Peace Monuments in Palestine
(West Bank & Gaza
but excluding East Jerusalem)
Since 1948
Click here for peace monuments in Palestine before 1949 -- with chronology of selected events before 1949
Click here for peace monuments in Palestine (West Bank & Gaza) since 1948 -- THIS WEB PAGE
Click here for peace monuments in Israel (All EXCEPT Jerusalem) since 1948 -- with chronology of selected events since 1948
Click here for peace monuments in Israel (Arab monuments ONLY) since 1948
Click here for peace monuments in Jerusalem (West & East) since 1948
Click here for peace monuments at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in West Jerusalem (Israel)
Click here for peace monuments related to Olive Trees & Olive Branches worldwide
Click here for peace monuments related to Quakers (Society of Friends) worldwide
Click here for peace monuments related to Rachel Corrie [1979-2003] worldwide
Click here for Oldest & Biggest Peace Monuments worldwide
Click here for Palestinian Village of Deir Yassin in West Jerusalem (Israel)
Click here for Peace Poles in Palestine & Israel
Click here for Films about Palestine
Click here for Vocabulary of the Israel/Palestine Conflict
Right click image to enlarge.
1940's (Since 1948)
  October 18, 1948 - The flag of the Arab Revolt is adopted by the All-Palestine Government. It will be recognised subsequently by the Arab League as the flag of Palestine. A modified version will be officially adopted as the flag of the Palestinian people by the PLO in 1964 and adopted as the flag of the State of Palestine on November 15, 1988.
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1950's
 
| A IN T I N G S |  1953 - "The Exodus" & "Where to ...?," artist's collection, Amman (Jordan). Oil paintings on canvas by Ismail Shammout [1930-2006] -- himself one of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were expelled from their homeland, Palestine, in 1948. "Where to...?" depicts the Lydda Death March in July 1948. This painting has attained iconic status in Palestinian culture. It is perhaps the best-known version of his several representations of the refugee experience of the Palestinians. In the foreground, it depicts a life-size image of an elderly man dressed in rags carrying a walking stick in his left hand while his right hand grasps the wrist of a crying child. A sleeping toddler on his shoulder is resting his cheek upon the old man's head. Just behind them is a third child crying and walking alone. In the background there is a skyline of an Arab town with a minaret, while in the middle ground there is a withered tree."
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| A R K | A V E | H U R C H | 1954 - Shepherds' Field, Beit Sahour, Bethlehem (West Bank). "PAX" & "Peace on Earth, Good Well to Men" (Luke Chapter 2 verses 7-14) are inscribed in multiple places on the church & grotto. Both were designed by Antonio Barluzzi [1884-1960] in 1954. N.B. This is the Catholic field. The other two "Shepherds' Fields" are Greek Orthodox & Protestant. Holy Land Handicraft Cooperative Souvenir Shop is nearby.
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| 1955-1977 - Twenty-three years without an identifiable peace monument of any kind!
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1960's
 
| C H O O L | April 26, 1961 - Talitha Kumi, Beit Jala, Bethlehem (Occupied West Bank).
"One of the top coed schools in the country, where Christians & Muslims study side by side, learning respect for each other's faith, & enhancing their academic work with strong programs in music, environmental education & peace studies. Formerly on King George Street, West Jerusalem (Israel). "The first school of girls in Jerusalem was given the name of Talitha Kumi. That's an Aramaic term that occurs in Mark 5:41: When Jesus encountered a twelve-year old girl at the moment of death, he took her hand and said, 'Little girl, arise.' The name positioned below the clock and above an arch announced to all that education for young girls was important. The first Lutheran Missionaries came from a small village on the Rhine River of Germany called Kaiserswerth, where there was a school of Deaconesses. Their most famous graduate in 1853 was Florence Nightengale [1820-1910]. But three others came to Jerusalem that same year to establish Talitha Kumi [lower left image].
After the 1948 war, the school was demolished to make room for a new department store. Yet thousands of cars [still] drive by each day to see the arch with its clock & the words Talitha Kumi, left as a monument of earliers days [lower right image]." 
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June 5-10, 1967 - Six Day War (3rd of Israel's 7 wars). On Ammunition Hill, there is a museum, an auditorium (where an excellent documentary tells the full story of the Six Day War in Jerusalem) & a model of Jerusalem as it was in 1967 (different segments are illuminated during the film).
November 22, 1967 - Resolution 242 (S/RES/242) unanimously adopted by UN Security Council proclaiming the "inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war & the need to work for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East in which every State in the area can live in security."
1970's
| R A V E |   1971? - Grave of Ralph Bunche, Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York City (USA). Ralph Bunche [1903-1971] was acting UN mediator on Palestine. After eleven months of virtually ceaseless negotiating, he obtained signatures on armistice agreements between Israel & the Arab States.
Bunche returned home to a hero's welcome. New York City gave him a 'ticker tape' parade up Broadway; Los Angeles declared a 'Ralph Bunche Day." He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 & died December 10, 1971, at age 68. Only inscription on headstone is "BUNCHE" & two olive branches.  
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| 1975 - Isaiah Wall, Ralph Bunch Park, East 43rd Street & First Avenue, New York City, New York (USA). Quotes Isaiah 2:4: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares." Shadow in image is cast by adjacent "Peace Form One." Entry #718 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).
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| M E M O R I A L March 30, 1978 - Land Day Monument, Sakhnin, Galilee (Israel). By Abed Abdi & Gershon Knispel. "First time that a symbol of Palestinian nationality appeared in the public sphere [in Israel]. From 1978 to this day, on every March 30 the monument is a central marking point of remembrance ceremonies for the Land Day events in Galilee." Land Day is an annual day of commemoration for Palestinians of events on March 30, 1976, when the Israeli government announced a plan to expropriate thousands of dunams of land for "security & settlement purposes," a general strike & marches were organized in Arab towns, & in ensuing confrontations with the Israeli army and police, six Arab citizens were killed, about one hundred were wounded & hundreds of others arrested.
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1980's
|  End of 1980 - Kölner Klagemauer/Cologne Wailing Wall, Schildergasse, Koln/Cologne (Germany). In front of the south tower of the Cologne Cathedral. Created (& reactivated in 2004) by Walter Herrmann. Originally consisted of messages denouncing the living conditions of Palestinian people written on small cardboard pieces and suspended on clotheslines. Subsequently addressed other causes. Also called "Wailing Wall for Peace" & "Palestine Wall" after the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
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| M E M O R I A L S After 1982 -
Sabra & Shatilla Memorials, South Beirut (Lebanon). Israeli troops massacred 700-3,500 Palestinians & Lebanese in the Sabra & Shatilla refugee camps September 16-18, 1982, during the Lebanese civil war.
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| C H O O L | 1984 - Hope Flowers School (HFS), Al-Khader, Bethlehem (Palestine).
"The only school in Palestine to teach the philosophy of peace & democratic education." // "A unique institution where students receive a human-rights based education alongside the formal national curriculum.
Founded by Hussein Issa [1947-2000], a Palestinian man whose family was forced to flee their home in 1948 following the violence that marked the inauguration of the State of Israel. Since 2001, the school has been run by his son Ibrahim Issa, who continues to ensure that the 250+ pupils at the school receive peace education alongside the mandatory school curriculum. The school is open to pupils aged 4-13.
