↳ Dome of the Rock, Old City of Jerusalem, Palestine
“Dome of the Rock was completed in 691 CE under the Umayyad Empire by Abd al-Malik. The original dome collapsed in 1015 CE but was rebuilt by 1022-23. It is one of the oldest pieces of Islamic Architecture and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is also considered as Jerusalem’s most recognizable landmark along with the Western Wall and Church of the Holy Sepulchre.“
“The flag I was carrying is the same one I always hold in all the other protests I’ve attended. My friends make fun of me, saying it is easier to throw rocks without holding a flag in the other hand, but I got used to it.
If I get killed, I want to be wrapped in the same flag. We are demanding our right of return, and protesting for our dignity and the dignity of our future generation.”
“Romanticising the image of a desperate man taking on an army allows us to justify its circumstances and distract ourselves from the grim truth that, in the real world, David rarely defeats Goliath. Aed could die today, tomorrow, or the week after that. If he keeps protesting, it is almost an inevitability.
[…]
“In the most tasteless responses, social media users have remarked on Aed’s chiselled jaw and physique. This overt fetishisation of his suffering is obscene, but the idea that the pain and anguish of marginalised groups is a price worth paying for beautiful art is a notion far older than even the paintings of Delacroix.
“From Asad’s chemical weapon attacks in Syria, to the bodies of refugee children washed up on the beaches of Europe, images have a radical, empathy-spreading power that can change the world. But the flippant reaction this particular shot, of someone literally risking being shot, represents our growing detachment from pain and lack of collective responsibility for it.
“Don’t let this photograph fool you: there is nothing beautiful or poetic about the oppression of Palestinians. Beyond the lens, the constant misery of wasted life and unnecessary death in Gaza continues – we must not let that drift out of focus.”
“Don’t let this photograph fool you: there is nothing beautiful or poetic about the oppression of Palestinians. Beyond the lens, the constant misery of wasted life and unnecessary death in Gaza continues – we must not let that drift out of focus.”
being a jew from iraq, my community was there since 597 BCE, before diaspora even began for the jews. this was long before arabization even began and when it did, it included the large amounts of jews, who participated fully in the islamic golden age. islam not only includes jews in it’s narrative, but an entire legal framework with to deal with jews and christians. we were a part of the region, and more or less indigenous and just as arab as anyone else. we have our own arabic dialects, just like christian arabs.
zionism is a european colonialist project, originating from and rooted in the experiences of ashkenazi jews. however, the repercussions of the colonization of palestine effected us greatly. for various reasons; iraq allying itself with the nazis and publishing anti-semitic works, the growth of anti-semitism as a reaction to zionist colonialism, and zionist agents bombing synagogue, the jews of iraq were forced to flee in the early 50s.
zionists bombed the synagogue, because it was in their interest to have the jews of the middle east move to the newly colonized post-nakba palestine. mizrahi (trans; oriental) jews, boosted the numbers of the jewish nationalist project and became the proleteriat of israel who’s labor could be exploited to build the state. mizrahim are actually the largest jewish ethnic group in the country, but by virtue of israel being an ideologically european zionist state, they have faced various oppressions. however, in the jewish supremacist state, they retain the privileges and complicity of being colonizers.
the question you originally posed to me, “Are you a Jew or an Arab?” is a result of zionism. if you were to ask a jew in egypt or syria or iraq that question in the 20s or 30s, they probably wouldn’t understand. however, zionism has not only served to remove the jews from the arab world, but also has been trying to remove the arabness from those jews. israel is ideologically an anti-oriental state, even if a lot of it’s culture is oriental, and it has taught arab jews to reject their heritage or rebrand it as “Israeli.” many arab jews will tell you, with arabic accents, how they are not arabs but this is clearly bullshit and a colonial mentality. i want to embrace my arabness, not reject, and unite with palestinians in their struggle for national liberation.
I’ve recently had the privilege of illustrating for Golbarg Bashi’s “Counting Up the Olive Tree,” which is a children’s counting book that involves themes of the Palestinian struggle. You can read more on it here and support it here! (If you aren’t familiar with the author, she also wrote “P is for Palestine”!)
lyannas tumblr back up 