Expressions of Nakba is an international competition and exhibition to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba: the expulsion and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948.

The competition strives to present the extraordinary narrative of a dispossessed people through a diverse range of expressions that interpret the collective identity, historic struggle, and emotional experience of the Nakba for Palestinians.

Sponsored by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, this online gallery showcases the wining entries from the competition in addition to a wonderful range of selections in the form of visual arts, poetry, essays, music, video and digital media.

Check it out!

And check out the following, too:

We will never forget…

I want to be able to travel through out Palestine without having to flash my passport at every checkpoint as I wait hours and hours to get from one city to another.

I want to see children finishing a full academic year free of school closures due to israeli occupation.

I want to see university students graduate on time without having to worry about making up the missed academic years spent in israeli jails.

I want to be able to travel to any part of the so great Arab world without having to go through a long complicated process just because my Passport reads “West Bank” under place of birth.

Palestinians everywhere seem to have common dreams and wishes for themselves and their Palestine, and so here is my version of the same and very similar dreams and wishes anonymous once shared here …

I wish that all our children can have a better childhood and future than ours.
I wish to fly around and know exactly the meaning of being free.
I wish to be able to roam in my own country with no fear or peril and be the one to choose where to go, and not the checkpoints.

I wish to be able to go with to the Mediterranean Sea with friends.
I wish to be able to reach Akka whenever I want
I wish to taste the oranges of Jaffa, and the grapes of Hebron. To watch the sunset over the beaches of Haifa, to see the sunrise over the mountains of Safad .
I wish to taste the fish of Gaza, live the nature of Toolkarm, and walk the old streets of Jerusalem.

To walk the serene streets of Bethlehem

I wish to see children playing hopscotch and marbles rather than israelis and Palestinians.
I wish to see one marrying another for pure love and not because they both have the same identity card.
I wish to see a smile on an old man’s face.
To see smiles replacing frowns.
To see tears dry up, wounds clot and sorrows fade.

I wish to see people in camps, places sweltering with the sun of injustice but cold of tragedy, flourish again.
That all prisoners living under the darkness of torture will be able to see sunlight again and return to their homes, so the pale faces of their mothers would shine again!
The dream to see complete sunrise not blocked by the wall.
To see the wall, a gray gloomy monster filled with hatred and injustice, falling and disappearing like a sandcastle washed away into the undertow.

I wish that Eilat will be Um Rashrash, Tel Aviv will be Tal El Rabi and Shkeim will be Nablus again.
I wish to see all refugees able to put their keys in their locks and get back to their homes.
I wish to see unity, peace, and prosperity in Palestine. To feel that our country does exist.
I wish for and dream of a free Palestine.

“From the silence, let the whispers grow until with one voice we can all find a way to go forward in peace and once again hear the laughter of children ring out in that most ancient land of Palestine…”

Where the sun will rise and continue to shine.

My latest reading (which, overall, was not all that impressive…but not too bad either) triggered some thoughts in my mind … As I was driving to work, I sent 2 rounds of a mass sms to some of my female friends with the first asking:

Hi! Would u take on prostitution if it guarantees a free palestine and exclusive return of all refugees?

Minutes later, my phone began to vibrate.

Response 1: No because it wud never happen. I know this is not an answer but that’s not even a valid question

Response 2: No cuz my parents care more about me than palestine, cuz i care about not hurting them more than the fate of others no matter how selfish that sounds. And cuz when i die, God will not take ‘for palestine’ as an excuse for selling myself and ignoring his conditions, right? You cant shut off human nature.

Revised Question sent in round 2 :

Hi! Just thinking about this … just pretend the result is guaranteed… Would u take on prostitution if it guarantees a free palestine and exclusive return of all refugees?

Response 1: I would sell my husband

Response 2: Does the end justify the means?

Response 3: No. God will not bless or free palestine if its women enter prostitution en mass!

Response 4: No Maam. What kind of barakah [blessing] would we have bel watan [in our homeland]

Response 5: Yes. Arent i such a ho. But at least a loyal one

Response 6: Inti Khateera [You are dangerous - fatal]

Response 7: I need time. It’s not easy.

Response 8: why think of something which is just not going to happen??!! Why waste your thoughts on that! and if it can really happen then when the time comes, we can think of it ….depends on the situation we are in reality

So, would you?!

Aside from war, violence, poverty…What could make someone so damn bitter!

Call Girl: Confession of a Double Life. by Jeanette Angell.
Jeannette Angell went to the US from France at the age of 21 after earning two university degrees. She went on to obtain three more in the United States, including a Masters in Divinity from Yale and studied for her PhD at Boston University.

At thirty-four, her live-in boyfriend ran off and cleaned out their joint bank account. She was left destitute. Despite lecturing and teaching at several universities, including Harvard, MIT and the London School of Economics, she saw no way out of her financial crisis until she read an ad for “escorts” in the Boston Phoenix.

This started a three-year dual career of teaching at universities in the daytime, while working as a $200/hour callgirl at night. Callgirl gives insight to a world usually distorted by caricature and stigma with honesty, humour and intelligence.(source)

Sounds very interesting…and what makes it so is that this person is not a random lost person. This is a highly educated person, with degrees from top universities (well. I guess this doesn’t really say much. I mean…George W. Bush went to Yale!)…is an educator. So what really drove her to take prostitution on as a second job while still keeping her daytime teaching job! I am looking forward to reading her confessions!
AND. Though this isn’t/wasn’t about prostitution, I still believe this (and similar) type of job could* be degrading to one’s dignity. But I will reserve my in-depth opinion of this book and prostitution till after I read it.

* (you know, because dignity means different things to different people and is measured differently)

P.S. I’ve always had a secret fetish for fishnet stockings!

“Everything in this world can be stolen, except the love that emanates from a human being towards a solid commitment to a just cause.” - Ghassan Kanafani

This Week In Palestine, May 2008

Some of this month’s In the Limelight:

“Memorial to 418 Palestinian Villages which Were Destroyed, Depopulated and Occupied by Israel in 1948″

Refugee tent and embroidery thread, 8’ X 10’ X 12’, 2001

This piece is a document (or the remains) of a three-month community-based project. More than 140 people came through [Emily Jacir’s] studio to sew, memorialize each village and socialize; oftentimes there was live Arabic music. The people who made this Memorial were bankers, lawyers, filmmakers, dentists, consultants, playwrights, artists, activists, teachers, etc.
(via Picturesque Palestine and Emily Jacir)

(Read more)

(via willflickr’s)

What would you have written on this blackboard?