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1990's
| O SQ U E |  1991 - Al-Aqsa Islamic Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). Its vibrant mosaic-and-mural exterior is known as "Doorways to Peace." "The result of an interfaith, collaborative project between Al-Aqsa members, local artists, local Muslim & non-Muslim schoolchildren, neighbors, churches & synagogues. Housed in the former Dubin Company furniture warehouse, Al-Aqsa encompasses a mosque & cultural center for the neighborhood's close-knit Palestinian community & other Arab Muslims in the area. Has grown beyond the mosque to include a grocery & an elementary & high school that provides Islamic studies & Arabic language lessons."
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| T A T U E |  1994 - Statue of Alex Odeh, Public Library, Santa Ana, California (USA). By Algerian-American sculptor & political cartoonist Khalil Bendib. "The dove of peace sits in Odeh's left hand. Alex Odeh [1944-1985] was an attorney & Palestinian activist, who was killed when a bomb was planted in his office in Santa Ana in 1985. The FBI still has it as an active, & unsolved, criminal case." "The bombing came the day after the ending of the PLO–sponsored Achille Lauro attack in which Jewish American Leon Klinghoffer was killed. The night before his death, Odeh denied to the media that the PLO was involved in the hijacking & portrayed Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat as being ready to make peace."
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 | C U L T U R A L . C E N T R E 1996 - Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, Ramallah (Occupied West Bank). Dedicated to the promotion of arts & culture in Palestine. Located in a restored traditional mansion. Can any of its permanent works of art or the centre itself be considered a peace monument? "Nakba" section of the centre's website is incomplete.
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| U I L D I N G | 1996-2003 -
Parliament Building, Abu Dis (Occupied West Bank). "Empty - a massive relic & a testimony to the failure of political negotiations." /// "Abu Dis was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Since the signing in 1995 of the Interim Agreement on the West Bank & the Gaza Strip (also known as Oslo 2), Abu Dis has been part of Area B, which is under the civil jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority (PA) but subject to Israeli security control. Due to its geographic proximity to Jerusalem, as well as its position overlooking the Temple Mount from a position near the Mount of Olives, as a substitute for East Jerusalem, the Palestinians' claimed capital, Abu Dis has been mentioned by the Israeli government as a possible capital for a Palestinian state. Most of the PA's offices responsible for Jerusalem affairs are located in the town. The PA built a Parliament Building to possibly house the Palestinian Legislative Council (aka Parliament)... The council has been unable to meet & govern since 2007 due to the Israeli imprisonment of some members, the Fatah–Hamas conflict & the indefinite postponing of elections by the Fatah leadership." /// "Mistakenly or intentionally, the building was not built beside the border, but rather the border runs right through the building."
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| Q U A R E | 1997 - Clock Square, Ramallah (West Bank). Scene of public demonstrations, such as during Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the UN General Assembly on September 24, 2011. "In early 1997, the Israeli army withdrew from the occupied cities of Ramallah &
al-Birah, as stipulated in the 1993 Oslo accords. Accordingly, the administration of
these two cities was turned over to the Palestinian Authority, which reinstituted their
abolished municipal councils. Director of the Ramallah Municipality Architecture
Department Adala al-Atiri explains that, following these political transformations,
the parts of the former al-Manara monument were removed from the municipality storehouses. The monument was relocated to a square inside Ramallah that connected
five internal roads, a site approximately 200 meters away from al-Manara. The new
site replicated the previous al-Manara monument -- a pillar surrounded by five
lion heads, fountains & flower beds -- but in place of the light switchboard above the
pole stood an electric clock. Hence, a space called Midan al-Mughtaribeen (Émigrés
Square) during the period of Jordanian control of the West Bank was transformed into
the Clock Square."
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| 1997 - Bnai Zion Library of Peace, Ma'aleh Adummim, east of Jerusalem (Occupied West Bank). A gift of the Bnai Zion Foundation of New York City (USA) -- "The American Fraternal Zionist Organization" -- which "has been supporting humanitarian projects in Israel since 1908." Ma'aleh Adummim is a huge Israeli settlement -- illegal under international law -- which helps extend Jerusalem almost halfway to Jericho & the Dead Sea, thus dividing the West Bank. (Enlarge the map to see Ma'aleh Adummin & other illegal settlements in the West Bank.) Asked if she'd ever visited this library, Angela Godfrey-Goldstein said no -- for the same reason that she'd never visited the Ma'aleh Adummim shopping center.
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| Date? - Olive Tree (symbol of peace), Ma'aleh Adummim, east of Jerusalem (Occupied West Bank). In a traffic circle (one of several). This olive tree is ancient & therefore had to have been moved here from somewhere else, doubtessly robbed from a Palestinian farm. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bouevard in nearby Jerusalem is lined with such trees. Somewhere it's documented that representatives of the King family were invited to its dedication but refused to attend when they heard about the trees.
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| U RA L S | 1997-2000 -
"Palestine: The Exodus and the Odyssey," Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts (Jordan). "A collection of 19 large murals painted by Ismail Shammout & Temam al Akhal. The paintings illustrate, in chronological sequence, the plight of the Palestinian people since the creation of Israel in 1948 - from exodus and destitution to reconstruction, struggle & reassertion of their rights. It is the artists' impression as witnessed and personally experienced.
The collection starts with the once-upon-a-time 'The Spring That Was,' featuring idyllic pastoral landscape, smiling peasant women, children & dancing. Then begins a chronicle of the Palestinian plight; the forceful uprooting from their homes, the long march, the refugees & the Diaspora, working as professionals in various sectors abroad.
As we enter the modern period, the paintings shift away from a narrative mode to a more symbolic one. In 'Homage to the Martyrs,' [upper image] the red canvas represents a sea of blood, melting into a carpet of roses, with women dressed in white, their dresses inscribed with names of massacres & martyrs.
Shammout's final painting [lower image] features the corpse of a Palestinian woman, in the shape of the map of Palestine, with red needlework on her dress spelling the words 'love, good, patience, tomorrow…' & names of Palestinian cities 'Nablus, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Nazareth…'
These epic pieces of art are witnesses to Palestinian history, to the Palestinian attachment to their land, the heart-wrenching pain of loss & exile, the undying hope for future redemption."
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| M E M O R I A L After 1997 -
Memorial to Massacre Victims, Island of Peace, Naharayim, between Jordan River & Yarmuk River (Jordan). Commemorates the Island of Peace Massacre which occurred on March 13, 1997 when Jordanian Army Corporal Ahmed Daqamseh opened fire on a group of Israeli schoolgirls, killing seven. "This site was named the Island of Peace when Israel & Jordan signed the peace treaty here in 1994. According to this accord, the "island" is under Jordanian sovereignty, but is owned by the two kibbutzim of Ashedot Yaakov, which cultivate the land, manage tourist enterprises & develop the site."
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| G O | 1998 - Holy Land Trust (HLT), 529 Manger Street, Bethlehem (Palestine). "Seeks to empower the community through mobilizing its strengths & resources in order to address the challenges of the present & create real opportunities for the future." Founded by executive director Sami Awad. Successor to Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence (founded by Awad's father Mubarak Awad in 1984). N.B.: HLT was never mentioned on our tour, and Sami Awad did not respond to my emails.
