Sarah is my Los Angeles

My friendship with an American living near the U.S. wildfires propels my advocacy for humanism over vengeful thinking.
Making art to survive wartime limbo

Waiting for a return to life’s colors, I was paralyzed by inaction until I began drawing in black and white.
Shrapnel of hope: a father’s last lesson

‘In every moment, his image is before us as we continue the journey as he would have, if he were still here.’
The martyr of the white flag

Ramzi Abu Sahloul, a devoted father and friend, was shot dead while walking in Gaza’s safe zone under the universal symbol of surrender.
Will I survive?

Yes, Yara / you will survive / but what is survival?
Our makeshift classroom

Teaching gave me purpose during war when I transformed a room in the house where I was displaced into a small school.
Reunited forever

The entire family of my Aunt Sanaa was killed, one after the other.
An intimate friendship devastated by war

My group friendship of four men was torn apart by the war, but the surviving three remain in touch.
Family reunion

Omar turned his head up to the sky / his heart aching / for his murdered brother’s family.
From lines to circles

We huddle, shivering, in a serpentine line / a thousand souls, each yearning for a loaf of bread.
The refugee’s dilemma

Palestinians in exile fear the loss of identity and a homeland, and they struggle to be seen and heard.
They call me a Palestinian

I know Jerusalem, our capital / from pictures / I see the Dome of the Rock / on the covers of my books.