Sunday, June 15, 2025

It Being Sunday - a poem by Anne Selden Annab

"La Liberalité". Texte latin: "Dives in omnes". (Il est riche pour tous). Corne d'abundance. Pierre Le Moyne (1602-1671): De l'art de regner / Le Moyne. Publisher: À Paris : chez Sebastien Cramoisy et Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy, imprimeurs du Roy.

It Being Sunday

It being Sunday

in a land with many churches

I pray that prayers for peace

rise up, rise up to sway

people away from war.

Away from bombing children,

pulverizing families,

and homes ... and jobs.

Away from generating enemies.

Away from creating poverty, starvation, suffering...

Might does not make right

nor does armed resistance.

Scorn violence!

We live in an age of computers- the internet

an endless feed of personal truths at our fingertips

with the power of fair and just laws

able to shape a better way forward

for all of humankind.

Laila El-Haddad & Mosab Abu Toha both win the JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION AWARD 2025 for their essays on Gaza ... "We Palestinians win, with or without recipes..."

JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION AWARD.

Laila El-Haddad

@gazamom

It was a true honor. I only wish it did not take a genocide to win an award or for people’s eyes to be opened. Still, we will continue to resist by narrating our own stories

https://www.lailahaddad.com/books

Mosab Abu Toha

@MosabAbuToha

Congratulations to me and my dear sister Laila El-Haddad on each winning a prestigious JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION AWARD 2025.

I won in Personal Essay Laila won in Personal Essay with Recipes.

We Palestinians win, with or without recipes.

Laila read her remarks, which represent me and her and all of us who have families in Gaza.

I could not share mine there because I was not there in person. But I will post my remarks here soon.

Award Winning Work

THE WINNING ESSAYS

Laila El-Haddad PICTURED WITH HER AUNT UM HANI (PHOTO: MAGGIE SCHMITT)

A Cuisine Under Siege

I couldn’t rescue my aunt in Gaza, but I can keep her recipes alive.

By Laila El-Haddad

Published on March 5, 2024 in SAVEUR

Though I’ve lived abroad most of my life, Gaza is where I call home. It's where my parents were born and raised and where I spent summers as a child. Whenever we’d return, we’d be welcomed back by our large extended family. First among them was my aunt An’am Dalloul, whom we called Khalto Um Hani: “mother of Hani,” her eldest child and my cousin. She’d always arrive bearing a bowl of sumagiyya, Gaza City’s signature meat stew with chard, sumac, and chickpeas—and my father's favorite meal.

Um Hani, along with my cousins Hoda, Wafaa, and Hani, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in their residential Gaza City neighborhood in November 2023.

In an instant, the household perished, my cousin Nael later told me. Only a skeleton of the building was left. He recounted the horrific scene over WhatsApp—how he gathered their remains in his arms and buried them in a mass grave under heavy Israeli bombardment, how he failed to retrieve the corpse of one of his sisters, and how his brother bled to death before paramedics could reach him. Nael, like 90 percent of Gazans at the time of writing, is displaced, fleeing with his children from one city to the next in search of shelter, food, and some semblance of safety. He has been surviving on canned beans for more than three months.

Nael’s news shook me to my core. I couldn’t sleep.... READ MORE https://www.saveur.com/culture/palestinian-cuisine-under-siege/

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

The New Yorker Illustration by Matt Rota

My Family’s Daily Struggle to Find Food in Gaza

In my homeland, where we used to cook and celebrate together, my relatives are eating animal feed to keep from starving.

By Mosab Abu Toha

February 24, 2024

Recently, my wife’s distant aunt, Leila, invited me, my wife, and our three children to her home in the Faisal neighborhood of Cairo. She promised to cook us maftoul, a Palestinian dish that we had not eaten since we fled Gaza in December. Back home, making maftoul was often a family affair. One person cooks a rich stew from pumpkin, onions, tomatoes, and chickpeas. Someone else mixes wheat flour into a dough. A third person rubs the dough through the holes of a sieve, creating tiny balls that are similar to pearl couscous. Finally, the balls are steamed and served with a hot ladleful of the stew. We looked forward to tasting it again.

