2425 Virginia Ave, NW | Washington, DC 20037

202.338.1958 | info@thejerusalemfund.org

INSIDE THE FUND OCTOBER—DECEMBER 2014

In November our 2014 Palestine Center Conference was the largest in the Palestine

Center’s history and a huge success, with a full house throughout the day, as our

audience and supporters listened to engaging speakers like Rochelle Davis, Michael

Fischbach and Matthew Reynolds (pictured left) discuss the contemporary situation

of Palestinian refugees in the region; Bill Fletcher, Philip Farah and Ramah Kudaimi

tackle the growing global movement of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions across

campuses, churches and community groups; Ian Lustick and Khaled Elgindy address

the question of the future of U.S. mediation in Palestine; and Thomas Abowd, Issam

Nassar and Diana Buttu present their research on the historical character and current

status of Jerusalem.

Our largest Annual Conference yet and the 2014 Souk

Board of Directors

Dr. Subhi Ali

Chairman

Mr. Omar Fayez, Esq.

Secretary

Dr. Eid B. Mustafa

Treasurer

Mr. George S. Hishmeh

Mr. Walid M. Keilani

Dr. Mohayya H. Khilfeh

Dr. Sari A. Nabulsi

Dr. Tawfik Z. Ramadan

Ms. Samera Sood

Staff

Yousef Munayyer

Executive Director

Mohamed K. Mohamed

Finance, Grants & Development

Associate

Samirah Alkassim

Program & Communications

Manager

Tamara Kamel

Program & Communications

Assistant

Dagmar Painter

Gallery Curator

Dr. Eid Mustafa, Matthew Reynolds, Dr. Michael Fischbach and Dr. Rochelle Davis (from left) discuss the

current situation of Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere.

On 6 December, Fifteen vendors of Middle Eastern goods joined Jerusalem Fund staff, a henna artist, a qanun player, and the Jerusalem Restaurant to welcome nearly 600 visitors to our Annual Souk at The Jerusalem Fund. Visitors lined up to buy olive oil, zaatar, keffiyehs and Palestinian-themed gift wrap. With the entire Fund decorated with lights, textiles and a children’s workshop, the merchants’ offerings of glass, pottery, olive wood, soaps, embroidery and more created a festive and successful day for all.

THE PALESTINE CENTER

In October, Dr. Judith Butler delivered the Edward Said

Memorial Lecture, leading with the question, “What is the

value of Palestinian lives?” which we highlighted in our

previous newsletter. On 23 October we hosted professor

emeritus and legal scholar Richard Falk, who presented his

latest book, Palestine: the Legitimacy of Hope. In his presentation

he discussed the development of Palestinian resistance

movements and the key role played by international law,

institutions and global solidarity movements in this struggle.

After the lecture, Professor Falk engaged with the audience

during a question-and-answer session and signed copies of his

newly released book.

We also held a presentation of a new mobile application, PIVOT, in

early October. The new application was founded by Palestinian-

American Harvard graduates Sami Jitan and Asma Jaber (pictured

left), who describe PIVOT as allowing users to “look at a specific

place through a tunnel of time”, digitally preserving a place’s history

throughout time, starting with Historic Palestine. Users can tour

Palestine and use the app to see how that specific area looked like in

the past. For example, visitors to Mangers Square in Bethlehem can

open the app to find an early twentieth century photograph of the

square, comparing its contemporary appearance to its past. In this

way, PIVOT seeks to preserve Palestinian historical memory against

the ongoing nakba.

International Law and Historical Preservation

Former UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk presents the role

of international law in the Palestine question.

Other events in October included screenings of Mahdi Fleifel’s self-

ironizing personal documentary, A World Not Ours, about his ties to

Ain el Helweh camp in Lebanon; and Khaled Jarrar’s cinema verite

documentary Infiltrators, about the different journeys that Palestinians

in the West Bank have to make to cross the apartheid wall for work,

to visit loved ones or pray at Al Aqsa mosque. Lastly, December

brings the year to a close, with end-of-year film screenings of Lia

Tarachansky’s feature documentary, On the Side of the Road, about the

pervasive and systemic denial of the nakba within Israeli society; and

Suspended Time, a collection of nine short films by Palestinian

filmmakers, each of which provides a reflection on the outcomes of

the historic Oslo Accords, 20 years later.

Films and Documentaries

Lia Tarachansky answers questions from the audience after

screening her film, On the Side of the Road.

THE HUMANITARIAN LINK

From Dr. Subhi Ali, Chairman of the Board of Directors:

2014 has been a very difficult year for the Palestinian people. The

suffering in Gaza, Syria and Jerusalem, to name a few, has been

unprecedented. We are faced with the challenge to help them

cope and survive through The Jerusalem Fund’s programs.

