al-Salam
Tel: 296 4201
The Vine Restaurant
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 295 7727
THE Q GARDEN
Roof-top garden International Cusine
Tel: 295 7727
Tomasso’s
Seafood
Tel: 282 2705, Telefax: 283 3188
Al-Sammak
Seafood
Tel: 286 4385
Al-Sammak Ghornata
Seafood
Tel: 284 0107
Pizza and Fast Food
Tel: 240 9991/ 2
Avenue Restaurant and Café
Shop
Tropicana
Middle Eastern and Western Menu
Tel: 288 2100 / 288 3100
Mexican Cuisine, Oriental Menu,
and Zarb
Tel: 297 5661
UpTown (Ankars Suites and
Hotel)
Continental Cuisine
Tel: 295 2602
La Mirage
Continental Cuisine and Seafood
Tel: 286 5128
Roots - The Club
Oriental Cuisine
Tel: 288 8666, 282 3999,
282 3777
Oriental Cuisine
Tel: 298 8289
Italian Cuisine
Tel: 298 7312
Karaz Restaurant
Roma Café
International and Sea Food
Tel: 296 6997
Saleh Atya Al Shawa
Restaurant - Al-Jala
French and Italian dishes
Tel: 297 3451
Italian Light Food
Tel: 296 4228
Vatche’s Garden Restaurant
Barbecues
Tel: 282 5062
La Vie Café
Values Restaurant
Rukab’s Ice Cream
European Style
Tel: 296 5966, 296 5988
Cafe, Bistro & Bar
Tel: 296 4115
Ice Cream and Soft Drinks
Tel: 295 3467
Zam’n Premium Coffee
La Vista Café and Restaurant
Saba Sandwiches
Coffee Shop Style
Tel: 295 0600
Oriental and Western Cuisine
Tel: 296 3271
Falafel and Sandwiches
Tel: 296 0116
Zaki Taki
Cann Espresso
Samer
Sandwiches
Tel: 296 3643
Middle Eastern Food
Tel: 240 5338 - 240 3088
Zam’n Premium Coffee
Masyoun
Arabic and Italian Cuisine
Tel: 297 2125
Coffee Shop Style
Tel: 298 1033
81
Al Quds Restaurant
Tel: 229 7773
Fax: 229 7774
East Jerusalem (02) 4M Travel Agency, Tel: 627 1414, Fax: 628 4701, [email protected], www.4m-
East Jerusalem (02) Armenian Museum, Old City,
Tel: 628 2331, Fax: 626 4861, Opening hours:
Mon.- Sat. from 9:00 - 16:30 • Dar At Tifl Museum (Dar At Tifl Association), Near the Orient House,
Tel: 628 3251, Fax: 627 3477 • Islamic Museum (The Islamic Waqf Asso­ciation), Old City, Tel: 628 3313,
Fax: 628 5561, opening hours for tourists: daily from 7:30 - 13:30 • Math Museum, Science Museum, Abu
Jihad Museum for the Palestinian Prisoners Studies - Al-Quds University, Tel: 279 9753 - 279 0606,
[email protected], opening hours Saturday - Wednesday 8:30 - 15:00 • Qalandia Camp Women’s Handicraft
Coop., Telefax: 656 9385, Fax: 585 6966, [email protected] • WUJOUD Museum, Tel: 626 0916, Fax:
0272625, [email protected], www.wujoud.org
Ramallah & Al-Bireh (02) Museum of Palestinian Popular Heritage - In’ash el Usra, In’ash el
Usra society, Al-Bireh, Tel: 240 2876, Fax: 240 1544, Opening hours: daily from 8:00 - 15:00 except Fridays •
Ramallah Museum, Al-Harajeh St., Across from Arab Bank, Old Town, Ramallah, Telefax: 295 9561,
open daily from 8:00 - 15:00 except friday and Saturday • The Birzeit University Ethnographic and Art
Museum Tel: 298 2976, [email protected], Opening hours: daily from 10:00 - 15:00 except for Fridays and Sundays
Bethlehem (02) Al-Balad Museum for Olive Oil Production, Tel: 274 1581, Opening hours: 8:00-14:30
Monday through Saturday • Baituna al Talhami Museum, (Folklore Museum) Arab Women’s Union,
Tel: 274 2589, Fax: 274 2431, Opening hours: daily from 8:00 - 13:00/ 14:00 - 17:00 except for Sundays and
Thursdays afternoon • Bethlehem Peace Center Museum, Tel: 276 6677, Fax: 274 1057, [email protected],
www.peacenter.org , Opening hours: daily from 10:00-18:00 except Sundays from 10:00 - 16:00 •
International Nativity Museum, Telefax: 276 0076, [email protected],
w w w. i n t e r n a t i o n a l n a t i v i t y m u s e u m . c o m • N a t u r a l H i s t o r y M u s e u m , Te l e f a x : 0 2 - 2 7 6
5 5 7 4 , e e c @ p - o l . c o m , w w w. e e c p . o r g • P a l e s t i n i a n E t h n o g r a p h i c M u s e u m ,
Tel: 276 7467, Fax: 276 0533, [email protected], Opening hours: daily from 9:00 - 17:00 • Palestinian Heritage
Center, Telefax: 274 2381, [email protected], www.palestinianheritagecenter.com
Gaza (08) Al Mathaf, Tel: 285 8444, [email protected], www. almathaf.ps
East Jerusalem (02) Car Rental • Car & Drive, Tel: 656 5562/3 • Dallah Al-Barakah, Tel: 656 4150 •
Good Luck, Tel: 627 7033, Fax: 627 7688 • Green Peace Rent A Car Ltd., Telefax: 585 9756 • Jerusalem
Car Rental & Leasing ltd., Tel: 582 2179, Fax: 582 2173 • Orabi, Tel: 585 3101 • Middle East Car Rental,
Tel: 626 2777, Fax: 626 2203, [email protected] • Taxis Abdo,Tel: 585 8202 (Beit Hanina), Tel: 628 3281
(Damascus Gate) • Al-Eman Taxi & Lemo Service, Tel: 583 4599 - 583 5877 •Al-Rashid, Tel: 628 2220
• Al-Aqsa, Tel: 627 3003 • Beit Hanina, Tel: 585 5777 • Holy Land, Tel: 585 5555 • Imperial, Tel: 628 2504
• Jaber - Petra, Tel: 583 7275 - 583 7276 • Khaled Al-Tahan, Tel: 585 5777 • Mount of Olives, Tel: 627
2777 • Panorama, Tel: 628 1116 • Tourist Trans­por­tation Abdo Tourist, Tel: 628 1866 • Jerusalem of
Gold, Tel: 673 7025/6 • Kawasmi Tourist Travel Ltd., Tel: 628 4769, Fax: 628 4710 • Mount of Olives,
Tel: 627 1122 • Mahfouz Tourist Travel, Tel: 628 2212, Fax: 628 4015 •
travel.com • Abdo Tourist & Travel, Tel: 628 1865, Fax: 627 2973, [email protected] • Aeolus Tours,
Tel: 0505 635 5496, Fax: 656 5823, [email protected] • Albina Tours Ltd., Tel: 628 3397, Fax: 628 1215,
[email protected]; [email protected], www.albinatours.com • Alliance Travel Solutions, Tel: 581
7102, Fax: 581 7103, [email protected], www.alliancetravel-jrs.com • Arab Tourist Agency (ATA),
Tel: 627 7442, Fax: 628 4366,[email protected] • Atic Tours & Travel Ltd., Tel: 628 6159, Fax: 626 4023,
[email protected], www.atictour.com • Awad & Co. Tourist Agency, Tel: 628 4021, Fax: 628 7990, admin@
awad.tours.com, www.awad-tours.com • Aweidah Bros. Co., Tel: 6282365, [email protected] • B.
