Nakba

The Ongoing Nakba ~ Standing on His Destroyed Home

ABOUT THIS PIECE: The ongoing Nakba (house demolition). Man standing on his destroyed house, Old City of Jerusalem, 6 Feruary 2008. The Nakba continues for Palestinians in different forms including house demolitions. Since 1967 around 18,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished. It is still continuing.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: I am a French photographer who has lived in Palestine for the last four years. I have concentrated my work on daily life of Palestinians, refugees, the impact of the Wall on the communities and documenting human rights violations in the OPTs. In 2006, I developed a programme in Aida refugee camp called Images for Life whose aim is to empower refugees through photography and film-making. My work has been exhibited in different countries and published in various publications. Since 2006; I am a member of the collective Activestills who gathered documentary photographers who believe in photography as a tool for social change. - Photo by Ann Paq

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“Nakba” is the Arabic word for “catastrophe” and it refers to the displacement and confiscation of the land of the Palestinians. This confiscation continues to this day. I find this very sad that the country of Israel has not address this catastrophe, has not stopped confiscation of land that belongs to others and has not stopped occupying Palestine.

I do not see how the Israelis can live in peace until they stop doing those things. More information on this tragedy is available at the AFSC website.

Good news for today:

US House of Representatives voted down more war funding!

California courts declared marriage is for everyone.

Last night, Keith Olbermann told bush to go to hell.

Bad news for today:

Ongoing natural disasters in Burma and China. Both countries are overwhelmed, and Burma is not allowing many to help.

US drone kills 18 in Pakistan, and once again, there were civilians in with the “terrorists”. The new Prime Minister said: “I strongly condemn this. It's absolutely wrong. It's unfair. They should not have done this action.” One of the "terrorists" said the bomb was meant to derail peace talks with the new government.

Once again our president shows how dumb he is – this time, he cannot tell the difference between talking/negotiations with enemies and appeasement. How did this man get re-elected in 2004? I can’t believe there were even ten people in this country that voted for him.