Voices from Palestine Although the Israeli- Palestinian conflict has been ongoing for the past 60 years, the international community still has a limited understanding of what the conflict means for Palestinians on a daily basis. The conflict as displayed through the media focuses on the peace process and ‘big’ news stories such as prisoner exchanges and large scale violent incidents. For the most part, international media tends to focus largely on the Israeli side of the conflict, or portrays the conflict as being between two equal and independent countries and not as a crushing occupation of one powerful country over a people still without a country and often without access to their own land. As a result, everyday life of Palestinians affecting by the conflict, living their lives under occupation, remains untold and unknown to the international community at large. Voices from Palestine was created to help fill this gap. Coordinated through the Tamer Institute, Voices challenges young Palestinians to express what it’s like for them and their peers to live under occupation. The youth write in English in order to reach the international community and explain in a universal language what it means to live under Israeli occupation, so that young people around the world can understand what occupation implies for the children and youth in Palestine. Voices helps to give a human face to Palestine and the occupation of the Palestinian people and land. The youth meet every week to discuss different aspects of life under occupation, share their writing and work towards improving it. The youth edit each other’s work and discuss the ideas that arise from the writing. In addition to writing from personal experience, the youth interview other members of their community including elders and children, in order to get and give a comprehensive view of the realities of life for Palestinians living under occupation. Voices is currently expanding its scope to include drawing and photography, using the different mediums to express themselves and show the occupation in a new light. Using visual images such as drawing and photography can reach our audience in a different way, making an impact in a way that writing may not. Using these mediums also allows for the participation of youth who may not be fluent in English or who don’t feel comfortable writing, and broadens the base of participants, enriching the messages Voices aims to send to the international community. Voices has organized a creative writing workshop for the participating youth, motivating and encouraging them to express themselves in English through writing, with a focus on showing the realities of occupation in a way external audiences can understand. This included for example, tips on how to describe a place in detail in order to give the reader an accurate idea and image of the places described, without ever having been there; and a discussion on what occupation is, what it implies and how to explain this to others who may not know. We are always looking for new experts to facilitate workshops for these youth. We welcome contact from authors, artists, illustrators, photographers and journalists. We also welcome interested youth in Palestine who wish to join Voices and contribute to their messages. To find out more or to join, please contact Voices at
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or call Tamer Institute at +9722 298 6121/6122. You can also send us a fax at +9722 298 8160 |
