IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
The Great March of Return began as Ahmed Abu Artema’s dream - a dream to "fly free like birds” over Israel's militarized fence encaging Gaza. The dream turned into reality when tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees braved sniper fire for the freedom to return to their homes and land Israel banned them from.
on July 17, 2018
Dr. Farouq Ahmad Zuaiter passed away on February 15, 2018. “Abu Abbas” as he was referred to often was a highly respected financial executive, investment manager and a significant contributor to the economic growth of the Palestinian economy in the face of Israeli occupation.
on February 26, 2018
Farah Nabulsi, the daughter of a Palestinian mother and Palestinian-Egyptian father, grew up on a quiet street in London. A banker for many years with JP Morgan and then the founder of a private business, Nabulsi decided to leave the business world after a trip to Palestine in 2013. The systematized oppression and humiliation of Israel’s military occupation was something Nabulsi didn’t understand on her trips to Palestine from London as a child.
on May 15, 2017
A lawyer by training, British-Palestinian writer Selma Dabbagh’s short stories have been included in a number of anthologies, including those published by Granta and International PEN. She was also nominated for the International PEN David T.K. Wong Award and the Pushcart Prize. “The power of fiction lies in its ability to humanize the other,” says Dabbagh on her decision to become a writer.
on May 24, 2016
For award-winning Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad, cinema serves as a tool of resistance. From escaping to the cinema as a child to his own 2006 Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated film Paradise Now, Abu-Assad has utilized film as a means of exploring different manifestations of oppression.
on October 21, 2015
Born to work with his hands, visual artist and educator Ayed Arafah connected to his gift at a very young age when his schoolteacher collected his class drawings and displayed them in the schoolyard. Ayed likes working with different mediums — from videos to installation pieces to paintings and murals. Born in Jerusalem, Ayed grew up in Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem.
on July 3, 2015
Gabriel (Gabi) Baramki passed away on August 30, 2012, at the age of 82. A highly-respected Palestinian intellectual, Baramki served as both Vice President and acting President of Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, where he developed the university's first degree-granting program in 1972.
on January 29, 2015
As a child, Diana Buttu did not even know she was Palestinian. Ironically, years later she would become the well-known spokesperson of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Negotiations Support Unit. Born and raised in Canada, Buttu's parents - who were Palestinian citizens of Israel - did not discuss their Palestinian identity.
on December 31, 2014
Thirty years ago during a snowstorm in the village of Al Walajeh, 70-year-old Abu Nidal found a broken pine tree and nursed it back to life. In 30 years, the tree grew several meters high making it a landmark in his village and a source of pride for Abu Nidal whose life’s work has been dedicated to tending the land. Today, Abu Nidal’s tree lays at the edge of one of the last remaining stone terraces on his land, which has been confiscated for the building of the Israeli Segregation Wall.
on July 22, 2014