Peace Tours & Travel, Tel: 626 1876, Fax: 626 2065, [email protected] • Bible Land Tours,
Tel: 627 1169, Fax: 627 2218, [email protected] • Blessed Land Tours, Tel: 628 6592, Fax: 628 5812, blt@
blessedlandtours.com, www.blessedlandtours.com • Carawan Tours and Travel, Tel: 628 1244, Fax: 628 1406,
[email protected], www.carawan-tours.com • Daher Travel, Tel: 628 3235, Fax: 627 1574, dahert@netvision.
net.il, www.dahertravel.com • Dajani Palestine Tours, Tel: 626 4768, Fax: 627 6927, [email protected] •
Dakkak Tours Agency, Tel: 628 2525, Fax: 628 2526, [email protected] • Destination Middle East,
[email protected] • George Garabedian Co., Tel: 628 3398, Fax: 628 7896, [email protected]
• GEMM Travel, Tel: 628 2535/6, [email protected] • Guiding Star Ltd., Tel: 627 3150, Fax: 627 3147,
[email protected], www.guidingstarltd.com • Holy Jerusalem Tours & Travel, Tel: 540 1668; Fax: 540
0963, [email protected], www.holyjerusalemtours.com • Holy Land Tours, Tel: 532 3232, Fax: 532
3292, [email protected] • Jata Travel Ltd., Tel: 627 5001, Fax: 627 5003, [email protected] • Jiro
Tours, Tel: 627 3766, Fax: 628 1020, [email protected], www.jirotours.com • Jordan Travel Agency, Tel:
628 4052, Fax: 628 7621 • Jerusalem Orient Tourist Travel, Tel : 628 8722, Fax: 627 4589, hamdi@jottweb.
com • JT & T, Tel: 628 9418, 628 9422, Fax: 628 9298, [email protected], www.jttours.com • KIM’s Tourist &
Travel Agency, Tel: 627 9725, Fax: 627 4626, [email protected], www.kimstours.com • Lawrence Tours &
Travel, Tel: 628 4867, Fax: 627 1285, [email protected] • Lions Gate Travel & Tours, Tel: 627 7829,
Fax: 627 7830, Mobile: 0523 855 312, [email protected] • Lourdes Tourist & Travel Agency, Tel: 627
5332, Telefax: 627 5336, [email protected] • Mt. of Olives Tours Ltd., Tel: 627 1122, Fax: 628 5551
[email protected], www.olivetours.com • Nawas Tourist Agency Ltd., Tel: 628 2491, Fax: 628
5755 • Nazarene Tours and Travel, Tel: 627 4636, Fax: 627 7526 • Near East Tourist Agency
(NET), Tel: 532 8706, Fax: 532 8701, [email protected], www.netours.com • O.S. Hotel Services,
Tel: 628 9260, Fax: 626 4979, [email protected] • Overseas Travel Bureau, Tel: 628 7090, Fax: 628
4442, [email protected] • Priority Travel and Tours LTD., Tel: 627 4207, Fax: 627 4107 • Safieh
Tours & Travel Agency, Tel: 626 4447, Fax: 628 4430, [email protected] • Samara Tourist
& Travel Agency, Tel: 627 6133. Fax: 627 1956, [email protected] • Shepherds Tours &
Travel, Tel: 6284121- 6287859, Fax: 6280251, [email protected], www.shepherdstours.com
• Shweiki Tours Ltd., Tel: 673 6711, Fax: 673 6966 • Sindbad Travel Tourist Agency, Tel: 627 2165,
Fax: 627 2169, [email protected], www.Sindbad-Travel.com • Swift Travel, Tel: 628 0704, Fax: 627 2783,
[email protected] • Terra Sancta Tourist Co, Tel: 628 4733, Fax: 626 4472 • Tower Tours & Travel
Ltd., Tel: 628 2365, Fax: 628 2366, [email protected], www.tower-tours.com • Tony Tours Ltd., Tel: 244
2050, Fax: 244 2052, [email protected] • United Travel Ltd., Tel: 583 3614, Fax: 583 6190, unidas@bezeqint.
net, www.unitedtravelltd.com • Universal Tourist Agency, Tel: 628 4383, Fax: 626 4448, [email protected],
www.universal-jer.com • William Tours & Travel Agency, Tel: 623 1617, Fax: 624 1126, wiltours_n@hotmail.
com • Yanis Tours & Travel, Telefax: 627 5862, [email protected] • Zatarah Tourist & Travel Agency,
Tel: 627 2725, Fax: 628 9873, [email protected]
Hebron (02) Car Rental Holy Land, Tel: 222 0811 • Taxis Al-Asdiqa’, Tel: 222 9436 • Al-Itihad, Tel: 222 8750
Bethlehem (02) Angels Tours and Travel, Tel: 277 5813, Fax: 277 5814, [email protected], www.
angelstours.com.ps • Arab Agency Travel & Tourism, Tel: 274 1872, Fax: 274 2431, tourism@aca-palestine.