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| R I D G E | Late 1990's - "Subsequent to the Israel-Jordan peace treaty [on October 26, 1994], a new modern paved crossing was constructed adjacent to the older wooden one with the aid of the Japanese Government. This new structure is currently used exclusively." It is currently the designated exit/entry point for Palestinians residing in the West Bank traveling to and from Jordan to the West Bank & Israel. /// Peace Pole visible in air photo behind the bus? 
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| R I D G E | O L E | 1918 - Allenby Bridge, Jordan River (between Palestine & Jordan). Connects Jericho in the West Bank to the Kingdom of Jordan. The original bridge was built in 1918 over a remnant of an old Ottoman colonial era bridge by the British General Edmund Allenby [1861-1936]. It was destroyed once in the Night of the Bridges operation by Palmach at June 16, 1946. It was destroyed again during the Six-Day War [in June 1967], but was replaced in 1968 with a temporary truss-type bridge. This bridge is still called the Allenby Bridge by Israelis, although it is also known as Al-Karameh Bridge to Palestinian Arabs, and the King Hussein Bridge to Jordanians. /// Lower image shows Peace Pole at the bridge in 1993. 
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| O L E |
September 25, 1999 - Peace Pole, Gaza Strip (Palestine). Where is this exactly? "With the hands of Hagit Ra'anan (the Israeli peace & human rights activist), Barbara Wolf (the American activist) and numbers of Palestinian peace & human rights activists, the peace pole which has the sentence "May peace prevail on earth" with the four languages, the Arabic, Hebrew, English & Japanese on a metal plate, was planted on the land of Gaza, under the auspices of a Japanese association concerned with peace... In front of tens of Israeli peace activists in the peace pole planting cremony, Gaza-Ala El Mashharawi (head of the preventive security in Gaza governments), the general Mohammed Dahalan assured that the Palestinian authority encourages the empowerment of the principals & concepts of peace between the Palestinian & the Israeli nation."
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2000's
| A R M | 2000 - Tent of Nations (TON), Daher's Vineyard, near Bethlehem (Palestine). Presentation in cave by Almer Nasser (right image). Walk around various facilities. View Israeli settlements on two sides. Daoud Nasser is currently on tour in USA.
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| O C K S | About 2005 -
"We Refuse To Be Enemies" & "Learning Hope / Planting Peace," Tent of Nations (TON), Daher's Vineyard, Bethlehem (Palestine). Sign at gate painted "We refuse to be enemies. Wir weigern uns feinde zu sein.." "Today, the Tent of Nations is housed under the Bethlehem Bible College umbrella with support from Friends of Tent of Nations." N.B.: I asked Daher Nasser to show me the second rock which he did.
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 | C H O O L | September 2000 - Arab-American University - Jenin, Zababdeh (Palestine). "Founded in 1996 as the first private Palestinian university. Began teaching on September, 2000. Implementing an American education system, in affiliation with California State University & Utah State University."
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| E N T E R | July 1, 2001 - Bethlehem Peace Center, Bethlehem (Palestine). Cultural Center owned and operated by Bethlehem Municipality. Located on Manger Square between Church of the Nativity & Mosque of Omar. Pope Benedict XVI said mass in front on May 13, 2009 (right image). N.B.: No exhibits. Ground floor has tourist info office, bookshop (closed when we were there) & restrooms. Upstairs has auditorium. Bill Shaw & I agreed this does not qualify as a peace museum.
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| A L L |  About 2001 -
Palestinian Child Martyr Monument, Place Mohammed al-Dura, Avenue Al Qoods (Jerusalem), Bamako (Mali). "Constructed as freestanding wall... A strong statement of Mali's & most other African countries' official support of Palestinian self-determination." // Based on a film by Palestinian cameraman Talal Abu Rahma freelanding for France 2 in the Gaza Strip on September 30, 2000. Jamal al-Durrah & his 12-year-old son, Muhammad al-Durrah, sought cover behind a concrete cylinder after being caught in crossfire between Israeli soldiers & Palestinian security forces. The footage, which lasts just over a minute, shows the pair holding onto each other, the boy crying & the father waving, then a burst of gunfire and dust, after which the boy is seen slumped across his father's legs." ("Between 1995 & 2002 more than 40 commemorative monuments were built in Bamako. As public sculptures, the monuments are designed to represent a particular vision of good government, patriotism & citizenship. They are intended to be national lieux de memoire, wherein citizens, especially young people, can engage in the performance of a shared history & national purpose.")
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 | U R A L | 2001 - Mural in Ibdaa Cultural Center, D'heisheh Refugee Camp, Bethlehem (Palestine). "A four-story mural produced in collaboration with the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA). Mural hugs stairs & tells history of Palestine one era per floor, ending with hopes & dreams for the future." "Depicts the history of Palestine from before the formation of the state of Israel, to the present period and ends with a depiction of hopes and dreams for a better future... Susan Greene of Break the Silence Mural Project (BTS) traveled to the West Bank of Occupied Palestine to create the four-story mural in coordination with Palestinian youth and artists. The mural was designed and painted by Palestinian youth and artists, Americans & American Jews." N.B.: 0n opposite wall of the 4th floor is a long writing on "Peace" by Jojo (age 11) of San Francisco, CA, who was killed at age 23.
|  | Date? - Palestinian monument, near entrance of Dheisheh Refugee Camp, Bethlehem (Palestine). Donated by Japanese government. N.B.: Bill Harvey took a photo of this monument.
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| A L L | July 17, 2001 - "World Wall for Peace" (WWFP), Community Center, Al-Khader, near Bethlehem (Occupied West Bank). One of about 20 WWFP's inspired by Carolyna Marks of Berkeley, California (USA) & created in 5 states, Japan, Palestine, Russia & South Africa. "In a new building funded by Italians, a community center where it will be seen by the whole community, children & adults.
The Palestinian community in Al-Khader plans to paint tiles in Arabic that will form the title panel of the wall. Thank you tiles in Arabic will be painted for George Rishmawi [co-founder of the Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies & International Solicarity Movement], Hasam Jobranus, the tilesetter, leader of the boys & girls club & the community.
A grant of $5,000 from the Anderson Family Foundation almost fully supported the project, with the balances paid out of pocket as contributions by Tom Esposito & Carolyna Marks."
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| A T E | A M P | About 2002 - Gate & Murals, D'heisheh Refugee Camp, Bethlehem (Palestine). Conversation at Ibdaa Cultural Center with Issa LNU (middle image). Walking tour. Many murals, some same as Banksy paintings on & near the separation wall (e.g. right image). Several show Handala (image at right), symbol of Palestinian defiance by cartoonist Naji al-Ali [1938-1987]. Left image shows entrance/exit gate constructed by Israel & retained as a monument after fence removed (now hung with symbolic keys). | 
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 | C E M E T E R Y 2002 - Martyrs' Cemetery, Jenin (Palestine). "But a few meters from Jenin Refugee Camp. On a warm, sunny day I stood in front of the memorial to the victims of the massacre of 2002 and remembered them, as I had long promised to do. I remembered the forgotten. It is not an imposing monument; had the victims been Israeli, a more grandiose memorial would have been built, perhaps with a museum, perhaps with a carefully-maintained eternal flame. I was disappointed at first. Is this what I had travelled from Occupied Jerusalem to see? Through Ramallah, Nablus and those checkpoints manned by bored, surly adolescent soldiers?"
