Girl from Ramallah, Dana Barqawi

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.