- Title: WEST BANK: Palestinian women's voices heard through stories on the wall
- Date: 27th May 2014
- Summary: BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN WOMEN, WHO REGULARLY GO TO ARAB EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE'S SUMUD STORY HOUSE, WALKING BESIDE SECURITY WALL WOMEN TALKING AND WALKING BESIDE WALL POSTER READING 'WALL MUSEUM' AND DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT POSTERS WITH DIFFERENT STORIES ON WALL STORIES ENTITLED 'RESCUE' AND 'THE BABY AND THE SOLDIERS' STORY ENTITLED 'ROOTS' WOMEN GATHERED INSIDE ROOM IN SUMUD STORY HOUSE RANIA MURRA, DIRECTOR OF ARAB EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE, TALKING ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF READING FOR PALESTINIANS ONE OF THE WOMEN TALKING ABOUT LIVELIHOOD, FROM MAKING DRESSES, AND HOW SHE WOULD EARN MONEY TO BUY GROCERIES AND FEED HER CHILDREN WOMEN LAUGHING VARIOUS OF WOMEN WRITING THEIR STORIES ON PAPER ANOTHER WOMAN TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RANIA MURRA, DIRECTOR OF ARAB EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE, SAYING: "A woman or any human being can tell their story and share it with others, together with their experience. When someone shares their story, they already solve half the problem, and can therefore go on with their life in a better and easier way. Because if we do not express what is inside of us, it becomes hard to go on living under our current conditions. It's also very important, and we always focus on this, for women to use the first person and use 'I', because they have the right to express themselves." PALESTINIAN BUSINESSWOMAN AND MOTHER, ODETTE AL SLAIBA, SINGING A SONG ABOUT RESISTANCE PALESTINIAN BUSINESSWOMAN AND MOTHER, SYLVANA GIACAMAN, TELLING STORY ABOUT HOW SHE LOST HER SON BECAUSE OF TEAR GAS FROM ISRAELI POLICE SIGN OUTSIDE HOUSE THAT READS "SUMUD STORY HOUSE" GIACAMAN POINTING AT HER STORY ON WALL GIACAMAN'S STORY, DETAILING HOW SHE LOST HER BABY WHEN SHE WAS FOUR MONTHS PREGNANT, WHEN ISRAELI TROOPS FIRED TEAR GAS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN BUSINESSWOMAN AND MOTHER, SYLVANA GIACAMAN, SAYING: "We want to tell our story to others, so we could have inner peace. If I share with people everything that hurts me, bothers me and makes me want to take revenge, I can express it so I can have inner peace. When I have inner peace, I can give it to my children and to the society." VARIOUS OF ODETTE AL SLAIBA WALKING PAST WELL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN BUSINESSWOMAN AND MOTHER, ODETTE AL SLAIBA, SAYING: "When I started to tell my story, I had emotions and my tears swelled. But I had a message to tell others that emigration is not the solution." MURRA AND AL SLAIBA TALKING IN FRONT OF AL SLAIBA'S STORY ON WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN BUSINESSWOMAN AND MOTHER, ODETTE AL SLAIBA, SAYING: "I would prefer to end my story here, to stay here -- me and my kids. My parents might have left and my family might have migrated but I am going to remain here -- myself and my children." FLEMISH TOURISTS WALKING TOWARDS WALL VARIOUS OF TOURISTS LOOKING AT WALL MUSEUM
- Embargoed: 11th June 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: West bank
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Education,Politics,Education
- Reuters ID: LVA96HPBVSLLJL4H82ZVT2ABFWGW
- Story Text: Palestinian women in the West Bank share their stories of struggle and survival through stories displayed on the huge security wall erected by Israel, releasing their frustrations and finding a larger audience for their cause.
Every week, dozens of Palestinian women gather in Bethlehem to tell stories.
They meet in the Sumud Story House, run by the Arab Educational Institute. Some of them speak about how they lost their lands in the Nakba, what the Palestinians call the 'catastrophe' of their displacement when Israel fought what it calls its war of independence in 1948. Others relive encounters with Israeli soldiers, and hardships of living in the occupied West Bank. Some talk of losing hope, losing loved ones.
Mothers, wives, daughters, teachers, merchants from the towns of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour -- these women are integral in their communities, a fact that the Arab Educational Institute recognised when they launched a project called the Wall Museum.
The project aims to bring together oral histories and write them as concise narratives, for Palestinian voices to be heard.
So far, the Wall Museum has collected more than 100 stories, displayed in the open, mostly on a security wall that Israel has built across the West Bank. Palestinians abhor the wall, which has come to symbolise their oppression under Israeli occupation.
Israel says the barrier, which started to be built 10 years ago during a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings, is needed to secure Israel. Palestinians see it as a bid by Israel to partition off territory and grab land they want for their future state.
The part of the wall where the stories are posted is near Rachel's Tomb, a biblical site that was a flashpoint for violence.
The area used to be a lively entrance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, with shops and restaurants. Now, an Israeli checkpoint stands at the entrance, causing many businesses just steps away from the wall to perish.
For the director of the Arab Educational Institute, Rania Murra, the exercise of telling and hearing stories and putting them in writing also has a therapeutic value.
"A woman or any human being can tell their story and share it with others, together with their experience. When someone shares their story, they already solve half the problem, and can therefore go on with their life in a better and easier way. Because if we do not express what is inside of us, it becomes hard to go on living under our current conditions. It's also very important, and we always focus on this, for women to use the first person and use "I", because they have the right to express themselves," Murra said.
Murra also said the wall stories are a form of popular community resistance.
Sylvana Giacaman's story on the wall is entitled 'Rescue'. It details how she lost her baby when she was four months pregnant, after an Israeli tear gas attack. She also speaks about an incident in Jerusalem, when she saw an Israeli child about to fall from an escalator, and she had doubts on whether to save the child. In the end, she grabbed him and prevented his fall.
"We want to tell our story to others, so we could have inner peace. If I share with people everything that hurts me, bothers me and makes me want to take revenge, I can express it so I can have inner peace. When I have inner peace, I can give it to my children and to the society," Giacaman said.
Odette Al Slaiba's story is entitled 'Roots,' exploring the question of whether she should join her parents who moved to the U.S. due to the pressures of living in the region.
"When I started to tell my story, I had emotions and my tears swelled. But I had a message to tell others that emigration is not the solution," she said.
How would she like her story to end? "I would prefer to end my story here, to stay here -- me and my kids. My parents might have left and my family might have migrated but I am going to remain here -- myself and my children," she said.
The Wall Museum project is far from over. The Sumud Story House envisions inviting more Palestinians to tell their stories, and for such narratives to be more visible. They have put up similar posters in other public sites in the Bethlehem area, and have also encouraged youth and refugees to speak up.
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