The Act of Existing

Girl from Ramallah,  Dana Barqawi 

Through art we show the world what is happening in Palestine, because no one is listening. - Halima Aziz, artist

For Palestinian women living under military occupation, art has become an outlet to express frustration, hope and resistance. The media of the Western world is often biased when it comes to reporting the conflict in Israel and Palestine. As a result, many Palestinian artists use their platform to change the narrative that has been formed about them. This is evident in the interviews I conducted with artists Dana Barqawi and Halima Aziz. Palestinian artists also bring awareness to human rights violations while simultaneously preserving identity in a land that is more than four thousand years old.

According to Nur Masalha in Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History, the name "Palestine" first appeared in the late Bronze Age and was used on and off until the establishment of a Jewish state in 1948. Palestine refers to the region located in-between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan. The region has been under control of many different civilizations. Including the Canaanites, the Greeks, the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Under control of the Ottoman Empire from 1517 - 1917, the three major religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) coexisted harmoniously. After World War I, Britain took control of Palestine under a Mandate and set about the task of establishing Israel. During and after World War II, there were large waves of Jewish immigration and settlements expanded. Much of the conflict that is familiar today was born from a United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in the 1940's. The proposed plan was to create an independent Jewish State and Arab State. Today, the practicality of the Two - State Solution is still debated among world powers (O'Malley). Especially pertaining to the division and ownership of land. Currently, both Israel and Palestine claim the holy city of Jerusalem as their capital. While this debate still continues, Israel (with  38 billion dollars  worth of military funding from the U.S each year) uses force to illegally take land from Palestinian people and has displaced millions. As the image above shows, Palestinian territories are now far apart and separated by checkpoints and borders that are controlled by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). There is a strong division of race, class, socio-economic status, and religion that exists for Israelis and Palestinians. In the Gaza Strip and West Bank, human rights violations are rampant and contribute to a growing refugee crisis.

In response to the settlement of Israel in 1948, a surge of female protestors and leaders appeared. Fighting for social liberation, as well as protesting Zionism, women had an important role in defending their communities and the Palestinian youth (Holt). Today, women continue to be at the front lines: fighting for healthcare, better education, protesting child incarceration and settler-colonialism. The power of social media has become a vital tool for Palestinian liberation. It allows for users to document events and share them with the world without the bias of news media companies. Sibling activists Muna and Muhammed El-Kurd have received global attention for their social media coverage of the forced evictions of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem (Mansoor). In 2021,  Time magazine  named Muna and Muhammed El-Kurd as one of the hundred most influential people of the year. Through social media and public awareness, the siblings have exposed how modern Israeli laws are complicit in upholding settler-colonialism, as well as exposing the cruel practice of forcing Palestinians to demolish their own homes.

One of the best known cases of Palestinian activism in recent years is that of Ahed Tamimi. In 2017, sixteen year old West Bank resident, Ahed Tamimi, was imprisoned for kicking and slapping armed IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers in front of her house who reportedly shot rubber bullets at her younger cousin. Her story went viral and brought attention to the Palestinian struggle, sparking an international online movement to free her from prison (Serhan). When Tamimi was released eight months later, the self proclaimed freedom fighter shared stories of interrogation inside Israeli prisons. This brought new waves of support for occupied Palestinians. In 2018, two Italian artists, Jorit Agoch and Salvatore De Luise, were arrested and forced to leave the country within 72 hours for painting a mural of Ahed Tamimi on a wall separating Israel and the West Bank (Haaretz). Walls often serve as popular canvases for addressing current events through murals and graffiti art. The message that Jorit Agoch and Salvatore De Luise conveyed in their mural was solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. It also humanized the fight for liberation. The portrait of Tamimi reminded the world that the IDF is in the practice of imprisoning and prosecuting children. Ahed Tamimi's story is a clear example of the violence women and children face for resisting occupation, but nevertheless, inspire change.

Art plays a pivotal role in resistance and is often deemed dangerous, and therefore illegal, by the Israeli government. In 2015, the poet Dareen Tatour published the poem "Resist, My People, Resist Them" (Pen.org). In the poem, Tatour refers to Palestinian victims as martyrs. As a result, she was punished by the Israeli government and spent five months in prison. Tatour's work is an example of how restricted art and literature is for Palestinians, even those who are Israeli citizens like Dareen Tatour. Whether it is physical altercation with IDF soldiers or publishing a poem, Palestinian women are at the frontlines of protesting occupation, and they risk imprisonment and death in resistance.

Utilizing art as a form of resisting settler-colonialism occurs in many ways. For Dana Barqawi, a Palestinian artist based in Jordan, memory and tradition play a vital role in the education and preservation of indigenous people. In her collection, "A Land Without A People," Barqawi embellishes old photographs of Palestine with gold leaf, paint, ink and a variety of organic materials. I had the pleasure of interviewing Dana about her work and the importance of art in response to Zionist occupation.