Leila speaks with the same warmth as my mother, and she cooks the same familiar foods. When we arrived at her sixth-floor apartment, I felt the comfort that comes from shared history. Only months ago, my family survived Israel’s bombardment of northern Gaza, and I was detained by Israeli forces. Leila’s husband, who was deaf, was killed during Israel’s 2014 offensive in Gaza. The moment I sat down, their eleven-year-old son, who lost his father as a toddler, took out a box of dominoes and taught me to play. I thought about how none of us meant to live in Egypt. Leila and her brother came here for her son’s medical treatment, and they can no longer go home.

While the maftoul was cooking, sending a delicious smell through the apartment, I got a video call from my brother Hamza, a father of three with a fourth on the way. He was in northern Gaza, picking through the rubble of the house that we once shared. In the background was the recognizable sound of military drones, and I urged him to get to safety. Instead, Hamza passed the phone to my mother, who was there, too. She looked pale and tired, and she told me that they were running out of food, but she still thanked God for what they had. She was scouring the area for edible plants such as cheeseweed... READ MORE https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/my-familys-daily-struggle-to-find-food-in-gaza

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Najat El-Taji El-Khairy- She Speaks Through Her Art Preserving Palestine's Cultural Heritage Through the Modern Embodiment of Traditional Palestinian Art

Najat El-Taji El-Khairy

https://www.instagram.com/najatpalestine

Since 2004, NAJAT’s artistic mission has been to preserve Palestine’s cultural heritage through the Modern Embodiement of Traditional Palestinian Art.

Pioneering this powerful idea has inspired many others in this shared mission. NAJAT commends this and believes that Together we go Further.

She Speaks Through Her Art

Born in 1948, of Palestinian origin, Najat El-Taji El-Khairy attended a French school in Cairo and completed a BA in English Literature at King Saud University in Riyadh.

Fascinated with art since childhood, she studied music, ballet dancing, painting, embroidery, stained glass, pottery and silk painting - while raising a family of four children with her husband Mazen - born in Jerusalem.

Palestinian embroidery in particular caught her attention. She was captivated by its outstanding floral and geometric designs, so she started collecting village dresses & other embroidered articles. She still owns and exhibits them today with the porcelain art she re-creates from them.

In 1988, Najat moved with her family from Saudi Arabia to Montreal Canada, where she further developed her artistic skills. In particular, she perfected painting on porcelain under the guidance of a Hungarian Master from Herend. Soonafter, NAJAT opened her atelier, Kery Porcelain, specializing in personalized and exclusive gift items for different occasions.

Najat was also a dedicated researcher, lecturer and advocate on Palestinian art and heritage.

As she perfected her porcelain painting skills, in 2003, she developed the idea of merging two of her favorite art forms - Embroidery and Porcelain Painting. In 2004, she began producing stitch-perfect painted replicas of embroidery on porcelain, along with other forms of Palestinian art on porcelain.

This is now her artistic mission in life.

Every piece is unique and original. Najat uses a variety of copyrighted painting techniques developed over her career. Meticulous work with strict attention to detail is critical. After painting, the porcelain undergoes several high temperature kiln firings developed by the artist. In this way, the art is preserved in Najat’s own unique way. Her artwork is displayed in various museums and galleries throughout North America. https://www.najat.ca/about

Art and installation by Najat El-Taji El-Khairy.

Najat El-Taji El-Khairy art in above image closer at Meridian Gallery.

Olive Harvest- Forbidden

Najat - نجاة

Forbidden colours

"A 1980 law forbidding artwork of "political significance" banned art composed of the four colours of the Palestinian flag, red, green, white and black. Palestinians were arrested for displaying such artwork. The ban was lifted after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

Palestinian artists would not be allowed to paint a flower field using those colours. Even avoiding the "direct and noticeable" use of the colours, an artist would nevertheless be committing felony. The police would storm the art gallery in the West Bank at the time and storm artists houses and confiscate them."

