Handala Cultural Center

Demolition of Abu Sha'ira family home in Al-Azza refugee camp

27 February 2004


This report concerns the demolition of the family home of Mervat Abu Sha’ira, a 9-year-old member of the Handala Cultural Center dance troupe. Mervat’s 32-year-old father was killed on 14 June 2001 during an armed clash between Israeli occupation forces and Palestinians in Beit Jala. On Friday 27 February 2004, at 1:00am, between 15-20 Israeli army jeeps and armored personal carriers entered Al-Azza’ camp and surrounded the home and several neighboring houses. Several homes were destroyed. Photos from Handala Cultural Center. 

Photostory: The Wall in Abu Dis, 25 January 2004

2 February 2004


As the building of Israel’s Apartheid Wall continues, Palestinians living in its path are being cut off from their agricultural lands, their schools and hospitals, and sometimes even from their next door neighbours. In Abu Dis, on the edge of Jerusalem, the Wall has been built right in the center of Palestinian neighbourhoods with no consideration for the residents, creating what one piece of graffiti on the Wall dubbed, “Ghetto Abu Dis”. The following photos of the Wall’s passage through Abu Dis were taken by the Handala Cultatal Center on 25 January 2004.