com, www.aca-palestine.com • Bethlehem Star Travel, Telefax: 277 0441, [email protected], www.bst.ps • Crown
Tours & Travel Co. Ltd., Tel: 274 0911, Fax: 274 0910, [email protected], www.crown-tours.com • Four
Seasons Co. Tourism & Travel, Tel: 277 4401, Fax: 277 4402, [email protected] • Gloria Tours & Travel,
Tel: 274 0835, Fax: 274 3021, [email protected] • Golden Gate Tours & Travel, Tel: 276 6044, Fax: 276 6045,
[email protected] • Kukali Travel & Tours, Tel: 277 3047, Fax: 277 2034, [email protected] • Laila Tours &
Travel, Tel: 277 7997, Fax: 277 7996, [email protected], www.Lailatours.com • Lama Tours International,
Tel: 274 3717, Fax: 274 3747, [email protected] • Millennium Transportation, TeleFax: 676 7727, 050-242 270
• Mousallam Int’l Tours, Tel: 277 0054, Fax: 277 0054, [email protected] • Nativity Travel, Tel: 274 2966,
Fax: 274 4546 • Sansur Travel Agency, Tel: 274 4473, Telefax: 274 4459 • Sky Lark Tours and Travel,
Tel: 274 2886, Fax: 276 4962, [email protected] • Terra Santa Tourist Co., Tel: 277 0249 Fax: 277 0250 •
Voice of Faith Tours, Tel: 275 70 50 Fax: 275 70 51, [email protected], www.gmtravel.co.il
Jericho (02) Taxis Petra, Tel: 232 2525
Beit Jala (02) Guiding Star Ltd., Tel: 276 5970, Fax: 276 5971, [email protected]
Nablus (09) Car Rental Orabi, Tel: 238 3383 • Taxis Al-Ittimad, Tel: 237 1439 • Al-Madina, Tel: 237 3501
Beit Sahour (02) Alternative Tourism Group, Tel: 277 2151, Fax: 277 2211, [email protected], www.atg.ps •
Brothers Travel & Tours, Tel: 277 5188, Fax: 277 5189, [email protected], www.brostours.com • Magi
Tours, Telefax: 277 5798, [email protected]
Bethlehem (02) Car Rental Murad, Tel: 274 7092 • Nativity Rent a Car, Tel: 274 3532, Fax: 274 7053 Taxis
Asha’b, Tel: 274 2309 • Beit Jala, Tel: 274 2629 • Al Fararjeh Taxi - 24 Hours, Tel: 275 2416
Ramallah & Al-Bireh (02) Car Rental Good Luck, Tel: 234 2160 • Orabi, Tel: 240 3521 • Petra,
Tel: 295 2602 • TWINS, Tel: 296 4688 • Taxis Al-Bireh, Tel: 240 2956 • Al-Masyoun Taxi, Tel: 295 2230 •
Al-Salam, Tel: 295 5805 • Al-Wafa, Tel: 295 5444 • Al-Itihad, Tel: 295 5887 • Hinnawi Taxi, Tel: 295 6302
• Omaya, Tel: 295 6120 • SAHARA Rent a Car Co., Tel: 297 5317/8 • Shamma’ Taxi Co., Tel: 296 0957
Gaza Strip (08) Car Rental Al-Ahli, Tel: 282 8534 • Al-Farouq, Tel: 284 2755 • Imad, Tel: 286 4000
• Luzun, Tel: 282 2628 • Taxis Al-Nasser, Tel: 286 1844, 286 7845 • Al-Wafa, Tel: 284 9144 - 282 4465 •
Azhar, Tel: 286 8858 • Midan Filastin, Tel: 286 5242
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Hebron (02) AL-Afaq for Travel & Umrah, Telefax: 221 1332, [email protected] • AlArrab Tours
Tel: 221 1917, [email protected] • Al-Buhaira Tours and Travel co., Telefax: 225 2095, www.AL-BUHAIRA.
com, [email protected] • Alkiram Tourism, Tel: 225 6501/2, Fax: 225 6504, [email protected] •
Al-Salam Travel and Tours Co., Tel: 221 5574, Fax: 223 3747 • Sabeen Travel Tourism, Telefax: 229
4775, [email protected]
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Ramallah (02) Al-Asmar Travel Agency, Telefax: 295 4140, 296 5775, [email protected] • All Middle
East Pilgrimage and Tourism Coordination Office, Tel:  289 8123, Fax: 289 9174, [email protected],
www.ameptco.com • Amani Tours, Telefax: 298 7013, [email protected] • Anwar Travel Agency, Tel: 295
6388, 295 1706, [email protected] • Arab Office for Travel & Tourism, Tel: 295 6640, Fax: 295 1331 •
Arseema for Travel & Tourism, Tel: 297 5571, Fax: 297 5572, [email protected] • Atlas Tours & Travel,
Tel: 295 2180, Fax: 298 6395, www.atlasavia.com • Darwish Travel Agency, Tel: 295 6221, Fax: 295 7940
• Golden Globe Tours, Tel: 296 5111, Fax: 296 5110, [email protected] • Issis & Co., Tel: 295 6250,
Fax: 295 4305 • Jordan River Tourist & Travel Agency, Tel: 298 0523, Fax: 298 0524 • Kashou’ Travel
Agency, Tel: 295 5229, Fax: 295 3107, [email protected] • Mrebe Tours & Travel, Tel: 295 4671,
Fax: 295 4672, [email protected] • The Pioneer Links Travel & Tourism Bureau, Tel: 240 7859, Fax: 240
7860, [email protected] • Travel House For Travel & Tourism, Tel: 295 7225, Fax: 296 2634, www.
travelhouse.ps • Rahhal Tours & Travel, Tel: 242 3256, Fax: 242 9962, [email protected], www.rahhalyours.
ps • Raha Tours and Travel, Tel: 296 1780, Fax: 296 1782, www.rahatt.com, www.rahatravel.com • Reem
Travel Agency, Tel: 295 3871, Fax: 295 3871 • Royal Tours, Tel: 296 6350/1, Fax: 296 6635 • Sabeen Travel
Tourism, Telefax: 240 5931, [email protected] • Salah Tours, Tel: 295 9931, Fax: 298 7206 • Shbat &
Abdul Nur, Tel: 295 6267, Fax: 295 7246
Jenin (04) Asia Travel Tourism, Telefax: 243 5157, www.asia-tourism.net • Al Sadeq Travel & Tourism,
Tel: 243 8055, Fax: 243 8057, email: [email protected]
Nablus (09) Almadena Tours, Tel: 239 3333, Telefax: 239 3366, [email protected], www.almadena.ps •
Dream Travel & Tourism, Tel: 233 5056, Fax: 237 2069 • Firas Tours, Tel: 234 4565, Fax: 234 7781 • Top
Tour, Tel: 238 9159, Fax: 238 1425, [email protected] • Yaish International Tours, Telefax: 238
1410, 238 1437, [email protected]
Tulkarem (09) Faj Tours, Tel: 2672 486, Fax: 2686 070, [email protected]
Gaza Strip (08) Al-Muntazah Travel Agency, Tel: 282 7919 Fax: 282 4923 • Halabi Tours and Travel
Co., Tel: 282 3704, Fax: 286 6075, [email protected], www.halabitours.ps • Maxim Tours, Tel: 282 4415,
Fax: 286 7596 • National Tourist Office, Tel: 286 0616, Fax: 286 0682, [email protected] • Time Travel
Ltd., Tel: 283 6775, Fax: 283 6855, [email protected]
Consulates
East Jerusalem (02) Apostolic Delegation, Tel: 628 2298, Fax: 628 1880 • Belgium, Tel: 582 8263,
Fax: 581 4063, [email protected] • European Community - Delegation to the OPT, Tel: 541 5888,
Fax: 541 5848 • France, Tel: 591 4000, Fax: 582 0032 • Great Britain, Tel: 541 4100, Fax: 532 2368, britain.