The forbidden colors are rendering freely these sceneries of the peaceful olive grove. They depict the village women, wearing their beautiful hand embroidred Palestinian costumes, picking the fruits of peace during the festive olive harvest season. Cross stitch motifs, taken from Palestinian patterns and designs, paint the fields and dunes surrounding them, asserting the identity of the land. Motifs like: “The Walls of Jerusalem”, “the Road to Nablus”, “the Old Man’s teeth” and “The Star of Bethlehem” The map of Palestine always hidden in the olive branches asserts its presence on this land.

Nostalgia by Najat

An olive grove with its trees bearing the fruits of peace, in harmony with the Palestinian cross stitch embroidery patterns that embellish the women’s village dresses, the flower of Ramla, and the star of Bethlehem are combined to stimulate a nostalgic feeling to our beloved land.

Technique: Hand painting using raised enamel to give each leaf a dignified luminous effect. Pen work is used for the cross stitch patterns. The Porcelain tile is then fired several times to preserve the work.

Palestinian Existence by Najat

Najat El-Khairy

@palestinianart

najatpalesti

Friday, March 14, 2025

What is Home? a poem by Mosab Abu Toha

https://poets.org

Mosab Abu Toha

What is home:
it is the shade of trees on my way to school
before they were uprooted.
It is my grandparents’ black-and-white wedding
photo before the walls crumbled.
It is my uncle’s prayer rug, where dozens of ants
slept on wintry nights, before it was looted and
put in a museum.
It is the oven my mother used to bake bread and
roast chicken before a bomb reduced our house
to ashes.
It is the café where I watched football matches
and played—

My child stops me: Can a four-letter word hold
all of these?

Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet and founder of the Edward Said Library, Gaza’s only English-language library. He is a former visiting poet at Harvard’s department of comparative literature. Photo credit: Mohamed Mehdy

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Bethlehem is in mourning this Christmas. People in Gaza are starving. And bombs are still falling. But many good people simply refuse to hate

"“Nobody can force us to hate ... We refuse to be enemies.” That’s what Amal Nassar, Zaher’s sister, told the BBC when it reported on the threat from settlers to take the Nassars land. The words are enshrined in a sign at the entrance of the Nassar farm, reflecting the family’s generations-long commitment to non-violence.

Zaher Nassar soon will return to his farm in Bethlehem to continue his peaceful struggle to hold onto the land where his father and grandfather lived.

Bshara had found a new home in Central Pennsylvania, but his roots are deep in Palestinian soil. He is committed to educating Americans about the history and culture of his people, founding the Museum of the Palestinian People in Washington D.C. in 2019.

For decades, Bshara says, the story of the Palestinian people has been told by others. But no longer. The museum at 1900 18th St NW, Washington is devoted to preserving and celebrating Palestinian history, arts, and culture.

Bethlehem is in mourning this Christmas. People in Gaza are starving. And bombs are still falling. But many good people simply refuse to hate."

Bethlehem longs for the Prince of Peace this Christmas | Social Views

Published: Dec. 04, 2024

By Joyce M. Davis | jdavis@pennlive.com in The Patriot News, HBG Pennsylvania

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2024/12/bethlehem-longs-for-the-prince-of-peace-this-christmas-social-views.html

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

History of the ToN Tents of Nations

More than 100 years ago, many family members have worked at the ToN during the day and slept in caves at night. Olives, grapes, almonds, fruit trees, wheat and other crops are grown on the land.

The farm (Daher’s Vineyard) was purchased more than one 100 years ago, at a time when Palestinian Christians were beginning to emigrate. At that time, the country was still under the Ottoman rule. During the British Mandate in Palestine from 1918 to 1948, the property was registered with the British in 1924 and 1925 under Bishara Daher Nassar’s name.

