From the Ashes of our Misery: A series on hope in the midst of occupation.
Beit Hanoun, Occupied Gaza Strip. Summer 2007.
Kahdija face tells a thousand tales. Sad tales. In 1948 she was forcibly expelled from her village along with her family in what is historically called "al-Nakba"---the Catastrophe. In al-Nakba Israeli military forces expelled over 700,000 Palestinians from what has become Israel "proper." Thousands more were internally displaced within villages other than their home villages in Israel. Thus today Kahdija is one of over 5 million Palestinian refugees around the world. In 1948 her family fled to Gaza city...then controlled by Egypt. Then in 1967 her new home was occupied by the Israel that expelled her and her family originally. She has lost dozens of family members to Israeli violence including 6 of her grandchildren in 2003. The refugee crisis and the ongoing Nakba-denial in Israel remains one of the most damaging blocks to peace between the Jewish state of Israel and the indigenous Palestinians.
Full view please!
Nikkor 35mm f/2