My Visit to Palestine, April 2017: Photographs by Sylvie Leber
June 20, 2017 | By AJDS
Sylvie Leber is an artist, an activist with Jews for Refugees, the Council of Single Mothers and Their Children, a single mother herself, and a long time social activist on countless other fronts. She became an activist when she was 15, attending her first protest in 1965 against Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Last year Sylvie was published on Right Now, an independent not-for-profit media organisation focused on human rights issues in Australia.
Read Sylvie’s speech from the Anti-Netanyahu Rally in Melbourne, February 2017.
Read “Mum, did you steal any refugees?” Notes on the Baxter convergence, 2003.
In April 2017, Sylvie visited Palestine as part of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network’s organised tour of the West Bank and Jerusalem. Photos were uploaded straight to social media during her visit, capturing the place as only a first-time visitor with a keen eye could. With thanks to Sylvie, we share with you some of those photos:
Destroyed Palestinian village
Palestinian activists that met in prison, the one to the left was 15 at the time.
Love finds a way…
Cultural preservation is incredibly significant to the Palestinians I met. This was a children’s concert at a Palestinian refugee camp.
Empty tear gas canister, seen near the wall. Not an uncommon sight.
The Wall and minaret.
Graffiti in a refugee camp (note the ultra-dangerous electric wiring, since electricity must be sourced from outside the camp).
Look closely to see countless bullet holes in the wall.
Palestinian olive plantation in the process of being destroyed by Israeli authorities.
“Sister, you need more.”
A community centre in the Jordan Valley. These structures are often destroyed by Israeli authorities, but people have adapted to building quickly with mud brick and old fashioned methods.
The daily route of one young man.
The beauty of the Jordan Valley captured in a shot that does not tell the whole story. The beauty of this image does not reveal the tragedy that lies within.
A long standing secret graffiti artist, Sylvie Leber in Bethlehem. Always a Bansky fan, Sylvie calls her Bansky book her ‘Bible’.
The AJDS acknowledges that we work on the stolen lands of the Kulin Nations, in particular on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon wurrung people. Sovereignty of these lands has never been ceded. We committ to struggling alongside Aboriginal people for liberation and justice.
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