Through our Humanitarian Link program and with your

generous support, we were able to partner with numerous

humanitarian organizations that work hard to serve Palestinians

in need, especially in light of the terrible situation in Gaza.

Thanks to your generosity, the Future Association for Culture

and Development received grants to provide poor families in

Gaza with light chargers, gas cookers and blankets, in an effort to

alleviate some of the suffering caused by Israel’s devastating

violence. Similarly, El Bureij Association for the Rehabilitation of

the Handicapped received a grant to provide wheelchairs, walkers and crutches to amputees and other people

wounded by Israel’s barbaric assault. The Jerusalem Fund also awarded a grant to the Charitable Mothers

Association in Gaza in order to provide a number of displaced families with basic necessities such as clothes,

blankets, mattresses and hygiene kits.

Earlier in the year, we presented UNRWA with a contribution of $25,000 to provide essential relief to

Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk and other camps in war-torn Syria. The Siraj Al-Quds School in Jerusalem

acquired the furniture, tools and equipment needed to cater to special-needs and other marginalized children.

Similarly, Al Manarah Association in Nazareth recently acquired a number of computer tablets that will

become indispensable elements of its life-skills coaching program. Students with visual and hearing disabilities

will be able to take advantage of assistive technologies built into the tablets to improve the quality of their

education.

The Palestine Diabetes Institute, which opened its first clinic

in Al-Bireh, has now opened a second center in Nablus. By

expanding to one of the largest population centers in Palestine,

the Institute is now in an even better position to combat the

diabetes epidemic affecting many Palestinians. Our patients are

provided with comprehensive treatment at well-equipped

facilities run by compassionate staff. Our goal is to establish

future clinics in Hebron and Gaza in an effort to provide

further access to quality medical care for diabetic Palestinians.

These projects are just a few examples of the impact your

contributions have made, and we hope that you will continue

to support us in our efforts to assist the Palestinian people.

A Letter from the Chairman

Make your TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation before the New Year!

www.thejerusalemfund.org/donate

Thanks to your contributions, a Palestinian farmer in Gaza

plants a young olive tree provided by The Charitable

Mothers' Association.

The staff of the new Palestine Diabetes Institute branch in Nablus.

The challenge of responding to the Mahmoud Darwish poem “And We Have Countries” in a six-by-eight inch

format spurred the creativity of 45 artists from the U.S. and abroad. Twenty-three artists were able to attend the opening, coming from California, upstate New York, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and the local DC area. They were joined by 200 attendees and a group of poets, whose readings of Darwish and their own original poems enchanted the audience in both English and Arabic.

Artists worked in all media and formats, including hammered copper, wood, lithography, painting, mosaic, stained glass, photography, ceramics, sculpture, collage, embroidery, digital art, and even coffee and olive oil! Mona El Bayoumi created an entire miniature house to illustrate the line “The Lemon Shines Like a Lamp in an Emigrant’s Night.” Ayad Arafa and Vivien Sansour sent their ink on canvas pieces from Palestine, while Rajie Cook presented his first work in glass, And We Still Love You. Many artists, including Corinne Whitlatch, Najib Joe Hakim, Nasir Thamir and Adnan Charara interpreted the line “If I Were a Bird, I Would Burn My Wings.”

All of the artwork is online at www.thejerusalemfund.org/gallery.

GALLERY AL-QUDS

Darwish Poem Show Draws Record Crowd

2425 Virginia Ave, NW | Washington, DC 20037

202.338.1958 | info@thejerusalemfund.org

Gallery Al-Quds hosted a stunning exhibition of rare watercolors from the collection of the Palestinian Heritage Foundation on 24 October, 2014. The thirteen works were painted by the late artist, Anna Rychter-May. Rychter-May (1865-1955 b. Regensburg, Germany), was an early twentieth century artist known for her watercolors of Palestine. She lived and painted in Jerusalem from the 1920s to 1955. Though painted in the 1940’s, the scenes depicted offer a glimpse into traditional life in Jerusalem. Painted with painstaking attention to detail and an exquisite eye for color, the scenes depict weddings, a fruit market, streetscapes, and family life, of Palestinians and an Eastern European Jewish family. Especially interesting is a series of depictions of musicians with their classical instruments, specially commissioned from the artist. In all cases, the images serve as historical documentation as well as breathtakingly beautiful art. The opening was well attended, with over 50 people enjoying the work and a short talk by Hanan Munayyer. Of great interest was a visit by a professor from CUNY whose research intersects with this subject. She was thrilled to find these artworks and will merge her own research with that of the Munayyers to advance the scholarship on this heretofore little known artist.

Rare Watercolors from 1900’s Jerusalem Exhibited

© Anna Rychter-May

And We Still Love you © Rajie Cook 2014