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| O M P O U N D | March 29, 2002-October 2004 - Mukataa, Ramallah (Palestine). Unintentional monument. "Also known as Arafat's Compound. Raided by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) & placed under siege on 29 March 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield. The siege was lifted in May 2002 after 6 men wanted by Israel for the killing of the Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi were handed over. Mukataas were mostly built during the British Mandate as Tegart forts & were used both as British government centers & as dwellings for the British administrative staff. After the British left, the buildings often functioned similarly under the Jordanians, then the Israelis. After the Oslo Accords, the Mukataas were used as governmental offices & headquarters for the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Mukaatas in Ramallah & Gaza, the two major Palestinian cities, were also used as headquarters to the High Palestinian Authority leadership, including as office for Yasser Arafat, long-time PA president." The compound in Ramalla was again placed under seige in September 2002. Arafat remained under house arrest until his departure for medical care in Paris in October 2004 (followed by his death on November 11, 2004).
N.B.: Never mentioned, and we did not see. So I still wonder what's left of the Mukataa and where the Palestinian Authority now has its offices.
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| U R A L S | Before & After 2002 - Ministry of Tourism Murals, Gilo Checkpoint (Israeli military checkpoint) between Jerusalem (Israel) & Bethlehem (Occupied West Bank). Older mural (left image) predates the Israeli apartheid wall. It says "Jerusalem-Bethlechem - Love and Peace. Israel Ministry of Tourism." /// Newer mural (right two images) "decorates" the monsterous apartheid wall next to a watchtower. It says "PEACE BE WITH YOU. Israel Ministry of Tourism." Lipstick on a pig? What were they thinking?!!! N.B.: During their visits to Jerusalem, many foreign tourists are driven to Bethlehem for a few hours without ever knowing that they are in Palestinian territory under Israeli occupation (denied to Israeli Jews). Note further decoration in image on far right. |
  
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| E M O R |  Just After March 16, 2003 - Shaheed Memorial for Rachel Corrie, Library, The Evergreen State College (TESC), Olympia, Washington (USA). "A tangible reminder of Rachel Corrie [1979-2003] is the room-sized memorial in a corner meeting area in the Library Building on the TESC campus. This tribute is a shrine for the community to show its love and respect & has evolved as visitors add to it — photos, writings, artworks, candles, origami peace doves.
There are donated photographs of Rachel from baby to punk rocker, dance diva to teacher. Someone has made color copies of Rachel’s Palestinian shaheed ('martyr') posters.
There is the news article when Rachel, as a 5th grade schoolgirl, worked on a campaign for children’s rights and gave a presentation before the Washington State legislature."
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| U R A L |
After March 16, 2003? - Portrait of Rachel Corrie, La Lucha Continua / The Struggle Continues," 3260-23rd Street (between Mission & Capp Streets), San Francisco, California (USA). When was Rachel Corrie added to this mural?
A talking wall [originally painted by Susan Greene in 1985]
which you can hear by going to the mural location where there is a key of extension numbers.
Dial 415.200.4587 followed by the
extension number of the person you wish to hear and enjoy
- or your can download a printable mural key here.
/// The portraits: Mumia Abu-Jamal, Aristide, Judi Bari, Soha Bechara, Maurice Bishop, Madame Binh,
Marilyn Buck, Sitting Bull, Cesar Chavez, Rachel Corrie, Bernadette Devlin, Franz Fanon, Ghandi,
Emma Goldman, Che Guevara, Handala, Joe Hill, Dolores Huerta, Frida Kahlo, Leila Khaled,
Martin Luther King Jr., Lolita Lebron, Audre Lorde, Patrice Lumumba, Rosa Luxemburg,
Farabundo Martí, José Martí, Rigoberta Menchu, Leonard Peltier, Archbishop Oscar Romero,
Edward Said, Augusto César Sandino, Assata Shakur, Harriet Tubman, Pancho Villa,
Malcolm X, Sofia Yamaika, Emiliano Zapata. /// "On Thursday, February 26th [year?], the mural was attacked by
someone/s wielding a hammer, leaving large, gaping holes in the portraits of
three social justice activists – obliterating their faces entirely. In July 2003, the mural, 15 by 35
feet, was similarly destroyed.
The worst hit in both attacks was the portrait of Rachel Corrie [1979-2003], the young
woman who was run over and killed by an Israeli bulldozer in
Occupied Palestine [on March 16, 2003]. Corrie’s face now has a hole approximately 36 inches by
12 inches. The portraits of Mumia Abu Jamal & Bernadette Devlin were also
destroyed. Then, on February 28th, racist & misogynist words were written
on what is left of Rachel Corrie's portrait and on Nelson Mandela's
likeness; along with a Hitler-like moustache on Mandela. The mural is being restored by Susan Greene, the original artist. The current
restoration is funded in part by the City of San Francisco’s Neighborhood
Beautification Fund. Greene is an artist and psychologist who has lived in the Bay Area for
the past 20 years. Originally from New York, Greene has painted murals in
San Francisco, the East Bay, Central America & the Middle East. She
directs the learning Center at the San Francisco Art Institute, teaches
mural painting at the University of San Francisco & conducts a bookmaking
class at the San Francisco County Jail."
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 | A R D E N | April 5, 2003 - Sculpture Garden, Anata (Occupied West Bank). "The day was hot on the eastern edge of Jerusalem. Half way up a steep hillside on the fringe of the village of Anata a group of 30 Israelis & Palestinians labored to build a sculpture garden in memory of Rachel Corrie. The sculptor was in attendance, supervising the installation of three small concrete houses within a cradle of debris from the nearby demolished home of the Shawamreh family... In attendance were members of the board of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and representatives of the International Solidarity Movement, Ta’ayush, Gush Shalom, the American Friends Service Committee, the Christian Peacemakers Team, and others. The sculpture was created by Tel Aviv artist Danny Reisner, and the harp music performed by Sunita Staneslow."
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| O U S E | August 8-21, 2003 - Arabela House, Anata (Occupied West Bank). Anata is the same as (Beit Arabiya)? "Salim Shawamreh is a Palestinian. His family was made refugees when the state of Israel was founded [in 1948], so they had to leave their home in the Negev Desert & move to the Old City in Jerusalem. Then in 1967, during the Six Day War, they were made refugees again, so went to live in the Shufat Refugee Camp [sic]. Salim trained as an engineer & saved money to build a home for his family. Despite many attempts to get a building permit, one was never granted, which is usually the case for Palestinians. Salim proceeded to build a home, but it was demolished by Israeli authorities. To date, this has happened four times, and each time the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) rebuilds their house. A fifth demolition order is on their house." Text of sign in front of the house: "Arabela House. In momorial [sic] of the death of Noha Sweedan [Nuha Swaidan] and Rechel Kori [Rachel Corrie]." Last image shows Jeff Halper, co-founder & coordinator of ICAHD, leading a tour of Jerusalem. "ICAHD estimates that at least 24,813 houses have been demolished in the West Bank, East Jerusalem & Gaza since 1967." /// According to the ICAHD website, this house was demolished for the fifth time on January 23, 2012.
