2016 is here.  It represents another year of hope for the Palestinian people; hope for peace, hope for change, most of all hope for freedom.

I say goodbye to 2015 feeling a sense of gratitude so great and unlike other years.  In just a short time at the end of 2015, I have been blessed to meet and work with some very incredible people in my own country, my own city here in Canada.  What started for me as an opportunity to help incoming refugees from the Middle East resettle in my city an opportunity that is ongoing for sure into this new year, has led my heart, ambition and abilities to Palestine.

The Faces of Palestine project is in its infancy, but I have great hope that this year will bring much success for this project, for my partners Haitham Khatib and Fadi Thabet, and collaborator Sary Baraka, without them, their help, their knowledge, experiences, and their eyes and ears on the ground in Palestine on my behalf, this project would not continue to progress or succeed.

As we bid farewell to 2015 the beautiful Faces of Palestine welcome with hope 2016 ~

The light of Palestine shines bright in the eyes of her children and every child in Palestine is like every child in the world, filled with hope and dreams for their future!

In spite of continued challenges, conflicts and darkness, the light that is the soul of Palestine shines on unfailingly so.

May humanity take note that the resiliency of the human spirit is unsurpassed by any other.

The pride of Palestine lives strong in her children, the future of a strong and free Palestine will be reality because the coming generation is striving to live, be educated and make a better country.

 

 

 

 

 

The handsome faces of two generations of strength, resistance, resiliency and great hope for the future of Palestine!

 

 

 

The life joy of children in Palestine is no different from any other place.  They love to laugh and play and forget the ongoing conflict around them.  In the midst of the worst circumstances, children only want to be children.  The humanity of the world owes this to the children of Palestine.  Let us all work toward peace and freedom.

Together we can all make a difference.  Like a stone dropped into still water, the ripples become endless and the water will never be the same again.  Let us stand and work together to be the stone that leaves in its wake ripples of change, strength, peace and a better Palestine.

New Public Relations and Media graduates of Al Aqsa University.  The greatest force against the occupation of Palestine is the use of technology, social media, and photo journalism.

Instead of guns, these strong young graduates are armed with education, knowledge, cameras and a bold unwavering determination to show the world the true faces of Palestine!

Every Palestinian is fighting for what so many in the world take for granted – a normal life, a life of peaceful co-existence with the greater world around them.

In spite of deep wounds to mind, body and spirit, the soul of Palestine remains strong, determined, filled with ongoing hope and dreams for a future without conflict, without killing, and a future of freedom and peace.  Together we can make this a reality.  Just as war begins in a day, freedom can also come in a day.  No one human being has a right to life greater than any other human being.  When one is killed we kill also a part of ourselves, it is only when humanity sees this, accepts this, and works together to keep humanity whole that peace will be realized.