[email protected], www.britishconsulate.org • Greece, Tel: 582 8316, Fax: 532 5392 • Italy, Tel: 561 8966,
Fax: 561 9190 • Spain, Tel: 582 8006, Fax: 582 8065 • Swedish Consulate General, Tel: 646 5860, Fax:
646 5861 • Turkey, Tel: 591 0555-7, Fax: 582 0214, [email protected], www.kudus.bk.mfa.gov.tr •
United States of America, Tel: 622 7230, Fax: 625 9270
Representative Offices to the PNA
Ramallah & Al-Bireh (02) Argentina Representative Office to the PA, Tel: 241 2848/9, Fax: 241
2850, [email protected] • Australia, Tel: 242 5301, Fax: 240 8290, [email protected], ausaid@palnet.
com • Austria, Tel: 240 1477, Fax: 240 0479 • Brazil, Tel: 241 3753, Fax: 241 3756, admin-office@rep-brazil.
org • Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Tel: 240 58 60/1, Fax: 2405862, representacionenpalestina@yahoo.
com, [email protected] • Canada, Tel: 297 8430, Fax: 297 8446, [email protected]
• Chile, Tel: 296 0850, Fax: 298 4768, [email protected] • Cyprus, Tel: 240 6959, Fax: 240 4897 • Czech
Republic, Tel: 296 5595, Fax: 296 5596 • Denmark, Tel: 242 2330, Fax: 240 0331 • Egypt, Tel: 297 7774, Fax:
297 7772 • Finland, Tel: 240 0340, Fax: 240 0343 • Germany, Tel: 298 4788, Fax: 298 4786, gerrprof@palnet.
com • Hungary, Tel: 240 7676, Fax: 240 7678, [email protected] • India, Tel: 290 3033, Fax: 290 3035, roi_
[email protected] • Ireland, Tel: 240 6811/2/3, Fax: 240 6816, [email protected] • Japan, Tel: 241 3120, Fax:
241 3123 • Jordan, Tel: 297 4625, Fax: 297 4624 • Mexico, Tel: 297 5592, Fax: 297 5594, ofimex-ramala@palnet.
com • Norway, Tel: 235 8600, Fax: 234 5079, [email protected] • Poland, Tel: 297 1318, Fax: 297 1319 • Portugal,
Tel: 240 7291/3, Fax: 240 7294 • Republic of Korea, Tel: 240 2846/7, Fax: 240 2848 • Russian Federation,
Tel: 240 0970, Fax: 240 0971 • South Africa, Tel: 298 7355, Fax: 298 7356, [email protected], www.sarep.org •
Sri Lanka, Telefax: 290 4271 • Switzerland, Tel: 240 8360, [email protected] • The Netherlands,
Tel: 240 6639, Fax: 240 9638 • The People’s Republic of China, Tel: 295 1222, Fax: 295 1221, chinaoffice@
palnet.com
Gaza Strip (08) Egypt, Tel: 282 4290, Fax: 282 0718 • Germany, Tel: 282 5584, Fax: 284 4855 • Jordan,
Tel: 282 5134, Fax: 282 5124 • Morocco, Tel: 282 4264, Fax: 282 4104 • Norway, Tel: 282 4615, Fax: 282 1902
• Qatar, Tel: 282 5922, Fax: 282 5932 • South Africa, Tel: 284 1313, Fax: 284 1333 • Tunisia, Tel: 282 5018,
Fax: 282 5028
United Nations and International Organisations
Air France and KLM, Tel: 02-628 2535/6 (Jerusa­lem), Tel: 08-286 0616 (Gaza) • Air Sinai – Varig, Tel: 02-627
2725 (Jerusalem), Tel: 08-282 1530 (Gaza) • Austrian Airlines Tel: 09-238 2065, Fax: 09-237 5598 (Nablus) •
BMI, Tel: 09-238 2065, Fax: 09-237 5598 (Nablus) • British Airways, Tel: 02-628 8654, Telefax: 02- 628 3602,
(Jerusalem) • Cyprus Airways, Tel: 02-240 4894 (Al-Bireh) • Delta Airlines, Tel: 02-296 7250, Telefax: 02-298
6395 (Ramallah) • Egypt Air, Tel: 02-298 6950/49 (Ramallah), Tel: 08-282 1530 (Gaza) • Emirates Airlines,
Tel: 02-296 1780 (Ramallah) • Gulf Air, Tel: 09-238 6312 (Nablus), Tel: 02-295 3912/3 (Ramallah) • Iberia, Tel:
02-628 3235/7238 (Jerusalem) • Lufthansa, Tel: 09-238 2065, Fax: 09-237 5598 (Nablus) • Malev-Hungarian
Airlines, Tel: 02-295 2180 (Ramallah) • Middle East Car Rental, Tel: 02-295 2602, Fax: 295 2603 • PAL
AVIATION, Tel. 02-296 7250 Telefax: 02-298 6395 (Ramallah) • Palestine Airlines, Tel: 08-282 2800 (Gaza),
Tel: 08-282 9526/7 (Gaza) • Qatar Airways, Tel: 02-240 4895 (Al-Bireh), Tel: 08-284 2303 (Gaza), Royal
Jordanian Airways, Tel: 02-240 5060 (Ramallah), Tel: 08-282 5403/13 (Gaza) • SN Brussels Airlines, Tel:
02-295 2180 (Ramallah), SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Tel: 02-628 3235/7238 (Jerusalem) • South African
Airways, Tel: 02-628 6257 (Jerusalem) • Swiss International Airlines, Tel: 02-295 2180 (Ramallah) • Tunis
Air, Tel: 02-298 7013 (Ramallah), Tel: 08-286 0616 (Gaza) • Turkish Airlines, Tel: 02-277 0130 (Bethlehem)
Airport Information Gaza International Airport, Tel: 08-213 4289 • Ben Gurion Airport, Tel: 03-972 3344
FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Jerusalem (02), TeleFax: 532 2757, 532 1950,
[email protected], www.fao.org • IBRD - International Bank for Reconstruction and De­vel­opment (World
Bank), West Bank (02), Tel: 236 6500 Fax: 236 6543, Gaza (08) Tel: 282 4746 Fax: 282 4296, firstletterofsurname.
