Against the Odds
In the sections below we take a look at many brave men and women who are trying – against all odds – to build a future for Palestine.
Mahmoud Darwish was born in the village of Birwa. When he was 6 years old, his village was assaulted by Zionist forces and he fled to Lebanon with his family. The assault was part of the Nakba (or Catastrophe) which saw the expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians in 1948.…
Palestinians in Gaza have limited access to electricity, with power outages lasting for up to 18 hours a day. This has a debilitating affect on almost every aspect of life. Hospitals are prevented from using equipment to treat patients and families are deprived from the simplest necessities, such as warming…
Gaza has been subjected to three major Israeli assaults in the last seven years, all while under blockade. Because of this, reconstruction materials do not enter the Strip. As a result of “Operation Protection Edge” in 2014, 100,000 homes were destroyed or damaged and reconstruction remains largely non-existent. Al-Khalidi developed…
The majority of children in Gaza are suffering from high levels of ongoing traumatic stress. Repeated trauma means that very few children can recover from the physical and psychological symptoms. Although art supplies in Gaza are rare, Quraiqe began to paint by often using coffee, sand and glue. His work…
Nearly half of Palestinians in the West Bank live below the poverty line. Families are often forced to forego commodities such as fuel in order to afford food and water. Afnan Hamad is a student from Ramallah in the West Bank. She invented a machine that converts plastic waste found…