A story from Gaza

Yesterday, I rediscovered a story of real life from the Shaja’iyya district of Gaza.

The small tale was written twenty years ago by Diala Khasawneh for her book Memoirs Engraved in Stone: Palestinian Urban Mansions, published by the Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation (Ramallah, 1995) – and republished by the Institute for Palestine Studies (Beirut & Washington, 2001). The original ISBN is 0887282792, the updated ISBN13 is 9780887282799. There’s a review of the book here, and it is still available from Amazon and (better) direct from the publisher here. It is beautiful; I recommend it highly.

And the story serves as a small reminder that Palestine, and Palestinians, had – and still have – a life beyond the demands of the news agenda. They are more than just tragic victims of violence and death, more than fiery-eyed zealots and filthy-faced children, more than weepers and fighters and shouters and haters and trudgers and starers and pleaders and beggars and trembling frightened survivors.

It is a place, and they are people.

Click on each page to enlarge.

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