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 | U R A L | August 21, 2003 - Monument to Rachel Corrie, Arabela House, Anata (Occupied West Bank). Text of inscription: "Mike Alewitz. Labor Art & Mural Project organized by Christine Gauvreau. Donated by U.S. workers against the occupation of Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Palestine -- August 21, 2003." Painted by "labor muralist" Mike Alewitz, associate professor of art at Central Connecticut State University. Rachel Corrie [1979-2003] was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who was crushed to death on March 16, 2003, by an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) bulldozer while trying to prevent the destuction of a Palestinian home near the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. "Alewitz was the founder & chairman of the Kent Student Mobilization Committee Against the War in Vietnam (SMC) the largest anti-war group at Kent State University prior to the May 4, 1970, massacre.
He has remained a prominent anti-war and social justice activist.
Alewitz has created murals on themes of peace & solidarity in Nicaragua, Chernobyl, Mexico City, Northern Ireland, Baghdad & the Occupied Territories."
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| O U S E | Before September 2003 - International Solidarity Movement house, Rafat (Gaza Strip). "Dedicated to Rachel Corrie, a 23 year-old U.S. peace activist from Olympia Washington who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in March 2003. She had attempted to block the path of the bulldozer as it approached a Palestinian home marked for destruction. The memorial reads: "RACHEL: OUR SISTER. OUR DAUGHTER. IF I AM TO LIVE LET ME LIVE LIKE YOU & IF I MUST DIE LET ME DIE LIKE YOU WITH COURAGE IN ONE HAND AND LOVE IN THE OTHER AND A HEART FULL OF JOY AND RESISTANCE." /// Upper image shows "Cindy Corrie, right, & husband Craig, the parents of American ISM activist Rachel Corrie, carry[ing] two olive trees they later planted in the Rafah Refugee Camp in southern Gaza Strip Friday, Sept. 19, 2003."
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| T R E E T | Date? - Rachel Corrie Street, Ramallah (Occupied West Bank). "The Ramallah municipality in the Palestine region dedicated a street to Rachel Corrie."
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| O R S E | 2003 - Horse, Jenin Refugee Camp, Jenin (Occupied West Bank). By German sculptor Thomas Kippler, along with 12 Jenin teenagers. "A very artistic entrance into a seemingly grim place. But like many images here, what you see is not necessarily all there is to the sory. The horse is made up of scraps and pieces of cars that were blown up when the Israeli army invaded April 1-11, 2002. And when you look at the right side of the horse, you are able to make out a sign that reads 'ambulance' indicating that no vehicles were off limit."
|  | Date? - Unidentified monument, on highway just south of Jenin (Occupied West Bank). Includes at least four large birds & shapes which might be a key & keyhole (symbol of Palestinian resistance?). Please email geovisual@comcast.net if you have any information about this monument. Photo taken from a moving bus on June 20, 2011.
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| R E E | September 24, 2003 - "Deir Yassin Remembered," DYR Headquarters, Seneca Lake (western shore), Geneva, New York, New York (USA). Bronze sculpture of an uprooted olive tree by [political cartoonist] Khalil Bendib. Inscription: "Earth torn roots yearning, Palestine landscape mourning displaced descendants. Randa Hamwi Duwaji. Perpetrated by terrorists of the Irgun and Stern Gang, the massacre of Palestinian men, women, and children at Deir Yassin on April 9, 1948 is arguably the most pivotal event in 20th century Palestinian history. // The massacre symbolizes the Zionist quest to build a Jewish state on land inhabited for centuries by Muslims, Christians, and Jews. It marks the begining of the descruction of over 400 Palestinian villages and the exile of more than 700,000 Palestinians. // Over half the population in the land controlled by Israel is not Jewish. Most of these non-Jews are Palestinians. Yet there are few memorails to mark their history and none to mark the massacre at Deir Yassin, which lies 3 km west of the Old City of Jerusalem and only 1,400 m to the north of Yad Vashem, the most famous of all the Holocaust memorials. The irony is breathtaking. // Khalil Bendib, Sculptor, 2003. www.deiryassin.org" Third of three "Deir Yassin Remembered" memorials (DYR).
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| I L L A G E | April 9, 1948 - Palestinian Village of Deir Yassin (Israel). Unintentional monument. Scene of the Deir Yassin Massacre. Lower photo is Deir Yassin as seen from Yad Vashem; the village lies in the green trees to the right of the water tower. See more complete description above.
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| A R D E N | April 2004 -
Peace Garden, Kaykub Gardens, opposite Friends High School, Ramallah (Palestine). "An initiative of observers from Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) who were living at Swift House." Contains boulder inscribed "In rebembrance of Susan Rhodes and all who live and die for peace." (Rhodes was a Quaker & a Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) member from the UK who died recently of cancer.)
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| 2004? - Peace Monument, Ma'aleh Adummim, east of Jerusalem (Occupied West Bank). In round-about opposite the Ma'aleh Adummin shopping center. Large white dove with world globe between its wings. Upper left image by EWL. Upper right image by Dr. Avishai Teicher. Lower image from Bnai Zion website. Ma'aleh Adummin is an illegal Israeil setttlement according to international law.
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| Date? -Peace Dove, Faqua, Jenin District (Occupied West Bank). "The dove sculpture abandoned in a field in the village of Faqua stands for the abandonment of the peace negotiations between Palestine & Israel." /// "A village of about 5,000 residents, Faqua is blighted by a security barrier set up by Israel that separates it from Ma'ale Gilboa, a religious kibbutz that is home to 400 Israeli settlers.
The village is not connected to any piped supply. Instead, Faqua has to rely on exorbitantly expensive water brought in by tankers. This water still does not meet the village's needs."
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| C U L P T U R E |  2005 - "Connect," Imperial War Museum North, Manchester (England). By ceramatist Peter Lewis, University of Bolton. "This project began in Manchester moving to Ramallah in the Occupied Territories. For the Palestinian children it was an opportunity to participate in an experience that looked beyond their immediate situation. Many children have been traumatised by events and their education fragmented due to continued occupation, sporadic incursions and curfews.
The project encouraged each group to consider their immediate environment, including likes/dislikes, hopes, desires & aspirations for the future, their daily routines and experiences being documented. The visual images & text generated from the project was used to create the figurative piece." Note UK & Palestinian flags on left arm.
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| P A I N T I N G 2005 - "The Olive Tree," in artist's collection?, Amman (Jordan). By Ismail Shammout [1930-2006] -- one of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were expelled from their homeland, Palestine, in 1948. See his paintings from 1953.
