Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip held marches on May 15 to commemorate the Nakba or “catastrophe”, which marks the forced displacement and dispossession of Palestinians from their homeland in 1948.
On Nakba Day in 2014, in the West Bank town of Beitunia, local Palestinians decided to gather around Ofer military court and prison to protest in solidarity with over 100 prisoners on a hunger strike against their administrative detention by Israeli authorities.
Among those to join the protest were 17-year-old Nadeem Siam Nawara and 16-year-old Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh Abu Daher. Read more
In Jabalia, Gaza’s most populated refugee camp, some 110,000 refugees pack an area of only 1.4 square kilometers.
Lacking a steady supply of basic services, like water and electricity, Jabalia has been hit hard by the eight-year Israeli siege on Gaza.
On July 28, 2014, 17-year-old Alaa Balata moved with his family to his uncle’s house deep inside Jabalia refugee camp and farther from the Israeli tanks shelling everywhere along Gaza’s border.
“[My father] thought we would be safer here.” Read more
On the afternoon of February 21, 2014, 11-year-old Fadel Abu Odwan was on his way to help his brother bring their sheep in for the night. The flock was grazing on land near the Sufa crossing between the southern Gaza Strip and Israel.
Before reaching his brother, Fadel was stopped by three Palestinian officers stationed at their usual spot.
The officers took Fadel’s slingshot, which he carries for hunting birds, and began to play with it.
Suddenly, Fadel saw two Israeli military jeeps speeding toward them from the other side of the border. Read more