[email protected] • IMF, - International Monetary Fund, www.imf.org, Gaza (08), Tel: 282 5913; Fax:
282 5923, West Bank (02), Tel: 236 6530; Fax: 236 6543 • ILO - International Labor Organization, Jerusalem
(02), Tel: 626 0212, 628 0933, Fax: 627 6746, [email protected], Ramallah (02), Tel: 290 0022, Fax: 290
0023, Nablus (09), Tel: 237 5692 - 233 8371, Fax: 233 8370 • OHCHR - Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Gaza (08), Tel: 282 7021, Fax: 282 7321, [email protected], West Bank Office, Telefax: 02-296
5534 • UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Ramallah (02),
Tel: 295 9740, Fax: 295 9741, [email protected] • UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund, Jerusalem
(02), Tel: 581 7292, Fax: 581 7382, [email protected], www.unfpa.ps • UNICEF - United Nations Children’s
Fund, Jerusalem (02), Tel: 583 0013,4 Fax: 583 0806, Gaza (08), Tel: 286 2400, Fax: 286 2800, Jerusalem@
unicef.org • UNIFEM - United Nations Development Fund for Women, Telefax: 628 0450, Tel: 628 0661 •
UN OCHA - United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Tel: 582 9962/02 - 582 5853,
Fax: 582 5841, [email protected], www.ochaopt.org • UNRWA - United Nations Relief and Works Agency,
Gaza (08), Tel: 677 7333, Fax: 677 7555, [email protected], West Bank (02), Tel: 589 0401, Fax: 532 2714,
[email protected] • UNSCO - Office of the Special Coordinator for the Middle East
Peace Process, Tel: 08-284 3555/02-568 7276, Fax: 08-282 0966/02-568 7288, [email protected], www.
unsco.org • UNTSO - United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, Jerusalem (02), Tel: 568 7222 - 568
7444, Fax: 568 7400, [email protected] • WFP - World Food Programme, Gaza (08), Tel: 282
7463, Fax: 282 7921, Jerusalem (02), Tel: 540 1340, Fax: 540 1227, [email protected] • WHO - World
Health Organization, Jerusalem (02), Tel: 540 0595, Fax: 581 0193, [email protected], Gaza (08), Tel: 282
2033, Fax: 284 5409, [email protected] • World Bank, Tel: 236 6500, Fax: 236 6543
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP)
4 Al-Ya’qubi Street, Jerusalem, Tel: 02 6268200, Fax: 02 6268222
E-mail: [email protected] / URL: http://www.papp.undp.org
84
85
East Jerusalem (02) Hospitals Augusta Victoria, Tel: 627 9911 • Dajani Maternity, Tel: 583 3906
• Hadassah (Ein Kerem), Tel: 677 7111 • Hadassah (Mt. Scopus), Tel: 584 4111 • Maqassed, Tel: 627 0222
• Red Crescent Maternity, Tel: 628 6694 • St. John’s Opthalmic, Tel: 582 8325 • St. Joseph, Tel: 591
1911 • Clinics and Centers Arab Health Center, Tel: 628 8726 • CHS Clinics, Tel: 628 0602/0499 • Ibn
Sina Medical Center, Tel: 540 0083/9, 532 2536 • Jerusalem First Aid Clinic, Tel: 626 4055 • Medical
Relief Womens, Health Clinic, Tel: 583 3510 • Palestinian Counseling Center, Tel: 656 2272, 656
2627 • Peace Medical Center, Tel: 532 7111, 532 4259 • Red Crescent Society, Tel: 582 8845 • Spafford
Children’s Clinic, Tel: 628 4875 • The Austrian Arab Commu­nity Clinic (AACC), Tel: 627 3246 • The
Jerusalem Princess Basma Center for Disabled Children, Tel: 628 3058
Bethlehem (02) Hospitals Al-Dibis Maternity, Tel: 274 4242 • Al-Hussein Government, Tel: 274
1161 • Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation, Tel: 274 4049-51, Fax: 274 4053 • Caritas Baby, Tel:
275 8500, Fax: 275 8501 • Mental Health, Tel: 274 1155 • Shepherd’s Field Hospital, Tel: 277 5092 • St.
Mary’s Maternity, Tel: 274 2443 • The Holy Family, Tel: 274 1151, Fax: 274 1154 Clinics and Centers
Beit Sahour Medical Center, Tel: 277 4443 • Bethlehem Dental Center, Tel: 274 3303
Hebron (02) Hos­pi­tals Amira Alia, Tel: 222 8126 • Al-Ahli, Tel: 222 0212 • Al-Meezan, Tel: 225 7400/1
• Al-Za’tari, Tel: 222 9035 • Mohammed Ali, Tel: 225 3883/4 • Shaheera, Tel: 222 6982 • St. John’s
Opthalmic, Tel: 223 6047 • The Red Crescent, Tel: 222 8333 • Yattah Governmental Hospital, Tel:
227 1017, 227 1019 Clinics and Centers Red Crescent Society, Tel: 222 7450 • UPMRC, Tel: 222 6663
Jericho (02) Hospitals Jericho Government, Tel: 232 1967/8/9 Clinics and Centers UPMRC, Tel:
232 2148
Nablus (09) Hospitals Al-Aqsa Hospital and Medical Center, Tel: 294 7666 • Al-Ittihad, Tel: 237
1491 • Al-Watani, Tel: 238 0039 • Al-Zakat Hospital (TolKarem), Tel: 268 0680 • Aqraba Maternity
Home, Tel: 259 8550 • Rafidia, Tel: 239 0390 • Salfit Emergency Governmental Hospital, Tel: 251 5111
• Specialized Arab Hospital, Tel: 239 0390 • St. Luke’s, Tel: 238 3818 • UNRWA Qalqilia Hospital
(Qalqiliya), Tel: 294 0008 Clinics and Centers Al-Amal Center, Tel: 238 3778 • Arab Medical Center,
Tel: 237 1515 • Hagar (Handicapped Equipment Center), Tel: 239 8687 • Red Crescent Society, Tel:
238 2153 • UPMRC, Tel: 283 7178
Ramallah & Al-Bireh (02) Hospitals Arabcare Hospital, Tel: 298 6420 • AL-Karmel
Maternity Home, Tel: 247 1026 • Al-Mustaqbal Hospital, Tel: 240 4562 • AL-Nather Maternity
Hospital, Tel: 295 5295 • Ash-Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Tel: 298 8088 • Birziet Maternity Home,
