*The Amal Institute for Orphans cares for 120 of Gaza City’s orphans. GAZA CITY, Dec 23, 2011 (IPS) -By Eva Bartlett Yousef walks barefoot into a children’s room with four beds and points to a snoopy-blanketed bed by the window. “That’s where I sleep,” he says. A red remote-controlled toy racecar sits atop a new… Read More Orphans on the Rise in Gaza
*photo: Ahmad Hammad Oct 31, 2010 (IPS) By Eva Bartlett– “I’d planned to have my wedding party on a Thursday night, when more people could come, and stay later. But because the Dabke dancers weren’t free then, I held it on a Tuesday,” says Mohammed Ghronaim, 27, from Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. “Canaan Dabke is… Read More dancing under siege
*Palestinian Rapperz [/source] (IPS) By Eva Bartlett– In a backstreet open-air café in Gaza late at night, Khaled Harara from the Black Unit Band starts to talk about rap. A phone call interrupts him. “Oh my god, it’s my dad, he will kill me because I’m not home yet.” Not quite the tough image one… Read More To Rap Is to Resist
The Electronic Intifada, 12 August 2009 By Eva Bartlett “Don’t people in Gaza love to see films like people anywhere?” aspiring filmmaker Hossam Abdel Latif asks. His wife, the more practical Souad, retorts, “Someone who can’t afford to eat is going to go to the cinema?” The question of the arts in times of siege… Read More Gaza play highlights difficulties for artists under siege
I try to remain open to the beauty of Palestinian life in Gaza. It’s hard, when most encounters vocally or visibly tell of suffering, suffocation, dreams lost. The other day, stopping in a shop to buy phone card refill, the shop owner told me dogs have more rights and live better than Palestinians. So when… Read More Nicer times 4
In Gaza 