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| U R A L S | August 2005 & Ongoing - Peace Grafitti on the Israeli Separation Wall, Bethlehem (Palestine). "A silhouette of children riding an escalator up and over the wall is one of many pieces of artwork painted on the barrier wall between Bethlehem and Jerusalem." "In August 2005, [anonymous British grafitti artist] Banksy painted nine images, including an image of a ladder going up and over the wall and an image of children digging a hole through the wall." /// "Some locals found [the donkey mural] offensive and painted over it [in December 2007]. 'We're humans here, not donkeys. This is insulting. I'm glad it was painted over,' said restaurant owner Nasri Canavati. 'Comparing someone to a donkey in Palestinian society is like calling them an idiot.'" Click here for a gallery of Separation Wall peace art.
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  | U R A L | About 2005 - Peace Mural, Bethlehem (Palestine). "Famous mural in Bethlehem." Shows gunsite aimed at dove of peace carrying an olive branch but wearing an armored vest. By anonymous British grafitti artist Banksy.
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| U R A L | 2005 - Mural, Separation Wall, where? (Palestine). By Susan Greene of Break the Silence Mural Project (BTS).
| U R A L | Date? - Mural, where? (Palestine). Twelve martyrs? By Susan Greene?
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 | R E E | About 2005 - "The Tree Of Peace," Manger Square, Bethlehem (Palestine). An olive tree said to have been moved by construction of the Israeli Separation Wall. Its plaque reads: "EEC - SHAREK - YMCA Gratitude to those who choose to keep hope alive. COMMUNALE D'ATH / BELGIUM. I am 500 years old, I was uprooted without my permission from my original site (Th. Kamis Land) in Bir Ona - Beit Jala along with thousands of trees all over Palestine to build an apartheid wall.... I am still alive." FYI, Ath is a town in Walloon province of Hainaut, Belgium, and Beit Jala is adjacent to Bethlehem. N.B.: This plaque is only a portion of the earlier sign (left image). The tree we saw (inside the enclosure for a sidewalk restaurant) on June 15, 2011, is a younger & greener specimen (right image). Note Church of the Nativity in rear of left image & Bethlehem Peace Center in rear of right image. 
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| R T | March 14-April 22, 2006 - "Made in Palestine," Bridge Gallery, New York City, New York (USA). "The first museum-quality exhibition devoted to the contemporary art of Palestine to be held in the USA. A survey of work spanning three generations of Palestinian artists who live in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, parts of Israel, Syria, Jordan & the USA." Images show (1) Emily Jacir's "Memorial to 418 Palestinian Villages Which Were Destroyed, Depopulated and Occupied by Israel in 1948," Refugee tent and embroidery thread, 138" x 115" x 96",, (2) John Halaka's "Stripped of Their Identity and Driven From Their Land," from the series "Forgotten Survivors" and (3) Abdel Rahmen Al Muzayen's series "Jenin," 2002. Media: Ink on paper, 25"x19.5".
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| H E A T E R | 2006 - Freedom Theatre, Jenin Refugee Camp, Jenin (Palestine). "The only professional venue for theatre & multimedia in the north of the West Bank in Occupied Palestine... Enables the young generation in the area to develop new & important skills which will allow them to build a better future for themselves & for their society." Founded by Israeli actor & filmmaker Juliano Mer-Khamis [1958-2011] - image at far right - who was assassinated in the street very near the theatre on April 4, 2011. Right image is acting school coordinator #*Rawand Arqawi. | 
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| A I N T | 2007 - "Palestinian Pietŕ." Where is this painting by Belgian political artist, cartoonist & illustrator Ben Heine? "The woman represented here is Jewish American rights activist Anna Baltzer. The illustration is inspired by the famous Michelangelo's Pietŕ." /// "What Heine refers to as his academic visual research on the limits of freedom of speech in political cartoons lead to controversy. Due to the pro-Palestinian & anti Zionism nature of some of Heine's political art & his participation in a 2006 competition calling for Holocaust-related cartoons on the Iranian website Irancartoon.com, Heine has been accused of anti-Semitism by critics, including the Belgian satirical weekly magazine Pere UBU & the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs."
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| U RA L | 2007 - Edward Said Mural, Cesar Chavez Student Union, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California (USA). By Fayeq Oweis & Susan Greene. Edward Said [1935-2003] "was a Palestinian-American literary theorist, advocate for Palestinian rights, Professor of English & Comparative Literature at Columbia University & a founding figure in postcolonialism. Robert Fisk described him as the Palestinians' 'most powerful political voice.'"
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| O M B | November 11, 2007 - Mausoleum & Minaret honoring Yasser Arafat, Al-Muqata'a, Ramallah (Palestine). Dedicated on the third anniversary of Arafat's death in Paris. Right next to the presidential headquarters where Arafat spent his last years. Yasser Arafat [1929-2004] received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 with Shimon Peres & Yitzhak Rabin.
N.B.: On our itinerary, but we did not go there due to a supposed lack of time.
|  | Date? - Arafat monument, Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah (Palestine).
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 | A L L | 2008 - Mural, Bil'in (Occupied West Bank). Olive tree. Painted in one day by Susan Greene of Break the Silence Mural Project (BTS). The village of Bil'in protests every Friday against the taking of its land for an illegal Israeli settlement. Click here for AP story dated June 27, 2011, about partial removal of the Israeli barrier (as published in the Boston Globe).
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| R E E | Ancient -
Olive Tree named "Mahaseem," Bil'in (Occupied West Bank). Tree believed to be 1,000 years old. On road between the Palestinian village & Israeli apartheid fence which Bil'in residents protest every Friday (sometimes accompanied by "internationals"). Left image shows the tree & the tree's owner Radwan Yasen (some of whose olive trees have been destroyed by Israel). Right image shows Israeli troops through the fence. Both photos taken June 18, 2011. Click here for AP story dated June 27, 2011, about partial removal of the fence at Bil'in (as published in the Boston Globe).
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 | R C H | May 8, 2008 - "Gate of Return," Aida Refugee Camp, Bethlehem (Occupied West Bank). "Palestinians watch as a huge 10-metre long iron key is placed atop the symbolic "Return Gate" during a gathering to mark the 60th anniversary of the "Nakba" (catastrophe). Several hundred Palestinians chanting "the right of return is sacred" staged a march today around a truck carrying a 10-tonne metal key symbolising the homes people lost in 1948 when the Jewish state of Israel was created."
|  | E Y | Date? - Key Symbolizing the Nakba, at an entrance to Jericho (Occupied West Bank).
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| U I L T | 2008 - "The Middle-East Dialogue Quilt," Friends Meeting House, Ramallah (Palestine). Created in Boston & transported to Ramallah by Jim Harb of Knoxville, Tennessee. Now hung on the front wall of the meeting house. /// Bottom image shows Marina Shaw, Bill Shaw & Kathy Bergen holding FCNL brochure from the Dayton International Peace Museum, of which Bill is president. Presiding clerk Jean Zaru is at left in both images. Both photos taken June 18, 2011.
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| O O K | July 3, 2008 - "Occupied with Nonviolence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks" by Jean Zaru, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, pp. 144. "Vividly paints the complex realities faced by all parties in Palestine — Jews & Muslims & Christians, Israelis & Palestinians, women & men. Yet even as Zaru eloquently names the common misunderstandings of the history, present situation, & current policies of the parties there, she vividly articulates an alternative: a religiously motivated nonviolent path to peace & justice in the world's most troubled region."