Tel: 281 0616 • Care Specialized Dental Center, Tel: 297 5090 • Khaled Surgical Hospital, Tel:
295 5640 • Ramallah Government Hospitals, Tel: 298 2216/7 • Red Crescent Hospital, Tel: 240
6260 Clinics and Centers Arab Medical Center, Tel: 295 4334 • Arabcare Medical Center,
Tel: 298 6420 • Emergency & Trauma Center, Tel: 298 8088 • Harb Heart Center, Tel: 296 0336
• Modern Dental Center, Tel: 298 0630 • National Center for Blood Diseases “Hippocrates”
Thalessemia and Hemophilia Center, Tel: 296 5082, Fax: 296 5081 • Patients’ Friends Society
K. Abu Raya Re­ha­bili­tation Centre, Tel: 295 7060/1 • Palestinian Hemophilia Association-PHA,
Telefax: 297 5588 • Peace Medical Center, Tel: 295 9276 • Red Crescent Society, Tel: 240 6260 • UPMRC,
Tel: 298 4423, 296 0686
Gaza Strip (08) Hospitals Al-Ahli Al-Arabi, Tel: 286 3014 • Dar Al-Salam, Tel: 285 4240 • Nasser, Tel:
205 1244 • Shifa, Tel: 286 2765 Clinics and Centers Arab Medical Center, Tel: 286 2163 • Beit Hanoun
Clinic, Tel: 285 8065 • Dar Al-Shifa, Tel: 286 5520 • Hagar (Handicapped Equipment Center), Tel: 284
2636 • St. John’s Opthalmic, Tel: 284 8445 • UPMRC, Tel: 282 7837
Ramallah (02) Quds Bank (Al-Masyoon), Tel: 297 9562, (El-Bireh), Tel: 298 3391 • Al Rafah Microfinance
Bank, Tel: 297 8710, Fax: 297 8880 • Arab Bank, (Al-Balad) Tel: 298 6480, Fax: 298 6488 • Arab Bank,
(Al-Bireh), Tel: 295 9581, Fax: 295 9588 • Arab Bank, (Al-Manara) Tel: 295 4821, Fax: 295 4824 • Arab Bank
(Masyoun Branch), Tel: 297 8100 • Arab Land Bank, Tel: 295 8421 • Bank of Palestine, Tel: 296 5010, Fax:
298 5920 • Bank of Palestine, (Al-Irsal) Tel: 296 6860, Fax: 296 6864 • Arab Palestinian Investment Bank,
Tel: 298 7126, Fax: 298 7125 • Beit Al-Mal Holdings, Tel: 298 6916, Fax: 298 6916 • HSBC Bank Middle
East, Tel: 298 7802, Fax: 298 7804 • Cairo-Amman Bank, Tel: 298 3500, Fax: 295 5437 • The Center for
Private Enterprise Development, Tel: 298 6786, Fax: 298 6787 • Commercial Bank of Palestine, Tel:
295 4141, Fax: 295 4145 • Cooperative Development Unit, Tel: 290 0029, Fax: 290 0029 • Deutsche
Ausgleichsbank (DTA), Tel: 298 4462, Fax: 295 2610 • The Housing Bank, Tel: 298 6270, Fax: 298 6276 •
International Islamic Arab Bank, Tel: 240 7060, Fax: 240 7065 • Jordan Bank, Tel: 295 8686, Fax: 2958684
• Jordan-Gulf Bank, Tel: 298 7680, Fax: 298 7682 • Jordan-Kuwait Bank, Tel: 240 6725, Fax: 240 6728 •
Jordan National Bank, Tel: 295 9343, Fax: 295 9341 • Palestine International Bank (PIB), Tel: 298 3300,
Fax: 298 3333 • Palestine Investment Bank, Tel: 298 7880, Fax: 298 7881 • Palestine Islamic Bank, Tel:
295 0247, Fax: 295 7146 • Union Bank, Tel: 298 6412, Fax: 295 6416
Gaza Strip (08) Quds Bank (Al-Remal), Tel: 284 4333 • Arab Bank, Tel: 08-286 6288, Fax: 282 0704 •
Arab Bank (Al-Rimal), Tel: 282 4729, Fax: 282 4719 • Arab Bank, (Khan Younis) Tel: 205 4775, Fax: 205 4745
• Arab Bank (Karny), Tel: 280 0020, Fax: 280 0028 • Arab Land Bank, Tel: 282 2046, Fax: 282 1099 • Bank
of Palestine Ltd., Tel: 282 3272, Fax: 286 5667 • Beit Al-Mal Holdings, Tel: 282 0722, Fax: 282 5786 •
Cairo-Amman Bank, Tel: 282 4950, Fax: 282 4830 • Commercial Bank of Palestine, Tel: 282 5806, Fax:
282 5816 • The Housing Bank, Tel: 282 6322, Fax: 286 1143 • Jordan Bank, Tel: 282 0707, Fax: 282 4341 •
Palestine Development Fund, Tel: 282 4286, Fax: 282 4286 • Palestine International Bank (PIB), Tel:
284 4333, Fax: 284 4303 • Palestine Investment Bank, Tel: 282 2105, Fax: 282 2107
Nablus (09) Quds Bank, Tel: 235 9741, (Nablus Aljded) , Tel: 239 7782 • Arab Bank, Tel: 238 2340, Fax:
238 2351 • Arab Bank (Askar), Tel: 231 1694, Fax: 234 2076 • Arab Land Bank, Tel: 238 3651, Fax: 238 3650
• Bank of Palestine Ltd., Tel: 238 2030, Fax: 238 2923 • Bank of Palestine (Al-Misbah), Tel: 231 1460, Fax:
231 1922 • Cairo-Amman Bank, Tel: 238 1301, Fax: 238 1590 • Commercial Bank of Palestine, Tel: 238
5160, Fax: 238 5169 • The Housing Bank, Tel: 238 6060, Fax: 238 6066 • Jordan Bank, Tel: 238 1120, Fax:
238 1126 • Jordan-Gulf Bank, Tel: 238 2191, Fax: 238 1953 • Jordan-Kuwait Bank, Tel: 237 7223, Fax:
237 7181 • Jordan-National Bank, Tel: 238 2280, Fax: 238 2283 • Palestine Investment Bank, Tel: 238
5051, Fax: 238 5057 • Palestine International Bank, Tel: 239 7780, Fax: 239 7788
City
Fire
Ambulance
Police
Jerusalem*
CHS (Old City Jerusalem)
Bethlehem
Gaza
Hebron
Jericho
Jenin
Nablus
Ramallah
Child Helpline Palestine
Tulkarem
Qalqilia
02-6282222
101 / 050-319120
02-274 1123
08-2863633
102/22 28121-2-3
02-232 2658
04-250 1225
09-238 3444
02-295 6102
(121) free line
09-267 2106
09-294 0440
101
100
101 / 02-274 4222
101 / 08-2863633
101
101 / 02-232 1170
101 / 04-250 2601
101 / 09-238 0399
101 / 02-240 0666
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
101 / 09-267 2140
101 / 09-294 0440
100
100
Telephone Services
East Jerusalem (02) Quds Bank (Al-Ezzarieh), Tel: 279 8803 • Arab Bank (Al-Ezzarieh), Tel: 279 6671,
