From beneath the hunter's rifle: Stories of Jerusalem Children under House Arrest, by Ahlam Bsharat (Obs. Arabic and English)

“What was the first thing you did when you finished your imprisonment?”

He replied: “I went to see my friend, took his horse, mounted it and rode in Nabi Samuel.”

In this book, Ahlam Bsharat portrays the daily life of Palestinian children and young adults who are or were facing house arrest by the Israeli occupation forces in the city of Jerusalem. The book highlights the stories of seven participants in the neighborhoods of Wadi el-Joz, Sheikh Jarrah, Nabi Samuel, and Al-Khalila. Bsharat contextualizes each story and provides poetic yet informative insight into the multilayered colonial practices affecting concepts of time, space, and home “safety” in the lives of the participants and their families.

“How does this house make A. feel trapped?”

“My son A. spent eight months under house arrest. He doesn’t feel safe. He longs to move freely but can’t. He wants to leave the house and see his friends. They used to visit and talk to him through the window. They were afraid of being charged with something if they entered the house and sat with him, like what happened with A. The settler threatened them, saying: ‘I’ll do to you what I did to A. I’ll lock you up just like I did with him.’ He even stopped them from sitting in the park near the house and constantly tried to provoke them.”

Bsharat visited the houses and schools of the participants under house arrest or who were previously under house arrest in Jerusalem during the year 2023 with the supervision of Tamer Institute’s Jerusalem field coordinator. The workshops focused on encouraging the participants to express their ideas and feelings through creative writing and to improve their learning and skills of self-expression. Through the workshops, they  analyzed the concept of the house, especially after being under house arrest, and reflected on it through writing from all perspectives while validating their stories in a safe, creative environment with Bsharat.

“My aunt’s henna party was on October 15, 2021. My family and I got ready, and we got into my uncle’s car at exactly 4:00 p.m. On our way to the hall, we were intercepted by the occupation police. They closed the road for no reason and prevented us from moving forward. Suddenly, a group of settlers appeared and blocked our way – they were under police protection. Then a settler pointed at my brother M., saying: ‘This is him. Arrest him, arrest him!’”

The book resulted from a project titled “Where Did Home Go?” which creates a safe and creative learning space for children and young adults under house arrest in Jerusalem, where they can bond together and join a creative writing workshop that speaks to this need. To implement this project, Tamer Institute joined Rights for Time network, organized by Birmingham University, to conduct a range of activities to ensure creative learning for children in conflict zones around the world by establishing safe and creative learning spaces for the children and their families where they can interact and have, as far as possible, a healthy home environment.

This testimonial book gains its importance from the need to highlight the hidden stories of Palestinian children and young adults, especially those living inside Palestine’s capital city of Jerusalem, who are under a greater risk, now more than ever, of losing not only their homes and lands but also their individual and collective identity due to the constant violations of – and imprisonment by – the Israeli occupation. From the beginning of 2015 until March 2022, the Israeli occupation forces have detained more than 9,000 Palestinian children.

Format: Häftad (Paperback/Softback)
Språk: Arabiska
Läsålder: 12-18
Antal sidor: 105
Utgivningsdatum: 2024
Förlag: Tamer Institute for Community Education
ISBN: 9789950271012