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 |  2008 - Palestine Mural, International Wall, Falls Road, Belfast (Northern Ireland). Depicts the Israeli wall on the Belfast wall. Text on mural: "Free Palestine from 60 years of Nakba. END THIS BARBARIAN ISRAELI AGGRESSION! 'THIS IS A WAR CRIME.' 1300+ SLAUGHTERED."
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| A R K E R | September 2008 - Hisham's Palace Site Development Project, Jerico City (Occupied West Bank). Inscription on stone monument: "...was funded by The American People represented by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) In Cooperation with The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities under theJobs Opportuinities for Basic Services (JOBS). Completed September 2008." /// Hisham's Palace is a ruin from 743-744 CE. Right image shows a palace window. 
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| O S Q U E | After 2008 - Al-Hamadiyya Mosque, Al-Khader, near Bethlehem (Occupied West Bank). Unintentional monument. Built in the early 15th century & restored by the town's residents in the 1990's but burned down on January 1, 2008, by Israelis from Efrata & El'azar settlements (using stolen beehives as fuel), then restored by the Tourism Ministry of the Palestinian National Authority.
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| E T T E R | April 2009 - Open Letter to "My dear Palestinian brothers and sisters" from South African activist Farid Esack, painted on the Israeli apartheid wall, ArRam (Occupied West Bank). Between Jerusalem & Ramallah. Contains 1,998 words & stretches 2.6 kilometers, making it probably the world's longest letter. Described in "Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine" by author & photographer William Parry, PlutoPress, London. Click here for the complete text. Click here for video of the letter's entire length. 
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  | L A Q U E | September 7, 2009 - "In Sorrow and Shame" Plaque, Jewish Cemetery, Hebron (Palestine). "Points to a new trend among British Christians -- repentance for their country’s conduct during the Palestine Mandate.
Close to the graves [left image] of Jews killed by an Arab mob in the 1929 Hebron Massacre, the plaque [right image] declares in Hebrew & English: "In sorrow and shame. We recognise that officers of the British administration neglected their duty to protect the Jewish citizens of Hebron during the Arab uprising in 1929. 'Father, Forgive us,' we pray. Love Never Fails Network of UK Christian ministries, September 7, 2009." Installed by an interdenominational Christian umbrella organization that represents 20 British ministries & has a total membership of 30,000 [Chrisian Friends of Israel]."
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2010's
 | U R A L | May 8, 2010 - Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural, 119-1/2 Capitol Way North, Olympia, Washington (USA). By mural artist Susan Greene. The Olympia-Rafah Soldarity Mural Project (ORSMP) "furthers Rachel Corrie's dream of building a sister city relationship between Rafah, Gaza Strip (Palestine), where she was killed in 2003, and Olympia, Washington, USA, where she grew up and attended The Evergreen State College." See video.
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| H I P | May 12, 2010 - MV Rachel Corrie. "On 30 March 2010, a 1800-tonne vessel was bought at auction in Dundalk (Ireland) for €70,000 by the Free Gaza Movement. It was outfitted for use in a voyage to Gaza, named in honour of Rachel Corrie, & launched 12 May 2010. It sailed to join a flotilla intended to directly confront Israel’s blockade of Gaza & take in basic supplies. The flotilla was intercepted (see Gaza flotilla raid) however the MV Rachel Corrie had not reached the other ships and continued towards Gaza by itself. Israeli navy officers addressed the ship as 'Linda' - the vessel's name before it was renamed for Rachel Corrie. The ship was intercepted by the Israeli navy on Saturday, June 5, 2010, 23 miles off the coast & diverted to the port of Ashdod. There the cargo was to be inspected & sent over land to Gaza."
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| O A T | Date? - "Spirit of Humanity," Gaza Strip (Palestine). Boat of the Free Gaza Movement. "Since August 2008, [FGM] has traveled nine times to Gaza by sea to break Israel's illegal stranglehold on 1.5 million Palestinian civilians. We entered Gaza successfully five times in 2008; however, we have been violently intercepted on the past four voyages, including Israel's May 31, 2010, lethal attack on our Freedom Flotilla, when nine of our colleagues were killed & many more injured by Israeli commandos."
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| H I P |  May 31, 2010 - MV Mavi Marmara. Owned by the Islamic charity Insani Yardim Vakfi / Foundation for Human Rights & Freedom & Humanitarian Relief (IHH). Israeli commandos attacked the Turkish ship in international waters with about 600 peace activsts on board as it and five other vessels were en route to Gaza with 10,000 tons of construction materials and humanitrian supplies. Israel has blockaded Gaza since 2007.
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| E M O R I A L | May 31, 2011 - Freedom Flotilla’s Martyrs Memorial & Square, El Mina, Gaza City (Gaza Strip). Upper image: "This marble monument stands in memory of the nine Turkish individuals killed during Israel’s raid of the Mavi Marmara during the first global Freedom Flotilla. Each panel features one of the nine names as well as a Turkish flag alongside a Palestinian flag, symbolizing the strength of international solidarity and celebrating their lives as honorary Palestinians." /// Lower image: "A Palestinian boy leans on a pole decorated with a Turkish flag at a memorial site in memory of nine Turkish activists killed in a deadly raid by Israeli army on a Turkish aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip last year, in Gaza City, on Tuesday, May 31, 2011. The Islamic militant group Hamas has unveiled a memorial for nine activists killed last year in an Israeli raid on an international flotilla seeking to break a blockade of the Gaza Strip."
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| O O K | 2010 - "Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine" by author & photographer William Parry, PlutoPress, London, pp. 192, 100 NIS. About peace grafitti on the Palestinian side of the Israeli apartheid wall, including parody of Guernica (right image) by Ron English (who wrote the forward). Click here to see selected images from the book.
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 | O A D | Before 2011 - Peace Road, Al Aqaba (Occupied West Bank). About 5 km northeast of the City of Tubas. A one-kilometer road that linked their village to the main Jordan Valley Highway. "USAID helped pave the road, & the British government funded a clinic. The kindergarten was financed by an American organization (Rebuilding Alliance), & the governments of Japan, Belgium & Norway helped in adding a second floor." /// "On April 7, 2011, kindergartners looked on from their school bus as Israeli soldiers barricaded access to, and then destroyed, several sections of the Peace Road, the main road in and out of Al Aqaba village." /// Right image shows Mayor Haj Sami Sadeq "who has been confined to a wheelchair since his youth, after being injured in the shooting of soldiers who carried out live fire training near his home." /// According to Adam Keller of Gush Shalom the village received 25 demolition orders (for a village which consists of 45 houses in all) in early 2012 (but when exactly?).
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 | A I N T |  June 11, 2011 - Oil Painting, Kiev (Ukraine). "Ukraine-based Palestinian artist Dr Jamal Said Badwan on Wednesday unveiled the biggest oil painting in the world in a public park in Kiev. Palestinian Authority Minister of Tourism Khloud Daibes & hundreds of Ukrainians & Palestinians attended the show. The 310-square-meter painting portrait is expected to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. (A Dutch artist currently holds the record, for a 210-square-meter oil painting.)
Badwan told Al-Jazeera's Arabic-language website that the painting was inspired by Noah's Ark.