Fax: 279 6677 • Arab Bank (Al-Ram), Tel: 234 8710, Fax: 234 8717 • Center for Development Consultancy
(CDC), Tel: 583 3183, Fax: 583 3185 • Commer­cial Bank of Palestine, Tel: 279 9886, Fax: 279 9258
Bethlehem (02) Arab Bank, Tel: 277 0080, Fax: 277 0088 • Arab Land Bank, Tel: 274 0861 • Cairo-
Amman Bank, Tel: 274 4971, Fax: 274 4974 • Jordan National Bank, Tel: 277 0351, Fax: 277 0354 • Bank
of Palestine Ltd., Tel: 276 5515/6, Fax: 276 5517 • Palestine Investment Bank, Tel: 277 0888, Fax: 277 0889
Hebron (02) Quds Bank, Tel: 221 1357 • Al-Ahli Bank, Tel: 222 4801/2/3/4 • Arab Bank, Tel: 222 6410,
Fax: 222 6418 • Bank of Palestine Ltd., Tel: 225 0001/2/3 • Cairo-Amman Bank, (Wadi Al-Tuffah) Tel: 222
5353/4/5 • Cairo-Amman Bank, (Al-Balad) Tel: 222 9803/4 • Cairo-Amman Bank, (The Islamic Branch)
Tel: 222 7877 • Islamic Arab Bank, Tel: 2254156/7 • Islamic Bank, Tel: 222 6768 • Jordan Bank, Tel: 222
4351/2/3/4 • Palestine Investment Bank, Tel: 225 2701/2/3/4 • The Housing Bank, Tel: 225 0055
86
Bezeq
Wake up calls
Talking Clock
Time around the world
Vocal Information
Pager Service
Repeat call
Last call
Call waiting
Call forwarding
General information
Services
Corporate services
1475
1455
1975
1705
*41
*42
*70
*71
199
164
166
Paltel
Wake up calls
Free fax service
Follow me
(forwarding calls)
Phone book
Maintenance
Information
Internet maintenance
175
167
Tourism and An­tiq­uities
Police
72*
144
166
199
167
Border Crossings
Calls from Overseas
Dial access code, international
country code (972) or (970),
area code (without the zero),
desired number
87
Bethlehem
Gaza
Jericho
Nablus
Allenby Bridge
Arava Border
Eretz Crossing
Rafah Border
Sheikh Hussien
02-277 0750/1
08-282 9017
02-232 4011
09-385 244
02-994 2302
08-630 0555
08-674 1672
08-673 4205
04-609 3410
As Palestine continues its struggle for independence, it has already begun to acquire sovereign cyberspace recognition.
A difficult three-year international debate resulted in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory” being officially assigned the
two-letter suffix, “.ps,” in the ISO 3166-1 list for the representation of names of countries or territories. The successful
struggle to attain country code 970 led the way for the Internet Corporation for Associated Names and Numbers
(ICANN), the international corporation that manages the country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) system on the
Internet, on 22 March 2000, to assign Palestine its unique country identifier, “.ps,” in line with other sovereign nations
such as .fr for France and .ca for Canada.
Arts and Culture: Al Rowwad Theatre Centre www.alrowwad.virtualactivism.net, A.M. Qattan
Foundation www.qattanfoundation.org, Ashtar Theater www.ashtar-theatre.org, Al Kasaba Theatre and
Cinematheque www.alkasaba.org, Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art www.almamalfoundation.
org, Al Mathaf www.almathaf.ps, ArtSchool Palestine www.artschoolpalestine.com, Baha Boukhari www.
baha-cartoon.net, Educational Bookshop www.educationalbookshop.com, Family Net www.palestinefamily.net, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center (Ramallah) www.sakakini.org, Paltel Virtual Gallery (Birzeit
University) www.virtualgallery.birzeit.edu, Rim Banna www.rimbanna.com, RIWAQ: Centre for Architectural
Conservation www.riwaq.org, Sunbula (fair trade/crafts) www.sunbula.org, The Popular Arts Centre
www.popularartcentre.org, Sumud www.sumud.net, Pal­es­tinian Pottery www.pal­es­tinianpottery.com, The
International Center of Bethlehem (Dar Annadwa) www.annadwa.org, The Musical Intifada www.
docjazz.com, El-funoun www.el-funoun.org, Sabreen Association for Artistic Development www.sabreen.
org, The Virtual Gallery www.virtualgallery.birzeit.edu,
Business and Economy: Arab Pal­es­tinian In­vestment Com­pany www.apic-pal.com, Hebron Store
www.hebron-store.com, Jawwal www.jawwal.ps, Massar www.massar.com, The Palestinian Economic
Council for De­vel­opment and Re­con­struction (PECDAR) www.pecdar.org, Pal­es­tinian Securities
Ex­change, Ltd. www.p-s-e.com, Pal­es­tine Development and In­vestment Ltd. (PADICO) www.padico.
com, Paltel Group. www.paltelgroup.ps, Tatweer Information Technology & Business Solutions www.
progress.ps, Wataniya Palestine www.wataniya-palestine.com
Directories, ISPs and Por­tals: Jaffa Net www.weino.com, Hadara www.hadara.ps, Al-Quds Network
www.alqudsnet.com, Masader, the Palestinian NGO Portal www.masader.ps, Palseek www.palseek.
com, Paleye www.paleye.com, Al Buraq www.alburaq.net, The Palestinian NGO Portal www.masader.ps
Government: PLO Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD) www.nad-plo.org, PNA www.pna.gov.ps,
Ministry of Higher Edu­cation www.mohe.gov.ps, Min­is­try of In­dus­try www.industry.gov.ps, Ministry of
Education www.moe.gov.ps, Min­is­try of Health www.moh.gov.ps, Government Computer Center www.
