Flowers Against the Occupation
All proceeds from Needle in the Groove will go to support Flowers Against the Occupation, a Palestinian girls’ group in the rural Salfit region of the West Bank.
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17-year-old Lana Othman, chair of Flowers Against the Occupation
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Flowers
Against the Occupation sprang from Women for Life, a Palestinian women’s group
that works to support Palestinian women and struggles nonviolently against the
Israeli occupation. In July 2004, Women for Life planned and ran a summer camp
for their daughters and other girls in the region. Girls attended from many of
the Salfit villages affected by the Wall the Israeli government is building
through the West Bank. Around 100 young women and girls attended every day for
two weeks. In addition to arts and crafts, health education, dabke (Palestinian
folk dance), singing, drama, and outings, the girls participated in lectures and
discussions about the Wall, the Nakba (Palestinian catastrophe of 1948), girls’
health and confidence, and violence against girls and women. As a result of the
camp many of the young women formed Flowers Against the Occupation.
Flowers Against the Occupation has been meeting since summer 2004, with
workshops in English, art, banner making, poetry, and more. With more money,
they hope to offer computer training and internet access for the girls to make
more connections with groups in other areas (like Jerusalem and Bethlehem), and
to publish a monthly magazine in English and Arabic written and designed by the
girls.
Eighteen girls from Flowers Against the Occupation made quilt patches for Needle
in the Groove, and two of them sang for the CD.
If Flowers Against the Occupation inspires you so much that buying lots of CDs
doesn’t feel like enough, they welcome donations! Contact Hannah at
hannah@needleinthegroove.org
for more information.
| 17-year-old Shams Assi and 15-year-old Maisa Assi record "Ala Dal'ona" for the CD. | Girls from the group prepare their quilt patches. |
See more photos of Flowers Against the Occupation
All photographs taken by the International Women's Peace Service, Hannah Mermelstein, and Blythe Taplin