I’d written to Yeela with some questions. She responded at some length. My earlier blog about her. On February 8, 2024 she emailed me: Skip: i found a photo of destruction in your home presumably caused by hamas. Yeela: yes, Hamas. Yeela’s kitchen after the Hamas attack could you tell me what happened, especially how you […]
Read More Dual Loyalty-addendum to Yeela Raanan (her response to my questions)Which side are you on, boys, which side are you on? Sahar Vardi Like many observing the violence over Gaza, I’m stunned, frenzied, and outraged. My mind fractures, I feel dizzy, nightmares disturb my sleep. My heart-sick sometimes turns into gut-sick, I feel physically ill. When I shop for food and cook, when I pee […]
Read More DUAL LOYALTY-part 4-Sahar Vardi-Which side are you on, boys, which side are you on?In my 4 part blog series, drawing heavily from my photography during 6 journeys to Gaza (2013 was the most recent; since then Israel has blocked me from entrance), I hope to portray my personal connections with people and issues in Gaza, Israel (especially southern Israel in the Negev/Naqab desert bordering Gaza) and the West […]
Read More Dual Loyalty-part 3-Yeela RaananThe Palestinian inner layers of psychology go around one single issue: the 1948 uprooting and the destruction of their homes. And what the Israelis are doing, by destroying all these homes every day, they are making the Palestinians relive the trauma, which is very deeply buried into our conscious and our unconscious. The home for […]
Read More Dual Loyalty-part 1HUMAN BEINGS live, work, study, play, fight, raise children and dream in Jenin, a city of 40,000 people in the northern West Bank, 90 driving miles from Jerusalem. They are confined to a little more than 14 square miles. The refugee camp, administered by the UN Refugee Works Administration, houses some 13,000 to 15,000 people, […]
Read More jenin and the freedom theaterInspired by traditional end-of-year letters from others, never having written one myself, I’m motivated to try now. Yes, a little late. But with a twist: save for last (if ever) what tends to come first in most letters—family and travels, possibly health but usually not—and begin with what’s for me juiciest. My letter will be […]
Read More Slices of 2022-ConclusionFrom my photographic project, The Ongoing and Relentless Nakba— Seventy-five years after the catastrophe of the Nakba, conditions for refugees and their families continue to worsen. This is largely because few in the world notice to the point of working to bring justice to the Palestinians. My hope derives from working with Jewish Voice […]
Read More special edition to honor the 75th anniversary of the nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948: May 15, 2023Inspired by traditional end-of-year letters from others, never having written one myself, I’m motivated to try now. But with a twist: save for last (if ever) what tends to come first in most letters—family and travels, possibly health but usually not—and begin with what’s for me juiciest. So, here’s what I’ve been up to, what […]
Read More Slices of 2022-Part One: Nakba and Extinction RebellionFrancis Day 2022 reflection— As part of a procession to memorial trees during the annual St. Francis Day celebration at Agape, a lay Catholic/Catholic Worker style nonviolence activist center in central Massachusetts, I offered the following reflections at a tree dedicated to suffering and resilience in the Middle East. Agape’s annual Francis Day celebration in […]
Read More Gaza Comes to MassachusettsIn America they retained the vestiges of important Indian tribes or tribes that are still dwelling. This is not the case here. We have nothing to do with the name of a minuscule Bedouin tribe, and we can assign a Hebrew name here. Yitzhak Be Zvi, at the Negev committee meeting, Sept 29, 1949 Photos […]
Read More next steps for my nakba photograpic project
Skip Schiel & Teeksa Photography 