Week 9: Olive Trees Online Gathering

A replay will be posted here a few days after the meeting.

You can find the 2021 gathering here.

On February 28, 2023 we looked at the importance and Israeli destruction of Palestine’s ancient olive trees. We were joined by the journalist Daoud Kuttab and the renowned artist Suleiman Mansour.

More about our guests:

The Barjeel Art Foundation describes Suleiman Mansour as

“Among the most-recognised and distinguished Palestinian artists … known most-famously for his 1973 work Camel of Hardship depicting an old porter carrying Jerusalem on his back. Mansour has tailored his comprehensive portfolio around the Palestinian struggle, portraying peasants and women in traditional dress in his early work. During the first Intifada against Israeli occupation (1987 – 1993) Mansour and other artists in the ‘New Vision’ art movement started in 1987 boycotted Israeli supplies. Instead, Mansour used local materials like mud and henna in his work. For Mansour, art aids the continuation and revival of Palestinian identity, particularly as it captures images of the land and people working in the land. By keeping roots in the ancestral homeland, Mansour enables Palestinians to continue to lay claim to it. Mansour – also an illustrator, art instructor and author – has contributed greatly to art education and promotion in the West Bank. He is now regarded as a pivotal cultural leader in Palestine. Co-founder of the Wasiti Art Center in Jerusalem, Mansour’s work has been exhibited in Palestine, the United States, Japan, Korea and across the Arab world and Europe.”

Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian-American journalist.

In 1980, Kuttab began his career at Al-Fajr, an English-language weekly newspaper. Over the next seven years, he was promoted to features editor and then managing editor. In 1987, he left Al-Fajr for Al-Quds, an Arabic-language daily newspaper based in East Jerusalem. He also contributed to The Jerusalem Post. During this period, he became the first Palestinian to receive an exclusive interview with Yitzhak Rabin, as well as from Shimon Peres and several other Israeli leaders.

He has won several international awards, including a 1996 International Press Freedom Award of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

In 2000, the Austria-based International Press Institute named him one of its fifty World Press Freedom Heroes of the previous fifty years.

Kuttab sits on the board of the International Press Institute, which lists him as the “Director General, Community Media Network” and “Founder, AmmanNet, Jordan.” (Wikipedia)

You can find him on his website.

Activism Time

Coming soon

From the Presentation/Chat

Daoud Kuttab’s new publication: milhalard.org

English: https://milhalard.org/category/english/

Feel free to read https://www.arabnews.com/node/1976171/amp

That’s Suleiman’s most famous work: https://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/camel-of-heavy-burdens-first-printing

here is an important article by Daoud: https://www.jerusalemstory.com/en/blog/jerusalem-second-front-smoldering

You can see several of Sliman Mansour’s art here https://slimanmansour.com/product-tag/jerusalem/ A favorite of mine is Jerusalem in the Heart, aka Woman Carrying Jerusalem

Is there collective organizing taking place addressing demolition of olive trees that we can connect with?   Friends of Wadi Foquin just launched this petition for the village of Wadi Foquin & includes addressing of 3 different olive tree demolitions in the last year  https://www.change.org/SaveWadiFoquin

Here’s a recent article about a Gazan childrens art exhibit in a UK hospital that was recently dismantled due to Zionist complaints : https://israelpalestinenews.org/gazan-childrens-artwork-traumatizes-uk-lawyers-for-israel/