THE BARD
PALESTINIAN
YOUTH
INITIATIVE
2013-2017
ROLE
co-director, curriculum designer, grant writer, teacher, coordinator-
LOCATION
1) Mas’ha + Bidd’ya: + Zawi’ya: 3 small towns in the West Bank, Palestine
MISSION
In collaboration with local Palestinian organizations in the West Bank, we support Palestinian voices through youth programs and documentary initiatives.
TIMEFRAME
4 years
On the way to Hebron, we stopped for tea,
“Look at where we
cannot go.”
"If the separation wall
was a person,
what would you tell it?"
I am standing on the Jewish
settlement side on a tour.
I am walking where my Palestinian friends,
on the other side of the wall,
have never been.
A conversation about borders with two friends
West Bank, Palestine
“You want to know the story?”
Standing in the town of Mas'ha, the West Bank, we talk about his families farm land across the highway where he can rarely, if ever travel.
“That’s my family's land.”
PROJECT OUTCOMES:
A clinic was built (Mas’ha’s first/only)
A library was built (Mas’ha’s first/only)
Bi-annual programming (winter and summer)
The first youth debate held in the West Bank
Programming was designed collaboratively with neighborhood students, bard college students, Al-Quds University students, and the local town councils.
Funding: Davis Grant for Peace, Violet Jabara Foundation
Significant References:
-Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation, by Eyal Weizman
-Side by Side: Parallel Histories of Israel-Palestine, by Sami Adwan (Editor), Dan Bar-On (Editor), Eyal Naveh (Editor), Peace Research Institute in the Middle East(Editor)