Artist Dana Barqawi incorporates Palestinian identity in her work, and by doing so, exposes the viewer to the history and culture of Palestine prior to Zionist occupation. Similarly, the Palestine Museum U.S featured an exhibit in 2020 of female Palestinian artists, and much of the artwork focuses on diaspora and peace. I had the opportunity to interview the talented artist Halima Aziz, who was featured in the exhibit, and get to know more about her work.

Art validates the existence of people and serves to preserve identity and culture, as seen in the work of Dana Barqawi and Halima Aziz. Art is also an outlet of self-expression and a message to convey hope, no matter how bleak the circumstances. There is perhaps no greater example of resilience than the work of Malak Mattar. The young artist has lived through three major Israeli attacks in Gaza and began painting in 2014 to cope through months of airstrikes. The Gaza Strip has been described as an open air prison and has one of the densest populations in the world (Feldman). The area is controlled by the IDF, and securing a traveling visa in and out of Gaza is extremely difficult. There are also restrictions of trade and limited access to clean water and electricity (O'Malley). Years of airstrikes and bombing by the IDF have destroyed entire communities. In the podcast, “The Palestinian Pod,” Malak Mattar explains how art supplies in Gaza is difficult to acquire, especially after popular shopping areas are bombed.

Malak Mattar’s art portrays the love, fear and hope that is found in life under siege. In the same podcast, Malak explains how she feels like her paintings have more freedom than her because they are able to travel beyond the borders of Gaza when she is not (E, Lara). Her art has been showcased in numerous exhibits around the world, and some of her most memorable paintings are of women. Malak says she primarily paints women because she has witnessed patriarchal oppression and the domination of men over women throughout her life. The female faces in Malak’s art appear to be looking right at the viewer. Their expressions of grief and courage are ones that can be expected from the uncertainty of living under occupation. Nevertheless, there is beauty in Malak’s work, and she often features women in traditional Palestinian clothing, which educates the viewer on indigenous identity.

In the article, "Everyday Practices of Sacrifice: A Case Study of Palestinian Women" writer Maria Holt explores how women navigate inequality within their own communities as well as resisting occupation and colonization. Regardless of the violence they endure, Holt found in her research that there is unyielding hope in Palestinian women. This can be seen in the story of activist Ahed Tamimi, and the countless of other women throughout Palestinian history who have fought side by side with men. It can also be seen in art. From murals to museums, women seek to share, not only their personal story, but also the history and nationalism of Palestine. In the words of Dana Barqawi, "creation is existence" and for Palestinian women, the very act of existing under occupation gives rise to a perseverant and hopeful soul, manifesting into art that is graciously shared around the world.

Sources

Dajani, Souad. 1994. “The Struggle of Palestinian Women in the Occupied Territories: Between National and Social..” Arab Studies Quarterly 16 (2): 13.  http://search.ebscohost.com.colelibrary.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9502030851&site=ehost-live .

E, Lara, and Mickey B. "The Caged Bird Paints with Malak Mattar." The Palestine Pod, from Spotify, 9 September 2021.

Herzog, Hanna. 2004. “‘Both an Arab and a Woman’: Gendered, Racialised Experiences of Female Palestinian Citizens of Israel.” Social Identities 10 (1): 53–82. doi:10.1080/1350463042000190994.

Holt, Maria. 2018. “Everyday Practices of Sacrifice: A Case Study of Palestinian Women.” Gender & Research / Gender a Výzkum 19 (1): 2–25. doi:10.13060/25706578.2018.19.1.403.

Interview with Dana Barqawi via email, May 2, 2020.

Interview with Halima Aziz via email, October 20, 2021.

Mansoon, Sanya. "Muna and Mohammed El-Kurd." Time Magazine, September 15, 2021.

Masalha, Nur. Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History. London: Zed books, 2020.

O'Malley, Padraig. The Two-State Delusion. New York: Viking Penguin, 2015.

Serhan, Yasmeen. “A Symbol of the Palestinian Resistance for the Internet Age.” The Atlantic, January 5, 2018.  https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/internet-famous-in-the-west-bank/549557/ 

 “Two Italian Artists Who Painted Mural of Ahed Tamimi Barred From Israel for 10 Years, Lawyer Says.” Haaretz, July 30, 2018.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/italian-artists-barred-from-israel-for-10-years-after-tamimi-mural-1.6320442 

Creator's statement: This project was made with ArcGIS StoryMaps, which provides the viewer with a visual experience when learning about Palestinian people and the important role of art. Because the program can be published and made accessible to a wider audience, it is a reminder that art and information should be shared without borders and boundaries. This is necessary when decolonizing a narrative, as is the case for Palestinian identity.