gcc.gov.ps, Orient House www.orienthouse.org
Health and Mental Health: Augusta Victoria Hospital www.avh.org, Gaza Community Mental Health
Programme www.gcmhp.net, Ministry of Health www.moh.gov.ps, Palestinian Counseling Center
www.pcc-jer.org, Red Crescent Society www.palestinercs.org, Spafford Children’s Clinic www.spaffordjerusalem.org, UNFPA www.unfpa.ps, Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees www.upmrc.org,
Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation www.basr.org, Palestine Medical Council www.pmc.ps
Human Rights Organisations: Al Haq www.alhaq.org, Defence for Children International Palestine
Section www.dci-pal.org, Human Rights and Good Governance Secretariat in the oPt www.humanrights.
ps, LAW - The Pal­es­tinian Society for the Pro­tection of Human Rights and the Environment
www.lawsociety.org, The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights www.pchrgaza.org, BADIL www.badil.org,
Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) www.pal-watc.org; www.pcc-jer.org
Research and News: Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem www.arij.org, JMCC www.jmcc.org,
PASSIA www.passia.org, MIFTAH www.miftah.org, AMIN www.amin.org, Al Quds www.alquds.com, Al
Ayyam www.al-ayyam.com, WAFA www.wafa.pna.net, Palestine Wildlife Society www.wildlife-pal.org, 93.6
RAM FM www.ramfm.net, Ramallah on line www.ramallahonline.com, Ramattan Studios www.ramattan.
com, Palestine Family Net www.palestine-family.net, Palestine Mapping Centre www.palmap.org, The
Palestine Monitor www.palestinemonitor.org, The Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between
People www.imemc.org, OCHA- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs www.ochaopt.org, Englishpal www.englishpal.ps, Ma’an News Agency www.maannews.net/en
Tourism: Ministry of Tourism www.travelpalestine.ps, Arab Hotel Association www.palestinehotels.
com, Holy land Incoming Tour Operators Association www.holylandoperators.com, Diyafa Hospitality
Management Consultants Group www.diyafa.ps, Ramallah Tourist Information Center tic@ramallah.
ps, visitpalestine www.visitpalestine.ps
Travel Agencies: Al­ter­native Tourism Group www.patg.org, Atlas Aviation www.atlasavia.com, Awad
Tourist Agency www.awad-tours.com, Aweidah Tours www.aweidah.com, Blessed Land Travel www.
blessedland.com, Crown Tours www.crown-tours.com, Daher Travel www.dahertravel.com, Guiding Star
www.guidingstarltd.com, Halabi Tours and Travel Co. www.halabitours.ps, Jiro Tours www.jirotours.com, Mt.
of Olives Tours www.olivetours.com, Pioneer Links www.pioneer-links.com, Raha Tours www.rahatravel.
com, Ramallah Travel Agency www.kaoud.org, United Travel www.unitedtravelltd.com, Universal Tourist
Agency www.universal-jer.com
Universities: Birzeit University www.birzeit.edu, An-Najjah University www.najah.edu, Al-Quds
University www.alquds.edu, Al-Azhar University (Gaza) www.alazhar-gaza.edu, Arab American University
www.aauj.edu, Bethlehem University www.bethlehem.edu, Hebron University www.hebron.edu, The
Islamic University (Gaza) www.iugaza.edu, Palestine Polytechnic www.ppi.edu
88
Map Source: PalMap - GSE
© Copyright to GSE and PalMap
Map source, designer and publisher:
GSE - Good Shepherd Engineering & Computing
P.O.Box 524, 8 Jamal Abdel Nasser St.,
Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine
Tel: +970 2 2744728 / Fax: +970 2 2751204 (Also +972)
[email protected] / www.gsecc.com / www.palmap.org
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The Last Word
Dire Straits
While it’s encouraging to hear that This Week in Palestine has managed to instil
some hope in some of our readers, it is often difficult to maintain a positive attitude
and disregard reality out there. Documenting the moment is as much our mission as
promoting Palestine by bringing out its best. As much as we like to remain positive,
however, in dire economic times such as the ones we’re all going through, we will stick
to documenting Palestine!
It is no secret that our government, for all practical purposes, is financially nearing
bankruptcy and that funding is getting scarce for various reasons. For one, our tax
money collected in Israel is frequently held ransom by the Israeli government, obviously
in order to twist arms and pressure the PA into accepting terms that are not its own.
European aid, on the other hand, is dwindling; I’d like to think that this is so because
of internal economic reasons. Come to think of it, the economies of Spain, Italy, and
Ireland are not doing brilliantly, let alone that of Greece! Our rich Arab brethren are
not even honouring their earlier financial commitments. I can only assume that this
is because of the pressure put on them, mainly by the United States, not to come
to the rescue for the same reason our tax money is being withheld. It is not beyond
the United States to threaten the leaders of the rich oil states with an Arab Spring of
their own or even to whisper into their ears that they will be abandoned should Iran
strike. Adding insult to injury, rich Palestinians in Chile, Central America, and, indeed,
all over the world are pretty much watching all this (if we’re lucky enough, of course,
to catch their attention) while doing almost zilch! It is truly sad to realise that one rich
Palestinian businessman or businesswoman in Chile, or anywhere else, could not
only bail out the government but also set the whole economy back into motion and
create thousands of jobs if only he/she would invest in Palestine. All this will remain in
the records and memories of the Palestinians and, sooner or later, circumstances will
change and there will be accountability.
Understandably, the financial crisis has a ripple effect on society, evident in a
considerable number of institutions, both private and public, which are faltering.
Universities, for example, are not able to raise tuition and hence they are unable
to properly deliver their noble mission of educating a new generation. Naturally, the
decrease in funding has hit major NGOs, some of which have been around for decades,
resulting in a drastic decrease in vital service provision. Even small businesses are
struggling to make ends meet. However, increasing taxes on the private sector from
15 percent to 30 percent will not solve the problem, Mr. Fayyad. As much as I hate to
say this, in my opinion, it will only increase tax evasion! I don’t envy your position and
I know you don’t have a magic wand to get us out of this mess, but there must be an
alternative to putting even more pressure on the Palestinian private sector that, in fact,
looks at government as its number one client! The Palestinian private sector is ready
to share responsibility, but there is a limit to its ability. We took courage, not too long
ago, when you put your faith in the private sector not only to invigorate the economy
but also to affirm it as the most important element in building a robust economy.
Palestinians have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and have always been a
resilient and proud people able to survive on very little. Let’s prove to the world that
we are able to overcome this difficult period, and let’s also take courage from the fact
that there are so many good people out there willing to help; in fact, two-thirds of the
people on this globe fall into that category!
Sani P. Meo
Publisher
An Artisic photo of Gaza Sea reflecting the
difficult reality in Gaza. Photo by Mohammad Harb.