The Arab Israeli war in 1948-49 (Arabic: Nakba = catastrophe), left more than 750,000 Arab Palestinians without a home. Daher’s son Bishara Nassar began a ministry in the Bethlehem area among the Palestinian Christian refugees by offering Bible Study and prayer sessions to empower them and to encourage them to stay and not to leave.

The West Bank was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, and in the 1970s Israel started building Settlements in the West Bank.... READ MORE https://tentofnations.com/

Museum of the Palestinian People

The Museum of the Palestinian People is the first museum in Washington D.C. devoted to preserving and celebrating Palestinian history, arts, and culture. For decades, the story of the Palestinian people has been told by others; until now. The Museum of the Palestinian People is here to tell our stories; stories that encompass the rich history, vibrant arts and culture, of a people who thrive even in the face of adversity... READ MORE https://mpp-dc.org/

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Shereen Audi "I really wanted to spread some hope and positivity and give that feeling to the world and to everyone who needs it... all I wish for Palestine and for our world is peace and light.."

Shereen Audi "I really wanted to spread some hope and positivity and give that feeling to the world and to everyone who needs it... all I wish for Palestine and for our world is peace and light.."

shereen_audi on instagram

#artistvsart2023 🍉It was my honour doing art about Palestine since October helping to draw attention towards the situation in Palestine in a gentle way🇵🇸 even though it’s a very dark and rough time I really wanted to spread some hope and positivity and give that feeling to the world and to everyone who needs it. Now the year is ending and all I wish for Palestine and for our world is peace and light instead of war and hate. May the new year holds nothing but love and light 💡to everyone everywhere . #artistvsart #artistsoninstagram #artforpeace #artforacause #artists #artoftheday #artofinstagram #artforpalestine

shereen_audi

Such a busy day 😅 wait up for my next one ☝️ @thestudio 🍉

shereen_audi

shereen_audi Collage on paper with the Title: With Love to Palestine 🇵🇸 size 35cm x 43 year : 2023 media : collage on paper in solidarity with the people of Palestine 🇵🇸 #artwork #palestine

shereen_audi

Collage on paper with the Title: With Love to Palestine 🇵🇸 size 35cm x 43 year : 2023 media : collage on paper in solidarity with the people of Palestine 🇵🇸 #artwork #palestine

"The work of Shereen Audi, who splits her time between Canada and Jordan, also serves as a symbol of hope. She has created a number of collages on paper, wood and canvas, including With Love to Palestine, in which she’s used images of lemons, olives, birds, jasmine, poppies and watermelons. These elements represent what Palestine is famous for and what makes it beautiful, she says, and the artwork has been shared far and wide across social media platforms in recent days.

She hopes these new pieces “help draw attention to the situation in this beautiful country that only deserves peace and deserves to stay alive”.

With Love to Palestine is one of her favourites, it gives “a feeling of light in these dark times and a little bit of hope to everyone”, she adds.

She has donated a print of the piece to Gallery Bawa in Kuwait, which is holding an emergency relief sale called Prints for Palestine. All proceeds will be donated to the Kuwait Red Crescent Society. The gallery is collaborating with research platform and collective Mathqaf in Doha, which reached out to the artists involved, and Dubai’s Gulf Photo Plus, which is helping with printing, packaging and shipping."

Arab artists supporting Palestine with bold new works

Horrified by the Israel-Gaza war, many creatives are donating works to raise relief funds for trapped Palestinians

"Pablo Picasso once described artists as political beings, constantly aware of the heartbreaking things happening in the world. “Painting is not made to decorate apartments,” he said. “It’s an offensive and defensive weapon.”

For many artists across the Arab world witnessing the war unfolding in Gaza, weaponising their art has become the only way for them to process the tragedies."... READ MORE https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art-design/2023/10/30/arab-artists-supporting-palestine-with-bold-new-works/

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES or quotes or watch videos IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Annie's New Letters (& notes)

Growing Gardens for Palestine