He painted the earth surrounded by people of all ethnicities, panicking as a huge flood approaches. They are led to safety by a dove through Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher & a famous Kiev church."
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| R E E S | July 27, 2011 - Olive Trees, Al-Walaja, near Bethlehem (Occupied West Bank). Email from Dr. Mazin Qumsieh of the Palestinian Center for Raprochment Between People in Bethlehem: "We (five Israelis & two Palestinians) were roughed up [yesterday] by Israeli apartheid
soldiers, then abducted, while filming the destruction of the land of
Al-Walaja. In my case, the [Israeli army] officer recognized me and came straight at me pushing me to the ground, kicking me, then asking his soldiers to take me away. Shireen [Al-Araj, a member of Walaja's Popular Committee Against the Wall] was taken later by the invading fascist soldiers. It hurts so much to see how slowly the old [olive] trees are being uprooted to build [an Israeli separation] wall on village land that will separate the villagers from their agricultural fields. In this case, trees & an agricultural road (built
with European funding) were being destroyed. The oldest tree
in the Bethlehem district, an olive tree that is perhaps 3-4,000 years old is
also in the path of the apartheid wall. [Early this morning] the Israeli soldiers working as
subcontractors for land thieves & racists also raided the Freedom Theater
in Jenin (founded by our friend & martyr Juliano Mer-Khamis [1958-2011]) & abducted
[two] of the workers there. We ask everyone to write to politicians, media & others to alert them of these persistent violations of basic human
rights. We must intensify pressure via boycotts, divestments & sanctions [BDS]." /// From Wikipedia: "Al-Walaja is the site of al-Badawi, a 5,000 year old olive tree, claimed to be the oldest [olive tree] in the world... On April 29, 2010, a joint demonstration involving both [Jewish] settlers of the adjacent Gush Etzion settlement block & local Arab residents protested the construction of a long-delayed extension of Israel's network of security fences & walls around Jerusalem. The event was partially coordinated by the Kfar Etzion-based organization Eretz Shalom / Land of Peace dedicated to building contacts between Jewish settlers & West Bank natives." /// Middle image is from a "Journey for Justice" visit to Al-Walaja by the Joint Advocacy Initiative (JAI) of the East Jerusalem YMCA of Palestine on July 5, 2006. /// From Mazin Qumsiyeh, January 30, 2012: "The olive tree in Al-Walaja is ok but it is close to the wall being built. At one point, the army was using explosives and pieces were flying at the place and homes nearby (injuring two people) but now things are quiet."
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  |  Christmas 2011 - Wall Museum," near Rachel's Tomb, Bethlehem (Occupied West Bankl). A total 60 metal posters attached to the Israeli separation wall. Some added in September 2012. They "tell stories of Palestinian women from the three neighboring towns, Bethlehem, Beit Jala & Beit Sahour, but also from villages around Bethlehem & other places. The stories express a rejection of the Wall but show also the women’s sumud or steadfastness; and the human longing for the healing of home and the creation and preservation of life over destruction. Moreover, the stories give a sense of history & suggest the possibility of change..."
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 | January 11, 2013 - Bab al-Shams/“Gate of the Sun,” E1/Mevaseret Adumim (Occupied West Bank). Palestinian protest camp. "The Palestinians claim E1, just east of Jerusalem, as part of a future state. The protest comes six weeks after Israel announced that it was moving forward with plans for thousands of settlement homes in E1, stirring international outrage.. 'We are here as a response to the [Israeli] settlers & to the Israeli policy of settlement expansion,' said Muhammad Khatib, a veteran member of the grass-roots Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee & a resident of Bilin."
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 | March 20, 2017 - The Walled Off Hotel, 182 Caritas Street, Bethlehem (Palestine). Satirical hotel by anonymous British graffiti artist Bansky. "An 'all-inclusive vandals resort' five metres from the wall that separates Israel from the Palestinian West Bank.
Banksy, who is known for his politically charged works, converted a former pottery workshop into the Walled Off Hotel, which includes a tea shop, art gallery and graffiti supplies store [Wall Mart]." "The new installation hotel is a powerful anticolonial statement about British imperialism [the Balfour Declaration of 1917], the Zionist colonial project, Israeli occupation & apartheid politics in Palestine...
Banksy himself issued a statement in which he stated: 'It's exactly one hundred years since Britain took control of Palestine and started re-arranging the furniture -- with chaotic results. I don't know why but it felt like a good time to reflect on what happens when the United Kingdom makes a huge political decision without fully comprehending the consequences.'
The art work in both the lobby & rooms... carefully document[s] the ongoing Palestinian Nakba [of 1948] under the Zionist settler-colonial project & apartheid regime.'" 
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Future
| A R K | Future - Oush Grab Peace Park, Jerusalem-Eastern Gush Etzion Highway, Beit-Sahour (Shepherd’s Field), east of Bethlehem (Palestine). Also called Ush Ghurab. A development (fully funded by USAID in 2006) for a children’s hospital, youth center, public peace park, environmental center, recreation center, cultural center & and parking lot, but halted (indefinitely?) due to a counter proposal by "Women in Green" for a "Jewish Shdema" (settlement) on the same site (which is an abandoned IDF army camp). Click here for update & many photos (as of March 20, 2010?).
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| O S A I C | Future - "Pieces for Peace mosaic." "An Israeli-Palestinian art-dialogue project for children.
More than 150 Palestinian & Israeli youth have met over the last 3 years to create 330 square feet of mosaic. This work of art is being painstakingly created from thousands of mosaic tiles. The finished mosaic project will be placed in a park on the Israel-Palestine border.
The mosaic promises a fear-free future, and we hope it will be a meeting place for the peoples of the region and the world."
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| A R K | Future - Jordan River Peace Park, Peace Island, Naharayim (Israel & Jordan). "Project being spearheaded by the trilateral NGO Friends of the Earth Middle East, headquartered in Tel Aviv, Bethlehem & Amman." "A six-day international design workshop in architecture on Tuesday opened at Naharayim. The participants are faculty & students from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (USA), and the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design, Jerusalem (Israel), together with Jordanian, Palestinian & Israeli architects.
Seeks to extend the development on the Israeli side of the site to the Jordanian side to create a a transborder protected area in which both Israelis & Jordanians will be able to cross the river from either side without the need for a visa.
The site is 10 kilometers south of the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), at the confluence of the Yarmuk & Jordan rivers. The park area will include the former Rutenberg hydroelectric power station [image] & the Three Bridges site, an historic crossing point of the Jordan River valley.
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Uncertain
| A L L | Date? Grafitti, Bethlehem? "My favourite Banksy piece is of the teenager throwing flowers. I believe that the piece represents the teenage angst & anger in society." Click here for Banksyh Halloween Costume. Check this out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarider/359355324/. And this: http://www.nerdbanite.com/2009/06/top-10-vintage-banksy/. "This photo can be used freely by churches and community groups to illustrate talks and services about the current situation in Palestine and Israel. All the photos are copyright Amos Trust, and cannot be used commercially. Please contact Amos Trust on 0207 588 2638 with any queries about these permissions." This image is iconic & has been reproduced in many places & forms.
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