Humans of Palestine

❝I am Mohammad Muhaeisen from Ash Shuja'iyeh neighbourhood in Gaza city. I documented the 2014 war through my lens despite being in constant danger as I felt it was my duty to show the world how my people were suffering. My house was totally destroyed, and I am now displaced. I work at a local news agency in the Gaza Strip and volunteer with news sites, but originally studied Medical Technology. I changed to photojournalism when I discovered I had a talent for it, and have won six awards to date despite the absence of photography courses in Gaza. I won a World Humanitarian Summit photo contest arranged by the OCHA Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa with a picture from the 2014 hostilities of an injured Palestinian child, Dalia Khalifa. The prize for the winning photo was a camera.❞

❝My name is Rimaz Kasabreh and I'm from the northern West Bank. In 1996, I married my husband who lives in Jerusalem and moved to Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem. We have three children. I work at a private school in the centre of the city although I don't have a Jerusalem ID card or a permit. I have to cross the Ar Ram checkpoint, located in Beit Hanina, to get to work and this became more difficult with my West Bank ID card: it happened many times that the soldiers at the checkpoint turned me back. The school issued me a card to show I was employed by them but it didn't help much. To avoid the checkpoint I used dirt roads and climbed over hills. I rarely made it to school in time. In winter I would arrive completely wet and cold, in the summer hot and sweaty. In 2003, with the new law it became more difficult. It's illegal for taxi and bus drivers from Jerusalem to take passengers from the West Bank. Taxi and minibus drivers would ask every passenger about their ID card. It became more and more difficult for me to go to work or anywhere in Jerusalem.❞

❝I am Mufeed and I live in an old three story house in Ash Shuhada Street, Hebron with my family. This street was once the main commercial area of Hebron. In 1994, following the killing of 29 Palestinians by an Israeli settler, the Israeli authorities closed it for Palestinian traffic. Later, following the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000, most of the street was closed for Palestinian pedestrian movement and hundreds of shops were shut down. The Israeli authorities justified these restrictions to protect Israelis living in settlements along the street. Our life here is like living in a prison. Every time we enter or exit the street we have to pass through a checkpoint, and have our belongings checked. Israeli forces invade our house anytime they want. We feel so isolated, our friends and relatives don't visit us because it's difficult for them to get here. Nothing is normal here, but this is my home I inherited from my father. I was born here, all my life and memories are here, and I will not leave here except when I die.❞

❝I am Loujain from Gaza. I have always been strongly inspired by my mother and tried to follow her in everything. She has a degree in English literature from Bir Zeit University. I grew up hearing great stories about this university and I decided to study there too. However, Bir Zeit University is located in Ramallah, the West Bank, which means that I can't get there unless Israel issued a special permit for that purpose. I finished my secondary school with very high marks and immediately applied to the Law Faculty at Bir Zeit. I applied for an exit permit through a human rights organisation and was very disappointed to learn that my application was rejected by the Israeli security authorities. I cannot see any legitimate reason why Israel would stop me from going to the university I want in my country. Israeli students can choose to study at any university they like in Israel.❞

❝I am Mohammad Al Qunbar from Surkhi Qunbar, a small nabourhood, located on the 'Jerusalem' side of the West Bank Barrier. It takes its name from two families that were cut off by the Barrier from the remainder of the neighbourhood of As Sawahira Ash Sharqiya. Not all of us have been given Jerusalem ID cards and some carry West Bank ID cards and can only 'legally' reside in their own homes if they have special Israeli-issued staying permits. Our community members cannot freely access the rest of East Jerusalem, and are also restricted from accessing the rest of the West Bank.❞

❝I am Manal and I currently live in Al Attatra tent camp in Gaza. A year before I came here, I still lived in a large house with many rooms and modern conveniences. I left my home after leaflets were dropped by the Israeli military warning people to leave the area. My family took no possessions from our home except white flags that we waved as we walked to an UNWRA school to seek refuge. We expected to return home shortly but I heard stories of widespread damage to houses in my community, and gradually gave up hope of returning to a house that was still standing. When the military forces had left the area, we returned to our home to find that it had been flattened to the ground by rubble from a neighbouring apartment building that had been directly hit by an Israeli military strike. I took my children to stay at my sister's house and was told that I had been allocated a tent in the new tent camp in Al Attatra.❞